Electronic Sound Magazine Issue 82 Vorige editie

It’s no secret that the stresses inside the Talking Heads camp were high torque in the 1980s. The fault line ran between the three founder members – David Byrne on one side, Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz on the other. Tina and Chris had married in 1977 and Byrne had found his match the following year in Brian Eno, who produced the band’s second album, ‘More Songs About Buildings And Food’, and went on to helm the next three.

Talking Heads made their best work during this period, but the group became unbalanced, tipping towards the Byrne/Eno power base. There was an unforeseen benefit to this upheaval, though, in the creation of Tom Tom Club, an utterly joyous pop experience if ever there was one. Initially a time-filling side project for Tina and Chris, the unselfconsciously fun and upbeat outfit plugged into the nascent hip hop scene of New York City, switching up their new wave cleverness with witty rhymes, once-heard-never-forgotten melodies and slinky liquid grooves. And it didn’t take very long before their colourful tracks were zooming up the charts all over the world.

It’s been 40 years since the debut Tom Tom Club album brightened up the early 80s, so we thought this would be a good time to chat to Tina and Chris about the making of this loveable record and the circumstances that led to its creation. They don’t hold back and they’ve got lots of great stories to tell. Along the way, Chris reveals that they played a secret gig a few weeks ago and that they’re ready to start work on some new Tom Tom Club material, which will be their first since 2012. Get your dancing shoes ready.