{"id":551,"date":"2011-07-06T07:13:43","date_gmt":"2011-07-06T12:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=551"},"modified":"2011-07-06T07:13:43","modified_gmt":"2011-07-06T12:13:43","slug":"the-psychedelic-furs-still-talk-talk-talking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/07\/06\/the-psychedelic-furs-still-talk-talk-talking\/","title":{"rendered":"The Psychedelic Furs, Still Talk Talk Talking"},"content":{"rendered":"

When presented with the specious argument that the music of the 1980s sucked, part of my own Exhibit A is the music of The Psychedelic Furs<\/strong>, especially that group\u2019s first three albums. Way back in 1979-80, around the time of its release the London group\u2019s self-titled debut was rightly hailed as innovative and groundbreaking. The group\u2019s sound drew from punk, but imbued the songs with a slower, moody and occasionally sinister vibe. In music magazine print features of the era, much was made of the fact that the band members could barely play their instruments. Speaking to bassist Tim Butler<\/strong> days before the group\u2019s July 2011 show in Asheville NC, I asked him how much of that story was hype, and how much was true.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole thing about Richard<\/strong> [Butler<\/strong>, vocalist and Tim\u2019s brother] saying, \u2018Do you want to form a band?\u2019 was that I couldn\u2019t play anything,\u201d Tim admits. \u201cI hadn\u2019t even been messing around at home with a guitar, or anything.\u201d Richard asked Tim what instrument he wanted to play. \u201cI said, \u2018bass.\u2019 And he said, \u2018Get a bass, learn to play it, and we\u2019ll form a band.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI had only been playing bass for about a year when we did our first shows,\u201d Tim recalls. \u201cI think that Roger<\/strong> [Morris<\/strong>] — the original guitarist \u2013 had been playing for a few years. John Ashton<\/strong> [guitar], for a couple of years. Duncan<\/strong> [Kilburn<\/strong>], the sax player, was barely proficient,\u201d Tim laughs. Vince<\/strong> [Ely<\/strong>] the drummer had played with a few bands, but he wasn\u2019t incredibly proficient.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all pretty much beginners at it,\u201d Tim reflects, \u201cwhich is why, I think, the sound came about. We\u2019d go into a studio, we\u2019d all be messing about on our instruments, and something would come about. If you were a taught musician, if you played a certain chord against something else, that would be a no-no. But for us, when those accidents would happen, we\u2019d say, \u201cCool. Let\u2019s do that!\u2019 And that made our sound different.\u201d There was no one there to tell them what they were playing was wrong. \u201cIt\u2019s the right way if it sounds good,\u201d Tim says.<\/p>\n

When The Psychedelic Furs<\/em> came out in the USA, it sounded like nothing else most people had heard. The record had the energy of other punk acts, but the Furs always managed to change it up in terms of tempo and general feel of songs. From the beginning the band had more texture and dimension than, say, the Ramones. \u201cA reviewer at the time dubbed our music \u2018a wall of chaos,\u2019\u201d Tim says. \u201cEverybody in the band was trying to make themselves be heard. Someone else said we sounded like \u2018a fairground in a cement mixer,\u2019\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n

In the early 80s, Tim and their bandmates considered acts including The Cure<\/strong>, U2<\/strong>, The Soft Boys<\/strong><\/a> and The Monochrome Set<\/strong> among their peers. While each group had its own signature sound, each applied something fresh and new to their brand of rock, creating enduring music in the process.<\/p>\n

Over the course of the 80s The Psychedelic Furs went from one producer to another, enlisting the skills of Steve Lillywhite<\/strong>, Todd Rundgren<\/strong><\/a> and Keith Forsey<\/strong> to help create their studio releases. For a time \u2013 and for better or worse — each change seemed to move the group in more of a commercial, mainstream direction. While each producer had his own approach, Tim says that the band\u2019s musical goals influenced their choice of producer, not the other way around. \u201cWhat influenced our direction was us listening to music around us — what was on the radio \u2013 and then we\u2019d write the songs, and choose the producer from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Many groups have latched on to the very interesting and successful idea of presenting whole albums live onstage. The Church<\/strong><\/a>, Camper van Beethoven<\/strong><\/a>, Arthur Lee and Love<\/strong>, Brian Wilson<\/strong>…the list goes on and on. On their current tour The Psychedelic Furs are recreating their second release, 1981\u2019s Talk Talk Talk<\/em> in its entirety. \u201cIt\u2019s funny,\u201d says Tim. \u201cI had an argument with Richard about this: his favorite album is Talk Talk Talk<\/em>. Mine is Forever Now<\/em> [the Rundgren-produced 1982 album featuring the hit single \u2019Love My Way\u2019].\u201d The fact that 2011 marks the 30-year anniversary of the former \u2013 featuring the original and best version of the hit single \u201cPretty in Pink\u201d — settled the argument.<\/p>\n

Asked if he foresees a time when the band might perform the first album or Forever Now<\/em>, Tim replies, \u201cAbsolutely.\u201d But, he quickly adds, \u201cDefinitely never, ever Midnight to Midnight<\/em>!\u201d That record is the group\u2019s most pop-oriented outing, and suffers from a reliance on now-dated drum machines. \u201cPeople think it\u2019s all drum machines because it\u2019s so poppy,\u201d Tim observes,\u201d but there are more real drums on there as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is talk of an eventual new album from The Psychedelic Furs, but on the current tour they\u2019ll be sticking to already-released material. \u201cSome of the songs that are in the Talk Talk Talk<\/em> set, we haven\u2019t played since the album came out,\u201d Tim says. \u201cIt\u2019s quite refreshing. It\u2019s been more than thirty years since we\u2019ve done songs like \u2018I Wanna Sleep With You\u2019 and \u2018So Run Down.\u2019 So that stops it from being the usual suspects.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough,\u201d Tim hastens to add, \u201cthe usual suspects do show up in the second set.\u201d He calls the current configuration of the band \u2013 brothers Tim and Richard Butler plus Rich Good <\/strong>(guitar), Mars Williams<\/strong> (sax) Amanda Kramer<\/strong> (keys) and Paul Garisto<\/strong> (drums) — \u201cthe best-ever touring version of the Furs.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I mention the 80s-music-sucked argument to Tim, he has a ready reply. \u201cI think that most nineties<\/em> music for the most part sucked. Rap-metal!? I think most grunge sucked. Mind you, I think it\u2019s the eighties, people said \u201870s music sucked!\u2019 All<\/em> those decades had their fair share of pretty bad music,\u201d Tim concludes. \u201cAnd hairstyles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Note: The two photos that accompany this feature are \u00a9 their original copyright owners. <\/font><\/em><\/p>\n

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When presented with the specious argument that the music of the 1980s sucked, part of my own Exhibit A is the music of The Psychedelic Furs, especially that group\u2019s first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interview","cat-41-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}