Yes, its surprising but true: Butler, the man responsible for belting out Pretty In Pink, Love My Way, and Heaven many years ago, is now living with his wife and daughter in beautiful downtown Cold Springs, NY.Dont worry, goth girls. Its neither as unlikely nor as domestic as it may sound. For one, Butler and his spouse had previously been living in the heart of the Big Apple before she was found to be with child. My wife was pregnant, and we just decided that, as much as I love New York City and still do, it didnt seem like the greatest place to bring up a little girl. So we moved out to the woods...which Im thoroughly bored of at the moment. In nice weather, its livable, but in the winter...it just dumped another six inches of snow this morning, and I havent seen the ground in about two months.And, thus, devoted husband and father though Butler may be, hes not only pleased about the fact that the Psychedelic Furs are back together, but also that theyre hitting the road, allowing him to get out of the ice and snow, at least for a little while.

Hell, hes even pleased about the band rehearsing for the tour in New York City. When I first moved up here, I thought, Oh, Ill get back into the city once or twice a week; its only an hour train ride. (In reality), I probably get in once a month. So Im quite looking forward to rehearsals and getting in there on a daily sort of basis.Like last years summer jaunt with the B-52s (plus a few dates on their own, including an appearance at the NorVa), therell be hits aplenty, but therell also be quite a bit of new material spotlighted in the set...more than just the one or two tracks they threw to the adoring masses last time around.

Butler is more than familiar with this area, as well as the venue the Fursll be playing this time around: the Boathouse. The mere mention of its name results in his instant identification of its location (In Norfolk?). Hes well aware of the Boathouses history. Oh, yes, weve played there a number of times.

The line-up of the Furs thatll be playing at the Boathouse is almost identical to the one that played At the NorVa recently, give or take a drummer. In other words, not only will original Furs members John Ashton and Butlers brother Tim be along for the ride, but Richard Fortus, the guitarist in Butlers other band, Love Spit Love, will also be in the fold. Love Spit Love has kind of been put on the sidelines since the Furs got backtogether, explains Butler; when asked about a third Love Spit Love album, though, he quickly clarifies that its a possibility! I didnt actuallysay, Okay, no more of that, just like I didnt say, No more of thePsychedelic Furs!

The Furs reunion came about last spring...around this time, actually. I was writing with Tim, he explains. Id continued doing that right through the period when the Furs werent working together, and I wasnt actually sure whether it was going to be a solo album or a Love Spit Love album. But (Tim) said, Well, youve got a lot of songs; youve got enough songs that you could make a Psychedelic Furs record as well, if you wanted. And I hadnt really thought about it up until then; it just hadnt occurred to me.He goes on, I think you have to put your best foot forward with any project youre doing, and to say, Well, I like this song, so Ill keep it for my record, and then Ill give this one to the Psychedelic Furs, or anything like that, it just wouldve seemed a bit half-hearted. But when he suggested (a Furs record), I thought, Yeah, thats a good idea! So I called John (Ashton), and I said, Would you be interested in the idea of doing a Furs record? Cos, if so, yknow, Id like you to be in the writing process, too! And he said, Yeah, Id love to! And soon after that, our manager knew what we were doing, and he said, Hey, do you want to try going out and doing a tour, see how you feel about it all? So we went out and basically did a tour with the B-52s, and then we did our own tour that followed pretty shortly after that...and had a great time of it.

Last time around, they played a couple of a new songs, but this time, theyve got enough songs for a new album. Thats not to say that theyll be playing them all, but suffice it to say that the odds of hearing new material has increased significantly.Theres been no concrete decision made on the matter of wholl be producing this tentative new album, but fans surely wait with baited breath. After all, it can safely be said that the Furs have worked with their fair share of top-notch knob-twiddlers in their day- Todd Rundgren (Forever Now), Keith Forsey (Mirror Moves), Chris Kimsey (Midnight To Midnight), and Stephen Street (World Outside) among them.

Butler concedes that two names are under consideration for the new tracks. I did some writing with a guy called Marty Fredericksen that Id like to have him produce. And Id also like to have Steve Lillywhite produce. Lillywhite, of course, handled production duties for the Furs self-titled debut, as well as the bands milestone, Talk Talk Talk. Steve was great and still is great.

The bands never gone out of their way, however, to pick anyone whos at the top of the game at that time. Its more who we feel would be sympathetic to us, and, upon meeting them, if they sort of get what youre doing. From my experience, the latest, hottest producer is not going to make you sound like the latest, hottest thing; they only reflect your own ideas.

Generally, the band does the majority of the work. The producer can always crack the whip, I suppose, but, for the most part, its the band that has to do the work...and write the songs! he says. Even though the album is still the embryonic stages, the Furs still have new product to push while on the road: a brand-new greatest-hits album (cleverly titled The Psychedelic Furs Greatest Hits), courtesy of Columbia/Sony Legacy. They keep coming out with them, dont they? smirks Butler.

Hes not kidding; there was already a best-of collection called All Of This And Nothing in 1988, followed by what at the time of its release appeared to be a definitive career retrospective: the 2-disc Should God Forget, which additionally covers the two albums released after All Of This And Nothing. I dont think (the new disc) replaces any of those, Butler admits, (but) I think its got different mixes of things. Indeed, it contains the single version of Mr. Jones, as well as a live version of Only You And I.When viewing the contents of the greatest hits, its rather mind-blowing to realize that its been over two decades since the band came together and released their eponymously titled debut in 1980. We were pretty much just a group of friends, he says. It seemed like we were allinterested in music, but, at the time, in the late 70s, it seemed like all these bands were around like Yes and Bowie and Roxy Music...but it seemed like they were all very...musician-ly. And we werent very musician-ly. We loved music, but we couldnt play very well. And where did they get all that equipment? It seemed like you needed tons of equipment. And it took punk rock coming along and saying, Look, you dont really need much equipment, and you just need to have a bit of an attitude and a couple of guitar chords, and you can do it! Which sort of spurred us on to start, as it spurred on a lot of people.This observation, of course, begs the question, Have you, Richard Butler, after all these years, finally become musician-ly yourself?Ummmmm...within my own band, I suppose, yeah. But Ive never taken voice lessons, for instance, because I think that voice lessons would probably correct all the things that make me sound like me!

From the beginning, critics have thrown out comparisons and tried to nail down the bands influences, with suggestions ranging anywhere from the Doors to the Velvet Underground, from Roxy Music to the Sex Pistols. I dont think the Doors would be among them at all, Butler points out quickly, but definitely the Velvet Underground would be there, as would Bob Dylan and the Sex Pistols and the Clash and the whole of the punk rock sort of feel. Probably Roxy Music would be in there, and David Bowie would be in there. A bunch of different ones. And for our guitar player, T. Rex would be in there, though Ive never understood the attraction...but he used to swear by them.I dont know whether anyone really influences you after awhile, he notes, though he clarifies that, these days, people tend instead to inspire me. Radiohead Ive found inspiring, just because of how great their songs are. I love Kid A. Even though, to put it politely, it takes rather a few listens to get the hang of it?

Well, those are the best records, though, arent they? Fair enough. For straight-ahead songs, though, I think The Bends is probably(Radioheads) best album. Its all I played for about six months a coupleof years ago. I can play that record back to back, again and again.And, to segue in a painfully obvious fashion, the same could be said of much of the Psychedelic Furs back catalog, so why not break out whatever you own from their discography and get psyched for the upcoming show? Butler and the rest of his cohorts will be making their HamptonRoads appearance on March 24th at the Boathouse, in Norfolk.