Datarock 'Say Thanks' to the Talking Heads

Posted on Aug 20th 2009 4:00PM by Steve Baltin
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Norwegian dance duo Datarock are clearly not one of those bands that likes to hide their influences. On their latest album, 'Red,' the group pays tribute to their musical heroes, the Talking Heads, on the track 'True Stories,' but it isn't the first time they've aped the iconic New Wavers.

"Talking Heads are a main influence sonically and songwriting-wise," Fredrik Saroea tells Spinner. "Our song 'Fa Fa Fa,' [from their 2005 debut 'Datarock Datarock] the whole 'Fa fa fa' bit is something I took from Talking Heads' 'Psycho Killer,' when in the middle of the song he sings, 'Fa fa fa.' It became such an important track for us I thought [we should] somehow say thanks to Talking Heads by paying tribute to them."

But Saroea wasn't aware the track was meant to be their "thank you" to the Heads until he wrote the opening riff. "When I came up with that little guitar in the intro, it just occurred to me that was very much inspired by Fela Kuti. And the only reason I know who Fela Kuti is is because of the Talking Heads because they were doing some work with him," he says. "So that's how I knew, 'Okay, this song is supposed to be a tribute to Talking Heads.'"

Unfortunately for Saroea, it seems he isn't fated to meet anyone from the band. "We've met so many of our idols, but we still have never met any of the guys from Talking Heads," he says. "People from Happy Mondays have been on stage with us and we've been doing work with Devo and all sorts, but we never ever met anyone from Talking Heads. We've been to conferences with Brian Eno, but that's as close as we got."

Their bad luck goes beyond just never connecting personally with the members of the Heads. "It's weird; we've never seen David Byrne solo. I've never seen Talking Heads of course. I even left New York City on a day when Tom Tom Club was performing so I didn't get to see them," he recalls. "They were performing with Devo, by the way, but nobody in our touring car said a word. That's wrong!"

Indeed it is, Fredrik. 'Red' is out now.