You Were Loved: Tv people sing about the importance of seeking help

Post-punk band TV People are hoping to convey the importance of seeking help when you need it, with the release of their new single ‘You Were Loved’.

The affecting song was written by TV People’s frontman Paul Donohoe – whose commanding baritone voice is at the forefront of the track – and Kilmainham-based drummer Bren Clarke.

The lyrics for ‘You Were Loved’, written by Paul, came about after a Covid-imposed period of reflection, which saw the singer ruminating on the loss of a loved one to suicide.

Paul and Bren told The Echo about the message they want to get across with their new single, what the process of creating the song was like, and their recent success in the UK and Ireland.

You recently played a sold-out show in Whelan’s, what was that experience like for you?

Bren: Selling out that show and seeing so many new faces in the audience was an incredible surprise for us and we are so grateful that our music managed to resonate with people during such hard times.

Whelan’s is such an iconic venue for Irish guitar bands, and it was such a cool setting for us to celebrate our first headline show back.

You also recently played your first UK show and your new single ‘You Were Loved’ was played on Radio X. What does it mean, to you, to bring your music to a UK audience?

Bren: We massively appreciate any support our music receives, whether it’s from online blogs, print publications like The Echo, radio stations, or streaming services like Spotify.

We self-release our music out of passion and a desire to create art that connects with others.

Radio support, to this day, definitely still has the power to generate a huge buzz around emerging artists.

Getting played on Radio X was really exciting for us, as the station has such a cool history in alternative rock and a huge listener base.

Our music has been getting attention in the UK which was one of the reasons we recently did a mini-tour over there.

‘You Were Loved’ deals with the loss of a loved one to suicide, did you find this quite a difficult song to write or did it flow fairly naturally?

Paul: I feel this song was a very easy one for me to write the lyrics to. I got Covid a couple of months ago, just before Christmas Eve, and was forced to isolate in my apartment in Dublin for the holidays.

I had a lot of time on my hands for reflection and I found myself thinking back on the person’s life and passing long periods during those few days.

This rumination led to me becoming very emotionally overwhelmed and upset, so I turned to my acoustic guitar for release.

What would go on to become the opening verse and bridge of the song flowed out almost immediately.

It was a very cathartic experience. I couldn’t play or listen to the song for a long time without welling up.

I sent a rough phone recording of what I had over to Bren and the two of us got into our rehearsal room after the break and finished writing the song together in a very short amount of time.

Does the family of the person who passed away know this song is about their loved one, and if so, what do they think of it?

Paul: When we first got the master of the song back, I sent it out into wider circles of family and friends, so I’m sure that they have heard it by now.

I didn’t explicitly tell anyone what or who the song was about but it’s fairly evident, to people who know me, from the lyrics.

I didn’t want to approach family members and explicitly state the meaning.

The song is very much about my own personal experience with this loss, and I didn’t want to impose my own emotions or perspectives onto anyone else who was more closely impacted by it than I was.

What message do you hope to convey with ‘You Were Loved’?

Paul: All of the emotions that fuelled this song were born out of its opening line: ‘No one ever speaks about it. It’s as if it hadn’t happened.’

There is such a stigma in this country surrounding the ‘sin’ of suicide that we have yet to bury in the past where it belongs.

When the person whom this song is written about died by suicide, it seemed that all discussion and celebration of their life stopped for fear that someone might bring up how it ended.

It felt like their memory was replaced with a void of nothingness, and this brought all of my emotions to the surface when we were writing the tune.

I wanted the song to be a testament to their existence and everything that they meant to me, as well as an outlet for the complex emotion of grief I was feeling.

The main message I would want people to take away from the song is to always turn to family and friends for support when you need it.

You will never know how much you mean to those around you.

‘You Were Loved’ is out now on all streaming services.

For more information, visit @tvpeopleband on Instagram and Facebook, or @tvpeople_band on Twitter.