When David Byrne spoke to The Times last year about the possibility of a reunion, he didn't mince words: "Trying to recreate the feeling people had when they first heard that music in their early twenties? That's a fool's errand. Besides, I'm enjoying what I'm doing now." With that comment on record, this upcoming Talking Heads get-together is worth paying extra attention to.
SiriusXM is rolling out a new channel called Talking Heads Radio, and all four members — David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, and Tina Weymouth — will appear together on launch day to record a conversation. The channel will feature recordings spanning the band's career, described by SiriusXM as covering "50 years of music." It will air on satellite radio in cars from October 1 through October 22, while remaining available on the SiriusXM app through October 31.
The conversation was recorded on September 28 in New York in front of a live audience, with Este Haim hosting the Q&A, and will air at noon on the channel's launch day. A full reunion of all four members is a rare occurrence for Talking Heads. Their last public appearance together was in 2023, when they reunited for a Q&A at the Toronto International Film Festival to mark the anniversary of their classic concert film Stop Making Sense — their first joint appearance in over two decades. When asked at the time whether there was any chance of performing together again, Weymouth simply said they were "enjoying the moment."
Frantz touched on the difficulty of a reunion in a 2022 interview with NME: "I've tried a few times, the last time about twenty years ago, and after that David said, 'I don't want to be asked this question anymore, I'm not going to deal with it.' It's a shame, but that's how it is." Set against Byrne's later comments to The Times, this conversation recorded for the channel's launch is, in some sense, the closest thing to a "reunion" the band has done in years — even if it remains an interview rather than a performance or new recording.
