I realized that some of the bands were less historically significant than others, but all of them had the same spirit, which placed a lot of emphasis on the do-it-yourself ethic. "I knew it was an important place at the time. We knew it was the right type of venue for the type of thing we wanted to do, which was different from what was going on with the Eagles and Elton John. I'd already been hanging out at the place for about a year. "I guess our first show as Talking Heads at CBs was in the summer of 1975. All you had to do was go to one of Patti Smith's early performances and you knew that something big and exciting was happening.
So I knew that something significant was going on. They either wanted to write about it or photograph it or participate in it by playing. Suddenly, people started showing up at CBGB from France and Japan and the West Coast… places like Cleveland, Ohio, and Memphis, Tennessee. Or maybe I should say the 'new' rock 'n' roll music world. "Well, yes - the rock 'n' roll music world anyway.
What do you remember about that time? Did you feel as though you were in the epicenter of the music world? It's not typical of Tom Tom Club, but you know… so what? It's certainly a subject that's worth of our attention." Historically, it's become more and more important as time goes on. "For us, that period in the '70s was a very exciting time. Everybody's writing books about the downtown music scene, but nobody's written a song about it. While he was reading, not just myself but another member of the band, Bruce Martin, thought, You know, this is a good topic for a song. One night, James Wolcott was reading from his memoir, Lucking Out - he's a great friend, and he was one of the first champions of Talking Heads. "The reason why we wrote it is because we were going to these CBGBs events that they have once a month at Bowery Electric. You sleep well at night - it's great."Īs a song and a concept, how did Downtown Rockers come about? Even through there's a lot of wine and rich food, there's a lot of outdoor activity.
It's a nice switch from wherever you were before. The part of France we go to is so beautiful, and there's a lot of family there for Tina. Being back, I'm still going through my mail and trying to catch up. "Well, I can assure you that our lifestyle is nothing like Keith's in the decadent '70s. It's as if he's a Cultural Studies teacher narrating a slide show on a Monday morning: "The Velvet Underground. Nostalgia in art can be treacherous (is there anything worse than a middle-aged rocker pining for those bad old days gone by?), and Frantz is wise to keep his tone, for the most part, vaguely detached. The husband-and-wife team, married 35 years now, remain a dynamic, elastic, mystical and altogether inescapable presence, and the beauty of their shared technique has deepened with time.Īt the emotional core of Downtown Rockers is its punchy, fuzzed-out, spaced-out, garage/art-rock title track, on which Frantz, in a variety of voices that range from coolly indifferent to mildly star-struck, name checks the groups that ruled the lower Manhattan music scene of the mid- to late '70s. Euro disco, P-Funk, Latin grooves, R&B - any number of parties will undoubtedly get started with the band's first studio offering in 12 years, due in large part to the Frantz/Weymouth rhythm section.
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