Jerry Harrison: “David, listen to me: let’s get the Talking Heads back together”

Jerry Harrison, the historic Talking Heads guitarist, has a message for David Byrne: “David, listen to me: let’s get the Talking Heads back together. Let’s do it. I think we’d have fun.” On the other side of the screen, at this point in the interview, Harrison almost becomes emotional: “I think we owe it to our fans.” The invitation to the former bandmate comes on the day in which the 75-year-old guitarist will present the preview at the Rome Film Festival of the restored version in 4K and with Dolby Atmos 7.1 audio of “Stop making sense”, the film of the future Oscar winner Jonathan Demme who in 1983 captured on film the three iconic performances of David Byrne and his companions at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood, capturing all the eccentricity for which the Talking Heads went down in history as – the copyright belongs to the sociologist Dick Hebdige – a ” postmodern band” and consecrating them as one of the most revolutionary groups of their generation. Harrison was in the band from 1974 until it disbanded in 1991. Joining him this evening at the Olympic Theater will also be James Mockoski, responsible for the restoration. The Capitoline “Stop making sense special night” will be followed by a series of events throughout Italy with special guests and surprises (24 October at the Alcatraz in Milan, 26 October at the Vidia Club in Cesena, 27 October at the M9 in Mestre, on 29 October at the Teatro Grande in Brescia, on 30 October at the Estragon in Bologna), then the film will arrive at the cinema on 11, 12 and 13 November. “It’s an immersive experience,” Harrison guarantees.

What does it mean?

“That you are literally immersed in the music.

You can close your eyes and imagine that there is someone playing just a few steps away from you: with Dolby Atmos 7.1 audio you can clearly hear even the slightest sound nuances. You instinctively want to get up and start dancing as if you were at a concert. And then in several steps a strange effect is created whereby the cameras frame the heads of the spectators at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood, but you also see the heads of the spectators sitting in the cinema in the rows in front of yours: it is as if it were a three-dimensional vision , which makes you join the party depicted in the film.”

When did you first see the complete work?

“Last year at the Toronto Film Festival. It felt incredible – it was the moment I realized everything had aligned so beautifully.”

Why is “Stop making sense” so important?

“Because when it came out it was something unique. We wanted to make a film in which no one spoke: there just had to be music. There are many films about musicians out there. The one about Jimi Hendrix comes to mind with the footage of the Monterey Pop Festival: he is there, the cameras focus on him while he is performing his solo, but then suddenly two former school friends are interviewed who talk about him. Not that what they say isn’t interesting, but damn. We, however, wanted this film to be just like our concerts. Jonathan Demme was able to notice the interactions that existed between us, conveying with images the alchemy between the members of the group that characterized the Talking Heads’ shows”.

What stage of their career were Talking Heads in 1983?

“We knew we were simply one of the best bands in the world. ‘Stop making sense’ was perhaps the peak of our career. There is a book by Ernest Hemingway called ‘Moveable Feast’. So that’s just what we were: we were a moveable feast wherever we went. And people felt that mutual love that existed between all of us, both on stage and below.”

Why did Talking Heads break up, despite this mutual love and despite being “one of the best bands in the world”?

“Well, I’m not the right person to ask that of. It was definitely not my choice. Inevitably, at a certain point friction arose between the members. After all, there were those who had solo projects that they intended to carry out. David had decided to start his own business. When he made the movie ‘True Stories’ in 1986 and hit the cover of Time, he already had an entourage working for him.”

David closed the door on a reunion in 2020: “An exercise in nostalgia,” he said. Why might it not be, in your opinion?

“There would be some nostalgia. But the public can’t wait for anything else. I understood it when Adrian Belew and I did a 75 concert tour last year, performing the ‘Remain in light’ show. The fans went crazy. Of course, if we were to get back together again we wouldn’t have the same energy as when we were in our thirties. But our music would sound great and we would find a way to make it amazing.”

Is it true that last year the impresarios offered you 80 million dollars to reunite?

“More than 80 million dollars. And yes, it’s true. But it didn’t work out.”

Would the Talking Heads still have something to say today?

“I really think so. Also because we are more popular today than we were ten years ago. Many, especially the very young, have discovered us thanks to streaming platforms, where our songs are often included in streams that also include pieces by groups from the new scene. Anyone who finds themselves listening to one of our pieces by chance doesn’t know that it’s a piece from forty years ago: they only discover it later. So we became a cult band.”