With the eagerly awaited Chris Frantz autobiography ‘Remain in Love’ due to be released at the end of the month, the drummer behind two inspiring and iconic bands, Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club, and wife and bassist Tina Weymouth's first and only visit to Cardiff as the Tom Tom Club was on this day, 2011. Here's the review from a stunning evening:
Tom Tom Club play Clwb Ifor Bach
It was an opportunity missed for thousands of South Wales music fans but a wonderful night for those clued-in individuals who made the first night, and the only visit to Wales by Tom Tom Club such a memorable evening.
The Tom Tom Club are most notable for containing the rhythm section of one of rock’s most innovative and iconic bands, Talking Heads, and the band have managed to score some notable hits despite living very much in the shadow of the monster band they helped create.
Husband and wife team, drummer Chris Frantz and bassist Tina Weymouth, no doubt frustrated at the Talking Heads’ lack of activity, created some of pop’s most infectious and catchy tunes incorporating not only punk, funk and disco but hip-hop as well, breaking ground and proving a big influence to many other bands that followed in their slipstream.
Celebrating their 30th anniversary as a band, there was certainly a summer party atmosphere with some good-natured banter amongst the band and fans not put off by the lack of numbers and who were voracious in their support to what proved an uplifting, bouncy and infectious set.
It was hardly surprising that their big hits like Genius Of Love and Wordy Rappinghood received the biggest response of the night with the latter featuring a scratching/percussive face-off between DJ Kid Ginseng and keyboard percussionist Bruce Martin.
But for me, the highlight of the night was a magnificent Man With The Four-Way Hips with Weymouth and singing partner Victoria Clamp’s wonderful quirky vocals, including some of Weymouth’s signature thudding bass and crisp, snappy drumming from Franz.
Ending on a tremendous high, the crowd were treated to two former Talking Heads’ gems, a cover of Al Green’s Take Me To The River and their former band’s most covered anthem, Psycho Killer, that featured some machine-gun riffs from guitarist Pablo Martin. Just the perfect ending to a perfect summer’s day.
Tony Woolway
