Thompson Twins: The Future Is Now

Thompson Twins: The Future Is Now

extravagant and odd,” says Alannah Currie, the female Thompson Twin. mean, you watch TV in America— or any country—and the basic sort of people that appear are actually quite normal. And then you have these ecentric pop groups and kids are realattracted to that sort of thing in the same way they’re attracted to caroons, because cartoons are utrageous.”

Hlrtoon or not—and outrageous or toonish about the world-wide success of the Thompson Twins. One of the unlikeliest-looking trios ever, the Twins have firmly established themselves as one of rock’s hottest acts with their latest album, Here’s To Future Days. A follow-up to the equally successful Into The Gap (which featured ‘‘Hold Me Now,” the song that really brought them mass attention in America), Future Days, with songs like ‘‘Lay Your Hands On Me,” mained entrenched as a top seller.

Of course, fame and fortune didn’t come easily to the Thompson Twins. As everyone knows, there’s no Thompsons in the group; nor are there any twins. When leader Tom Bailey formed the band in 1977, it was a seven-piece combo, named after a European comic strip. In those formative days, the Thompson Twins played shows where the audience was expected to join in on the fun: in fact, the band would hand out hubcaps to the crowd, asking them to bang along!

The spirit remained, but the band changed drastically when Tom needed one more song for their first album. That song—“In The Name Of Love”—was written with the help of Alannah Currie (who is from New Zealand) and Joe Leeway (originally from South Africa). When Bailey heard the results, he turned the Twins into the trio they are today. “We realized on what side our bread was buttered,” he quipped at the time.

The new Twins, of course, became quickly known for their dance/synth sound. “I’ve always liked guitar and piano,” Tom admitted. “But we wanted to avoid the usual rock ’n’ roll cliches.”

That they did, and they also became well-known in the United States, largely due to their “eccentric” videos. “It’s like kids love fairy tales, all the costumes and everything,” says Alannah. “They can emulate it or just see it as another part of life.” Of course, for a band with a well-known image, video can be a problem, as Tom Bailey is aware.

“People become saturated with one particular image and then everybody changes,” he observes. “You walk down the street and people say your hair’s longer, and you rl they’ve been seeing this videof six months ago—every day i months.’

But if their image has been a| problem, their music has major triumph. When “DoctoJ tor” and “Hold Me Now” hitt waves, Americans began fl serious notice of the quirky tria when they participated in the Lil concert in Philadelphia last yeal had indeed established them! as a world-class act. In manyl the Live Aid show was the cul tion of the Thompson Twins*

“We’d never played to Russj China at the same time,” says (Of course, who had?)

“It was brilliant,” adds a thusiasticAlannah. “Mymotli in New Zealand. My sister j

Australia. And there were frietheir

England, in Japan and Al Everybody was on the telephof ing what time we we re goini

knew as we were playing lpe s those people all ’round thepert, were watching.”

As well as being a great funf rica for the African people, Live /p0nn; sa. artistic triumph for the Thompson ins. They went on stage without is *cking their sound system—somelottij) that’s practically unheard of in ter Pay and age. And they perform> friefeir big hit, “Hold Me Now,” as AI as the Beatles’ “Revolution”— phoi certainly fitting the mood and goinjt of the event. Tom Bailey did ng ice something unusual about the f cert, though.

Did you notice that most of the tfunF'can performers, apart from ive |onna and the Hooters, were over 40?” he asks. “Which I think should be taken note of in the American music world. We were like the young, foreign upstarts amongst those legendary names. It felt a bit like that, but it didn’t hurt at all. And I certainly thought when we were doing ‘Revolution’ that we were rocking the stage as much as anyone else.”

Food for thought in America, anyway. The Twins—whose songs often center around the problems of effective communication in the modern world—were ultimately quite pleased to be part of the legendary event. “You don’t have to wait for another five years and vote before someone’s life can be saved,” says Tom. “You can go ahead and do it right now.”

And, musically, so can the Thompson Twins. “It’s very much an aim of ours to provoke the imagination,” says Bailey. “A lot of people have varying versions of what they claim our songs mean, and I think that’s a very healthy thing.” As it will no doubt continue to be in future days.