Founding Talking Heads frontman David Byrne is preparing to release a new solo album, Who Is the Sky?, due out on September 5, which he’ll support with a lengthy world tour. The album is a follow-up to his 2018 studio effort American Utopia, which partly inspired an acclaimed Broadway stage show.
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Also in recent years, Byrne has reunited with his former Talking Heads bandmates to promote a restored version of the band’s classic 1984 concert film, Stop Making Sense. Byrne, drummer Chris Frantz, bassist Tina Weymouth, and multi-instrumentalist Jerry Harrison took part in a number of special screening events and appeared together on some TV shows, which got fans excited about the possibility of a reunion tour or album project.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, though, Byrne made it clear that those hoping to see a new Talking Heads tour or album were basically on a road to nowhere.
Talking Heads had a somewhat acrimonious split initiated by Byrne in 1991. For many years after that, David apparently had little contact with the other band members. In the Rolling Stone interview, he was asked if he and his bandmates felt more comfortable with each other when they reunited to promote Stop Making Sense.
Byrne said they did, then immediately went on to discuss his feelings about collaborating again with the others.
“I didn’t feel like, ‘Oh, yeah, let’s go out on tour again.’ Or, ‘Let’s make another record,’” David admitted. “Musically, I’ve gone to a very different place. And I also felt like there’s been a fair number of reunion records and tours. And some of them were probably pretty good. Not very many.”
Byrne Talked More About His Aversion to a Talking Heads Reunion
Reflecting more on the idea of playing with his fellow Talking Heads members again, Byrne noted, “It’s pretty much impossible to recapture where you were at that time in your life. For an audience … that was formative music for them at a particular time. They might persuade themselves that they can relive that, but you can’t.”
He also told Rolling Stone that he “totally understand[s]” why people want to see the group reunite.
“I’m a music fan like other people,” Byrne maintained. “And there’s artists that stopped working, or bands that broke up, that I heard at a period in my life where music was very important. Maybe I never heard it when it was happening, I missed it. I would love to see it live now. But you realize you can’t turn the clock back. When you hear music at a certain point in your life, it means a lot. But it doesn’t mean you can go back there and make it happen again.”
More on Byrne Reuniting with Talking Heads Members to Promote the Film
In the years between the Talking Heads’ breakup and coming together to promote Stop Making Sense, Byrne’s bandmates made some critical comments about David in interviews, while Frantz included quite a few unflattering recollections about the frontman in his 2020 memoir, Remain in Love.
With that in mind, Rolling Stone asked about whether there were lingering tensions between the bandmates while promoting the movie.
“It was OK,” he said. “We were all very proud of that show and the film that [director] Jonathan Demme did. We’re thrilled that audiences still wanted to see it. So we put aside whatever differences we have. I said, ‘OK, we’re not going to go there, but we’re going to help promote this thing.’”
About the criticism he’d received from the other members, Byrne shared, “Mercifully, I didn’t read a lot of that stuff. I’d hear about it a little bit.”
David also reflected on why his bandmates carried some animosity toward him.
“[T]here were periods when we made Stop Making Sense where I had this vision of what this show could be,” he explained. “I was very single-minded about ‘No, the lighting should be like this. And the crew has to rehearse wheeling those risers out so that they’re as much a part of the show as the band is.’ It all worked, but I was not the easiest person to work with in those days. Now I know how to collaborate a little bit better. There’s a way to do it where it doesn’t hurt feelings.”
More About Who Is the Sky?
As previously reported, Who Is the Sky? is a 12-track collection that was produced by Kid Harpoon, who previously has worked with Harry Styles, Miley Cyrus, and many others.
All the tracks were arranged by New York City-based chamber-music ensemble Ghost Train Orchestra. The album features contributions from several guest artists, including St. Vincent and Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams.
Byrne has just released a third advance track from the album, “The Avant Garde” via digital formats. A companion lyric video for the tune has debuted at Byrne’s YouTube channel.
Who Is the Sky? can be pre-ordered now. The album will be released on CD, as a vinyl LP, and digitally. The LP is available on standard black vinyl, lemon-yellow vinyl, and limited-edition cantaloupe-orange/strawberry-pink split vinyl.
More About Byrne’s Upcoming Tour
Byrne’s tour in support of Who Is the Sky? will kick off with a 40-plus-date North American leg. The trek begins September 14 in Providence, Rhode Island, and is plotted out through a December 5-6 engagement in Miami Beach, Florida. Byrne will be playing multiple shows at most stops on the tour.
The show will feature the 73-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer accompanied by a collective of 13 musicians, singers, and dancers. The group will include some members of David’s American Utopia band.
In January 2026, the tour will head Down Under for a six-date visit to New Zealand and Australia. That will be followed by a 20-show European leg running from a February 12 concert in Berlin through a March 18-19 stand in Paris.
Tickets are available at DavidByrne.com.
(Photo by KMazur/WireImage)
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