At 65, the phenomenally creative David Byrne continues to be rocks renaissance man. Because he launches his first solo album in 14 years, he reveals why hes began collecting good reasons to be cheerful
The very first time David Byrne found the Roundhouse in Camden is at 1977, when his band, Talking Heads, supported the Ramones. Both bands were deluged with phlegm, because thats what punks thought these were designed to do then. Forty-one years later, the person, the venue and also the fans have altered. Tonight, Byrne is treating a little, sincere audience within the Roundhouses Sackler Space to some PowerPoint lecture called Reasons to be Cheerful. Nobody spits.
Byrne developed the idea 2 yrs ago. Obama was on his way to avoid it, Trump was on his in place, and Byrne wanted to relieve the gloom by collating tales of positive change from around the globe not grand schemes but small, practical innovations that actually work. Searching just like a dapper academic together with his sharp gray suit and shock of white-colored hair, the 65-year-old clicks through his slides: carbon-neutral urban planning in Norway, high-speed bus lanes in South Usa, an anti-corruption game show in Africa. To quote certainly one of his famous lyrics, this aint no disco, but neither is it of character. For many of his existence, Byrne continues to be asking if things can be achieved differently.
The next mid-day, tucked into a corner of expensive hotels lounge, I question when the exercise has labored. Has it made him more cheerful?
I have no idea, he states. I think Im a naturally cheery person and so i do not have almost anything to measure it against. Maybe basically didnt get it done Id be really depressed, however i do not know. His buddies find this confusing. They do sometimes ask me: David, you appear to become fairly happy more often than not. Whats up? Whats happening along with you?
Byrne laughs. He's a variety box of laughs simmering chuckle, conspiratorial giggle, strangled whinny, lusty guffaw, something which seems like a covered up sneeze yet remains somewhat detached. He gazes from the window in the hurry-hour crowds, he studies an undesirable plate of fancy biscuits, he looks nowhere particularly. Very from time to time, as though accidentally, he makes eye-to-eye contact. Ive altered through the years, he insists. Im imperfect, however i communicate better. I do not just bury things and allow them to explode sooner or later. Im in a position to talk inside a social group whereas before I'd retreat right into a corner.
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" 445w"> IMG 2 TT </source> </source> </source> <figcaption class="caption" caption--img caption caption--img" itemprop="description"> <svg width="11" height="10" viewbox="0" 0 11 10" class="inline-triangle__svg" inline-icon__svg"> <path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M5.5" 0l11 10h0z"/></path> </svg> Making sense: Talking Heads in 1977. Photograph: Gus Stewart/Redferns </figcaption> </source> It makes you wonder how much Byrne would have achieved if he had been naturally sociable. In 1986, he was billed on the cover of Time magazine as Rocks Renaissance Man: Singer, Composer, Lyricist, Guitarist, Film Director, Writer, Actor, Video Artist, Designer, Photographer. Since then, he has released six solo albums; recorded with Brian Eno, St Vincent, Arcade Fire and De La Soul scored movies, plays and television shows won an Oscar founded the Luaka Bop record label began an online radio station composed an operetta about Imelda Marcos with Fatboy Slim exhibited artwork written books about music and cycling printed volumes of photographs and sketches designed bike racks switched a ferry terminal right into a guitar and played himself on The Simpsons. Like John Eno, a buddy and collaborator for 4 decades, Byrne has parlayed rock celebrity right into a existence so eventful it makes just performing inside a band look parochial.
There are extremely things Ive done that werent just like they might have been, Byrne states. Or Ive taken wrong turns and there isnt any fixing it. However you believe, well, move ahead. Take it easy about this an excessive amount of. Easier to keep your creative muscles moving instead of sitting and awaiting the truly amazing stuff to reach.
As he meets Eno, Byrne states, they frequently dont discuss music whatsoever. I believe he wishes his interviews were a lot more like that. Byrne is going to release his first solo album in 14 years, American Utopia, and Good reasons to be Cheerful is a method to result in the marketing schedule more interesting.
I have a tendency to steer clear of the existence story, he states. Instead of a memoir, his 2012 book How Music Works would be a curious (both in senses from the word) amalgam of life story, anthropology and theory by which he frequently discovered like a neutral observer of their own existence.
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" 445w"> IMG 3 TT </source> </source> </source> <figcaption class="caption" caption--img caption caption--img" itemprop="description"> <svg width="11" height="10" viewbox="0" 0 11 10" class="inline-triangle__svg" inline-icon__svg"> <path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M5.5" 0l11 10h0z"/></path> </svg> I tend to avoid the life story: with ex-wife Adelle Lutz. Photograph: Ted Thai/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images </figcaption> </source> Talking Heads released their final album in 1988, but their influence endures. Just last year, Selena Gomez built her hit, Bad Liar, round the groove from 1977s Psycho Killer. Within the 2016 movie 20th Century Women, a teenage boy at the end of-70s California is bullied for liking art fags Speaking Heads rather of hardcore punk bands. Byrne finds this so amusing he can barely speak.
Byrne, bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Frantz met in the Rhode Island School of Design and created Talking Heads in 1975 keyboardist/guitarist Jerry Harrison became a member of later. These were chronologically punk, but spiritually publish-punk, going to dismantle the clichs of rocknroll and write their very own rules. No rock moves or poses, no pomp or drama, no rock hair, no rock lights, no rehearsed stage patter, Byrne authored in How Music Works. They asked everything. Exactly what is a rock-band? Exactly what is a pop song? Why this? Why don't you that? A much better title could have been So How Exactly Does Music Work?
Byrnes songwriting perspective is summarized on his new single, Everybodys Coming to My House: Were only vacationers within this existence / Only vacationers however the view is great. Even if he wasnt singing in character a psychopath, a televangelist, a domestic terrorist he'd a knack to make the familiar strange and unnerving. Creatures, vehicles, structures, TV, weather, haircuts everything was seen with alien eyes. It's no shocker to understand that his one attempt for writing a brief story (really not my thing) was sci-fi. Im not only going to accept received technique, he remembers thinking once the band began. I need to start on your own and find out what arrives. I figured there isnt any rule that states you cannot do that, so lets try covering something which nobodys discussed before.
To achieve that, you'll need a unique perspective around the world. It always appears completely natural in my experience because its me, Byrne states with amusement. Ive had enough people let me know that it is not completely typical which i know, oh, OK, with a people this may appear just a little odd. However frequently Personally i think like no, Im just providing you with a goal description of whats before me. Whats so odd about this?
The personality that spawned such unique music didn't lead him to simple to share a band with. A couple of years back, I interviewed Tina Weymouth and she or he was still being furious about how exactly she thinks Byrne treated all of those other band. Davids a really different of human, she explained. He doesnt relate emotionally to things. You can't guess whats in the mind, and just what he states and just what he is doing could be two entirely various things. A couple of days once i meet Byrne, Chris Frantz, who's married to Weymouth, will write online the singer had demeaned, humiliated and marginalised her.
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" 445w"> IMG 4 TT </source> </source> </source> <figcaption class="caption" caption--img caption caption--img" itemprop="description"> <svg width="11" height="10" viewbox="0" 0 11 10" class="inline-triangle__svg" inline-icon__svg"> <path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M5.5" 0l11 10h0z"/></path> </svg> Unresolved tension: with band members Jerry Harrison, Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth. Photograph: Benno Friedman/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images </figcaption> </source> Does Byrne feel bad about this unresolved tension? Um, he winces, she has said some wild things sometimes. I feel bad that the ending was so messy, but that tends to happen. Its pretty hard to have an amiable divorce. He brightens. Although Ive kind of managed that. Were actually friends now. (He means his 17-year marriage to the costume designer Adelle Lutz, which ended in 2004.) Yes it was uncomfortable, he continues. I think I probably did not behave all that well all the time. Neither did the others. It was a very messy thing. But to hold on to that seems like he shrugs, well that was quite a while ago.
Was he a hard person to understand back then? I was probably a little bit less forthcoming. There were certainly periods when I was singularly focused on getting something accomplished. He mentions the tour for their 1983 album Speaking in Tongues, which traced an arc from paranoid solitude to communal ecstasy and was documented by Jonathan Demme within the film Stop Making Sense. That would be a real obsession. I know I have to at occasions happen to be a genuine discomfort within the ass to cope with. The shows were fine but most likely the knowledge about me wasn't always enjoyable.
Even when he would mend that bridge, Byrne might have little interest in a reunion. It isn't as though hes creatively lonely. American Utopia features contributions from Eno, Sampha and also the xx producer Rodaidh McDonald. The seeds were sown years back, when Byrne read Alexis de Tocquevilles Democracy in America during tour (a really Byrne-like factor to complete). Many from the chapter titles are questions, he states. You will easily notice he wishes America well, but he sees lots of problems available. He sees it as being a great experiment, which many people did at that time. That utopian sense remains but its not far from being completely extinguished.
Byrne formally grew to become a united states this year. Although he's resided in america since he was eight, he was created in Scotland and didnt make an application for dual citizenship until an uncomfortable conversation in a polling station. Id been from time to time voting before that, he admits. I naively think it is legal plus they never mix-checked. Then eventually they checked out my ID and stated: You cant election! And So I stated OK, Ive gotta undergo this complete factor now.
Will it lead him to feel different? If youre dealing with passport control you begin thinking, let's say they believe what this means is To be sure with many different the items the united states will get as much as? However, you could state that about people because well. They may think theyre more clever but theyre not.
Instead of get up to date within the political noise of Trump, Byrne seeks out smaller sized, more uplifting tales. Among the modest heroes of Good reasons to be Cheerful is Dale Ross, the Republican mayor of Georgetown, Texas, who broke with party dogma and invested in clean energy. That in my experience was hugely inspiring, Byrne states. This guy walked from the ring and stated: Ive done the mathematics and i believe this is better in my city.
I'm able to picture Byrne in City Hall, commissioning studies and presenting practical reforms. Remembering their own bohemian youth in 70s New You are able to, he worries concerning the economic obstacles to creativeness now. Things were permitted to flourish, he states. In a town in which the rents go sky-high, you might have to regulate things so there is a diversity of activities and incomes instead of closing them back and saying: Only fully effective people survive maui. The remainder of you give us a call when you have more income.
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" 445w"> IMG 5 TT </source> </source> </source> <figcaption class="caption" caption--img caption caption--img" itemprop="description"> <svg width="11" height="10" viewbox="0" 0 11 10" class="inline-triangle__svg" inline-icon__svg"> <path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M5.5" 0l11 10h0z"/></path> </svg> Musician and visionary David Byrne. Photograph: Phil Fisk for the Observer </figcaption> </source> Utopia, for Byrne, is not a particular place or system but an aspiration. Its more about our yearning for something better, he says. We keep asking ourselves: is there another way to live or is this the only way? Did we have to end up like this or could it have been different?
He could be talking about his art. Its a long way from supporting the Ramones to writing a disco opera about Imelda Marcos, but Byrnes philosophy has been remarkably consistent. What he cherished about punk four decades ago was the DIY aspect. Anyone can do it, he says. It was very inclusive in that way. He found the same DIY spirit at the Mudd Club, the early 80s New York hangout where you could find Byrne and Blondie, Basquiat and Warhol, Ginsberg and Burroughs. Youve got an idea? Youve got something you want to try? Why not? Hes still asking.
Global reasons to be cheerful
By David Byrne
1. Healing the divide
Georgetown is one of Texass most conservative suburbs, but gets all its electricity from renewable sources. Its mayor, Dale Ross, a Republican in what is considered oil country, made a decision in 2015. He ignored party orthodoxy and did what was best for his constituents. That folks can think rationally and ignore partisan dogmas, on both sides, is hugely encouraging.
2. Norway prison reform
Most countries prison systems are failures the rate of recidivism is abysmal. But Norway seems to have figured out a successful solution. Their incarceration rate is 75 per 100,000 people, compared to 707 per 100,000 in the US. The crime rate is lower, but part of the reason its lower is because they focus on genuine reform, not just punishment. The rate at which inmates end up back in prison is 20% in Norway, versus 76.6% in the US. At Halden Prison there are no bars on the windows, they have full kitchens (knives included) and lots of job and vocational training. Theres even a recording studio. So whatever theyre doing, its working.
3. Bike sharing has conquered the world
Not only does it feel good to ride, but cycling relieves automobile congestion, its good for business, it doesnt pollute, its healthy and it expands the mental maps of residents and Ive found its often the fastest way to get around. Cities all over the world have adopted similar systems to the French Vlib system, and now some Chinese companies are introducing stationless systems.
4. Knock-on effects of culture
We in the arts and humanities often complain that our work is undervalued, at least in terms of being beneficial to society compared to the Stem disciplines. Finally we have some proof, and the effects are somewhat unexpected. A recent study by the Social Impact of the Arts Project at the University of Pennsylvania showed that when libraries and other cultural institutions are placed in the boroughs around New York, there are surprising knock-on effects:
a. The kids test scores go up
b. Spousal abuse goes down
c. Obesity goes down
d. The crime rate goes down
Things that might seem to be unrelated are actually connected. To lower crime, maybe we dont need more prisons or stiffer sentencing; part of the solution might be to build a library.
5. Successfully dealing with drug addiction
Fifteen years ago Portugal had a drug problem. Rather than declare a war on drugs as the US and other places did, they took a bold and radical step, and it was hugely successful. Heres what they did. They decriminalised all drugs and began a major health campaign. They viewed drug use and addiction as a health issue, not a criminal justice issue. Last year there were 64,000 overdose deaths in the US. Among Portuguese adults there were only 30 drug- overdose deaths which is 1/50th of the US overdose rate. Looks like they won the war on drugs by not joining it.
reasonstobecheerful.world
David Byrnes new album, American Utopia, is released on 9 March by Nonesuch Records. He tours the United kingdom in June
Find out more: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/mar/04/david-byrne-i-am-able-to-talk-in-a-social-group-now-american-utopia
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