Iowa punks TV Cop headline show at Juggernaut Music

By Rick Abasta
Navajo Times

GALLUP – Southern Iowa power pop punk band TV Cop headlined Juggernaut Music for the “2023 I Want to Leave Tour” Sept. 16.

TV Cop is Dakota Cairns (vocals/guitar), Tyler “TP” Price (bass), Lucas Clark (vocals), and Chris Mason (drums).

They were joined by local acts Rei Gurren and the Painguins, along with fellow traveling bands, On Hiatus and Gunk Lung, for a Saturday night punk show filled with humorous stage hi-jinks and pop punk sensibility.

Juggernaut Music sound technician Cody “Toady” Kelly brought out the band and initially met the band in 2017 when he lived in Ottumwa, Iowa.

Kelly and Juggernaut Music owner and proprietor Ernie Santiago booked the band.

“They first played here at Juggernaut last year for the first year of ‘Punktoberfest,’” he said. “Punktoberfest will be going down for its second annual event on Friday, the 13th of October.”

About 50 people filled the confines of the Juggernaut for the Saturday night show.

Kelly noted that it was pretty successful, considering that most of the Juggernaut staff and local fans were in Albuquerque to see GZA from Wu-Tang Clan perform in downtown Albuquerque for free the same night.

“Punk rock didn’t die. It’s still alive here in Gallup, New Mexico,” he said. “Doing sound for (TV Cop) twice now was an extremely rewarding moment. It made everything (come) full circle.”

TV Cop frontman Dakota Cairns and his bandmates have continued touring since the pandemic finally broke. They had just started the latest tour when they pulled into Gallup Saturday night.

“We’ve been on tour for a week with two other Iowa bands, Gunk Lung from Iowa City and On Hiatus from Des Moines,” Cairns said.

TV Cop has been performing together as a band since 2017.

He said the band has two albums out currently, “Season Three,” released in 2019, and the five-song EP “TVCSW,” released in 2020. He said the band’s new album is set to drop Nov. 17.

“Last night was the second time we have played Gallup and the third time we’ve played in New Mexico,” he said. “(We played) the night before at Gate City in Raton.”

During the band’s headlining set at Juggernaut, they performed “Am I Dumb,” “Pre 9-11,” “Anyway,” “Whale Jr.,” “Iowa City Five,” “Survivor,” “Groundhog Day,” and “Superman Lives.”

Traveling the country as full-time musicians dealing with the current state of the American economy has impacted the band.

“It’s extremely expensive to do anything as of late. It obviously affects turnout and merchandise sales, which is how bands, even bigger than us, are making it work,” he said. “Streaming pays absolutely nothing, so you depend on getting out there and selling shirts.”

Cairns said during the pandemic, Covid halted any momentum the band had going for them, and they had to cancel shows and tours, like much of the gig economy at that time.

“We recorded ‘TVCSW’ and made a music video during quarantine, but thankfully, we came out the other side healthy,” he said.

The band is on the label Bloated Kat Records and said some bands for fans to check out would include Teenage Bigfoot from Philadelphia, Heavy Lag from New York City, Spliff Tank from Iowa, Sekunderna from Sweden, Nanny from Massachusetts, and the Painguins from Gallup.

“Live music is important because it creates a community for like-minded people, whether they play instruments or not. It’s also important to have shows that are for all-ages. Without younger people being able to go to shows and starting bands, your local scene dies out,” Cairns said.

An exciting aspect of TV Cop’s current tour has been the inclusion of Chris Mason as drummer for the band. Mason is the drummer for Gallup band, the Painguins.

“It’s been great, we played from New Mexico to New York and six other states in between this year, and we plan to do more next year,” he said. “Chris is a great musician and an even better dude.”
You can find the music of TV Cop on all streaming platforms, and shirts and vinyl are available for purchase on the band’s Bandcamp site.

“We just want everyone to know we love Gallup and New Mexico, the people, and the scene,” Cairns said. “We will keep making the 20-hour drive every year we can and are planning our trip next year already.”

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