Tim Butler Of The Psychedelic Furs’ Fave Bassists

What’s old is new again. So it goes with the Psychedelic Furs. While the band’s name may sound strange to anyone who wasn’t tuning into WLIR back in the ‘80s, the Furs managed a major commercial breakthrough when late filmmaker John Hughes tapped the song title of the band’s 1981 hit “Pretty in Pink” to serve as the name of his 1986 movie. Led by brothers Richard and Tim Butler, who sing and play bass respectively, the London outfit never rose to the heights of peers like Depeche Mode, The Cure and Duran Duran.
But they avoided one-hit wonder status thanks to a string of MTV-friendly hits including “Love My Way,” The Ghost in You,” “Heaven” and “Heartbreak Beat.” Couple this with a string of four solid albums out of the box starting with the band’s self-titled 1980 debut followed by Talk Talk Talk (1981), Forever Now (1982) and Mirror Moves (1984) and the band has cultivated a devoted fan base. And while the ‘90s was a wash as the Furs went on hiatus in the early ‘90s while the Butlers went off to form Love Spit Love, the siblings’ original musical project reformed in 2000. And while the past two decades was spent touring off past successes, the Furs returned in 2020 with Made of Rain, the group’s eighth studio album and first collection of new material since 1991’s World Outside. For Tim Butler, the delay in making it was more a case of careful deliberation versus rushing into the studio just for the sake of cutting a new album.

“When we got back together, we were talking about doing a new album, but we were a bit gun shy about coming up with an album that could stand up alongside Forever Now or Talk Talk Talk,” he said. “We had what we considered good songs and had a band that was really playing well together. We figured the time was right—and it was. It took two two-week sessions [in late 2019] to record, which is a very short amount of time. It sounds fresh.”

Timing being what it is, the pandemic blew up just as the record was released. During this time of live music stops and starts, the band has grabbed gigs where and when opportunities presented themselves. But now with COVID-19 numbers plummeting and some kind of new normalcy returning, Butler and his band mates are eager to hit the road again.
“When the new album came out, we’d planned to do a big tour with new material and everyone was gearing up for that,” he said. “And then the whole world shut down. “We finally have a new album that sounds current and it shows that we still have something to say musically. It’s really exciting to finally be getting out there playing new songs—not just for us, but for the audience, who have loyally been coming out to see us since we got back together.”

In the meantime, Butler was more than happy to share which fellow bass players have inspired him over the years.

Jean-Jacques Burnel (February 21, 1952 to present)
“When I was about 16 or 17, I went to see The Stranglers a few times and [John] showed you didn’t have to be in the background like John Entwistle standing there with your eyes looking at your fretboard. His bass sound was so cool—it was like a lead instrument. I just thought he was so cool.”

Paul McCartney (June 18, 1942 to present)
“I think he revolutionized the bass for rock and roll. That school of bass playing by people like James Jamerson was entirely different than what Paul McCartney did. He brought a whole other kind of melodicism to rock and roll, which is cool.”

Peter Hook from Joy Division/New Order (February 13, 1956 to present)
“I like the way he does the melodic lines. Again, he doesn’t just hold down the root note. He does lots of melodies. He’s not in the background, it’s like he’s a lead instrument on a lot of those songs.”

The Psychedelic Furs will be playing with Squeeze on September 8 at Radio City Music Hall, 1260 Sixth Ave., NYC. For more information, visit www.radiocity.com or call 866-858-0008.