Author:Chris Frantz
This book came out in 2020. I picked it up cheap and just read it.
Chris Frantz is the drummer of Talking Heads, the dorky one in polo shirts and the uncool haircuts, BUT married to the seriousy hot bass player Tina Weymouth. A love affair that has endured since art school.
Frantz comes across as a very open, easy going guy, not a lot of attitude and as a result continued to make new connections throughout his career. People just get on with him. Well, most anyway. At times it reads like his daily diary in book form. The detail about what happened and who said what, where is remarkable.
David Byrne gets a lot of coverage. He’s a prick. Selfish, sneaky, greedy, lying,narcisstic and just plain odd. Neurodivergent is often used in relation to DB these days but the catalogue of anecdotes still has me thinking – prick.
Frantz was in the band playing soul covers and recruiting Byrne and getting Tina to play bass. He was incredibly dedicated to the band and its legacy basically saying this is why he put up with so much of Byrne’s crap. He takes credit for introducing most of the musical influences -Afrobeat etc to the band and Byrne comes across as the guy running with the ideas and getting the credit. Cover art him and Tina. New musos and produccers him and /Tina Etc etc
He marvels at his great life playing in a band, taking heaps of drugs and a lot of fucking with Tina. He drop tons of names in the book but hey that is what we want isn’t it? Eno comes across really well until he doesn’t ….isn’t.Towards the end Eno was demanding that all flights had to be on Concorde and he was wanting the bulk of composing rights to be him and Byrne whereas Frantz regarded the songs as colloborative things largely formed in the studio. Lou Reed spotted them early then tried to sign them up to an oppressive management deal. But all the way through Frantz seems to be able sustain or resuscitate friendships.The story of getting Lou to play guitar with them for a Tom Tom Club residency at CBGBs was insightful on his cleverness in managing people.
The bit of Happy Mondays going out to Nassau was hilarious. Ryder dropped 6 weeks of methodone at the airport and was trying to lick it off the floor. And the band had no material – nuthin. At Nassau he found a replacement for the smack – crack cocaine. He was seriously fucked- at one point he was trying to sing from the wrong end of the mic. Frantz went to the guest house to find Ryder loading furniture into a wagon with the intention of selling it for drugs. As Frantz says it is amazing the record Yes, Please came out at all.
John Martyn. Fuck me. We all know the reputation. From punching Frantz in the back of the head as Frantz drives him home it gets worse. I’ll quote. “ A few nights later we heard him (JM) screaming bloody murder we saw through his open window…..he was holding his naked wife’s head underwater in the kitchen sink and beating her neck and shoulders with his free hand”
Tom Tom Club gets a lot of attention. Seymour Stein wouldn’t give them a contract and Blackwell was sceptical. But they got some hits including a #1 that TH had never achieved. Understandably Frantz was pretty chuffed about this . I revisited their stuff and and it continues to underwhelm me.
Frantz would have loved for TH to continue but as he described it Byrne “sneaked out of Talking Heads” having just told an LA Times writer the band was no more – but no discussion with the band prior to this.
Length of Read:Medium
Might appeal to people who enjoyed…
Erm Talking Heads and the music industry around them. The stories about their tours to the UK with the Ramones are very funny,ditto the tour with XTC. There is a lot about CBGBs and a chapter on each Talking Heads album . So a fun read.
One thing you’ve learned
The whole Byrne dynamic is fascinating. Quick as Frantz is to take credit for stuff and quick as he is to criticise Byrne’s behaviour he really doesn’t spend much time on Byrne’s contribution apart from in live performances. I guess we all value the things we are good at for him that’s rhythm. But we all know that it is Byrne’s off beat lyrics and semi demented persona that is the hall mark of TH. Without him ya got ….Tom Tom Club
Nice review but it’s already been done twice!
And I commented 😬😬😬
Oh well that was 4 years ago and I had some down time on my travels.
It’s a good review though and I’ll now read this book based on it despite not being that into Talking Heads’ music generally beyond a couple of The Hits.
Sounds like it’s not bland and is insightful on The Music Business machinations and doesn’t pull any punches (not in a John Martyn way).
Cheers Guy. There ‘s a lot of family stuff , him and Tina and gee aint I the luckiest guy but it’s an easy read
Not read one review on here or elsewhere that mentions that appalling Martyn anecdote. Not comment here apart from your quip actually. If he had been called out earlier it may have changed his behaviour.
With regard to your last sentence – I have no idea what you’re talking about…
…but John Martyn change his behaviour?
Yes. John Martyn’s domestic abuse was, I believe, resonably well known, but never written about. He was a troubled bloke including a drunken wife beater. Nick Drake saw his treatment of Beverley and wanted her to leave him. I was suggesting that if he was exposed or threatened with exposure maybe he might have tempered his behaviour, pardon the pun.
Does that make more sense?
Got it. Although, as I implied, I have my doubts that even exposure would have changed him significantly.
Yes me too. It was a very late night comment that first one of mine.
3 reviews is better than 1 right?
I made comments on earlier threads. DB may well be a prick, don’t know. But we are hearing Frantz’s potentially warped version of things
And I say well done DB for agreeing to be in the same room as this poisonous duo to promote the re-release of Stop Making Sense a year or two ago.
And which Tom Tom Club record went to no.1 ? Wordy Rappinghood got to no. 7 in the UK and Genius of Love made 31 in the US. Byrne had a no. 2 UK single about 20 years ago (With X-Press)
Are they poisonous or just have genuine grievances?
Anyway it’s been debated in 2 reviews previous so this is all rather otiose I suppose.
I haven’t. I read excerpts when it came out and heard him in interviews at the time, his voice surprised me a little which doesn’t really mean anything except he came across as being rather bitchy. I guess that put me off. If I see it for $2 in a charity shop I may pick it up.
As usual there is probably truth in a lot of what he says, but I agree with you that Byrne was the most crucial member of the Talking Heads. But they were a band and all members were important.
Funny sort of guy. So unhip. Golly gee isnt this all great.
But at same time names names. I’m leaving my copy in this place in Athens if you are passing by.
A no 2 uk single about 20 years ago is barely worth a number 31 anywhere in the early 80s.
Talking Heads also had one top 10 UK hit (Road to Nowhere) and another that got close (Once in a Lifetime) in the 80s. A no. 2 hit early 2000s ain’t too shabby
No, completely shabby but, with the no-hits clash in mind, it’s positively Pele, Chaplin, Beatles’ levels of achievement.
Troll
Perhaps No.1 R&B chart? Genius of Love was the basis for a hundred early rap tracks
I feel like I get an Emperor’s New Clothes moment in Stop Making Sense when CF does his ‘James Brown… James Brown…’ rap. It’s just plain daft and I cannot take them as seriously as they take themselves after that (also Tina’s ‘just pooed myself’ dance’.)
I thought it was pretty funny and if we are critiquing SMS on the standard of dance moves then it is by no means the only offender
DB is pretty good at it though, all things considered.
I enjoy it, I think he is “in character” doing “dance moves” that are appropriate for the song.
Yes, indeed! Our old covers band used to do a version of Down in the Hole – I used to do it in character, using all Tom Waits’ preacher moves. But I also nicked a few of Byrne’s Southern Baptist moves to add in. I treated it like performance art rather than pub rock – don’t know what the band thought…🙂
I’ve seen FB on possibly every UK tour he has done. He is generally a terrible dancer, but for the shows when he has employed a choreographer, he’s fine.
*DB*
I love that. The TTC is the best bit of that film. OOAA.
Why would you recruit Byrne to do soul covers?
I mean, fair enough. I do enjoy it in a hiding behind the sofa sort of way.
Well that is what they started out doing.
I certainly take them seriously.
Talking Heads yes, TTC, no (for me)
Yes, quite
Byrne admitted more recently he had been awful at times in the band. He didn’t make any excuses so this account has not been contested on his part.
I have the audiobook version of this and Frantz has the most boring voice, a full on charisma vacuum. He sounds like the teacher from Ferris Buller reading a book.
I fully recommend this for insomniacs.
I’ve had it in my Audible library for ages. I finished Trading Game by Gary Stevenson this weekend so, spurred on by this thread, I have started Remain In Love.
5 chapters in, I am finding the relative dullness of his voice to be a positive. But it’s early days.
The first 3 TH albums changed my life so I will forever love them. I went for a week break in NYC in the early 90’s and met up with a Jim Gibson (now sadly passed) who ran Noiseville Records, sang & played in the band Unholy Swill and ran a record shop. He wanted me to bring records to trade for stuff from his shop, mostly Beatles and 60’s stuff. In exchange I got some incredible goodies many of which I still have, including the debut Pavement 7″, Beck albums, gig posters etc but best of all this original TH promo press pic fully signed, it hangs in my studio.
Even Byrne’s signature is odd.
Is it just me or does Brian Eno seem like the worst kind of unbearable, pretentious twerp? I don’t think I’ve ever read anything about him where he doesn’t give off a strong whiff of talent leeching starf*cker. I hope that doesn’t wind too many people up here…
Not me, slap-head too.
Looks like it’s just you, then…and Deram, of course…
He’s come in and helped acts come out with better work. Plus his own records really stand up in their own right. So wrong, but at least you didn’t call him a slaphead.
Came across in the film documentary last year as quite unpretentious, and also in conversation with Joe Boyd last year as a very good interviewer.
I’ve always been deeply suspicious. I read a great interview with a couple of the session players on one of the Bowie/Eno albums who said they only got any work done once Eno had departed, Oblique Strategies and randomisation in hand.
Well he clearly has something if you look at some of the records he has appeared on or produced. Roxy Music, For Your Pleasure, Low, “Heroes”, Lodger,More Songs about Buildings and Food, Fear of Music, Remain in Light etc. Often the peaks of those particular artists.
I’m sure you’re right.
Sounds like it’s time for your Eno Collaboration…
I have been chums with his keyboard player / studio hand for decades. I’ve not met him myself, but I’m told he’s actually rather more bearable than you might think.
I personally find his records a bit hit and miss, though.
I’ve never experienced him in person either, but I also know people who know him, including family members by a weird coincidence. He sounds like a lovely bloke who maybe uses strange methods to make people do good work. I’m a fan of some of his work, unusually I really like his more recent ones – especially since he’s been singing in his baritone voice. The Ship is a good example.
I know him in person, along with several of his family members, his late parents included. Brian’s warm and funny, and one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever met.
I am glad to hear yet another person say nice things about him. In addition to what I’ve already said, I find his speaking voice to be very calming. If I could replace my internal monologue with a kinder voice, it would probably be like his.
I don’t know him at all – but I’ve enjoyed his music for years, I’ve enjoyed the vast majority of music with which he has been peripherally involved, I’ve enjoyed his writing and he comes across as an intelligent and thoroughly nice chap. I’ve never understood why he inspires such opprobrium (see various comments above), unless it’s a crude suspicion of intellectuals in music (see 1976/77).
It is probably as you say; ironic given that his methods are sort of counter-intellectual at times. He knows when to bring out the brain, and when to let things happen, I suspect.
It could also be the association with U2. People hate them. I like The Unforgettable Fire, and The Joshua Tree, and those are peak Eno. I still listen to those.
Thanks @nigelthebald I’m glad you dropped by to add your thoughts.
As you may have gathered, David, I jump at every opportunity I get to use my one name drop 😁
If it’s your only name drop it’s a gud ‘un.
I’ve heard Eno often tells people he knows @nigelthebald, so it’s mutual.
They share a hair stylist as well.
“Before and After Shaving”
“My Life in the Ghosts of Bush”
😂😂😂
Well, the last time we met in person he did tell his heartbreakingly gorgeous girlfriend that he knew me: “Nigel and I were nearly in-laws.”
It’s why I always keep a crowbar handy, Hubes!
@ nigelthebald I remarked on the Blogger takeover thread that I’d seen John Altman whose ability to name drop was unsurpassed, not I hasten to add in a boastful way. I’m quite sure he’d have a story about Eno.
I mentioned that I’d met Joe Boyd the other week to the organiser of the event. “I’ve got a story I could tell you about Joe Boyd” said John which didn’t surprise me in the least.
I seem to recall you’d shown Brian that photograph of you that I’d updated and he was very complimentary. As I’ve said he comes across as an interesting and interested chap.
Lot of folk had nowt but praise having watched this…
I have always thought of Brian Eno as being along the lines of one of those management consultants who used to be around ten to twenty years ago who an organisation would bring in when they had got to a certain level of success and felt they needed to consider where next. So, someone who had never actually run an organisation (did Eno ever learn to play an instrument?) would be brought in who would run workshops full of jargon and “oblique strategies”, and they would leave and we would do what we would have done anyway. But the organisation would be pleased to have shown that they “could think outside of the box”.
Interesting – but it kind of implies that you think record producers ought to be virtuosos first, or they have no right to talk to instrumentalists.
Not a virtuoso necessarily, but someone with practical experience in the line of work, which would help with communication in both directions.
Well, he was in Roxy Music and released his own albums – so I’m not sure that the “never actually run an organisation” metaphor really works here…
He has always claimed he is no musician. He’s a knob twiddler who coaxes a certain sound and performance from his charges. He’s made an excellent living and been involved in many artists’ very best and successful recordings. His solo work is remarkable for its variety. There is something for everyone. Nothing he touches is less than interesting.
I believe in his book A Year with Swollen Appendices: Brian Eno’s Diary there are references to his solo knob-twiddling.
Blink-and-you’d-miss-it appearance from Brian Eno in Father Ted.
Point of order. I’ve been reading this book as well, and Franz reports attending the Clash’s “White Riot” tour gig at Sussex University in May 1977. I was at that gig, too – I vividly remember it, as I saw most of the 1977-78 punk gigs in Brighton as well as the prog ones (a few of us ignored fomented tribal wars). He describes The Jam’s performance. This has to be made-up, as The Jam had left the tour by then. It was The Slits, Subway Sect, Buzzcocks, then The Clash. He accurately describes The Slits’s radical effect – now the thing that was most impressive about the night to me – so I am not about to say he wasn’t there. But maybe he had been entertained too well. By contrast, I was 16, couldn’t afford a pint of beer, and was not offered a blast of any of the herbal cheroots around, so there was nothing to befuddle my recall. When he releases a subsequent edition, he should make a correction, or just discretely edit this out. Maybe he saw The Jam elsewhere.
Interesting. You’d agree he seems quite meticulous in the level of detail otherwise?
Definitely meticulous. But I can’t comment on the factual detail. elsewhere, which i enjoy. Maybe he wrote the show down uncritically in his diaries. The tour poster advertised “The Jam”, but they left after playing the Rainbow a few days before. That The Jam had lots of hits must have hurt the nohits wannabes.