Credit: Album Cover / Sire Records

Talking Heads to reunite for ‘Stop Making Sense’ Q&A with Spike Lee

Wed 16 August 2023 18:02, UK

Talking Heads are officially reuniting for a Q&A with Spike Lee following a showing of Stop Making Sense at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11th.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of their groundbreaking concert film, Talking Heads are re-releasing Stop Making Sense in conjunction with A24. It will be first shown in Toronto in September with David Byrne, Chris Franz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison scheduled to engage in a Q&A with the legendary director Lee following the premiere.

The film, conceptualised by director Jonathan Demme, followed a Talking Heads tour in 1983, and showcased songs from all six of the band’s studio albums. In addition to the restored version of Stop Making Sense hitting cinemas, Rhino will also release a deluxe version of the soundtrack.

This edition will include every song performed in the film for the first time, including two previously unreleased – ‘Cities’ and ‘Big Business / I Zimbra’. A live version of ‘Cities’ marks the first Talking Heads single in over 30 years.

On the experience of making the Stop Making Sense film, Frantz previously said: “I’m talking about real, conscious, transcendent joy… I’m talking about what the Southern gospel people call ‘getting happy,’ which means ‘to be filled with the Spirit.’ That is what happened to us onstage every night, and from my seat behind the drums, I recognised that this was happening to the audience too. Joy was visible in front of me and all around me every night.”

Meanwhile, last year during an exclusive interview with Far Out, Weymouth discussed her difficult relationship with Byrne, stating: “I think everybody was always afraid David would crack or break,” she added. “You really had to walk on eggs, and he could be a bully, but you couldn’t do it to him. He could be unfaithful, but you have to be loyal – it’s very Trumpian, in a way.”

She added: “One needed sacrifices in order to keep it going because we absolutely adored our fans. David never cared about people, but we did, and we loved our team.”

Watch the trailer for Stop Making Sense below.