Talking Heads have fun with Stephen Colbert on his “Late Show”
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On Wednesday (October 25), the talking heads on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert reunited on late-night TV for the first time in decades. In 1983 they were last guests on the “Late Show With David Letterman” and in the same year they filmed their classic concert film “Stop Making Sense”, which has now been released again in cinemas.
On the Colbert Show, David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison spoke about the re-release of the concert film and looked back on their time together.
With the parents’ station wagon to performances
In the show, the band members reminisced and talked about their respective musical beginnings. Talking Heads reflected on the times when they drove to gigs in Frantz’s parents’ station wagon and played in empty shopping centers in front of small crowds. Byrne talked about a concert in a pizzeria in Pittsburgh: “Our opening act was a fire eater.”
But Byrne and Frantz’s cover band, in which they played before Talking Heads, also came up. They originally founded their first band while at university to entertain their friends with covers. Harrison was also previously in the Modern Lovers and only found his way to the Talking Heads when they split up.
Talking Heads got rights back to “Stop Making Sense.”
In 1983, the Talking Heads had director Jonathan Demme make their concert film “Stop Making Sense,” which has now been modernized for its fortieth anniversary. The band spoke to the moderator about the retrieval of the film rights. Harrison explained that these originally belonged to a company. But the associated contract expired, meaning they regained the rights to the work. Chris Frantz described the remastered version as “beautiful” and that looking back now made him realize that he had done everything right.
The Talking Heads reunited for the first time on September 11, 2023 to celebrate the release of the remastered version of “Stop Making Sense” at the Toronto International Film Festival. In addition to the film, a double LP with some previously unreleased tracks was also released on August 18th.