Psychedelic Furs – Past Into Present
It takes a brave band to admit their mistakes. It takes a
braver band to admit their mistakes when they fly in the face of commercial
success. The Psychedelic Furs have done this and taken is one step further with
one step back, one step beaver with Book of Days. After analyzing the artistic errors
of their recent work, they returned to an earlier, more tenuous path. Tracks on
the new album scream “Psychedelic Furs!” rather than “Hit Single!”
The band was displeased with their efforts just prior to Book
of Days. Despite the sales figures that the album’s accessibility allowed, 1987's
Midnight to Midnight strayed far from the Furs ‘original vision. This was little
wonder in the light of the numerous changes they had gone through, as half the band
had been pared away since their eponymous 1980 debut, leaving a core of guitarist
John Ashton and the Butler brothers, vocalist Richard and bassist Tim. Finding
native London too claustrophobic, they relocated to New York: in five albums
they had worked with almost as many producers. They began their turn-around
with ‘All That Money Wants’, a new single which appeared on their All of This
and Nothing compilation album in 1988. Drummer Vince Ely, who departed after
Forever Now, rejoined the Furs, and they returned to London to record with
Stephen Street favored by the band for his work with The Smiths “How Soon Is
Now.” However the “greatest hits” package was not what the band originally envisioned.
They intended to assemble their favorite tracks, regardless of popularity, but
bowed to pressure for sales.
Book Of Days marks a homecoming. Co-produced by the Furs
with Dave Allen (Chameleons, The Cure) it glints like light through the leaves
in a dense forest. Tracks bear an initial resemblance to the Cure album cuts
rather than pop singles, but with Richard's smoke and cinders supplanting Robert
Smith’s slippery soap-across-a- wet-tub delivery. Complex sounds intertwine. Jem
Finer of the Pogues provided the hurdy-gurdy on ‘Shine’, the albums spiraling opener,
and a cellist makes “Torch” warmly haunting. The title track hints of hope
within the desolation. It is a renewal of all that defines the Psychedelic
Furs.
John Ashton joined the band shortly after their inception
and had been there ever since. Our conversation, a few days before the US tour,
didn’t leave me in stitches. He offered no broad insight into the way of the
world or biting remarks tossed in for mere shock value. But he displayed a firm
grasp on all aspects of the Psychedelic Furs: what and who they are, ‘their
triumphs and pitfalls, their history and their future. He reflected the lyrical
outlook of the band, concentrating on personal rather than over-blown, all-encompassing
statements.
I noted that Richard decided to take a break to reassess your position after the band came out with Midnight to Midnight. Did the Furs consider breaking up at that time? “No, and I don’t think he took anytime off to reassess the position, either,” replied John. “That's a load of bullshit put out by the record company. We all decided to reassess our position. He was not the only one. Yes, we looked at it and looked at what we’d done. Didn’t like it much and it was time to realize what we were actually good at and what we weren't good at.”
“So what didn’t the band like about Midnight to Midnight?”
“That it took too long and that it was not really what we
were about. If you look back, our earlier albums are more of what we're about.”
he emphasized. “Didn't really know what we were doing. There was not anything there
lyrically that was interesting. There was nothing musically that was
interesting. So, we basically just were chasing commercial success in some way,
shape or form. And we realized that we weren't doing the right thing.”
I wondered if having the retrospective of All of This and
Nothing created a regenerating energy for the band, but John refuted this. “Not
really. It didn’t do anything commercially... And it really didn’t turn out
what we wanted it to be because we wanted it to be a retrospective of the band,
not of our greatest hits, as it were. Or nearest misses,” he dryly comments. “And
that’s a thing brought about by the record company. They suggested that we do
it. Then when we turned around and gave them the list of our songs, we had a
big argument with them because they wanted other songs on it. They wanted the
‘Heaven's’ and the ‘Heartbreak Beat's’ and the ‘Pretty in Pink’s’. That's not
really what we wanted to do at that time. That was the beginning. When we realized
that we were putting an album together of our favorite music, that's when we
really began to sit down and discuss what was good about the band.”
Had the Furs had problems with the record company all along or was it just at that point? “No, that was just one of those things. I just brought that up to illustrate a point. The record companies are all the same. By and large, most bands have to put up with the same sort of thing anyway,” he concluded.
After working out of New York after several years, what was
it like to return to London to do an album again? “Very refreshing, very good
to get back to the place where we recorded our first two albums and there's a
good scene there musically. But it didn’t really have much of an effect on what
we were doing,” he pointed out. “There were good facilities there for rehearsing
and recording. And it was just nice to be in the same studio that we'd done those
earlier albums in with more or less the same sort of band and the same kind of
vibe, really.”
Has the return of Vince Ely affected the rest of the band
much? “Yeah. It's reaffirmed a musical balance within the band. It means that
he will let you in on what he thinks about what's going on musically and it
makes it a much more one-on-one kind of situation. We're able to assess our
work as we go along as opposed to waiting till we've recorded it and mixed it
and toured it and so forth and so on. So it brings it back into focus a little
bit, him back in the band. He played on the first three albums and it did make
a big difference. The moment he walked back in and started hitting those drums,
it was like ‘Hello, old friend.” It was nice to have him back. ”
The Furs worked with a lot of different producers over the
years. Have any of them had any particular significant impact on the group? “Well,
they all have in some way because they've all been very different. Steve
Lillywhite (The Psychedelic Furs, Talk, Talk, Talk) was very important because
he was the first producer we worked with at any length and he helped create a
certain vibe in the studio for the band, with the band. Todd Rundgren (Forever
Now) was totally different to work with. A very interesting character,” he
commented. Some have said that he can be very dictatorial in the studio. Did
the band find that a problem? “No, I think he’s only dictatorial if you don’t
know what you want,” John reasoned. “And at that time, we did, so we were
lucky. We didn’t find that side of him at all. Keith Forsey (Mirror Moves) was
definitely a very easy going guy to work with... good fun to work with in the
studio. And Chris Kimsely (Midnight to Midnight) also was very good to work
with, who, unfortunately, he had to deal with not such great songs. So he had a
very hard job,” was John's honest reaction.
Has there beenany particular reason that you've kept shifting
producers rather than staying with one? “I don’t think there's any hard fast
rule, basically. We've shifted around because we've felt like working with
different people...working with Dave Allen was also another good experience
because it felt like he didn’t really get in the way of what we were doing. And
he just made sure it stayed on course,” he praised.
Considering that the band co-produced Book of Days with him,
do you foresee a time when the band will take full production duties on? “I
don’t know. It's a very difficult to say because you get too precious about
what you're doing. You do definitely need someone there to mediate.”
Considering the numerous shifts that you've had in line-ups
, producers and also in what you've called home base, would you say that the
band thrives on instability? “I guess that's a good way of putting it,” he admitted.
“I think we thrive when we're onstage.” Does the band make a conscious effort
to remain on the edge or is that just circumstance. “Just circumstances,” John
echoed. “I don’t think we really particularly look forward to making any of
what we do difficult. Or any more difficult that is really is. It does seem to be
true, though, that the band does work better under pressure.”
You wouldn't go bringing in new members or kicking people out
just for the sake of variety? “No, we prefer a certain stability,” said John.
“Unfortunately, we've not always able or lucky enough to have that. And hence, the
line-up changes. People coming and people going. More people going than people coming
back into the fold, Vince being one of them. I felt that his return to the band
marked a very important phase in the groups’ career, musically speaking.
Socially as well.”
Would you say that you, Richard and Tim provide stabilizing
forces for the band when everything else has been wavering? “No directly,
because there are always other influences and extenuating circumstances which
one finds oneself in from time to time. Say, a band member will want to leave
because he wants to pursue his own career. We really didn’t have much choice.
And we had to find another drummer. Then that drummer we toured with, but found
that he wasn’t the right man to go into the studio with. So therefore we then
found another drummer who we found great to work with live and we thought he was
pretty good to work with in the studio. But it all came to light when Vince returned
to the band that he was actually sorely missed. So it’s really six of one, half
a dozen to the other. It’s nothing that we ever actually set out to do. The
thing that we did set out to do was to get back and be the Psychedelic Furs
again as opposed to being a different version. We just wanted to be what we
were best at doing."
You made a conscious effort to go back and look at what you
had been built on. “Looking at All of This and Nothing really helped because it
put our favorite songs onto one album, but we had to make concessions for the
record company, unfortunately, later. But it did help to get us all together
thinking about where we'd come from and where we'd got to. “You’re happy with
where you are now? “Yes, very happy,” he declared. “Definitely a step in the right
direction, a footback on the rung. Whereas we felt that the ladder had inadvertently
been kicked from beneath us.”
Since all the lyrics are written by Richard and your
biography seemed to indicate that a lot of the band reflects his own vision,
how do you and the other members make sure that your own views are included? “Well,
musically speaking that’s very straight ahead. I play what I play. And if Richard
suggests anything else, I will take notice of it. Lyrically, I don’t really
involve myself in it too much because it's very difficult to try and write
lyrics as a team. He's always written the lyrics to the music, for better or
worse: he’s the lyricist... and it's really an amalgamation of all those
things. Socially, we tend to interact on political issues or so-kind of common
ground and he knows how we feel about things,” John explained.
The lyrics, though, don’t take any overly political or
social conscious overtones. “No, Richard tries to steer clear of that because
he feels that just is too dating and it’s ‘also not what he’s about. He tends
to speak more from personal experience and he tries not to preach. He also
doesn’t believe in the kind of U2/Bono ethic of “We are all great and we will
rule the world and it’s all wonderful and let's all join hands.” Because it means
shit as far as he’s concerned. U2 end up being extremely rich and their fans
end up being just their fans. I don’t think they change anybody’s life. It’s
all this camaraderie thing of ‘we will be free. We will conquer. We will
survive.” Conquer what? Survive what? He feels that it’s just bullshit,” John
scoffed.
So the band would rather deal with things on a more
personal, one-to-one level. “Yeah, If someone can get something out of our
music, then that’s great. Richard doesn’t want to stand and make a big deal out
of lyrics that happened to sound good when they come out of your mouth,” John
concluded.
A week after our talk, the Furs embodied much of John's
description in performance. Vince Ely provided a grounding for the other members,
including an additional guitarist and keyboard player. John hovered near Vince's
drum set throughout, while Richard and Tim used the area for a base for
their wanderings. Although they included
many of their singles, ‘Heartbreak Beat was a noticeable omission. ‘Dumb Waiters’
flared rage, while ‘Pretty in Pink’ recaptured the ‘Sweet Jane’ riff that was
muffled in their re-recorded version. ‘Love My Way’, half way into the set, finally
reignited those fans who were hesitant to show their enthusiasm.
Richard furnished the visual focus: crouching low to peer
into the crowd, spinning like a toreador, engaging in Jaggeresque calisthenics,
and tugging at his layers of clothing. Tim started to prowl during ‘Entertain
Me’, their third number. He stalked the stage like an assasssin seeking the perfect
angle for the shot. The Psychedelic Furs achieved their American commercial
breakthrough with ‘Love My Way’ during the “Second British Invasion” of the
early ‘80's. Bands like Spandau Ballet and Heaven 17 of that same period faded
once again into obscurity and their works maintained an unmistakable ring of that
era. The Furs have rejuvenated a sound with Book of Days, so that they are at
once true to their original incarnation and fresh enough for a new decade.
