David Byrne discovers value of collaboration, agrees to reunite Talking Heads for Q&A
TIFF must be the place for a Talking Heads reunion
Aux News David Byrne
Last seen at their 2002 Rock ’n’ Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony, Talking Heads will take the stage for the first time in two decades at the Toronto International Film Festival. However, anyone hoping for a full performance will stay hungry. Perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime reunion, the band will be in conversation with Spike Lee and premiere the 4k restoration of Jonathan Demme’s legendary concert film Stop Making Sense. But wait, there’s more! Stop Making Sense will be getting a short IMAX and theatrical run as well.
Most surprisingly, though, after nearly half a century of reportedly treating his bandmates like garbage, David Byrne admitted to People that maybe he could stand to be a little nicer to Tina, Chris, and Jerry. Byrne confessed that he was “not pleasant to be around” and that he “acted like a tyrant” in the Talking Heads days. That’s certainly some growth, especially considering bassist Tina Weymouth’s assessment of Byrne: “A man incapable of returning friendship.” Today, Byrne says he’s “learned to relax.”
“I also learned that collaborating with people, both sides get more if there’s a good relationship instead of me telling everybody what to do,” he said.
We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves because this is all very exciting, but mending these interpersonal rifts might open the door to them performing for the first time since 2002. Drummer Chris Frantz, whose book Remain In Love reveals the extent of Byrne’s toxic behavior in the band, has never been quiet about where they left off. In 2000, he described his last interaction with Byrne in Rolling Stone:
It would be nice if it could happen because, unlike many of our contemporaries, we’re all still alive. The last time I spoke with David, it was regarding a reunion. First, he said, “Let me think about it, and I’ll get back to you.” I said, “Fine.” That was on a Friday night. The following Monday, I got an email saying, “I’ve told you before, and I’ll say it again for the last time. I will never reunite with the Talking Heads. Please don’t bring this up again.” This was 2003.
The conversation with Spike Lee will take place at Cineplex’s Scotiabank IMAX Theatre in Toronto on September 11, along with the premiere of the restoration. The event will stream globally in IMAX theaters, followed by an IMAX run on September 22 and a full theatrical run on September 29. Additionally, Rhino is releasing the full concert on vinyl and digital on August 18.
32 Comments
So he’s gonna make tina audition to be in a panel discussion. Great music aside, guy’s a self important prick whose career largely depended on being in the right time/place to have worked with brian eno et al
Three times.
I put on The Heads’ “All Talking No Head” and if somebody did that to my band I’d be a total dick to them also. Especially if those same people already had a successful other band they could have made the same terrible fucking album with. He deserves an apology for that, but they also deserve a million apologies from him, he was terrible. (however, that quote above does not indicate Byrne would never talk to Frantz again, just not about a reunion, which Frantz sounds like he was extremely focused on…refusing to reunite is not toxic!) Hopefully they can all grow up and call it even. As far as reuniting…he is playing the songs with people who weren’t involved with their creation, no idea why he would be resistant to playing them with the people he recorded them with. I read Richard Hell’s biography and the way he describes Verlaine is similar to how I’ve read them describing Byrne during their heyday, but with less “weaponizing Patti Smith as a girlfriend”I also want them to hug it out because I really really like Byrne’s music (including his solo stuff) and this has been a hindrance (Fuck all of you “art not the artist” people)…it would be like if Corin and Carrie crawled on broken glass to beg Janet Weiss’s forgiveness.
What’s so bad about “art not the artist”?
it’s the absolutism certain people adopt regarding the stance that pisses me off and the inherent superiority that comes with that certainty
I think it goes the other way too, considering some people seem to think being unable/unwilling to separate art from the artist means they care more.
The thing is that not separating the art from the artist is inherently dynamic, it already bakes in thinking about what the reasons are that the art may or not be worth the artist…it’s sort of like bar none atheism versus some kind of admission that we don’t know everything, you might be a doctrinaire catholic or an unthinking muslim who only listens to other people or think you’re right about everything, but it isn’t inherent automatically in the position.
All Talking No Head is so aggressively shitty, especially considering the guest stars. I love Talking Heads and a lot of Byrne’s solo work, but I’m not itching for them to reunite.
I can do art-not-artist under some circumstances but it’s a mental process and a personal choice, not a moral imperative like some people make it out to be. If a living person is diddling kids and I’m funding that by consuming their stuff, fuck them completely. If someone was self-important and mean to their friends, I can enjoy the songs and keep the person at an arm’s length. It is true flawed humans can make valuable art. I’m ok with a degree of cognitive dissonance and sort of think we all should be, but of course there’s a limit.
Yeah, “art not the artist” is fine on an abstract philosophical level, and it’s true that finding out the creator is an asshole or a sex criminal doesn’t magically make a movie or album worse.
It’s largely a distinct question from “Should I be helping to reward this person with money and fame, given what I know about them?” I can deal with Byrne because it’s nearly impossible to live in the modern world if you refuse to give any of your money to assholes, but avoiding knowingly giving it to chronic domestic abusers and rapists isn’t some huge ask and would probably make the world a significantly better place if more people committed to it. Once the artist is dead and their work is in the public domain, go nuts, but a willingness to give a monster $80 so you can hear a song you like is purely selfish, not some noble philosophical stance.
yeah I am an absolutist about not being an absolutist on the matter…consider it if you want to…but it also doesn’t inure people who don’t from being criticized for funding kiddy diddlers.
The name of the album is “No Talking, Just Head”. Now do you get it?
I’m unclear if you are doubling down on how bad their joke was or how bad my joke was. But if you are serious, and a white male…wow.
U Talkin’ Talking Heads 2 my Talking Head?
With special guest, George Harrison!
I enjoyed that podcast, but I came away from it liking the Talking Heads less than I did before, which I don’t think was their intention.
How did Chris Frantz recall in 2000 a conversation he had with Byrne three years later?
A Talking Heads reunion seems to be the one situation where music fans almost unanimously agree that they shouldn’t do it.
People pulled for Guns N Roses, they pulled for The Smiths (until Morrissey couldn’t keep his mouth shut), they pulled for Smashing Pumpkins. Talking Heads? Uh uh. Leave it be.
I have no doubt David was a tyrant back in the day. But that doesn’t let Tina and Chris off the hook for the things they’ve said or done either (Jerry seems to be the sensible one). If my former bandmates reunited without me and without my permission, I’d have said “Fuck those guys” too.
They reunited without him because he didn’t want to play with them anymore. He was a total prick, screwing them out of songwriting royalties and generally treating them like day players in their own band. What exactly have they done and said that Byrne didn’t deserve?
Same – Huge Fan, have some of their albums on permanent rotations in ‘listen to this shit and relax’, hell I sing “Nothing But Flowers” regularly in the shower.But good god, these people are oil and water now. They made some great shit and I would wish they would drop the fronting and let go of the egos….but it pretty much aint gonna happen. David, Tina and Chris have got dueling egos and poor old Jerry is the only sane one caught in the middle.Let it rest and just invest in listening to the old stuff.
Plus, they are in their 70s.aa
Go see ‘Start Making Sense’ the band. As close as one can get now a days.
I’m a Talking Heads fan, grew up with the music, cried myself to sleep one night when I won tickets to a concert in the area and was told “I’m sorry, eighteen and over only” by the DJ as he hung up.
I’m… it hurts a bit to say it… not a David Byrne fan.I can see where his music, his style etc. are a major component of TH. Regardless of his own personal view the band was better as a band. Tom Tom Club showed exactly where the “musicality” and popular elements came from and without them it was Lennon without McCartney, Simon without Garfunkle, whichever ‘cut your musical genius apart to spite your own insecurity’ example you want to fly.Let it rest. Whatever part of the world that cares about how the band imploded knows, the rest don’t care. ‘Nostalgic cash grab’ would be an ugly finale for a group still considered fairly essential to the time period.
It’s too late now, but the answer should have been: “yes, I am 18.”
I believe it was Mia Kirshner who said, in an interview conducted by Jon Stewart, “How old do you want me to be?”
I hadn’t hit puberty yet, would’ve been a serious ask
“It would be nice if it could happen because, unlike many of our contemporaries, we’re all still alive. The last time I spoke with David, it was regarding a reunion. First, he said, “Let me think about it, and I’ll get back to you.” I said, “Fine.” That was on a Friday night. The following Monday, I got an email saying, “I’ve told you before, and I’ll say it again for the last time. I will never reunite with the Talking Heads. Please don’t bring this up again.” This was 2003.”I don’t want to defend Byrne too much here, since everybody (including Byrne) agrees that he treated the rest of the band shitty, but I don’t know if it should be too shocking if the guy who you’ve been shit-talking publicly since your band broke may not want to do a reunion tour with you. And vice-versa – why would you want to even be around someone that toxic? I assume royalties from Mariah Carey’s Fantasy alone should keep Chris and Tina living comfortable without needing reunion money.
It’s like having an ex who you used to have really good sex with.
All of this has been interesting to watch over the last several years. You can tell they are in an amicable phase of their relationship because there is a “Talking Heads” official social presence and of all the digitally remastered versions of albums being re-released. That wouldn’t happen if they’re just speaking through lawyers. That aside, a reunion tour would be a colossal mistake at this point, and be viewed upon as a cash grab that sullies the legacy. But yeah, I’d try and get tickets.
They’re one of the couple of bands from that era I loved but never got to see. It would be fun to see them all together on a stage and talking but a reunion would be a terrible idea. Like The Jam, they went out at pretty much the top of their game and left no loose ends that need tying up. I’d hate to see them wind up like the Replacements at Coachella.
And ALL the questions will be about Byrne being an asshole.That should go well.
“In 2000, he described his last interaction with Byrne …..This was 2003.” (article is from 2020. Hiring any editors?)