THIS MAN TALKS TO HIS REFLECTION IN THE MIRROR
He also knows how to find the G spot, wants to have a baby
and admits to nicking his early poses from Jagger, Bowie, Iggy Pop and Jim
Morrison. Is Richard Butler a strange one?
Richard Butler needs no introduction. Since the Psychedelic
Furs had that long overdue hit late last year with 'Pretty In Pink', it not
only improved his bank balance, but also reminded the British public of the
existence of a fine yet consistently underrated band. With the Furs about to
release possibly their finest album yet, 'Midnight To Midnight', as well as
undertaking an extensive tour and releasing a new single, 'Angels Don't Cry', Mr.
Butler was in London to promote the complete Psychedelic Furs package. He drank
enough tea to water-log Kew Gardens, and laced the conversation with dry wit
and infectious good humour, so if any of you had thought that the man had 'lost
it' somewhere in the land of Hershey Bars and Dial-a-Platitude, then I'm
pleased to report that that's nowhere near the truth. Even though I was number
five on the interviewing agenda, he chatted away endlessly and charmed the
little black socks off me.
I'M JUST A SINGER
IN A ROCK'N'ROLL BAND...
You've got a reputation
for being a bit of a wacko. "Have I?"
Well, if you say,
'I'm interviewing Richard Butler...' "They go, 'Good luck!' Oh, I used
to get more aggressive in interviews than I do at the moment. I don't know what
it was. I just think I was totally unprepared, being in a band, for all the
bullshit you go through, and I hated it and used to just get drunk and lagged
up!"
Does age come into
it? Maturity and all that sort of thing? (He's 31 in June)... "Well,
it gets to a point where you just figure, 'I'm going to do this because I want
people to know me and I want them to know what me and the music's all about.'
People think that rock musicians are from another planet," (could be right
here - NC) "and when you actually get to meet them, it's like some
ordinary bloke! What a bitter disappointment! Ha ha ha ha!"
Do you find people
expect you to be spouting song lyrics and have fireworks exploding in your
path, then? "I don't know, if I started thinking about that, I'd
either get incredibly vain and confused or get it incredibly wrong."
VANITY KILLS
You strike me as
being very vain. "I do? Yeah, I am pretty vain... Incredibly so!"
In what way and why? "Ha
ha ha ha ha! I really don't know. Probably insecurity! I don't think I'm the
best looking guy in the world, but then again..."
Excuse me, but the
last time RM interviewed you, you said you thought you were dead handsome! "Ha
ha ha! Yeah, it varies. Sometimes I do, but most of the time I spend thinking
I'm not. I mean, my girlfriend, Sherri, is always telling me to get the f**k
away from the mirror! I think that I spend more time in front of it than she
does! We've got a mirror in the kitchen and I go and sit in the kitchen and I
put my feet up on the wall and I'll be looking in the mirror and talking to her
- but I'm talking to my reflection! It drives her round the bend. It is
vanity... Maybe vanity is just fascination. Well, I'm fascinated!"
The last time I saw
you live, I thought to myself, 'Oh, this one thinks he's God's gift to the
girls!' "I get incredible stage fright, and the way to avoid that is
to tell yourself that you're the best thing. You've got to believe that you
look great or else you won't be doing all this posing, like I like to do to put
over my music. 'Cos you think What do I look like?' You just have to get in the
state where you believe that you are God's gift to the world."
PLAGIARISM BEGINS
AT HOME
Have you ever thought
of acting? "I have thought about it. There's been interest but... I
have been sent some scripts, but they're, like, shit, real shit. It's something
that I don't expect to be able to walk straight in and do really well.
"I think I probably really have a tendency to over-
act. It's not like the same set of things that you do on stage, and you've got
to lose your vanity as well. I think David Bowie's a good example of somebody
who's too vain to be a good actor."
Funny you should
mention him, 'cos you have been accused of copying him in the past... "Ha
ha ha! I've had a lot of comparison, and I must admit that in the past, if you
go out to be a performer, it doesn't just spring from nowhere. You know, I've
nicked stuff from Mick Jagger, Bowie, Iggy Pop, Jim Morrison... I've got my own
movements now and I don't think I look like anybody."
It's funny how you in
your turn have influenced bands, especially at the 'Gothy' end of the scale. "I've
seen bands, I won't mention them, playing with their hair like I do. I even see
them spinning round, doing little twirls on the spot and I'm thinking, 'Yeah, I
know where you f**king got that from!""
ENGLAND AND THE
NEW ALBUM
You've never been the
critics' cup of tea here, have you? They were never with you. "They
were right at the beginning, and then they built up and knocked it down. In a
way, I'd be a fool to say I absolutely didn't care. It won't ruin my life if
they unanimously hate the new album. If people still make comparisons, then
they're barking up the wrong tree."
Do you feel bitter
that the British haven't taken you to their bosoms as much as the Americans
have? "Not really, no. I don't feel bitter about anything. I think I
owe a lot to Britain. I owe the fact that I'm even in a band. I owe what I do
to bands like the Sex Pistols, the Clash et cetera. If they hadn't broken down
all those muso kind of walls, I wouldn't have had the remotest inkling to be in
a band. Finance wise, I always think Britain's very difficult for anybody. I'm
not a pop singer, I'm in a rock band and you don't get many rock bands in the
charts.
THE JIM REID 'POP
IS FACILE' DISCUSSION, PART 65
Do you think what
you're doing, in the great sphere of things, is quite facile? "Yeah, I
have been through that. Like I was saying, when I'm in the States and I pick up
the music papers and take them home, I get really depressed. Sherri doesn't
even like to have them in the house! It is facile, but on the other hand, it shouldn't
be. See, I've written songs which I would say were on the edge of facility, but
I've never gone the whole hog, thank God!
"I think what you're presented with is facile. The
pressure on fashion is facile, the pressure on youth is facile, the whole 'cute
boys' thing is facile. The pop charts tend to be facile, the whole fact that it
seems to be based on boy/girl is facile...
"I think that bands like the Velvet Underground have
made albums that I don't think are anything like facile, they're great works.
If I believed in art, I would say that they were works of art. I think art
which works for me is a film like 'Blue Velvet', or a Velvet Underground
record, it's not somebody putting paint on canvas. I think the time for that
has gone, we're in the age of media now. When people look back at the 20th
Century, they're not going to be looking at David Hockney for what art was,
they're going to be looking at Walt Disney and going 'Oh great!'
THAT OLD DEVIL
CALLED LOVE AGAIN
Are you in love? "Yeah,
I'd be in trouble if I said no!"
What's your
definition of it? "Errm, hard work! I think it's trust and respect and
work and sex. Sex probably first actually! Well, you ain't gonna fall in love
with somebody you don't want to make it with!"
Talking of sex, do
you think that there's far more pressure on how men act now in that department
than there's ever been? "I think there is pressure, but then there
should be pressure. I mean, I think the only pressure there is, is that men are
scared of being found out as lousy lays! It's not really fair, is it? I don't
think it's love when you jump on somebody then jump back off when you've had
your fill and leave the other person wanting.
"No, I think people are more aware of the
possibilities... The G spot. And you definitely know mechanics. You know,
you're aware of the where the hotspot is! And if you don't then you're really
ignorant!"
Would you say you're
a romantic? "Yeah. I think I'm idealistic as well, and that leads to a
certain cynicism. I think romance leads to a certain cynicism as well. It's
like you have romantic visions of what you've been told by the media about
love, but reality doesn't quite hit you like that. You can feel ripped off. You
know, you can see that the world's not ideal with its lack of answers, but how
do you make it ideal?
"You can get into being very cynical and angry and
that's where I think most of my anger and cynicism comes from. It's not that I
believe that this particular, party should be in government or
whatever..."
Have you ever been
sucked into the American therapist syndrome? "I've been once because my
girlfriend goes. I thought, 'oh yeah, check it out', and I didn't really know
why I was going! I don't really feel I have a problem. I mean, all the problems
I do have are, like, what makes me Richard Butler!"
Finally, what would
you like to be remembered for? "I don't know. I think I'd like to make
an album that was great enough for people to listen to in 10 years' time and
think 'Cor, he was brilliant!' Like you listen to albums now, like Edith Piaf.
That it might not be part of the mainstream of pop now doesn't mean it's not
long lasting.
"I find I can listen to our early ones, like 'Talk,
Talk, Talk', then listen to all the albums that were out at the same time that
were massively successful where that one wasn't, and I prefer 'Talk Talk Talk'.
All the other stuff hasn't aged so well."
And what about having
kids? "Yeah! I want to leave a little legacy for the world... Probably
vanity!"
