Alt-rockers Daytime TV rise and shine at Soho record shop basement surprise gig

Daytime TV brought big riffs, catchy choruses and a healthy disregard for mortality to an intimate London basement show this week.

There’s nothing like contemplating your own death in a Soho record shop on a warm summer evening. Daytime TV, the fast-rising alternative rock quartet, managed to make it sound like a great night out.

The Luxe Review was among the guests invited to an exclusive performance at Third Man Records, where the band played to a compact crowd of friends and media, following the release of their latest single, ‘Creatures’.

The band revelled in the tiny space, dropping huge hooks into the subterranean room. 

Daytime TV have been building towards this point since forming in 2020. The band, comprising vocalist Will Irvine, guitarist John Caddick, bassist Naomi Boschetti and drummer Gareth Thompson, have shared stages with You Me At Six, Twin Atlantic and Two Door Cinema Club, while also appearing at BST Hyde Park and Mad Cool Festival.

Earlier this year, they signed to Marshall Records, also home to The Molotovs and Nova Twins. ‘Creatures’ is the group’s third single for the label, following ‘Pause’ and ‘Sun’.

At its heart, ‘Creatures’ asks a simple question: what would you do if you had one day left on Earth?

Irvine sings: “This is where I wanna be found when I drop dead.”

It’s a line that grew out of a real world experience. A couple of years back, the singer became ill, leaving both him and the band uncertain about what might happen next.

“It’s a playful look at mortality, when you zoom out and see that we’re all just creatures crawling around this little planet. If we didn’t take everything so seriously, if it was your last day on Earth, you’d just get your friends together and have a massive rave.”

The band closed their short set with the furious rocker, ‘Anger MGMT’. We left suitably exhilarated.

“If it was your last day on Earth, you’d just get your friends together and have a massive rave…”

The story behind Daytime TV’s Creatures

For Irvine, the backstory to ‘Creatures’ is deeply personal.  

He recalls playing London’s Roundhouse while seriously unwell. “I don’t remember a single thing from the show,” he said. “Before it even started, I was fully hallucinating, with spots all over my vision. I was just sitting in the corner shivering and had a full-body rash.

“The joint pain was so insane that I was on a lot of drugs. I had to leave for the stage ten minutes before the rest of the band because I was essentially crawling down the corridor, but I was determined to play.”

Friends and fans later told him it was one of the best shows the band had played.

“What I do remember is being on stage and the pain disappearing,” Irvine said. “The adrenaline and my sense of purpose completely took over. Up until then, my existence had been about just trying to stay alive, and suddenly I was doing my favourite thing in the world and everything else washed away.”

Afterwards, he said, his bandmates had to carry him into a taxi. “They were angels throughout the whole experience.”

The illness continued over several periods and was difficult to diagnose. “One GP even referred to me as her ‘mystery patient’,” he says. The decision was made to treat him with a very high dose of steroids.

“Three days later, the symptoms started fading,” he said. “I’m not religious but I can only describe it as a religious experience.

“I now have a clear view of what is important in life and, more importantly, what isn’t. Anxieties that seem massive are trivial in the scheme of things and I’m not going to leave things unsaid anymore. I feel very lucky to have been woken up by this experience.”

Daytime TV tour dates 2026

For those who were unable to squeeze into the Third Man Records basement, Daytime TV are heading out on the road this autumn for a run of dates across the UK and Europe. 

The tour begins in Hamburg on September 17, followed by Paris on September 23. The UK dates start at Hull’s New Adelphi Club on October 14 and continue through Coventry, Newport, Milton Keynes, Bournemouth, Liverpool, Sheffield and Edinburgh.

The October shows are being staged in association with Music Venue Trust and Marshall’s Keep Live Music Alive campaign, supporting grassroots venues at a time when many remain under pressure.

Daytime TV play Kaiserkeller in Hamburg on September 17 and Supersonic in Paris on September 23.

The UK tour then visits the New Adelphi Club in Hull on October 14, Tin Music and Arts in Coventry on October 15, Le Pub in Newport on October 16, Crauford Arms in Milton Keynes on October 17, Bear Cave in Bournemouth on October 18, The Quarry in Liverpool on October 28, Yellow Arch in Sheffield on October 29 and Cabaret Voltaire in Edinburgh on October 30.