“The word ‘fan’ might be slightly overstating it,” explains Daytime TV singer and guitarist Will Irvine, when quizzed about a certain A-list celebrity whom the band have been known to name as being an admirer.

“She came to a show of ours in London,” Irvine goes on. “And none of us know how or why. I think maybe one of her friends at the time was a fan. All we know is we came offstage, and everyone was like: ‘Margot Robbie’s here!’ Then we had an aftershow party, and lo and behold, there she was. Although we were all too nervous to talk to her.

“She apparently likes listening to our tunes,” Irvine continues, “but, you know, we’re not in touch with her or anything. We don’t know her personally. But she did come to our show and seems to like our tunes. So go Margot.”

The Oscar nominated Australian actress – star of Suicide Squad, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and The Wolf of Wall Street among other blockbusters – isn’t the only one to have switched on to this Anglo-Scottish pop-rock four-piece currently fast rising in the ratings. Daytime TV’s debut album Nothing’s On But Everyone’s Watching – produced by the Grammy-nominated Romesh Dodangoda (Bring Me The Horizon, Twin Atlantic, Lower Than Atlantis) – was streamed 300,000 times within its first three days of release back in February. A unique flavour of it can be derived from Daytime TV’s exclusive Scotsman Sessions performance – a stripped-back version of their latest single Little Victories. It’s a song, says Irvine, “about a relationship between two people that didn’t necessarily work out. It’s the bits that you keep for yourself that allow you to move forward, and kind of that self-empowerment, and just finding strength in those little victories so that you can kind of crack on with your life once that thing has happened to you.”

Daytime TV got off to a bit of a challenging start. Based between Edinburgh (Irvine) and London (guitarist John Caddick, bassist Chris Clark and drummer Gareth Thompson), the band were formed in 2020 amid the stop-start of lockdowns. “We were born in the whole period of the Zoom call,” as Irvine puts it – the frontman trekking up and down the country for rehearsals and recording sessions whenever he could, kipping on his bandmates’ couches. Then, in the midst of all that, Irvine ended up catching a nasty bout of covid which left him mostly homebound and suffering flu-like symptoms for the best part of seven months. “We did a photo shoot during that time,” Irvine recalls, “I look at the photos now and I don’t look so great. I look close to my deathbed.”

But happily, Irvine made a full recovery, and the band finally got around to releasing a string of singles throughout 2021 – Communication, Ugly and Zombie – which fast began creating a media and playlist buzz for them. Finally, in November last year, Daytime TV were able to make their live debut with a short run of shows around the country – including one in London attended by a certain superstar “fan”.

If you happen to be reading this by the way, Margot Robbie, Daytime TV would love for you to star in one of their videos. “Come to our next London show!” says Irvine. “We’re gonna keep putting you on the guestlist until you do.”

For more on Daytime TV, visit https://www.daytimetvmusic.com/

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The Scotsman Sessions #311: Daytime TV