Tina Weymouth discusses David Byrne’s “Trumpian” personality
Talking Heads enjoyed a crucial tenure at the cutting edge of rock innovation. During their most artistically influential period of the late 1970s and early ’80s, the band were untouchable and had the added power of Brian Eno on hand to produce three flawless albums. They seemed to make the right move at each turn in their early development, but keeping the show on the road took a lot of work from the married rhythm section, drummer Chris Frantz and bassist Tina Weymouth.
In a recent interview with Far Out, Weymouth discussed the perks and pitfalls of working with frontman and creative mastermind David Byrne. She revealed that after the band’s second studio album, and the first with Eno on production duties, More Songs About Buildings and Food, Byrne became somewhat estranged. Fortunately, Eno was around to lure him back.
“In 1979, [Byrne] left the band – he’s the kinda guy who wandered off a little bit – so Brian Eno was living in town, and Chris and I started just jamming in our loft – the place where we actually wrote and recorded Fear of Music – which is in Long Island City, just across the East River next to the 59th Street Bridge,” Weymouth said.
“So we said, ‘Oh, Brian, wouldn’t you like to come and jam with us? We’re going to have some fun; we’re just going to approach it like we’re kids with toys that we’ve never experienced before. We’re all going to play each other’s instruments.’ So Brian said, ‘Yeah, sounds good’.”
“So then we call up Jerry, and we say, ‘Hey, guess what, Brian Eno’s coming; you wanna jam with us? And Jerry said, ‘Yes, OK!’ And so he came, and then we called David. ‘Guess what, David, Jerry and Brian Eno are coming to jam with us, and we’re gonna write some songs.’ And that brought David running. So, that’s how we got that going. You gotta give us credit; Chris and I kept that band together for so many years. It wouldn’t even have got its start without the two of us because people didn’t even want David in their band. And, I mean, we had to tell people, ‘He’s really an interesting guy. You got to come check it out!'”
“Why wouldn’t people have wanted David in their band?” I asked.
“You know… he’s a very weird guy,” Weymouth said hesitantly. “And a lot of people just didn’t think he was rock star material. Chris put the first band together [Artistics], and he put Talking Heads together. He put the deposit down on the loft and invited David to come live there and invited me to come live there, you know, ‘Let’s form a band.’ But other people were just very… they didn’t tell us about any of their fallouts. Nobody told us about David Byrne and their personal experiences with David Byrne”.
“So, we didn’t find out for decades about a lot of stuff. Like people now say, ‘Oh, yeah, you know, I used to play poker with him, and I couldn’t understand how he was winning all the time. But then he went home, and I found all these aces hidden in the furniture.’ So, that would have been a clue, but we didn’t know,” Weymouth added, hinting at Byrne’s cheeky, perhaps duplicitous side.
Weymouth continued, describing the traits that made Byrne unique and hence invaluable to Talking Heads. “All I knew was that I liked – you know, he’s left-handed, but he plays right-handed guitar – I was just a folk guitarist, but I really liked his rhythm style, and I loved that… it was something I think would be worth exploring,” she said. “Being left-handed, that would mean that he’s right-brained, but he’s playing right-handed. So he’s got his lyrics and his rhythm separated. It’s bicameral. It’s almost like being a woman, you know, two minds at the same time talking this way and that, and I always thought it’s so interesting. And I liked his musical style. And I tell you, we had great chemistry!”
Weymouth and Frantz have long maintained that Byrne could be a handful from time to time. His headstrong demeanour could often present itself with a lack of empathy. “One time, [Byrne] told me, ‘Oh, you’re too emotional.’ And I felt it was a way of bullying me, of trying to push me into some kind of submissive service. And so it was lovely of Chris to say, ‘Oh Tina, there’s no such thing as too emotional.'”
“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. 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.”
From what Weymouth told me, Byrne could often be a challenging personality to work alongside. But through the band’s persistence and belief, bolstered by a strong fan base, the miracle of Talking Heads would prevail for nearly two decades and eight timeless albums.
