After more than 50 years, an early demo of Talking Heads hit 'Psycho Killer' has surfaced at RISD

Boston Globe

14-02-2025

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'I sent it to him, you know as young artists will do, in the hopes that he would play it,' Frantz told the Globe by phone. 'But I don't think that ever happened.'
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Frantz and Byrne packed up and moved to New York City in 1974, where they started a new band, Talking Heads, with fellow RISD classmate and bassist
'Psycho Killer' made the band's 1977 debut, 'Talking Heads: 77' and went on to crack
And now, decades after Talking Heads established themselves as among rock's foremost innovators, that original, Artistics demo tape — one of the oldest recordings of 'Psycho Killer' — has at long last surfaced again: At RISD.
'I sent [Byrne] a copy and he said, 'Wow!'' Frantz said with a chuckle. 'Both of us, David and I, are very happy that this tape exists and that we were able to find it after all these years.'
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For nearly two decades, the tape sat in a desk drawer, overlooked, at the RISD Museum after the museum purchased it in 2005 as part of a collection of Sondheim's materials, according to Margot Nishimura, RISD's dean of libraries.
The RISD Archives received it from the museum in fall 2023, when a curator stumbled on it while cleaning out her desk before she retired, Nishimura said.
The Artistics tape includes an early demo of "Psycho Killer."
Kaylee Pugliese/RISD
Nishimura said she contacted Frantz and turned it over to him. He returned the recording to the archives on Wednesday, where it will now reside for posterity, after Frantz had it digitized and mastered.
Nishimura remarked Thursday the tape 'speaks across time.'
The letter penned by Frantz included with the recording was written on the back of a poster for his painting exhibition at a student gallery — a gallery where student artwork is still shown today, she said.
'You hate to reuse words like aura,' Nishimura said. 'But in fact, it was an object that bears witness to a certain moment in time, and a certain kind of coalescence of these creative students and forces [that resulted] in, you know, one of the most popular songs ever to be recorded by a rock band.'
Fans will get to hear it when it's released by Rhino Records along with a few Talking Heads demos later this year as part of Record Store Day on 'Black Friday,' or Nov. 28, according to Frantz.
'It gave me great pleasure to hear that [RISD] had it because, you know, the band, The Artistics, was an interesting band,' Frantz said. 'It was my first relationship — band relationship — playing with David [Byrne], as well as the other guys … You know, it evolved into something pretty great.'
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Frantz and Weymouth returned to their RISD roots on Wednesday night, taking questions in Providence after a screening of
Although Byrne dropped out after his freshman year, Frantz and Weymouth, who are married and now reside in Connecticut, graduated in 1974 from RISD, where they both studied painting. They also founded the band, the Tom Tom Club, together in 1981.
On Wednesday, Frantz recalled first meeting Byrne after a friend asked both to record music for his student film. After laying down the track, Frantz asked him if he wanted to start a band.
'He said, Yeah, I guess so,' Frantz told the crowd, drawing a few laughs.
Talking Heads members and RISD alums Chris Frantz, right, and Tina Weymouth, center, returned to campus in Providence, R.I., and took part in a discussion with RISD professor Daniel Cavicchi on Wednesday.
Thad Russell/RISD
Together, they played a few shows around campus, including a Valentine's Day ball at RISD's Bank Building on North Main Street that got a write-up by
'He was at Brown [University] but he liked to hang out at RISD,' Frantz said.
'It was great,' he added. 'People had a wonderful time.'
After moving to New York City, Frantz, Weymouth, and Byrne got their start there playing gigs at legendary club CBGB. Weymouth recalled how bands performing there were to play original songs — no covers.
'We thought, this is really good, because anywhere else you went in town was all cover bands and they only wanted cover bands,' Weymouth said. 'And so it was really an opportunity, just a golden opportunity.'
Asked Thursday about any advice he would have for up and coming student bands these days, Frantz drew on something he said was instilled in him during his time at RISD: The importance of originality.
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'If you ever want to be taken seriously, you have to dig down and come up with something that is unique unto yourself,' he said.
The fact the music of Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club is still speaking to people and reaching new generations now, decades later, is 'a thing of wonder,' Frantz said with a laugh.
'There's some songs we've written that just keep coming back,' he said. 'And, you know, [that] makes us very happy.'
Christopher Gavin can be reached at