have always been animated, but now it’s literal. New album ‘Cartoons’ paints a picture, allowing the UK group to reach fresh heights in the process.
Out now, it’s a vivid blast of energy, with TV Priest taking off on a quick fire tour around the country, playing multiple in-store in the process.
A full headline tour kicks off in January, and watch out for the merch stall – the band’s Charlie Drinkwater is a noted illustrator in his own right.
Writing for CLASH, he reflects on the cartoons that shaped his childhood, and you can check out some of his own illustrations, too.
“This is probably my most formative memory of watching cartoons. I used to watch these with my Grandad early on Saturday mornings, with the smell of grilled kippers drifting into the living room from the galley kitchen in my grandparents’ house. My favourite was Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. As a child I’d side with the Road Runner, but watching it again recently there’s something tragicomic and almost inspiring about Wile E., the idea of being doomed to fail but carrying on anyway.”
“My first real cultural obsession. I saw this at a tiny local cinema when I was six and it made an indelible impression on me. It was so vivid and multicoloured and full of incredible songs and voices. I’d draw pictures of Simba’s face in my sketchbook at home, save up my pocket money for the little plastic lions and constantly bug my mum for Timon and Pumbaa ice lollies when we went food shopping.”
“I first saw this as a child and it really frightened me, so much so that even as an adult I’d unconsciously avoid it. Rewatching it recently I was struck not only by how beautiful it is but also by how prescient and universal its themes are. It explores individualism and the collective, the rise of authoritarianism and fear, and how we deal with mortality and hope. Just don’t watch it with your kids.”
When the Wind Blows
“Based on the book by Raymond Briggs (who also wrote The Snowman), this is a gut punch dressed up as something cute, and I think it shows how powerful cartoons can be. I stumbled across it when I was about 19, just starting art school, and it’s a film that’s never really left me. I’d put it up there with Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ as one of the most moving and shocking anti-war artworks. It follows a naive, innocent elderly couple in the English countryside through the aftermath of a nuclear attack, and it’s by turns nostalgic, harrowing and bleak. The way the colour bleeds from the animation as the film goes on is such a simple visual motif, but it hammers home the loss of everything human and joyful. A must-watch.”
