Psychedelic Furs Reunite For Spring Tour

After being apart for 10 years, the Psychedelic Furs have reformed and are headed out on tour. This incarnation of the group features founding members Richard Butler, Tim Butler and John Ashton.

The Psychedelic Furs formed in England in 1977. Their sound was part punk, part new wave, and featured Richard Butler’s very distinctive baritone voice. The band’s name was inspired by a song from the Velvet Underground, “Venus In Furs”. They released their self titled debut album in 1980. It did well in their native England, but didn’t make much noise in the US.

1981’s Talk Talk Talk contained the single “Pretty In Pink”, which would resurface five years later as the title track to the John Hughes movie. That song helped propel their 1986 album Midnight to Midnight to the upper echelons of the album charts, and contained the hit single “Heartbreak Beat.”

The Psychedelic Furs were hard to categorize. They weren’t quite punk, and not quite new wave, and not quite rock and roll. Their sound was very unique, a mixture of darkness and light, melody and noise, guitars and saxophones, topped with Butler’s very recognizable voice. They were ahead of their time, because their brand of melodic alternative rock became popular just as the group was breaking up in the early 90’s.

The groups last 2 releases in 1989 and 1991 did absolutely nothing on the charts. So in 1991, after 7 albums, the Psychedelic Furs broke up. Richard Butler says ”It was very amicable. There just weren’t any surprises left, so we moved on.”

After the breakup of the Furs, Butler moved to New York City and formed Love Spit Love with fellow Fur and his brother Tim Butler. Love Spit Love’s self titled debut in 1994 got great critical response, but the group’s record label went bankrupt, which prevented much commercial success. Love Spit Love found another label and released Trysome Eatone in 1997 without Tim Butler.

Recently Richard Butler was working on some solo material and got together with his brother Tim. That led to the reformation of the Psychedelic Furs. ”When Tim saw all the songs I had, he asked about doing another Furs’ record and then our manager called about doing some shows, so it seemed like the time was right,” explains Butler. ”Because we’re not exactly sure what to expect from ourselves or the audience, the whole idea of being in the Psychedelic Furs is exciting again.”

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic