Who is dan treacy

A few months ago I received an email from Bjorn Copeland of Black Dice about my fanzine from back in the day called Communication Blur. Apparently, it is being distributed by Television Personalities fans in New York.

I'm not a nostalgic person, but the first TVP gig I saw in changed my life. TVP's live sets were incredible; shambling, full of whimsy, camp and fey, but under the influence of the amphetamine-crazed mod rush of the 60s.

Treacy's appearances were legendary and he became a kind of pied piper for London music fans. He captured British pop culture in a particularly unique and musical fashion, and where he went I followed. It wasn't just TVPs that fascinated me. Treacy's own record company Whaam! His merging of the classic psychedelic template with the DIY ethics of punk rock informed the early acts of Creation Records including the Jesus and Mary Chain.

In fact, Creation employed and released albums by two of the original TVPs: Joe Foster and Edward Ball, whose recorded efforts comprised the label's early discography. Treacy's world was no longer painted in twee Day-Glo colours with camp references — he was now mainlining his own reality. The Painted Word was not without controversy. The first single A Sense of Belonging featured the face of a battered child. Rough Trade refused to have anything to do with the album but it found a release via Illuminated Records.

The title refers to a Tom Wolfe novel, and to the author's search for a sense of reality in art. Treacy was seeking truth in music and with this album he succeeded. Television Personalities. In early May , members of the Yahoo discussion group set up for Television Personalities learned of the whereabouts of one Daniel Treacy. The news, revealed by Dan himself, was that he is currently a guest in one of Her Majesty's prisons. This was done, and Andy sent it to the Yahoo group. Dan himself asked for the information to be made public.

Since Dan Treacy dropped out of sight in the latter half of the Nineties, rumours have surfaced occasionally with tales of drug abuse, breakdowns, homelessness For a start, it was difficult to prove or disprove these rumours.

People don't seem to want to talk about the decline of somebody they admire and care about. Perhaps they didn't want to believe that it had come to this. Many fans of Television Personalities, particularly those who knew him personally in his gigging days, seem coy about talking about Dan, his condition, his whereabouts. Perhaps they feel they're betraying a friend by sharing gossip.

Once the TVP's have snared you, it becomes like that. You become involved. You care. The man is the music. You can't just walk away from it. It's part of the appeal of that particular band, a joyous, creative force teetering on disintegration, played out in the public's gaze.