If you always wanted to see the band Talking Heads but missed the chance prior to the group’s break up in 1991, you can now enjoy the next best thing — Start Making Sense. This band is an acclaimed Talking Heads tribute band that covers all phases of the band’s career. You will be able to see Start Making Sense with the Immaculate Horns when they perform at the Shea Theater Arts Center in Turners Falls on Saturday, April 9, at 8 p.m.
The group has been performing the music of the art-rock band led by David Byrne for 10 years and has toured throughout the United States, Cuba, and Canada. This tour is special, as the Immaculate Horns will join them on only eight selected dates. This four-piece horn section allows the band to delve into material they have never played before including songs from the final studio album by Talking Heads, the horn-heavy “Naked.” They will also play material from David Byrne’s solo catalog and even some non-Talking Heads tunes.
And while the music world is full of tribute bands, there are few willing to take on the complex and unique music of Talking Heads. The quartet that met at the Rhode Island School of Design and is known for songs like “Psycho Killer” and “Burning Down the House” was always experimenting and played everything from punk to funk and even incorporated poly-rhythmic beats into some of their music. There is no other band that sounds like Talking Heads, so one must wonder how Start Making Sense ever decided to tackle this music.
“Completely by accident,” said the band’s lead vocalist Jon Braun in a recent phone interview.
“There is a local bar in our hometown of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and a couple of us had done a night there where we were doing some of the Who’s ‘Quadrophenia‘ and some Led Zeppelin songs,” he said. “When the night was over, the bar owner suggested we come back again and do something else next time.”
Braun and his bandmates were open to the idea, but were not sure whose music they should play. So they asked the bar owner and she quickly responded “Talking Heads.”
They all loved the band, so why not give it a shot? From that point on, Braun took on the role of David Byrne, a vocalist known for singing in a high tenor that bursts with nervous energy. Byrne is one of rock’s oddest yet most brilliant front men, and stepping into his shoes could not have been easy.
“I wouldn’t say I stepped into them — I would say I slowly crawled after years and years,” said Braun with a laugh.
As soon as they started playing the Talking Heads’ music it immediately clicked with audiences. They took the name Start Making Sense from the Heads’ 1984 concert film “Stop Making Sense.” (The phrase comes from the Talking Heads song “Girlfriend is Better.”) But it would take years of playing these songs regionally before they were ready to take the show on the road.
“We do have a couple of recordings of those early shows, and I have to say that listening to them now is a bit painful,” said the singer. “We thought we were doing a good job, but we worked our way into it over time.”
As the band got better and did more shows, they realized there was an audience out there who wanted to hear this music. Once they mastered the material and worked out the logistics of touring with a seven to eight piece band, they were off and fast, earning the reputation of being the premier Talking Heads tribute band.
Start Making Sense has heard that the four members of Talking Heads — Byrne, bassist Tina Weymouth, her husband, drummer Chris Frantz, and keyboardist Jerry Harrison — are aware of their work. The guitarist of Start Making Sense is friends with Angie Swan, David Bryne’s current guitarist, and she has shared stories of her and David watching recordings of the band. “He was chuckling, so I’ll take that as a good sign,” said Braun.
Braun said they have talked about adding horns to the mix for years but never got around to working out all the details. Then when the pandemic hit and they had extra time on their hands, the group started seriously working on the idea.
The Immaculate Horns are two sax players, a trumpet and a trombone player. Bringing them on board has brought the band to eleven musicians and has meant creating an entirely new show with a new set list. They wanted to add new material, but knew some songs had to stay, and they had to be careful not to add material that was so obscure that it would alienate the audience.
“We wanted to keep it Byrne adjacent,” said Braun about the new songs. “People who are somehow related to Talking Heads, or members of Talking Heads. For instance, we are doing some material from David Byrne’s album with St. Vincent.”
An incredibly ambitious project, they have also re-worked some of the old material to include horns. And then there is the logistical problem of having 11 musicians on stage.
“We became painfully aware of how ambitious it was once we started work,” said Braun. “This was a long time in the making, even if it does seem like we just threw it together.”
“The horn section leaders, Matt Salazar And Ian Gray, did a ton of work with the horn charts, and our keyboard player, Alex Ayala, arranged horn parts on all the songs we have already done, and the other guys did the newer stuff,” explained Braun. “The amount of work they put into this was unbelievable, and they did a phenomenal job.”
Because the Immaculate Horns will be joining Start Making Sense for so few dates, they wanted to bring the tour to areas where they have frequently played so that those audiences would be able to experience something entirely new from the band. Our area is one of these as the band has played at the Stone Church in Brattleboro, Hawks and Reed in Greenfield, and the Wormtown Festival in Greenfield. They also needed to perform at venues that could accommodate an 11-piece band, and the Shea Theater has the perfect stage for this show.
“We are really excited about this theater, because we’ve never been there before and we hear there is some really cool stuff going on there,” said Braun.
Advance tickets are available at sheatheater.org
Sheryl Hunter is a freelance writer who resides in Easthampton. Her work has appeared in various regional and national publications. She can be reached at Soundslocal@yahoo.com.