In 1980, Talking Heads took the world by storm with their Remain In Light tour; this run of performances has attained legendary status as one of the best of all time in any genre. The sheer force of the music, the wild abandon of the performers on stage, and ineffable hipness of the whole affair resonated and produced an intense connection between artist and audience. In honor of this momentous tour, original Talking Heads member Jerry Harrison and touring member Adrian Belew have recruited a crack team of young guns to hit the road once more, bringing the absolutely stratospheric joy of Remain In Light back to the stage.
Recently Adrian took some time out of his busy schedule to talk to me about what makes this experience so special.
Andrew Howie: Tell me how this project came together; you mentioned this backing band is white hot. Was this ensemble assembled specifically for this tour?
Adrian Belew: Originally, when we started to use the band, it was a ten-piece band called Turkuaz. They had been together for 10 years, and they started out playing Talking Heads music. Jerry had produced them, and he called me and said he had found a solution to doing this tour, since we had talked about it but logistically it sounded like a nightmare. So they finally came to where I was living in Nashville and played a show. Jerry flew in, we went to the show, and three songs in I turned to him and said ‘you’re right.’
So we played a number of festivals with Turkuaz, but then two of the members left; we replaced one of them, the bassist, with mine, Julie Slick, who’s been with me for 17 years, and we’ve been doing shows that way. It’s an 11-piece band with a horn section, two female backup singers, percussion, drummer, bass, me and Jerry, one other guitar player, several keyboard things, and people switch off instruments. It’s a LOT. We have multiple singers, so no one is singing all of David’s [Byrne] songs, we trade off. That’s the lineup, and since they’ve been together for 10 years, they’re a very well-versed band. Now they call themselves Cool Cool Cool, and they’re the opener for the tour.
AH: One phrase that struck me in the press release for this tour mentions the sheer joy the original 1980 Remain In Light tour brought to crowds the world over. Can you elaborate on that and your thoughts on why it made people so happy?
AB: Well, that’s the reason we wanted to do this at all. It’s about time for the world to have another experience like that, that joyful happy thing where you can’t not dance. I think it’s because that record is very special. Most people consider it a milestone. It was just put into the Library of Congress as such.
The way the record was made, physically made, they had Chris [Frantz, drums] and Tina [Weymouth, bass] play a track all the way through in one key, and then they layered lots of things. One guitar all the way through, just one thing, and then another, and then a keyboard, and so on. Then David, [Brian] Eno and Jerry wrote material over the top of that. It was a very unusual way of making a record. I don’t know anyone who had done it that way. They were also kind of basing it on the African music that was around at that point, so it was very rhythmic.
It just caught fire. I really felt like that record propelled them to stardom. As we were touring, we were watching that happen. From my view on the stage, it seemed like the audiences were getting bigger and more excited about the shows. So one thing a lot of people have mentioned to me on my Facebook over the years was this Rome show, it’s on YouTube, Talking Heads Live in Rome 1980, and we said let’s replicate that to a certain degree. We’re not Talking Heads, but we do the material very close to what it’s like, and it’s in the same spirit of the whole thing.
AH: What do you think it is about the music that gives it that enduring quality and lasting appeal?
AB: In my opinion, the main thing is that over time it doesn’t date itself. You can put on Remain In Light now and it’s just as relevant as it was in 1980, sound-wise, because those records are of a very high quality, and because we weren’t using any kind of sounds that date themselves. Certain drum sounds or drum machines can date themselves, and after time it loses its appeal. That’s not true of this record. Another record like that for me, the next year of my life, is Discipline by King Crimson, also considered a milestone. It’s the same appeal when you hear it; it still has the strength it had then, and it sounds like it could have been released yesterday.
AH: Do you find it difficult to strike an appropriate balance between faithfulness to the songs as written and putting your own spin on the music in a live setting?
AB: I’m playing the music as was written; I sing the same melodies, the same words, and the arrangements are similar. So I’m locked in with that, but where it’s different for me is I wouldn’t want to try to replicate what I played back then in 1980. First of all, I probably couldn’t, I don’t even have that gear anymore! So what’s interesting to me is applying what I can do now into that. When I’m doing sounds and solos and backing parts, I have those things that I can put in, but they work in the same manner. I always improvise those solos every night anyway, I never played them note for note.
Plus, you know what it’s supposed to be in spirit. I keep using that term, but it’s the only term I can think of. If you’re holding true to what the music is supposed to be in other words.
AH: Circling back a little bit to the enduring popularity of Remain In Light – Talking Heads is definitely still a household name in the music scene and pop culture in general. What gives them such longevity?
AB: Even at the time, they were ultra-hip. They were smart art school graduates. They looked sharp, they had a great sense for visuals as well as the simplicity they liked to bring to their music. They didn’t like to complicate it, it was very direct. Even with Remain In Light, there may be a lot of separate parts but it comes across as very direct, you know, here it is. I can only say that in 1979, when I toured the world with David Bowie, everywhere we went in the world, no matter where it was, any cool restaurant, any bookstore, anywhere you went, you were hearing Talking Heads. They represented what was really cool. Back then, it didn’t get much better than that. Especially in the mainstream. Because in the mainstream, you have a lot of different things going on, but only a few of them were really unique.
AH: Even with playing such stupendous music, we all have days where we wake up on the wrong side of the bed. What’s something non-musical that can always give you the boost you need to get onstage?
AB: That would be the audience itself. That is really what motivates me to go and play live, period. I love the fans, I love the feeling when you’re onstage and things are going well. It’s unlike anything else. Many times in my life I’ve been actually sick or even injured, and walked onstage and forgot all about it instantly, because there is an enormous force of love and goodwill that is kind of just coming right straight at you. It fills you with energy and it really just gets you going. So it doesn’t matter, there have been many times where I’ve just been tired. That always goes away the minute we hit the stage.
AH: Anything you’d like to say to the fans before we put a bow on this thing?
AB: This is kind of a once in a lifetime event here, and you really shouldn’t miss it. I’m just anxious to see everybody. We’ve played Sayreville many times and it’s always a great experience. I want to come back and bring something different, and see you guys soon!
