The nucleus for the Psychedelic furs grew five years ago (’76), with three brothers, Richard, Tim and Simon Butler. They rehearsed in Richard’s front room and it was a very casual affair, with Richard and Simon on guitar and Tim on bass. This line-up, with a friend on drums, made their first live appearance at a friend’s party under the name RKO, derived from the film company of the same name. At the party the guests didn’t’ seem to understand RKO as they ran through cover versions of songs. The drummer seemed to be on a different wavelength than the brothers and played different songs than the ones Richard was singing, which led to the guests leaving.
After this a new start was needed. Two schoolfriends of Simon’s , Roger Morris and Duncan Kilburn, were drafted in and the name changed from RKO to Radio. This line-up only rehearsed and never managed a live appearance before more changes were made. Duncan left to live in New York. Simon left and was replaced by Dominic, a French guitarist who didn’t stay long as he didn’t like gigging.
With yet another change in the line-up the name was again changed from Radio to the Psychedelic furs. The name had been coined as a play on the word "psychedelic" and as a reference to the psychedelic period of the mid-sixties. Richard liked the ideas that were formed in this period and wanted to incorporate the word ‘psychedelic’ in the title of the band. At the time, 1976, ‘psychedelic’ was hardly ever used. So he ran through names with ‘psychedelic’ in front of them, such as the Psychedelic Shirts, the Psychedelic Shoes, etc. and finally came up with the Psychedelic Furs.
There was also a conscious attempt to experiment with the attitude and freedom of the psychedelic period coupled with the nihilistic attitude of the punk era. Richard was now beginning to create a concept for the Furs and started drawing from his art college background. He was also influenced by a brief meeting with Andy Warhol and Warhol’s concept of a rock band - Velvet Underground. Now the concept had to be put into practise, and the Furs began to task the directions they were to follow.
The band was then given a chance to let themselves out of rehearsal and into the open when a gig was obtained at the Duke of Lancaster, a small pub in London. But everything didn’t go according to plan. They drew the same reaction they did as RKO which led to the Duke of Lancaster’s manager saying that he never wanted to see the Psychedelic Furs again. Since the Furs were still a young and struggling band, it was very difficult to get gigs, especially after the reputation they gained at the Duke of Lancaster. Richard decided to change the name to the Europeans and make the songs all acoustic. The Europeans only lasted for a few rehearsals before the name was changed back to the Psychedelic Furs.
In the meantime, Duncan had returned from America, full of ideas for the Furs and with a saxophone he had learned to play while in New York, after being inspired by the Average White Band. Rehearsals became more frequent even though there was still a shortage of equipment and cash. The furs picked up their first permanent drummer, Paul Wilson, and a gig was obtained at the punk-rock haven , the Roxy. At the Roxy there was again trouble with the audience who were not ready to listen to anything but a punk thrash and the Furs were jeered off stage. Even though the Furs were not a punk band they were able to find more gigs as everyone wanted to see new bands, and record companies were signing anything associated with punk. The Furs had yet to find their audience, but they did begin to create interest from the music business. Nigel Gray, a young producer, offered the Furs studio time but they couldn’t afford it. (Nigel later went on to produce the Police and Siouxsie and the Banshees.)
The Furs had now written about 8 songs - "Fall In Love," about sex, "Sex," which later became "Girl’s Song," "Cars," which became "We Love You" and "Blacks" which was built around a sarcastic quote by Andy Warhol. Somebody asked Warhol "What do you think about Black people?" and he replied "Oh, I love them. If it wasn’t for the blacks in the South, my father’s refrigerator factory would close down."
A few residencies at clubs in London were obtained, but after the first show of the residency the Furs were told not to return. This led to discontent within the band and Paul Wilson decided to leave, only to rejoin a few days later on condition that a friend of his, John Ashton, could rehearse with the band on guitar. Paul and John had both been in a punk band called the Unwanted. John and his girlfriend Tracy, on Paul’s invitation, came along to see the Furs at the Green Man pub in London. At the gig Richard ran around with a chair on his head and smashed the cigarette machine. Nevertheless, John and Tracy were impressed with the bands’ performance and went along to see the Furs rehearse. This resulted in John becoming the Furs’ other guitarist and Tracy their manager.
With the introduction of John and Tracy, things began to gel. The band went into extensive rehearsals, being encouraged to rehearse regularly for the first time. After three months behind closed doors, they emerged to try their ideas and music out on the public again. Also during rehearsals some new songs were written - "Sister Europe" - about Richard’s girlfriend living in Italy, "Pulse" and "Imitation of Christ", from the title of an Andy Warhol film.
It was now 1979 and punk was becoming more commercialised. The Furs were finally beginning to gain recognition and the concept of the Psychedelic furs was almost complete. To help advertise the gigs Richard started screen printing posters with his girlfriend in his flat. With media interest and a following in London, the Furs embarked on their first London tour. It was at one of these gigs that Les Mills, then working with the Banshees, first saw the band, was very impressed with them, and got involved in organising gigs…which resulted in him becoming the Furs’ manager. Les also invited the band to come along to a Banshees gig at the Rainbow. This was a very eventful evening as Richard met David Bowie and immediately struck up a rapport with him.
Richard also met Kris Needs, then the editor of Zig Zag, a music magazine. Kris offered the Furs a chance to play at the Zig Zag party being held at the Venue in London, which was the biggest gig they had ever been offered. When the date of the party arrived, all of the Furs except Paul Wilson arrived for the soundcheck. Paul didn’t bother to give an excuse for not coming and rumours were spread of his being injured in a serious car crash to combat the embarrassment of the Furs being unable to play. Paul’s relationship with the rest of the band was strained after his non-appearance and he left the day after, rejoining a few weeks later when a suitable drummer couldn’t be found. The Furs were offered a residency at the Windsor Castle, a pub in London, which turned out to be a turning point in their careers. The first two gigs went as normal and only a loyal few came. But by the time of the last gig of the residency the Windsor Castle was packed. It was at one of these gigs that Steve Lillywhite first saw the Furs and became interested in them. He later went on to produce their first two albums.
Everything was dropping into place except for one weak link in the form of Paul Wilson, who was becoming more unreliable. This culminated in Les having to stand in on drums at the Moonlight Club in London when Paul again failed to show. This was the end of the line for Paul and a new drummer had to be found. The new drummer, Rod Johnston, was a session drummer who was found through a friend of the bands.
The next landmark for the Furs’ was a co-headline gig with Spizz at the Nashville, then a prestigious London pub. At this gig CBS A&R man Howard Thompson saw the Furs and offered them studio time. A demo, produced by Ed Hollis, was recorded at Island’s Basing Street Studio. Again there were drummer problems. When the demos were due to be recorded Rod turned up four hours late, leaving the Furs eight hours to record four songs. The songs demo’d were "Sister Europe", "Pulse", "We Love You" and "Fall", which had just been written. Even though Rod had proven his unreliability, he still carried on drumming and a gig was arranged at the Music Machine in London in front of several record companies who were beginning to scramble to see who could sign the Furs first.
John Peel, an influential DJ, heard the Furs’ demos, liked them and offered them a session on his late night radio show. The session was recorded at BBC Maida Vale Studios in June, 1979 and produced by Trevor Dan. The songs were "Fall", "Imitation of Christ", "We Love You" and "Sister Europe". Rod was again late to the studio and it was decided a new drummer was needed. So by he time the session was played on the radio the Furs were again drummerless and Jon Peel was asked to advertise for a drummer at the same time the session was broadcast. As a result of this appeal Vince Ely came along for an audition. He had already seen the Furs and knew John Ashton. Vince had been in several bands before joining the Furs - the Unwanted, the Photons (with Steve Strange) and the Moors Murderers (with Chrissie Hynde) who caused a bit of a stir because of the association with the infamous child killers.
As soon as Vince auditioned it was fairly obvious he was the drummer they were looking for, and 20 minutes into the audition "India" was written. With the addition of Vince the Furs were finally complete. And with John Peel’s help they had been heard all over the country. The session was broadcast four times and each time John raved about it.
The Furs were the band to see in London and the shows they did in September and October of 1979 were all sell-outs. It could now not be long before the band signed to a record company. This happened in October, 1979 when Howard Thompson, who had been after the Furs for months, signed them to epic.
After several weeks of rehearsals Vince made his first live appearance with the Furs at the Nashville on Aug 26th ’79. The transformation was staggering. Suddenly, from being a band among many the Furs were "the" band to see, "the" name to drop. Inevitably the music journalists began to appear. Melody Maker was the first mainstream paper to cover the Furs in an article written by Chris Bohn, closely followed by Giovanni Dadamo (Sounds) and Paul Du Noyer (NME). During the month of September the Furs flaunted themselves to a more diverse audience by playing support to the Only Ones and Toyah at the Lyceum and co-headlining with The Boys at the Electric Ballroom. Now the time had come for the Furs to venture outside the capital, and so a nation-wide club tour was planned to coincide with the release of their first single on the Epic Label, "We Love You/Pulse". The tour did not turn out to be as widely successful as was expected. Mainly due to the fact that the tour booking agency responsible were claiming to have booked dates that never existed! However, the single was rapturously received in the music press : Especially by Tom Robinson in NME, who said that it was one of the classic singles of 1979 and Chris Bohn in Melody Maker who said "Richard Butler" achieves more in three minutes than F.Scott Fitzgerald could in 300 pages". Unfortunately "We Love You" was not well received by DJ’s (John Peel being the only exception) who still had a prejudice against any new groups that were in any way associated with punk or new wave. Another factor that hindered the band was the "psychedelic" tag. Despite all this the tour limped along with dates scheduled, cancelled, re-arranged, cancelled and again re-arranged, finally culminating in an appearance at the Electric Ballroom on Nov 10th. This was the bands biggest headliner yet and it attracted a capacity audience - including journalists from as far afield as the USA and Japan as well as a full contingent on the home front. Included among the reviews that appeared the following week was the following : "At last a band to write about" (Jane Suck, Sounds). Unfortunately "We Love You" was not well received by DJ’s (John Peel being the only exception) who still had a prejudice against any new groups that were in any way associated with punk or new wave. Another factor that hindered the band was the "psychedelic" tag. Despite all this the tour limped along with dates scheduled, cancelled, re-arranged, cancelled and again re-arranged, finally culminating in an appearance at the Electric Ballroom on Nov 10th. This was the bands biggest headliner yet and it attracted a capacity audience - including journalists from as far afield as the USA and Japan as well as a full contingent on the home front. Included among the reviews that appeared the following week was the following : "At last a band to write about" (Jane Suck, Sounds). Unfortunately "We Love You" was not well received by DJ’s (John Peel being the only exception) who still had a prejudice against any new groups that were in any way associated with punk or new wave. Another factor that hindered the band was the "psychedelic" tag. Despite all this the tour limped along with dates scheduled, cancelled, re-arranged, cancelled and again re-arranged, finally culminating in an appearance at the Electric Ballroom on Nov 10th. This was the bands biggest headliner yet and it attracted a capacity audience - including journalists from as far afield as the USA and Japan as well as a full contingent on the home front. Included among the reviews that appeared the following week was the following : "At last a band to write about" (Jane Suck, Sounds). Unfortunately "We Love You" was not well received by DJ’s (John Peel being the only exception) who still had a prejudice against any new groups that were in any way associated with punk or new wave. Another factor that hindered the band was the "psychedelic" tag. Despite all this the tour limped along with dates scheduled, cancelled, re-arranged, cancelled and again re-arranged, finally culminating in an appearance at the Electric Ballroom on Nov 10th. This was the bands biggest headliner yet and it attracted a capacity audience - including journalists from as far afield as the USA and Japan as well as a full contingent on the home front. Included among the reviews that appeared the following week was the following : "At last a band to write about" (Jane Suck, Sounds). One interesting footnote to the "We Love You" tour was that the Furs were accused of racism for the only time in their career. This happened at Portsmouth Polytechnic when some members of the student oriented audience misinterpreted the lyrics to "Blacks", not realizing that the offending Warhol quote was intended as sarcasm. Immediately following the tour a photo session resulting in the first album cover was arranged followed by additional dates in Hull and Birmingham. November ended with the Furs deciding to get back to their roots by playing two nights in Nashville. The only worthwhile thing that came out of those shows was the picture that subsequently appeared on the back cover of the album. Although well intentioned, the move back to a smaller venue proved to be a mistake with far more people turning up each night than the place could hold. This in turn led to frayed tempers from everybody concerned. The two shows were marred by sound problems, compounded when, on the first night, Vince was hit by flying glass. On the second night the support group joined in when their manager punched Duncan backstage. As a result of these shows the Furs decided that in future they owed it to their fast growing army of fans to play only such venues as could safely accommodate everybody who wanted to see them. On Dec. 5th the band went into RAK Studios in St. John’s Wood, London, to commence recording their debut album with producer Steve Lillywhite (who had been watching the Furs progress for some time). The songs scheduled for the album were basically those contained in the Furs live set and were deliberately recorded to give a live feel. Only "Wedding Song" was actually written in the studio.
After 2 and a half weeks the album was finished with everybody seemingly very happy. The tracks were: Side One: India, sister Europe, Imitation of Christ, Fall Side Two: Girl’s Song, Wedding Song, Blacks/Radio, Flowers After deliberating over Christmas it was decided that the album would need some re-touching. So on Jan. 7th, 8th and 9th - 1980 - the Psychedelic Furs went back into the studio (without Steve Lillywhite who was otherwise engaged with Peter Gabriel) to re-mix. This resulted in different versions of "Imitation of Christ", "Fall" and "Blacks/Radio", the exclusion of "Girl’s Song" in favour of "We Love You" and "Pulse" and the swap of the Steve Lillywhite version of "Flowers" for a version produced by Ian Taylor during the "We Love You/Pulse" sessions.
After deliberating over Christmas it was decided that the album would need some re-touching. So on Jan. 7th, 8th and 9th - 1980 - the Psychedelic Furs went back into the studio (without Steve Lillywhite who was otherwise engaged with Peter Gabriel) to re-mix. This resulted in different versions of "Imitation of Christ", "Fall" and "Blacks/Radio", the exclusion of "Girl’s Song" in favour of "We Love You" and "Pulse" and the swap of the Steve Lillywhite version of "Flowers" for a version produced by Ian Taylor during the "We Love You/Pulse" sessions.
1980 started badly for the Furs when Duncan sustained a broken jaw after being attacked in a night club. Unfortunately the Furs were committed to playing a show at the Electric Ballroom on Jan. 19th (which ironically was a replacement for a show - supporting Hawkwind - that had been cancelled). On the pretext that the show must go on, Duncan spent the two weeks still remaining before the show learning to play all his sax parts on the synthesiser. Although the sound didn’t suffer too much generally, songs like "Sister Europe" and "Fall" didn’t quite manage to attain their usual standard. As advance promotion of the next single, "Sister Europe/****", a tour supporting Iggy Pop was arranged commencing at Aylesbury Friars on Feb 2nd. It was apparent from the outset that the Furs were not happy just to support Iggy, they wanted to steal the show - which most night they did. The tour only lasted a week and a half but took in most parts of the major cities in Britain, culminating at the Hammersmith Palais in London.
Immediately prior to the release of "Sister Europe" on Feb 14th the Furs made a move from the Epic label to CBS though remaining as part of the same company. This move was made only days before the release of the single resulting in a very small number of copies already pressed on Epic failing to be called in. These copies are now extremely rare with perhaps fewer than 10 in existence. At this time a video was being recorded at Shepperton Studios directed by Don Letts (later of Big Audio Dynamite fame). The video captured the band for posterity playing in a black studio with a black plastic floor, inset with unusual statues that could have been a landscape for an alien planet.
With high expectations of imminent chart success the Furs went into the studio again on Feb 18th to record a second John Peel session. But "Sister Europe" did not achieve the success it deserved, due once again to a lack of effective radio play. This time only Mike Reed joined John Peel with support on national radio. Again the press reviews were ecstatic, including single of the week in Melody Maker.
The Furs quickly shrugged off their disappointment at this setback and a headlining nation-wide tour was booked to run through March. The Beautiful Chaos Tour, as it was called, was intended to give additional live support to the bands long awaited debut album, entitled "The Psychedelic Furs". The tour proceeded from strength to strength until it reached Eric’s in Liverpool. The police had been looking for an excuse to close Eric’s for several months without any success, so when the Furs played they decided to raid the place. As soon as the band left the stage about 60 policemen, women and dogs burst in, ransacked the club and searched everyone. Richard was still backstage when they took a dislike to him and planted drugs in his pocket. This resulted in Richard spending the night in a police cell and being summoned to court several times over the next six months, until finally being acquitted due to the fact that the arresting officers had just been successfully prosecuted for corruption and perjury! Which goes to show that there is still some justice in the world.
The final date of the tour was at the Lyceum in London, on March 23rd, a sell-out for a now triumphant band with a Top Ten album. To make the show even more memorable a top-class support bill had been arranged. These were Echo and the Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes, A Certain Ratio and Manicured Noise. But when the reviews appeared the Furs were universally criticised. Their time as press darlings was over.
