Tape Op, issue No. 147 (01.2022):
RO: We wrote a few songs in England. We also had another bit of a false start, making a bit more – shall we say – "bombastic" music. Think Queen. We jokingly called the album "Tears For Fears, The Musical". That was the point at which our manager, Gary Gersh at the time, came in. We were working with Charlton Pettus, who is our guitarist, co-songwriter, and co-producer; he's been with the band for many years now. We'd made "Everybody Loves a Happy Ending" with him in his studio in L.A. Gary came in, and we had about four songs on the go, none of which have made it onto this album. It was a very pleasant meeting, and Charlton's wife made a lovely lunch. At some point afterwards, Gary said to us, "You're not going to get a good record made with that guy in that studio."
Int.: Wow.
RO: I mean, based on the material we played him, he had a point. So, we started off on this journey. At the time, Gary was listening to Sohn [Christopher Michael Taylor]. Very contemporary at the time; absolutely beautiful album ["Tremors"]. The first thing he said was, "Why don't you do some tracks with him?" That started a whole procedure. At least Sohn tried to come up with very original material. We did a couple of tracks with him. Then we did what we call the "speed dating" writing, with modern hit songwriters. As opposed to not modern hit songwriters? It was all a bit strange. This process took years. I was working in a studio with a collective group; sometimes four or five people, sometimes even more. They're bringing in what are called top-line guys nowadays.
Int.: Melodies and all.
RO: I'm thinking, "Well, what am I then? What am I supposed to be doing here, if I'm not doing the top-line?" I don't mean to sound arrogant, but here I am working with guys who aren't as successful as me. [...]
Int.: Did you have to take a break, scrap this other way of working, and then reconvene?
RO: Well, no. We actually finished an album. We had 12 tracks in 2016. We had been signed to Warner Bros. Our manager Gary decided that that wasn't the right place to be, so he approached Universal, who have our back catalog. They had this plan, which is exactly what they'd done with Jeff Lynne, and it worked. They took two of the songs and put out a greatest hits with the two new songs. Once that got in the charts, they would come out with our new album. In the process, Universal managed to get the two tracks off us for "Greatest Hits" and then didn't sign the album.
Int.: Oh, no.
RO: That was a management/lawyer fuck-up, okay? Having said that, it worked in our favour long term, because when we removed the two tracks from the "Greatest Hits", we looked at the album, and Curt specifically didn't like it. It's not surprising, because that songwriting process, where everyone is shouting out ideas, didn't suit Curt. Curt is more studied. He'll sit in a room and won't say anything until afterwards.
Int.: Right.
RO: In order for us to make a balanced TFF album, we scrapped half of what we had. We kept the songs that we agreed on, the songs which we felt were absolutely vital, and then we started again. I got together with Curt at the beginning of 2020, before the pandemic was announced. Curt wasn't into it. He wasn't into being in Tears For Fears. He didn't need to be in Tears For Fears and didn't need the money. Fair enough. So, for the first time in many, many decades, we sat down together at his house in L.A. with two acoustic guitars and an iPhone, recording, and came up with a song called "No Small Thing." That was the point at which Curt became interested again. He sprang to life. Then "Rivers of Mercy," "Master Plan," and "Break The Man" all came afterwards. We ended up going full circle, working with Charlton Pettus in his studio. [...]
RO: [...] I think getting together with Curt and actually making music again was the cure for everything.
