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Curt
Smith Interview
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PCM's Kristyn was able to speak to Tears For
Fears founding member Curt Smith during a recent Q&A session
to promote Mr. Smith's upcoming cameo appearance on the USA
Network hit series Pysch! Smith also did a cover version of
the Psych theme song that will air with tonight's episode,
Shawn 2.0!
Click
Here for Shawn 2.0 preview!
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| Panel: What can
you tell us about the Tears for Fears version or the Curt Smith
version of the Psych theme song. Obviously it's become a very
popular theme song. It's a very fun theme song. How did you
sort of want to reinterpret it? |
| Curt Smith: Well taking cues from
James primarily I made it as retro as I possibly could with
some humor. So basically what we get is the visuals of the,
you know, the closing credits and everything which the theme
song goes over and then we play with that.
So rhythmically you've got to match that so that it all
kind of fits in and there's an explosion and different things.
So basically it was a mixture of going back to very old synthesizers
and adding some humor to that as well which, it was actually
a really enjoyable experience I have to say.
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| Panel: Now that
you've done a little bit of acting I mean do you think that
this is something you want to do again? Do you think you'd maybe
want to make a cameo in another series or two? |
| Curt Smith: It depends if I ever
get asked. I mean the joy of doing the Psych thing I have to
say, is that, you know, I'd met them beforehand, James and Tim
specifically. I met Dule when I got up there. But they're just,
you know, a nice bunch of people.
So it actually makes the whole experience easy and enjoyable.
And in that sense I didn't find it particularly hard especially
as you say, playing myself. But playing other people, who
can tell? But, you know, I'm kind of game for things.
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| Panel: Can you
talk about how the guest spot came about for you and what it
was like to work on set? |
| Curt Smith: It initially came about
that James and Tim from the show came to a Tears for Fears show
at the Wiltern theatre in Los Angeles and then somehow managed
to wangle their way backstage. I have no idea but security was
very lax that night.
And I was introduced to James in - backstage. And then he
said, you know, would you come and do a guest spot on the
show? And I thought well why not? The show is amusing. The
kind of humor is kind of right up my alley because it's pretty
much chock full of sarcasm.
So it seemed like a good thing to do. And shooting it was
really - I actually was tweeting while I was up there and
I think I summed it up in one sort of sentence when I said
it was like being at a two day frat party which it pretty
much was.
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| Panel: Now so many
years removed from the '80s in what ways can you hear the impact
of Tears for Fears in today's music? |
| Curt Smith: Well I mean you hear
it from newer bands. You obviously - I mean I can hear our influences
of - over certain newer music. But, you know, it's not something
I'm sort of conscious of all the time. When you're continuing
to make music you don't really think of, you know, the mark
you've left.
You're really looking for the next thing. So I'm not really
one for looking back that much and seeing if we've left an
indelible mark on the music industry. I'd rather move on and
keep doing what I do.
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| Panel: For you
and Roland today what types of compromises do you have to strike
in order to make it work? |
| Curt Smith: Well we don't go on tour
for long periods of time which is always a good thing. You know,
we've been together for rather a long time now. So, you know,
the idea of - at our age, doing very long tours is definitely
not something that we're into.
And I mean I think, you know, trying to make it enjoyable.
I mean that - doing shorter tours makes it enjoyable for us.
And, you know, changing some of the older songs so that they
relate to us more now emotionally than they would have done
when we were in our 20s.
You know, songs like Shout really don't resonate with us
the same way as it did back then when we were angry young
men. So, you know, we change a few things and make it - we
basically update things.
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| Panel: Well Psych
is really a show that puts so much of their writing talent into
trying to create this sort of homage to the 1980s and the music,
the films.
How comfortable was it for you
going into this kind of setting where you already knew I mean
your music was loved, it was respected and I mean you were
basically surrounded by people who looked up to you?
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| Curt Smith: Yeah, I mean I think
that made it enjoyable. Yes. I mean, you know, I don't like
- I don't mind my ego being rubbed now and again. You know,
I mean they - and, you know, they were a nice bunch of people
as well. So filming it was really easy.
You know, I think also what sort of helps is with all of
the people on the show, you know, maybe apart from Tim to
a certain degree because he does play a character that's not
exactly like him but, you know, what you see on the show is
pretty much the way these people are off the show.
So that made the whole experience a lot easier for me. I
wasn't dealing with, you know, seeing a bunch of actors act
and then discovering they're completely different people off
the set. They're really not. They're pretty much the way you
think they are.
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| Panel: Wanted to
thank you for making the Psych panel at Comic Con one of the
most memorable panels. |
| Curt Smith: It was - it was amusing
I have to say. That was - I actually got there and thought that
the Psych panel consisted of talking in front of a few hundred
people. Obviously I was a little shocked to see how many people
were there.
But I thought it was funny the way that the, you know, because
we did that trailer video - the way it came out of that into
it. It was quite amusing.
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