Two and a half years ago, the boys from the London area decided to form a band- none of them could play instruments. They were looking to escape the hardcore punk sound- they sought an unoriginal voice. Labeled as forerunners of the new psychedelic age of music, they created a sound that's both paradoxical and anachronistic. The lyrics are new wave in timbre and arrangement, a compilation of the thoughts of all six members. They are: Roger Morris and John Ashton on guitars, Duncan Kilburn on sax, Vince Ely on drums, Tim Butler on bass, and Richard Butler, whom I spoke with, on vocals. Their new album TALK TALK, TALK is available on Columbia Records
KAREN CASTELLANO: The Psychedelic Furs- I love that name.
RICHARD BUTLER: Oh, so you're ready to ask us about that....
When we started, all the bands in England were called The Clash, The Sex
Pistols or the Razor Blades- all these vicious sounding names and we thought
that we didn't want to get sucked in.... There were so many punk bands in
England then, they were coming out of the woodwork, and we didn't want to get
tied in with all that, so we chose a name that would separate us. People would
say, "Oh, they can't possibly be a punk band." And that was the
reason, without us taking vast quantities of LSD or anything like that.
KC: So, that wasn't a prerequisite for joining the band?
RB: Hardly.
KC: Your lyrics have a very dream-like, hallucinogenic
quality, a sort of stream of consciousness approach.
RB: You don't have to take drugs to do that. The surrealists
used to do automatic writing.
KC How long has the band been together?
RB: Like it is, about two, two and a half years. Before that
we thought about the idea of the band.
KC: You released the first album in 1980, the second, TALK,
TALK, TALK in 1981.
RB: We're a one-album-a-year band. CBS wanted us to be a
two-album-a year- band, but we didn't feel we were ready for that. We're
supposed to do two albums a year for five years-that's how it's written in our
contract-we'll be doing it for ten years. They've been really good to us. They
haven't tried to make us sound more commercial or whatever.
KC: Does the band classify itself as part of any musical
genre?
RB: No. The English press said we're part of the "New
Psychedelic Era" along with bands like U2 and Echo and the Bunnymen. But
it's not really true.
KC: What sets the Psychedelic Furs apart from other bands?
RB: The results of six people playing at once and it doesn't
leave anyone out....
KC: I like Duncan's sax. It adds a jazzy, kind of melodic
end to the music.
RB: That's because he can't play. We played with the band
the other day and Duncan really blew something at the end of one song and what
a difference it made. Better than a four piece band, better than a five piece
band; an extra guitar, a sax...and it sounded like the Psychedelic Furs.
KC: What was some of the music that influenced you?
RB: Bob Dylan around the time of Highway 61, the Seeds, the
Supremes, the Beatles around the time of Sergeant Pepper and Magical Mystery
Tour; the Rolling Stones.
KC: Certain images keep cropping up in songs like So Run
Down and We Love You: blue cars, shoes, trains, cigarettes. Are cultural
symbols really important to you?
RB: Yes, but they don't make that much of a difference. What
the songs are basically trying to say is, "Don't believe that anything is
what you're told it is-don't believe the word love means holding hands and
giving each other flowers, and talking to each other in baby. talk and all
that." It's like you're told what love is through the media, through advertising.
All the songs are saying is make up your mind as to what love is; all they're
saying is don't believe what you're told to be.
KC: There's a bit of a mocking tone, but it's not really
cynical.
RB: I think the second album-I wouldn't say cynical-sounds a
bit sad in a lot of ways.
KC: I think so.
RB: I believe the songs to be about love, but they're not
love songs; they're different points of view-they're not all my point of view.
It's like when you write a book, you're not every person in the book; it's done
from different points of view. It's like in I Wanna Sleep With You, it's quite
sad, but that's the nice thing about love, isn't it? It makes you feel sad and
at the same time it makes you feel great.
KC: You seem to mention sisters in the same breath as the
land, as you do the old homestead, or am I totally wrong?
RB: Sisters in a difference sense, like in Sister Europe; it
was written for a girlfriend I had. You can get so close to someone that they
feel like a sister. When you've been living with someone for a while you get to
know them inside out. Sometimes you see these couples-they don't talk to each
other; I wonder if they're having a good time.
KC: What do you think of Adam and the Ants, Antmusic, and
what they're trying to do?
RB: It's a different kind of music; we're not really into
that type of music: Gary Glitter, heroes, and that sort of thing. The thing is
all their lyrics are all about them. In Antmusic the lyrics are so commercial.
His lyrics are interesting, but meaningless.
KC: So, Steve Lillywhite, your producer, has done a good job
for you?
RB: The first time we weren't sure if we wanted to use him
again, but he'd become a friend. He adds a slightly different perspective,
which I think is important. Really, we'd like to produce our third album
ourselves, but we have such a democratic band that it could be trouble. All the
arguments....
KC: There is speculation that Bowie will produce the third
album.
RB: No, that was the second one. He came to the show we did
at Hurrahs last year and said he was interested.
KC: Creative people need support, Who do you depend on when
the going gets rough?
RB: What sort of going?
KC: The going of everyday life.
RB: Nobody at the moment. I'm serious.
KC: I know you've got your brother Tim. Are you close with
your family, would you turn to them?
RB: Yeah, oh yeah, I could always go back to them, but it
never gets that rough. What do I want to do, hang on me mum's apron strings?
I'm a big boy now and your problems are all your own making, really.
KC: Did you see your first piece of bod press? They called
you "Fake Fur."
RB: Where was that? Bad press. I love bad press, it's my
favorite kind.