Psychedelic Furs: The Brits re-invade America

Post-punk band back on the road, working on album

The Psychedelic Furs’ songs were college radio staples in the early 1980s — “The Ghost in You,” “Heartbreak Beats,” “All That Money Wants,” “House” and “Here Come The Cowboys.” Then the 1986 movie “Pretty in Pink” was named after their single of the same name, the single was re-recorded and included on the soundtrack — and everyone knew the band’s name.

But within five years, The Psychedelic Furs went dormant, disappearing for more than a decade before coming back by popular demand.

Tim Butler, bassist for the English band, who founded the group with his brother, singer Richard Butler, describes their beginnings.

“At the time we formed, we were listening to the Velvet Underground, early Roxy Music and, of course, Bowie,” Butler says. “What made us want to form a band is we went to see the Sex Pistols at the 100 Club in London. What we did was take that aggression and energy (of the Sex Pistols) and mix it with the sound of the Velvet Underground and Roxy Music. That’s how it started,” he said.

“Neither of us could really play our instruments. We’d go into a rehearsal hall and we’d be trying to be heard. It was a wall of beautiful chaos.”

“At the time we got together and started playing concerts, punk was pretty much done,” Butler says. “When the Sex Pistols split up, that was pretty much the end of punk. People were getting tired of bands trying to be the Sex Pistols— three chords and anger. We’d get up there with that same energy and play a song for 15 minutes. That caught people.

“We started out playing for 15 people in little clubs, and in just a few months, we were selling out 2,000-capacity halls,” he says. “We signed after only about 40 shows. I guess people were starving for something besides the three-chord thing.”

The band released its self-titled debut in 1980 and its breakthrough, “Talk Talk Talk,” the next year. Two albums followed as the Psychedelic Furs built a following at home and in the United States.

Then came “Pretty in Pink,” which became the title song for John Hughes’ 1986 hit movie, bringing the band a new mainstream audience.

“The whole thing about ‘Pretty in Pink’ is the version we gave the movie was actually a rerecording of the song that had been on ‘Talk Talk Talk’ in 1981,” Butler says. “After that, they wanted us to write another ‘Pretty in Pink.’ Obviously, we didn’t.

“The whole thing got us a new, larger following. But it also lost us a few of the hardcore fans who had been following us, after that movie and tour,” he says. “You had all these young girls turning up in pink T-shirts dressing like Molly Ringwald. The good news is since we’ve reformed, we’re getting a bit of both — the old, hard-core fans and the ‘Pretty in Pink’ people who still find us from the movie. So we can get an audience from 18 to 80.”

The return Butler referred to happened in 2000, about eight years after the band went on an extended break.

“We’d been reading in the papers and hearing from people that certain bands were saying they were influenced by the Furs,” Butler says. “Then we were approached by our agent about doing a summer tour with the B-52s and The Go-Gos. All we had to do was play 40 minutes. We thought ‘Let’s try it out and see if the magic is still there.’ We went out on that tour, enjoyed playing together again and thought ‘Let’s get back together and show the kids how it’s done.’”

They’ve been doing just that for 17-plus years, playing their old songs for the loyal fans who turn up to see them each time they pass through a city. The lineup includes the Butler brothers, Rich Good (guitar), Mars Williams (saxophone), Amanda Kramer (keyboards) and Paul Garisto (drums).

The Furs are working on their first studio album since 1991. But the band’s set pretty much consists of songs from the ’80s.

“There are certain songs you have to do or you’ll be lynched – the hits, of course,” Butler says. “We change the rest of the songs around from tour to tour.”