The Psychedelic Furs: Acceptable Weirdness From Furs
John Ashton, guitarist for the Psychedelic Furs, addresses the key issue head on: "What's selling out? What's being a pop band? You can accuse Eurythmics of selling out and being a pop band, or Siouxsie and the Banshees for having a hit single. What about Billy Idol? What would people say about what he's been doing?"
Ashton, on the phone from Buffalo, is discussing his peer groups: British acts that formed out of the hard-edged, late '70s punk rock surge and have found a place in the '80s mainstream. The Psychedelic Furs have taken that path and it's been a long, strange trip. In the beginning, 1980, they were a snarling, disillusioned, post-punk band. They weren't the best of players; they weren't always sober on stage; singer Richard Butler didn't always hit the right notes. But they had a fierce sound and vision. Over the past few years, beginning with the remake of 'Pretty in Pink', the Furs have mutated into something bouncier, glossier, sweeter. Commercially, it's paid off in spades. Their latest LP, the long-delayed Midnight to Midnight, is No. 36 on Billboard's chart.
But, in large part, the Furs have swapped one audience for another. New Furs fans are younger. More of them are women. And, from the old guard, there comes those charges of compromising or selling out. Musician magazine voiced it this way on a recent cover: "Will they sell their souls for success?"
"We were talking the other night, Richard Butler and I," says Ashton. "We were just chewing the fat about the whole thing and we were trying to justify it and we did justify it with each other about how it's gone. I don't think we've copped out. I don't think anything we've released has been a piece of blatant pop crap. I think anything we've recorded has been something that's identifiable with the band."
Ashton puts it this way: "I think we're like the acceptable face of weird."
A core of three musicians remains from the band's early period: Ashton, Butler, and Butler's brother Tim on bass. They're augmented by saxophonist Mars Williams, guitarist Marty Williamson, drummer Paul Garisto and keyboardist Roger O'Donnell. On stage, this can appear to be a case of three frontmen and a group of backup players. Are these others bonafide members of the Psychedelic Furs?
It's a muddy issue. "How it's seen can be very misleading," says Ashton. "It's hard to make sense of it. In a way, we're very much equals. They're not just sidemen — they're very special people. Mars Williams is the world's best saxophone player, without a shadow of a doubt." Yet, Ashton acknowledges the Furs are pretty much marketed as a trio. And Butler has very consciously been pushed into the fore as the band's focal point.
"Performing-wise," says Ashton, "he's really being a showman. From that, I think there's a deeper understanding about what's involved in the music. It's a phase, a good one. We've all gone through so many changes and it's taken quite a while to get this together. There's always been a weird relationship within the whole vibe of the Furs. But it's like we're coming back and thinking a bit more about our roots — the Doors and the Velvet Underground. It's kind of a rediscovery period and a rediscovery within ourselves."