When examining The Psychedelic Furs, you find all the standard labels of a band emerging in late '70s England: punk, post-punk, new wave, even alternative rock. However, what truly describes this colossus is: defining.
Not only did their song 'Pretty In Pink' inspire the 1986 John Hughes film of the same name, but they have also influenced countless bands from The Cure to The Killers, Green Day to Dave Grohl.Something about Richard Butler's yearning vocals resonated with an entire generation, making them romanticise the '80s as they were in it, and creating nostalgia to this day for a time that seemed perfect, both musically and culturally.
A fateful night in Manchester kickstarted a 50-year musical journey that shows no signs of slowing. "We went to see the Sex Pistols playing in Manchester," bassist Tim Butler shares. "We loved the energy and how simple it seemed.
"I know differently now, but back then I thought, 'he's only moving his hand around going to three different chords. I could do that.' When we started out, we never thought it would last this long. It's something that you do with your friends just to impress the girls and to have a few beers with them – and it sort of snowballed."
The Butler boys' father was instrumental in creating an environment conducive to fostering a love of music. "Every Friday night, he'd come home from work and he'd have a different record. We'd all sit down around the record player and listen to it.
"So we got quite a good selection from Tom Browne to Bob Dylan and Lead Belly. A pretty cool selection. It helped Richard and my interest in music from very early days."
After a seemingly non-stop career, the band took a hiatus from 1993 to 2000, and learnt a few things that made their return all the more special. "We learnt that we'd had more of an influence than we initially thought. We'd hear people doing covers of Furs songs and then we'd read in articles that the band The Killers were big fans.
"We thought we have actually done something here, made a difference, and that's always what you try to do, make a difference to the world in whatever you're in, we've done a little bit of music and it's usually really great. Maybe it's all been worthwhile."
The Psychedelic Furs will be playing with an epic line-up in April at Pandemonium, alongside Blondie, Alice Cooper, Deep Purple and a stack more. When asked if it will feel like the '80s again, Butler laughs.
"Yeah I guess. It's good to play with bands that have been through the slogs. Alice Cooper's been slogging at it since the early '70s. The same with Deep Purple. There's not many bands from this period that actually make it.
"When we started, there were hundreds of bands because everybody thought you could play because with punk, it's what you say, you can play two chords as long as you're saying something. So it's a funny business, it leaves a lot of people behind."
Butler looks forward to their Australian tour, as their last visit held a special memory for him. "We were there last year because we were asked to do some shows with Icehouse, but [Iva Davies] got COVID. I like anywhere that likes us and the [Australian] audiences seem to like our stuff.
"We had some time off, so my wife and I went to one of the two places where you can actually hold and cuddle koala bears. I had heard that they're a bit aggressive, but I guess that they're used to being handled."
Taking their time is a Furs trademark, as they took almost 30 years between albums 'World Outside' (1991) and 'Made Of Rain' (2020), and initially the project was a little difficult.
"It was a little bit stressful at first because, since we got back together in 2000, we'd been talking about you know doing another albumm, but we were sort of gun-shy about whether people would want to hear from us after ten years.
"So we started writing songs, and we weren't sure whether they'd be good enough to stand up against our early stuff, and we did it really quickly in two, two-week sessions. It's our inspiration to not overplay.
"[For our 1987 album] 'Midnight To Midnight' we went into the studio for six months, and everything becomes stale if you go too much. So we were really happy [this time], and it got really good reviews all around the world. Most songs only took three takes. There was one song that only took one take to get the basics down. We captured the energy of the song really fast."
They incorporated the music around them and advances in technology for their new offering. "Whatever you hear around you music-wise tends to sneak into the way you write your songs, and it comes out, we had all this influence from music around us; and it helps to expand your palette, and we used a lot of gadgets, and some stuff that seems 90-years old."
However, performing is something that will never get old for Butler as he credits the break for renewing his love of his craft. "Before we had the break from 1993 to 2000, we would record, tour, get back off the road, have a few weeks off, then write, record, tour. It's like a loop that gets you worn down with music.
"When we got back together, we realised we still liked the songs we had written and liked playing together, and the audience haven't forgotten us. Every time we tour we get a larger audience, which ranges from people who bring their kids down, so it gets from 15 or 16 up to you know 60 or 70. It's a real broad span of audience ages, which is good."
The Psychedelic Furs will go on to inspire many more, and sign off with their own inspiration in the form of a writer everyone should read. "Early Stephen King."
Pandemonium Music Festival 2024 Tour Dates
Sat 20 Apr - Caribbean Gardens (Melbourne)Mon 22 Apr - Newcastle Entertainment Centre* Blondie, Wolfmother & Cosmic Psychos
Tue 23 Apr - Newcastle Entertainment Centre* Alice Cooper, Deep Purple & Gyroscope
Thu 25 Apr - Cathy Freeman Park (Sydney)
Sat 27 Apr - Doug Jennings Park (Gold Coast)
Sun 28 Apr - Sandstone Point Hotel (Brisbane)*Blondie not performing
Pandemonium Music Festival 2024 Line-up
Alice CooperBlondie
Placebo
Deep Purple
Wheatus
The Psychedelic Furs
Dead Kennedys
Gang Of Four
Palaye Royale
Wolfmother
Cosmic Psychos
Gyroscope
and introducing Thai solo artist Petch
