Lost Talking Heads Demo Tape Resurfaces at RISD

A New Wave band with a Providence connection is finding a new outlet for its now-famous music.

The rock band Talking Heads plans to release a series of demos, including the group's '70s hit "Psycho Killer." A resurfaced reel-to-reel tape containing early Talking Heads recordings, including "Psycho Killer," was found in the archive of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence. Members of the Talking Heads first met at the school.

According to an NBC 10 News Providence report, the tape is believed to be the first recording of "Psycho Killer," created in the mid-1970s when the band members lived and collaborated near Joe's Sandwich Shop.

The reel-to-reel tape resurfaced approximately three to four years ago, according to RISD Assistant Provost for Academic Engagement Margot McIlwain Nishimura. McIlwain Nishimura explained that the tape arrived at RISD with a collection of materials purchased by a New York store.

"It [the collection] was consigned by the artist Alan Sondheim, who taught at RISD during the early 1970s, and the work was by James Lee Byers," she said. "The museum wanted that, and thrown in with this lot was the reel-to-reel tape that was created by a band called 'The Artistics.'"

According to McIlwain Nishimura, the museum bought the collection in 2005 and placed the tape in storage, where it remained for almost two decades before a curator at RISD discovered it.

Talking Heads' Drummer Chris Frantz explained to NBC 10 News that "The Artistics" was a college cover band. At the time, Frantz lived with Tina Weymouth inside a studio apartment, on the corner of Benefit and Waterman streets. Weymouth would later become Talking Heads' bass player and Frantz's wife.

"David [Byrne] knocked on the door, and he said, 'I got this song and I want you to help me with it.' The song happened to be 'Psycho Killer,'" said Frantz. "David had the idea that if we wrote the middle eight, or what they call the bridge section in French, it would somehow imply a psychotic break," which they did.

The group recorded three songs, "Psycho Killer," "Warning Sign," and "Spin Spin," on the tape and sent it off with a handwritten letter to Sondheim, who was a New York City radio DJ. They hoped to get recordings from the tape on the air, but that never happened. The tape, however, ultimately ended up in a desk that was sold to the RISD museum in 2005.

When RISD discovered the tape, it contacted Frantz and returned the tape to him. Frantz had the tape digitized and sent back to the RISD archives, where it will remain with other Artistics and Talking Heads artifacts.

On Friday, Nov. 28, a special vinyl release of a Talking Heads demo will feature material from the tape  for public distribution. In celebration of Black Friday, which is also Record Store Day, the record will be part of a special "Talking Heads" demo release.