David Byrne has insisted that Talking Heads will not be going out on tour again, saying that the band cannot rekindle that magic from their younger days, and do not wish to become a legacy act.
This comes after fans began to speculate that a reunion was on the cards for the band, after they had teased a huge announcement earlier this Summer, which saw them release a first ever music video for hit track, 'Psycho Killer'.
While he was quick to rule out reuniting with Talking Heads, David Byrne has said that his upcoming live shows will see him treat fans to live covers of classic tracks from the band.
“I can mix and match and have it adapt to the sound that I’m doing at the moment without completely destroying the integrity of the older songs,” he said. “But I’m also aware that there’s a real trap. If you do too much of the older material, you become a legacy act that comes out and plays the old hits. You cash in really quick, but then you’ve dug yourself a hole", he said.
Talking Heads have not performed live since 1984, before coming together in 2023. However, they have not had full reunion in 20 years.
Speaking about what it was like to be back with his bandmates, David Byrne had this to say.
“It was OK. We were all very proud of that show and the film that Jonathan Demme did. We’re thrilled that audiences still wanted to see it. So we put aside whatever differences we have. I said, “OK, we’re not going to go there, but we’re going to help promote this thing", he said.
Byrne also went on to speak about remaining on good terms with his bandmates.
“Did we feel more comfortable with one another? Yeah. We felt more comfortable with one another, but I’m just going to anticipate your next questions. I didn’t feel like, ‘Oh, yeah, let’s go out on tour again.’ Or, ‘Let’s make another record", he said.
“Musically, I’ve gone to a very different place. And I also felt like there’s been a fair number of reunion records and tours. And some of them were probably pretty good. Not very many. It’s pretty much impossible to recapture where you were at that time in your life. For an audience … that was formative music for them at a particular time. They might persuade themselves that they can relive that, but you can’t".
Byrne did say he understood why fans were hoping for a reunion. “I totally understand it. I’m a music fan like other people. And there’s artists that stopped working, or bands that broke up, that I heard at a period in my life where music was very important. Maybe I never heard it when it was happening, I missed it. I would love to see it live now. But you realize you can’t turn the clock back. When you hear music at a certain point in your life, it means a lot. But it doesn’t mean you can go back there and make it happen again".
David Byrne will be supporting his upcoming LP, Who Is The Sky?, which arrives on September 5 via Matador Records. More on this here.
