Chris Frantz Blames David Byrne For Preventing The Talking Heads Reunion

Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz answered the question the band has received numerous times since their break up. The drummer appeared on Cumulus Podcasts for a short interview, where he was asked about a possible Talking Heads reunion.

Although Frantz stated he would look forward to a reunion, it doesn’t seem to be the same for the frontman, David Byrne. The drummer, blaming Byrne, said:

“Well, wouldn’t it be such a great thing if we did? Yeah, I would love to do that, and I’m sure most of the band does, but we have our erstwhile lead singer, he looks down his nose at reunion.”

The drummer shared the last time he spoke to the former frontman with the following:

“The last time? Well, he chooses to communicate by email these days, but last time I actually spoke to him was in June, we spoke.”

He was asked to clarify whether Bryne’s refusal to reunite was due to their relationship or his dislike of reunions. The drummer responded:

“I think it’s a yes to both questions. I wish I knew [what happened]. Tina [Weymouth] and Jerry [Harrinson] and myself were, I think, stunned is a pretty good word to describe the feelings we had when we stopped working together.”

Frantz then explained why:

“Because when you look at the movie ‘Stop Making Sense,’ you’ll see that – the performances of Talking Heads towards the end of our career were kind of like, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that they were almost like a religious experience. I don’t know, maybe David just converted to some other religion.”

After he was asked if it was not getting any fun anymore towards the end of their career, the drummer refused and replied with the following:

“No. Things were better than ever. But you know some people kind of the better things get, the grumpier they get.”

The band’s latest reunion was at Toronto International Film Fest for a question and answer session to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their film, ‘Stop Making Sense.’ Additionally, this topic was mentioned many times during interviews, the latest of which Bryne expressed his joy for uniting with his bandmates, though it was only to celebrate the anniversary of the film.

In another interview, Frantz stated that he had tried to talk about a reunion with the singer, but he refused to do so and asked the drummer to never discuss it again. Considering Byrne’s words, it doesn’t seem like a reunion will be coming soon.

See the latest interview below.