Interview with Tim Butler
LJ. Have you ever been discouraged enough to quit the business?
TB. Yes, we had this period after our last album came out and we were kind of floundering. We had gotten away from the original sound and direction behind the band and gone in a more commercial direction. It took putting the compilation album together for us to realize how far we had strayed. Luckily we got it back together and did this new album which I think is a return to our original sound.
LJ. Is it possible the commercial success you achieved was not a good thing?
TB. Well yes and no. It was a good thing because it got our name through to more people but it also puts us on the course of feeling we had to repeat that success.
LJ. Was there ever a time early on, that your label tried to get you to make your sound more commercially acceptable?
TB. No! We’ve been very lucky that way. The record company never bothered us, they never hung around the studio and offered suggestions. Not that we would have listened anyway.
LJ. How extensive is this tour?
TB. We’re over here until the middle of January, then to England are back here in the spring to do some outdoor arena shows. We’re all looking forward to this tour because we’re back to the sound we originally started with.
LJ. With the selection you have, how do you decide what songs to do in the show?
TB. We sat down and put our personal favorites in a pot. We will rehearse 30 songs, that’s each one of our favorites plus the songs that we feel show off our music the best.
LJ. How long can the Furs go on?
TB. It’s hard to say, look around you’ll see people like the Rolling Stones touring and putting out good new music. It’s really hard to say, next week, 10 years. No one’s able to read the future or else we’d all be millionares.