Psychedelic Furs: The Furs Cut Is The Deepest
"I HATE supporting other bands it sucks." Butler Rep, singer with The Psychedelic Furs, is reflecting on the last few days, which have seen one of the UK's hottest properties doing the obligatory routine of supporting a Big Name to gain exposure in halls they're just a few rungs down from being able to fill on their tod.
The Furs were asked to appear on the eight dates old Iggy Pop undertook over the length of Britain last month. They didn't have to fork over the usual three grand or so most groups do cos they were "Special Guests" but at the three dates Zigzag attended there was no doubt about it – the Furs were of the lowlife species Support Band often to be found nestling nervously in corners of halls waiting to set up while impatient roadies tried to get it over with ASAP. Today, as we sit nursing new-born pints in a Birmingham boozer, the Furs are smarting slightly cos Ig's backing band had done their usual check (this usually happens minus Ig for some reason), quit the stage, the Furs were setting up...only for James Osterberg to turn up and demand the hall to be completely cleared so he could have a soundcheck!
Duncan Kilburn lets rip with a force approaching that with which he blasts his saxes on stage: "The worst things happen, like in soundchecks you get chucked out of the hall by some stuck-up jumped-up American prick who prances around on stage. He may be a great guy and he may have it in him to perform but when he starts prima donna-ing about like that it makes me sick. I had work to do when I was being chucked out of the hail."
The Furs still respect Ig, cos he's still crazy at 32, doing an energetic hour and when you come face-to-face "a nice bloke". It's just the bollocks which surrounds him which, at times, smacks of '72 de Fries – "Ziggy" tactics. Making the man out to be bigger than he is. After all, only 600 at Aberdeen, Brum Odeon half full...
The Furs are gaining ground at an alarming rate. A new album – The Psychedelic Furs – two highly-rated 45s under their belts – 'We Love You' and 'Sister Europe' – and now their own tour. They've been packing out places like the Electric Ballroom for months and now it's spreading outwards. Scotland having its first Furs-taste on the Ig tour. Yes. The Psychedelic Furs have come a long way since last June, when ZZ carried a four-page article on 'em even though they were yet to sign a deal. Now they're at the critical peak, the verge of breakthrough on a large scale.
The album should see to that. It was done in a rush-two weeks at RAK studios with Steve Lillywhite (of Scream fame) interrupting Peter Gabriel sessions to produce. The sound is full, dense and booming, rather like The Scream. Content is basically the highlights of the set the Furs have been doing since their first gig with the current line-up in January last year at the Rock Garden: 'Sister Europe', 'Imitation of Christ', 'Fall', 'Pulse', 'We Love You', 'Blacks'/'Radio' and 'Flowers'/'Chaos', plus the relatively new 'India' and 'Wedding Song', which emerged from a sax riff and a drum beat in the studio.
To me 'Wedding Song' is the track that works the best. Built on a relentless treated wallop courtesy of drummer Vince and the insidious reed motif, the track is completely compulsive, heightened by the fading in and out of the guitars of John Ashton and Roger Morris. Tim Butler carries a suitably hypnotic bass plunk, while brother Rep – Richard to his mates – croaks words which are possibly the best example of his knack of getting a point across in few words. The song attacks marriage for the sake of being married.
Play another wedding song
The wedding song goes on and on...
We're useless...
'India' is another good illustration. That song – Richard's favourite – deals with the attitude of 'you're there and I'm here so your problems don't concern me.' 'I'm American ha ha ha.'
The song opens the album, a slow wash of sound gradually fading in then erupting into a typical Furs-wall of pounding drums 'n' bass, phased guitars and saxophone topping, which in this case pumps out a deadly-effective counter-riff in the 'atomic blowout' unison manner you might recall from Van der Graaf Generator.
Next, 'Sister Europe', always the set opener, and a courageous one, being a slow, meandering creeper rather than instant euphoria. Massive drums, wonder if it'll be a hit.
Never one to follow traditions, the Furs have stuck the album's two 'ballads' back-to-back on side one! 'Imitation of Christ' has gained a delicate soft-focus glide it didn't used to have live, which accentuates the drama, of the chorus.
'Fall' and 'Pulse' take side one out on waves of thrashing beat. Every time I read about 'em the Furs get their Velvets, Roxy and Bowie comparisons. Maybe, they're certainly group likes, but what really grabs me about them is the all-purpose sense of anarchy – teetering chaos always hovering in the music. If there's a Furs Sound it's this manic, careering thump. We went into all this 1967 bit last time (ZZ 95) and now more than ever I can see the way The Psychedelic Furs may be the only outfit currently imbued with the Spirit of Noise which, say, early Floyd or Velvets would thrash out and make enjoyable, compulsive and exciting, rather than art-for-art's-sake synth squealings. Side two is an even better illustration of all this, kicking off solidly with 'We love you' before 'Wedding Song', then into the home run of 'Blacks'/'Radio' and 'Flowers'/'Chaos', minutes of churning, burning power.
Criticisms? Alright. They rushed it so some bits could have been carried off a bit better, notably the occasional quality of the blurred, booming sound which lacks punch where it would have helped e.g., when 'India' bursts in. Also, sometimes Richard's lyrics are a bit too ambiguous, for all their qualities for conjuring images, and the group should be encouraged to explore around their sound – like on 'Sister Europe' and 'Wedding Song', but you know they will anyway.
Right, if you missed out on the Furs epic in ZZ 95 here's a brief history before we hop in the tour van to Manchester.
Late in '76, Richard, Tim, Duncan and Roger were having regular practice sessions in the Butler family front room, Leatherhead, Surrey. Moaning neighbours put a temporary halt. Then a year later minus Duncan but plus drummer Paul Wilson, they got serious enough to make a demo. A few gigs followed, Duncan came back in, and John Ashton, late of Roxy punkos the Unwanted, joined on his birthday after hearing the demo. Late in '78 the bones of their set were worked out and gigs increased in frequency through '79. They'd been called The Psychedelic Furs from the start.
Paul Wilson, always unreliable, finally gave over his drum stool to sixth auditioner Vince (ex-Photon) when he failed to turn up at the Zigzag Tenth Birthday Party last May. His excuse was a car crash but he was working for the Clampdown.
It was a relief to get a KEEN drummer in Vince. This was a crucial time with Epic emerging the lucky company, ripples still being caused by a stunning Peel session and gigs for the taking. Then there was the single to do. That sold respectably, the following flourished, then it was time to do the album and go out and promote. Now...
Manchester Apollo is sold out and packed. Must've been a relief seeing as the Scottish turnout wasn't exactly Sardine City.
I bowl in the foyer: They're queuing for Ig posters, tee and sweat shirts, woolly hats?!? and badges. I queue for a drink and bump into young Grant, self-styled Iggy's Number One fan who delightedly informs me he's been barred from seeing Ig before gigs cos he slipped him a trio of sulph-lines the night before with devastating results!
The Furs' sound is a muffled bash at first, a striking contrast to Iggy's crystal gale. Les Mills (who gave up being a bleach-haired Banshees roadie to manage the Furs) is battling away at the desk and by the time they roar into 'Blacks'/'Radio', after a disappointing 'Wedding Song', it's picking up.
Onstage the Furs wear black, move little – think what'd happen if they did leap about, all six of 'em colliding and falling over! Richard is Front Man, a role he is obviously still becoming accustomed to. He spends half the set squatting and intoning his lyrics, a shift from the days when he'd stalk, slither and crawl all over the place. He still does that a bit and I'm sure once Richard's found his feet, so to speak, and gotten used to big stages (he'll have to!) he'll be a rivetting presence.
Tonight's audience is seated and impassive, possibly bouncer-intimidated, or waiting for Ig. Whatever, the Furs acquit themselves well.
Decide to go out front and watch Ig tonight. Bleedin' 1812 Overture or something and on he bounds, black shirt, white strides. Proceeds to do most of Soldier, a couple each from Idiot and New Values and about 45 new songs. Things like 'Why Do You Walk In The Garbage?' and 'The Winter Of My Discontent', a ludicrous piece of ham-acting. Actually, most of 'em seemed better than the stuff on Soldier, but then the Soldier songs seemed to take on more strength on stage out of the drab production-shell.
You can take this thrusting forth of new material two ways. I ADMIRE Ig for not becoming a cabaret parody trotting out lacklustre 'No Funs' all night, but surely just one Stooge classic would have been a better set-closer than the appalling weedy 'Loco Mosquito'. As it was the crowd, obviously dying for a 'Wanna Be Your Dog', received the new stuff with polite fervour. If Ig'd paid back their patience he would have got more than the beserk reaction he craved, it was in his palm.
Despite all this there were moments when...Ig cut loose and leapt and dived into his mike stand and you could see what all the fuss could have been about ten years ago.
After this it was disconcerting to join the rest of the Manchester mob at the Osborne Club for a Joy Division benefit gig. From one Jim Morrison impersonator to another! Nah, actually they were good. Liked that syn-drum dustbin lid noise.
Next day's Birmingham. The drive is very silly indeed. This may come as a shock to all the serious youths in funny trousers who beam into Furs gigs and relish a night with Their New Kind, but the Psychedelic Furs, who have an enormous following like this in the Smoke, are relentless pissheads (cutting down before gigs though) and have a penchant for making ear-shattering moose noises through the van window at passers-by, crisp fights, boggly tubes, shaving foam battles and all manner of buffoonery. Sorry to shatter any illusions. (We don't want another 'they're just fun-loving lads really' piece do we, so that's all on that.)
But seriously, they're an odd bunch. Dog (Roger's 'silly name'), Duncan, Tim and Richard, all old friends, tend to stick together in their thrift shop suits, sneakers and unkempt 'normal' hair styles. John and Vince – the newest members – are pretty inseparable and in more the '80s rock star mould – black spiketops, scarves, boots, etc. But as John said, it might look like a divided group but as they get to know each other more this is actually something for the better.
Anyway, once we've hit Brum and the soundcheck fiasco over, a pub is sought in which to conduct an interview. Takes half an hour!
Interviewing six Furs in a crowded pub (deja vu from last time) is no easy task but we try and it's okay though no depth is reached.
ZZ: Does having all those instruments create any problems at all?
DUNCAN: There is a problem. It's not that everybody wants their contribution to be heard all the time but everyone wants their contribution to be recognised, even to the extent of leaving something out, which is the hard bit because it's like stepping down.
ZZ: How do you feel about the album?
D: After we'd done that album we felt it would have been better if we'd gone into the studios and done demos first or something.
VINCE: We did it in two weeks.
JOHN: We were told it had to be out and it's still not fucking out. Bollocks. I think now we're looking forward to going in the studio and writing some new songs.
ZZ: Why did you use Steve Lillywhite as producer?
D: Les knew him and at the time we were pretty much into it. I think he was right for our first album, but the problem was we needed a producer like the ones at the BBC that are able to put something out in eight hours, whereas Steve is very slow, he spends a lot of time thinking and working things out.
V: Steve had never seen us before. He'd heard tapes but it was totally new to him when we went into the studio. He should have seen us three or four times – what Richard's stage act is like. I'm sure he didn't have a clue. The day before he was working with Peter Gabriel.
ZZ: Does this mean you're not happy with the album?
V: It would be honest to say it was a compromise in the end. We would be happy to do some bits again.
D: It was a financial compromise as well.
RICHARD: It's very dear at RAK. Fifteen thousand it came in at.
D: There were small advantages in doing it quickly. In my opinion the best thing we've recorded was the Peel session. That really had to be spontaneous and we were really concentrating hard playing as well as we could and it was mixed so quickly. We remixed four tracks on the LP ourselves.
R: I like 'India', that's my favourite track.
ZZ: Really the album's like having your live set on vinyl.
J: Half and half – 'Imitation of Christ' and 'Sister Europe' are good live songs that came out well in the studio. 'Blacks' and 'Radio' I don't think came out that well on vinyl because they're a feeling more than anything else. Maybe they should have been put out as live things.
ZZ: Why did you do the Iggy tour?
R: He asked us to play as 'Special Guests'. We wanted to do a tour. At one point there was the possibility that we'd do The Clash tour, it was in the air. There was talk of the Ramones as well, and the Stranglers.
D: We did the Iggy one because it was the shortest. Being a support band is a situation where you're not a person.
ZZ: What's your plans?
The communal answer runs: two weeks off, rehearse, Peel session hopefully with new songs (one called 'Soap Commercial'), their own tour, a European tour, and maybe a low budget visit to the East Coast of the US.
ZZ: Seems to be very difficult for those who want to categorise the Furs, dunnit?
R: They can't at all. That's one of the things the CBS art department can't handle. They don't know how to market us. Did you see that useless advert for 'Sister Europe'?
J: We just wanna have fun. For my part I'm having fun at the moment. It's better than anything I've ever done before. Rock music is like going to the circus now. There's nothing so drastically brilliant and new that's going to change the world so fuck it, why not just make good music?.
R: On the next album I wanna do songs that are about something more definite, like when John Lennon brought out an album with songs like 'God' and 'Mother'. They were really to the point, more positive.
And on that note we turned off the machine, drained our lagers and went back to the gig, where again the Furs faced blank faces in seats, 'cept this time the hall – Birmingham Odeon – was only half full.
Again the set built up as the sound improved and by 'Flowers' they were rampant, the 'Chaos' section total insanity and noise.
The Psychedelic Furs are like six jumping beans crashing and pulling in the same pod. They fight, argue, go out of control on stage and all want different things out of 'all this'.
Beautiful chaos indeed. Hope they can channel it all into smashing down a few more rock 'n' roll fences.
"I HATE supporting other bands it sucks." Butler Rep, singer with The Psychedelic Furs, is reflecting on the last few days, which have seen one of the UK's hottest properties doing the obligatory routine of supporting a Big Name to gain exposure in halls they're just a few rungs down from being able to fill on their tod.
The Furs were asked to appear on the eight dates old Iggy Pop undertook over the length of Britain last month. They didn't have to fork over the usual three grand or so most groups do cos they were "Special Guests" but at the three dates Zigzag attended there was no doubt about it – the Furs were of the lowlife species Support Band often to be found nestling nervously in corners of halls waiting to set up while impatient roadies tried to get it over with ASAP. Today, as we sit nursing new-born pints in a Birmingham boozer, the Furs are smarting slightly cos Ig's backing band had done their usual check (this usually happens minus Ig for some reason), quit the stage, the Furs were setting up...only for James Osterberg to turn up and demand the hall to be completely cleared so he could have a soundcheck!
Duncan Kilburn lets rip with a force approaching that with which he blasts his saxes on stage: "The worst things happen, like in soundchecks you get chucked out of the hall by some stuck-up jumped-up American prick who prances around on stage. He may be a great guy and he may have it in him to perform but when he starts prima donna-ing about like that it makes me sick. I had work to do when I was being chucked out of the hail."
The Furs still respect Ig, cos he's still crazy at 32, doing an energetic hour and when you come face-to-face "a nice bloke". It's just the bollocks which surrounds him which, at times, smacks of '72 de Fries – "Ziggy" tactics. Making the man out to be bigger than he is. After all, only 600 at Aberdeen, Brum Odeon half full...
The Furs are gaining ground at an alarming rate. A new album – The Psychedelic Furs – two highly-rated 45s under their belts – 'We Love You' and 'Sister Europe' – and now their own tour. They've been packing out places like the Electric Ballroom for months and now it's spreading outwards. Scotland having its first Furs-taste on the Ig tour. Yes. The Psychedelic Furs have come a long way since last June, when ZZ carried a four-page article on 'em even though they were yet to sign a deal. Now they're at the critical peak, the verge of breakthrough on a large scale.
The album should see to that. It was done in a rush-two weeks at RAK studios with Steve Lillywhite (of Scream fame) interrupting Peter Gabriel sessions to produce. The sound is full, dense and booming, rather like The Scream. Content is basically the highlights of the set the Furs have been doing since their first gig with the current line-up in January last year at the Rock Garden: 'Sister Europe', 'Imitation of Christ', 'Fall', 'Pulse', 'We Love You', 'Blacks'/'Radio' and 'Flowers'/'Chaos', plus the relatively new 'India' and 'Wedding Song', which emerged from a sax riff and a drum beat in the studio.
To me 'Wedding Song' is the track that works the best. Built on a relentless treated wallop courtesy of drummer Vince and the insidious reed motif, the track is completely compulsive, heightened by the fading in and out of the guitars of John Ashton and Roger Morris. Tim Butler carries a suitably hypnotic bass plunk, while brother Rep – Richard to his mates – croaks words which are possibly the best example of his knack of getting a point across in few words. The song attacks marriage for the sake of being married.
Play another wedding song
The wedding song goes on and on...
We're useless...
'India' is another good illustration. That song – Richard's favourite – deals with the attitude of 'you're there and I'm here so your problems don't concern me.' 'I'm American ha ha ha.'
The song opens the album, a slow wash of sound gradually fading in then erupting into a typical Furs-wall of pounding drums 'n' bass, phased guitars and saxophone topping, which in this case pumps out a deadly-effective counter-riff in the 'atomic blowout' unison manner you might recall from Van der Graaf Generator.
Next, 'Sister Europe', always the set opener, and a courageous one, being a slow, meandering creeper rather than instant euphoria. Massive drums, wonder if it'll be a hit.
Never one to follow traditions, the Furs have stuck the album's two 'ballads' back-to-back on side one! 'Imitation of Christ' has gained a delicate soft-focus glide it didn't used to have live, which accentuates the drama, of the chorus.
'Fall' and 'Pulse' take side one out on waves of thrashing beat. Every time I read about 'em the Furs get their Velvets, Roxy and Bowie comparisons. Maybe, they're certainly group likes, but what really grabs me about them is the all-purpose sense of anarchy – teetering chaos always hovering in the music. If there's a Furs Sound it's this manic, careering thump. We went into all this 1967 bit last time (ZZ 95) and now more than ever I can see the way The Psychedelic Furs may be the only outfit currently imbued with the Spirit of Noise which, say, early Floyd or Velvets would thrash out and make enjoyable, compulsive and exciting, rather than art-for-art's-sake synth squealings. Side two is an even better illustration of all this, kicking off solidly with 'We love you' before 'Wedding Song', then into the home run of 'Blacks'/'Radio' and 'Flowers'/'Chaos', minutes of churning, burning power.
Criticisms? Alright. They rushed it so some bits could have been carried off a bit better, notably the occasional quality of the blurred, booming sound which lacks punch where it would have helped e.g., when 'India' bursts in. Also, sometimes Richard's lyrics are a bit too ambiguous, for all their qualities for conjuring images, and the group should be encouraged to explore around their sound – like on 'Sister Europe' and 'Wedding Song', but you know they will anyway.
Right, if you missed out on the Furs epic in ZZ 95 here's a brief history before we hop in the tour van to Manchester.
Late in '76, Richard, Tim, Duncan and Roger were having regular practice sessions in the Butler family front room, Leatherhead, Surrey. Moaning neighbours put a temporary halt. Then a year later minus Duncan but plus drummer Paul Wilson, they got serious enough to make a demo. A few gigs followed, Duncan came back in, and John Ashton, late of Roxy punkos the Unwanted, joined on his birthday after hearing the demo. Late in '78 the bones of their set were worked out and gigs increased in frequency through '79. They'd been called The Psychedelic Furs from the start.
Paul Wilson, always unreliable, finally gave over his drum stool to sixth auditioner Vince (ex-Photon) when he failed to turn up at the Zigzag Tenth Birthday Party last May. His excuse was a car crash but he was working for the Clampdown.
It was a relief to get a KEEN drummer in Vince. This was a crucial time with Epic emerging the lucky company, ripples still being caused by a stunning Peel session and gigs for the taking. Then there was the single to do. That sold respectably, the following flourished, then it was time to do the album and go out and promote. Now...
Manchester Apollo is sold out and packed. Must've been a relief seeing as the Scottish turnout wasn't exactly Sardine City.
I bowl in the foyer: They're queuing for Ig posters, tee and sweat shirts, woolly hats?!? and badges. I queue for a drink and bump into young Grant, self-styled Iggy's Number One fan who delightedly informs me he's been barred from seeing Ig before gigs cos he slipped him a trio of sulph-lines the night before with devastating results!
The Furs' sound is a muffled bash at first, a striking contrast to Iggy's crystal gale. Les Mills (who gave up being a bleach-haired Banshees roadie to manage the Furs) is battling away at the desk and by the time they roar into 'Blacks'/'Radio', after a disappointing 'Wedding Song', it's picking up.
Onstage the Furs wear black, move little – think what'd happen if they did leap about, all six of 'em colliding and falling over! Richard is Front Man, a role he is obviously still becoming accustomed to. He spends half the set squatting and intoning his lyrics, a shift from the days when he'd stalk, slither and crawl all over the place. He still does that a bit and I'm sure once Richard's found his feet, so to speak, and gotten used to big stages (he'll have to!) he'll be a rivetting presence.
Tonight's audience is seated and impassive, possibly bouncer-intimidated, or waiting for Ig. Whatever, the Furs acquit themselves well.
Decide to go out front and watch Ig tonight. Bleedin' 1812 Overture or something and on he bounds, black shirt, white strides. Proceeds to do most of Soldier, a couple each from Idiot and New Values and about 45 new songs. Things like 'Why Do You Walk In The Garbage?' and 'The Winter Of My Discontent', a ludicrous piece of ham-acting. Actually, most of 'em seemed better than the stuff on Soldier, but then the Soldier songs seemed to take on more strength on stage out of the drab production-shell.
You can take this thrusting forth of new material two ways. I ADMIRE Ig for not becoming a cabaret parody trotting out lacklustre 'No Funs' all night, but surely just one Stooge classic would have been a better set-closer than the appalling weedy 'Loco Mosquito'. As it was the crowd, obviously dying for a 'Wanna Be Your Dog', received the new stuff with polite fervour. If Ig'd paid back their patience he would have got more than the beserk reaction he craved, it was in his palm.
Despite all this there were moments when...Ig cut loose and leapt and dived into his mike stand and you could see what all the fuss could have been about ten years ago.
After this it was disconcerting to join the rest of the Manchester mob at the Osborne Club for a Joy Division benefit gig. From one Jim Morrison impersonator to another! Nah, actually they were good. Liked that syn-drum dustbin lid noise.
Next day's Birmingham. The drive is very silly indeed. This may come as a shock to all the serious youths in funny trousers who beam into Furs gigs and relish a night with Their New Kind, but the Psychedelic Furs, who have an enormous following like this in the Smoke, are relentless pissheads (cutting down before gigs though) and have a penchant for making ear-shattering moose noises through the van window at passers-by, crisp fights, boggly tubes, shaving foam battles and all manner of buffoonery. Sorry to shatter any illusions. (We don't want another 'they're just fun-loving lads really' piece do we, so that's all on that.)
But seriously, they're an odd bunch. Dog (Roger's 'silly name'), Duncan, Tim and Richard, all old friends, tend to stick together in their thrift shop suits, sneakers and unkempt 'normal' hair styles. John and Vince – the newest members – are pretty inseparable and in more the '80s rock star mould – black spiketops, scarves, boots, etc. But as John said, it might look like a divided group but as they get to know each other more this is actually something for the better.
Anyway, once we've hit Brum and the soundcheck fiasco over, a pub is sought in which to conduct an interview. Takes half an hour!
Interviewing six Furs in a crowded pub (deja vu from last time) is no easy task but we try and it's okay though no depth is reached.
ZZ: Does having all those instruments create any problems at all?
DUNCAN: There is a problem. It's not that everybody wants their contribution to be heard all the time but everyone wants their contribution to be recognised, even to the extent of leaving something out, which is the hard bit because it's like stepping down.
ZZ: How do you feel about the album?
D: After we'd done that album we felt it would have been better if we'd gone into the studios and done demos first or something.
VINCE: We did it in two weeks.
JOHN: We were told it had to be out and it's still not fucking out. Bollocks. I think now we're looking forward to going in the studio and writing some new songs.
ZZ: Why did you use Steve Lillywhite as producer?
D: Les knew him and at the time we were pretty much into it. I think he was right for our first album, but the problem was we needed a producer like the ones at the BBC that are able to put something out in eight hours, whereas Steve is very slow, he spends a lot of time thinking and working things out.
V: Steve had never seen us before. He'd heard tapes but it was totally new to him when we went into the studio. He should have seen us three or four times – what Richard's stage act is like. I'm sure he didn't have a clue. The day before he was working with Peter Gabriel.
ZZ: Does this mean you're not happy with the album?
V: It would be honest to say it was a compromise in the end. We would be happy to do some bits again.
D: It was a financial compromise as well.
RICHARD: It's very dear at RAK. Fifteen thousand it came in at.
D: There were small advantages in doing it quickly. In my opinion the best thing we've recorded was the Peel session. That really had to be spontaneous and we were really concentrating hard playing as well as we could and it was mixed so quickly. We remixed four tracks on the LP ourselves.
R: I like 'India', that's my favourite track.
ZZ: Really the album's like having your live set on vinyl.
J: Half and half – 'Imitation of Christ' and 'Sister Europe' are good live songs that came out well in the studio. 'Blacks' and 'Radio' I don't think came out that well on vinyl because they're a feeling more than anything else. Maybe they should have been put out as live things.
ZZ: Why did you do the Iggy tour?
R: He asked us to play as 'Special Guests'. We wanted to do a tour. At one point there was the possibility that we'd do The Clash tour, it was in the air. There was talk of the Ramones as well, and the Stranglers.
D: We did the Iggy one because it was the shortest. Being a support band is a situation where you're not a person.
ZZ: What's your plans?
The communal answer runs: two weeks off, rehearse, Peel session hopefully with new songs (one called 'Soap Commercial'), their own tour, a European tour, and maybe a low budget visit to the East Coast of the US.
ZZ: Seems to be very difficult for those who want to categorise the Furs, dunnit?
R: They can't at all. That's one of the things the CBS art department can't handle. They don't know how to market us. Did you see that useless advert for 'Sister Europe'?
J: We just wanna have fun. For my part I'm having fun at the moment. It's better than anything I've ever done before. Rock music is like going to the circus now. There's nothing so drastically brilliant and new that's going to change the world so fuck it, why not just make good music?.
R: On the next album I wanna do songs that are about something more definite, like when John Lennon brought out an album with songs like 'God' and 'Mother'. They were really to the point, more positive.
And on that note we turned off the machine, drained our lagers and went back to the gig, where again the Furs faced blank faces in seats, 'cept this time the hall – Birmingham Odeon – was only half full.
Again the set built up as the sound improved and by 'Flowers' they were rampant, the 'Chaos' section total insanity and noise.
The Psychedelic Furs are like six jumping beans crashing and pulling in the same pod. They fight, argue, go out of control on stage and all want different things out of 'all this'.
Beautiful chaos indeed. Hope they can channel it all into smashing down a few more rock 'n' roll fences.
