FRENCH TV

French TV is a Louisville, Kentucky – based progressive band that has been in existence since 1983. Over the years, members have come and gone, but founder/ bassist/ main composer Mike Sary continues to drag the band into the next millennium. They have released 15 cds to date:
“French TV” [1984];
“After a Lengthy Silence” [1987];
“Virtue in Futility” [1994];
Intestinal Fortitude” [1995];
“Live: YOO-HOO!!!” [1997];
“The Violence of Amateurs” [1999];
“The Case Against Art” [2002];
“Pardon Our French!” [2004],
“This Is What We Do” [2006],

“I Forgive You for All My Unhappiness” [2010] [in two formats: 1 as a single studio disc, and also as a double cd, with the 2nd disc being a live recording from the 2009 ProgDay festival. The 2-cd set is on the Russian MALS label]

“Ambassadors Of Good Health And Clean Living” [2016] “Operation: MOCKINGBIRD” [2017]

In 2019, the 6th and 7th cds were re-issued together as a 2-cd package with bonus material. #6 was also re-mixed for this release.

In 2020, they released a 2-cd set “Stories Without Fingerprints”: One disc being new studio material; the second disc being live-in-the-studio versions of songs from their back catalogue.

Their 14th opus “All Our Failures Are Behind Us” was released in April 2021.

In November 2023, a new cd, “A Ghastly State Of Affairs” is their first release for the Cuneiform label.

Musically, they have been compared to the best progressive bands of the ’70s: National Health, Soft Machine, Zappa, Bruford, Brand X, Happy the Man, and Samla Mammas Manna, among others.

The band has toured extensively across the United States over the years, sharing gigs with the likes of Present, Volare, Michael Manring, Quarkspace, Gary Parra’s TRAP, The Mathematicians, Boud Deun, Squonk Opera, The Flower Kings, Mastermind, Rattlemouth, Miriodor, Lars Hollmer, Picchio dal Pozzo, DFA, Accordo dei Contrari, Mentat Routage, Kotobel, L’Herba di Hameli, Agents of Mercy, RWPL, FM, Soft Machine, and Univers Zero, to name a few.

They’ve played in Chicago, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Baltimore, San Diego, Athens (Georgia-we DID say the US!), Denver, San Diego, Indianapolis, Columbus, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Lexington, Milwaukee, as well as the prestigious ProgDay Festival in Raleigh, North Carolina [1997 and 2009], the 2003 BajaProg Festival in Mexicali, Mexico, the 2005 Gouveia Art Rock Festival in Portugal, the 2008 AltrOck Festival in Milan, the 2012 Prog 66 Meeting in Verviers, Belgium, and Chicago’s Progtober Festival in 2018.

 On their European tour in November 2008, they played Dax, Reims, Strasbourg, Paris, Lyon, and Wurzberg [Germany]. In 2012, they added Verviers, Wurzburg [again], Madrid, Perpignan [France], Barcelona, Toulouse, Le Mans, and Paris [again] as the latest pins on their map of the world.

Their cds have been favorably reviewed and played by radio stations across the globe: England, Spain, Germany, France, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium, Japan, Sweden, Greece, Serbia, Norway, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, Uzbekistan, Poland, …oh, and here in the Northern Hemisphere in Mexico, Canada, & the US too.