Okay, all front men for legendary British post-punk bands who are
currently living in Cold Springs, New York, raise your hand.
Hey, okay there, Richard Butler of the Psychedelic Furs, calm it down, we
see ya...!
Yes, it’s surprising but true:
Butler, the man responsible for belting out “Pretty In Pink,” “Love
My Way,” and “Heaven” lo these many years ago, is now living with his wife
and daughter in beautiful downtown Cold Springs, NY.
Don’t
worry, goth girls.
It’s neither as unlikely nor as domestic as it may sound.
For one, Butler and his spouse had previously been living in the heart of
the Big Apple before she was found to be “with child.”
“My
wife was pregnant, and we just decided that, as much as I love New York City and
still do, it didn’t seem like the greatest place to bring up a little girl.
So we moved out to the woods...which I’m thoroughly bored of at the
moment. In
nice weather, it’s liveable, but in the winter...it just dumped another six
inches of snow this morning, and I haven’t seen the ground in about two
months.”
And,
thus, devoted husband and father though Butler may be, he’s not only pleased
about the fact that the Psychedelic Furs are back together, but also that
they’re hitting the road, allowing him to get out of the ice and snow, at
least for a little while.
Hell,
he’s even pleased about the band rehearsing for the tour in New York City.
“When
I first moved up here, I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll get back into the city once or
twice a week; it’s only an hour train ride.’
(In reality), I probably get in once a month.
So I’m quite looking forward to rehearsals and getting in there on a
daily sort of basis.”
Like
last year’s summer jaunt with the B-52s (plus a few dates on their own,
including an appearance at the NorVa), there’ll be hits aplenty, but
there’ll also be quite a bit of new material spotlighted in the set...more
than just the one or two tracks they threw to the adoring masses last time
around.
Butler is more than familiar with this area, as well as the venue the
Furs’ll be playing this time around:
the Boathouse.
The mere mention of its name results in his instant identification of its
location (“What, in Norfolk?”), but he’s at least as enthusiastic about
where they played the last time around.
“Oh, I remember (the NorVa)!
I liked that place!
It’s great, isn’t it?
It’s got the whole spa upstairs.
It’s a great place.”
He pauses.
“Now, why aren’t we playing there again?”
No answer is immediately forthcoming from this writer (if, indeed, one
exists at all), but Butler doesn’t concern himself too much; he’s well aware
of the Boathouse’s history.
“Oh, yes, we’ve played there a number of times.”
The line-up of the Furs that’ll be playing at the Boathouse is almost
identical to the one that played the NorVa, give or take a drummer.
In other words, not only will original Furs members John Ashton and
brother Tim Butler be along for the ride, but Richard Fortus, the guitarist in
Butler’s other band, Love Spit Love, will also be in the fold.
Love
Spit Love has “kinda been put on the sidelines since the Furs got back
together,” explains Butler; when asked about a third Love Spit Love album,
though, he quickly clarifies that “it’s a possibility!
I didn’t actually say, ‘Okay, no more of that,’ just like I
didn’t say, ‘No more of the Psychedelic Furs!’”
The Furs reunion came about “last spring...around this time, actually.
I was writing with Tim, which I’d continued doing right through the
period when the Furs weren’t working together, and I wasn’t actually sure
whether it was going to be a solo album or a Love Spit Love album.
But (Tim) said, ‘Well, you’ve got a lot of songs; you’ve got enough
songs that you could make a Psychedelic Furs record as well, if you wanted.’
And I hadn’t really thought about it up until then; it just hadn’t
occurred to me.
“I think you have to put your best foot forward with any project
you’re doing, and to say, ‘Well, I like this song, so I’ll keep it for my
record, and then I’ll give this one to the Psychedelic Furs,’ or anything
like that, it just would’ve seemed a bit half-hearted.
“But
when he suggested (a Furs record), I thought, ‘Yeah, that’s a good idea!’
So I called John (Ashton), and I said, ‘Would you be interested in the
idea of doing a Furs record?
Cos, if so, y’know, I’d like you to be in the writing process,
too!’ And
he said, ‘Yeah, I’d love to!’
And soon after that, our manager knew what we were doing, and he said,
‘Hey, d’yer want to try going out and doing a tour, see how you feel about
it all?’ So
we went out and basically did a tour with the B-52s, and then we did our own
tour that followed pretty shortly after that...and had a great time of it.”
Last time around, “we played a couple of a new songs,” but this time,
“we’ve got enough songs for (a new album).”
That’s not to say that they’ll be playing them all, but suffice to
say that the odds of hearing new material has increased significantly.
There’s been no concrete decision made on the matter of who’ll be
producing this tentative new album, but fans surely wait with baited breath,
after all, it can safely be said that the Furs have worked with their fair share
of top-notch knob-twiddlers in their day, Todd Rundgren (Forever Now), Keith
Forsey (Mirror Moves), Chris Kimsey (Midnight To Midnight), and Stephen Street
(World Outside) among them.
Butler
concedes that two names are under consideration for the new tracks.
“I did some writing with a guy called Marty Fredericksen that I’d
like to have him produce.
And I’d also like to have Steve Lillywhite produce.”
Lillywhite, of course, handled production duties for the Furs’
self-titled debut, as well as the band’s milestone, Talk Talk Talk.
“Steve was great and still is great.”
The
band’s never gone out their way, however, to pick anyone who’s at the top of
the game at that time.
“It’s more who we feel would be sympathetic to us, and, upon meeting
them, if they sort of get what you’re doing.
From my experience, the latest, hottest producer is not going to make you
sound like the latest, hottest thing; they only reflect your own ideas.
Generally, the band does the majority of the work.
The producer can always crack the whip, I suppose, but, for the most
part, it’s the band that has to do the work...and write the songs!”
Even
though the album is still the embryonic stages, the Furs still have new product
to push while on the road:
a brand-new greatest-hits album (cleverly titled The Psychedelic Furs’
Greatest Hits), courtesy of Columbia/Sony Legacy.
“They keep coming out with ‘em, don’t they?” smirks Butler.
He’s
not kidding; there was already a best-of collection in the form of All Of This
And Nothing in 1988, followed by what at the time of its release appeared to be
a definitive career retrospective:
the 2-disc Should God Forget, which additionally covers the two albums
released after All Of This And Nothing.
“I don’t think (the new disc) replaces any of those,” Butler
admits, “(but) I think it’s got different mixes of things.”
Indeed, it contains the single version of “Mr. Jones,” as well as a
live version of “Only You And I.”
When
viewing the contents of the greatest hits, it’s rather mindblowing to realize
that it’s been over two decades since the band came together and released
their eponymously-titled debut in 1980.
“We
were pretty much just a group of friends.
It seemed like we were all interested in music, but, at the time, in the
late ‘70s, it seemed like all these bands were around like Yes and...y’know,
Bowie and Roxy Music...but it seemed like they were all very...musicianly.
And we weren’t very musicianly.
We loved music, but we couldn’t play very well.
And where did they get all that equipment from?
It seemed like you needed tons of equipment.
And it took punk rock coming along and saying, ‘Look, you don’t
really need much equipment, and you just need to have a bit of an attitude and a
couple of guitar chords, and you can do it!’
Which sort of spurred us on to start, as it spurred on a lot of
people.”
This
observation, of course, begs the question, “Have you, Richard Butler, after
all these years, finally become musicianly yourself?”
“Ummmmm...within
my own band, I suppose, yeah.
But I’ve never taken voice lessons, for instance, because I think that
voice lessons would probably correct all the things that make me sound like
me!”
From
the beginning, critics have thrown out comparisons and tried to nail down the
band’s influences, with suggestions ranging anywhere from the Doors to the
Velvet Underground, from Roxy Music to the Sex Pistols.
“I
don’t think the Doors would be among them at all,” Butler points out
quickly, “but definitely the Velvet Underground would be there, as would Bob
Dylan and the Sex Pistols and the Clash and the whole of the punk rock sort of
feel. Probably
Roxy Music would be in there, and David Bowie would be in there.
A bunch of different ones.
And for our guitar player, T. Rex would be in there, though I’ve never
understood the attraction...but he used to swear by ‘em.”
“I
don’t whether anyone really influences you after awhile,” he notes, though
he clarifies that, these days, people tend instead to
“inspire me.
Radiohead I’ve found inspiring, just because of how great their songs
are. I
love Kid A.”
Even
though, to put it politely, it takes rather a few listens to get the hang of it?
“Well,
those are the best records, though, aren’t they?”
Fair
enough.
“For
straight-ahead songs, I think The Bends is probably their best album.
I can play that record back to back, again and again.
It’s all I play for about six months a couple of years ago.”
Alas,
Butler doesn’t tend to see too many shows y these days.
“Like I said, I’m very rarely (in New York City)...and not many bands
tend to play Cold Springs,” he admits.
Fortunately,
thanks to the wonders of modern technology, Butler doesn’t always have to
depart from the confines of Cold Springs to participate in the current music
scene. Proof
positive of this comes in the form of the backing vocals he contributed to the
song “I Am Anastasia,” on Sponge’s 1996 album, Wax Ecstatic.
“I
like Vinnie (Dombroski, Sponge’s frontman),” says Butler, “and whenever
we’d play Detroit, Vinnie would always come down and he’d say, ‘I love
your voice! I’d
love you do to the backing vocals on this song; would you do it?’
And I said, ‘Sure.’
So he sent me the DAT, and I recorded just the background track at home.
It was just a favor, really; I never saw the guys while I was doing it!
I also did a track with the band BT in the same fashion.”
In
addition to his musical guest spots, he’s even made a brief film appearance in
Julian Schnabel’s movie, Basquiat, “but that’s about it for cameos,” he
concludes.
Butler and the rest of the Psychedelic Furs will be making their Hampton
Roads appearance on March 24th at the Boathouse, in Norfolk.