Tina Weymouth explains why Debbie Harry rejected chance to join Talking Heads
Tina Weymouth has revealed how she joined Talking Heads and why Debbie Harry turned down the opportunity to become a member.
Although they are still inactive, Talking Heads have recently reunited to promote the 4K release of their iconic concert film Stop Making Sense. However, their initial line-up could have looked vastly different if Harry, who was a prominent figure in the New York music scene but was yet to form Blondie, had agreed to become their singer.
During an interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Weymouth recalled: “Well, they really needed a bass player, and nobody would join them. They asked Debbie Harry to sing with them, and she said, ‘I already have a band, but you can buy me a drink’. I just loved them, I just thought, ‘Oh god, these guys. They’re so amazing and creative’. And, we had a chemistry.”
She added: “It was very special, and so, I braved it. Even though it wasn’t the right thing to do, probably, but I thought, ‘I’ll just get them going’.”
When asked by Colbert about their “rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle” during those early days, Chris Frantz replied: “I probably shouldn’t elaborate any further, but the thing was, we were really good at what they call maintaining, so nobody knew.”
The talk show host semi-jokingly claimed that people likely knew they were taking substances, to which the drummer responded: “Somebody said, ‘The drummer is always smiling’, and our sound man said, ‘That’s because he’s full of drugs’.”
His comments arrive shortly after Weymouth recently reflected on her touring days with Talking Heads and described how drugs had a disastrous effect on them.
She explained: “I really think that that’s what hurt touring for me, the amount of drugs around us. It was great until the drugs came into the picture. When we were touring in the ’80s, the drug of choice was primarily cocaine, which was cut with all sorts of things, including speed. It made people feel like they could just do anything. But it was just so damaging.”
Watch Talking Heads on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert below.
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