Talking Heads on why ‘Stop Making Sense’ marked their final tour

Talking Heads have opened up about why ‘Stop Making Sense’ marked their final tour as a band.

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The iconic band reunited for a Q&A recently at the Toronto International Film Festival (September 11). Comprising frontman David Byrne, bassist Tina Weymouth, drummer Chris Frantz and guitarist Jerry Harrison, the band made their first public appearance together in over 20 years at the event.

As announced last month, the long-awaited reunion was staged in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Talking Heads’ legendary concert film, Stop Making Sense (1984).

The band spoke to the Los Angeles Times following the event and opened up about why ‘Stop Making Sense’ turned out to be their last tour.

In response, Byrne said: “It was hard to think about how we could top this. That was the looming question. We didn’t have an immediate answer. Maybe in time we might have figured out a way to not get compared to this incredible thing we did, but immediately afterwards, it was like, oh man. Couldn’t think of anything.”

Harrison added: “The next album was ‘Little Creatures,’ which was us going back to a small ensemble. We had a thought of doing residencies in different cities with the four of us and maybe some of the others, but ‘Stop Making Sense’ had an ongoing life of midnight shows, and the idea of competing with it was more difficult than it would have been for a film that had a run and ended.”

The TIFF session marked the former bandmates’ first public appearance together since their 2002 Rock ’N’ Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony.

Last month, Harrison said working on the re-release of Stop Making Sense acted as somewhat of a “healing experience” for Talking Heads.

Byrne also recently explained that he regrets the way the band split, and confessed that he was a “little tyrant” at the time. The singer has since elaborated on the members’ current relationship, likening their break-up to a “divorce”.

“We get along OK. It’s all very cordial and whatever,” he said. “It’s not like we’re all best friends. But everybody’s very happy to see this film coming back out.

“We’re all united in the fact that we really love what we did here. So that kind of helps us talk to one another and get along.”

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