Text by Julia Masi / FFanzeen, 1983
Introduction by Robert Barry Francos / FFanzeen, 2020
Images from the Internet
This interview was originally published in FFanzeen, issue 11, dated 1983, by Julia Masi.
Tin Tin’s vocalist and songwriter, Steve Duffy, is arguably the “Pete
Best” of one of the biggest bands of the 1980s (I’m not saying greatest, I’m mentioning
popularity), Duran Duran. He was one of the founding members back in Birmingham,
UK, but left (kicked out?) the year before the band signed to a major label. Apparently
fixated on double names, he then formed Tin Tin in 1982. That was when he
turned up on the “Videowave” cable access show, where Julia and I came to meet
him. He was very quiet, eyes often darting around the room, and after he was
interviewed on the show, he was caught going through our things (jackets,
purses, backpacks, etc.) in the back room of the studio. Actually, I didn’t
find out about that until after he left. He was kind of muted and the crew was
wondering if he was in an alternative realm at the time.
Since then, he’s been in a few bands over the years, including Dr.
Calculus, the Lilac Time, and the Devils. He’s still working his music in the
UK. Honestly, I’m not familiar with any of these groups, and if you watch the
video below (his big song that was later covered by Robbie Williams), it’s not
hard to understand why. – RBF, 2020
 |
| Stephen Duffy on "Videowave" (photo by RBF) |
Their songs had been out in the U.S.
for just about a week. The record company hadn’t even gotten their press kit in
order. But composer/lead singer Stephen Duffy wanted to make it clear from the beginning,
that Tin Tin was a different kind of dance band. Of course, he’s dealing with
the same old clichés of letting the music speak for itself, and taking risks.
But the difference between Tin Tin and most other bands is that they don’t just
talk about taking risks, they actually do it. Few musicians are willing to walk
into a lion’s den of critics, rock’n’roll journalists and jaded New York
audiences armed with only a one-song, 12-inch single to their credit.
This wasn’t an act of arrogance or
stupidity but a carefully planned strategy to enable Duffy to feel out his audience
and refine his art before releasing an album.
“In Birmingham, where I come from,
there was, at the time, two camps (of music). There was the Dexy’s (Midnight
Runners) camp, including groups like the Specials and ‘60s sort of soul/ska
music. Then, on the other hand, there were groups like Duran Duran (of which
Stephen was a founding member) and Fashion, and what was called futuristic avant-garde.
“The group is only me and the
drummer, Stoker [Andy Growcott; two
members of Fashion, John Mulligan and Dik Davis, would join later – RBF, 2020],
who used to be in Dexy’s Midnight Runners. It’s, like, the first meeting of
those two different schools in Birmingham. Actually, it’s a small place. We all
really knew each other, obviously. We got together purely by accident. We were
both free and we both had the same ideas about making dance music.
“The first thing that struck me when I
was young was reggae. I got into very heavy reggae. Then, very shortly after
that, the Sex Pistols and English groups like that. Obviously, if you’re 16 and
something happens, you want to be there.” So Stephen and his friends decided to
put together a band: Duran Duran.
“We tried to get away from the more
aggressive side of it and tried to play more dance music. We were very young.
And we hadn’t really worked out exactly what we were doing. So they went off in
one direction, and I set off in another direction. I went away from
synthesizers and stared concentrating on songwriting.
“I write verse/rhyming verse, which
is a very untrendy thing to do. And I write a lot of songs. I’ve got 136 songs,
but I did that for three years while I was unemployed for a bit. Obviously, I
was concentrating so much on my writing that he only thing I could do was be
unemployed. I couldn’t get anybody to pay me for sitting around writing rhyming
verse.
“People kept on coming up to me and
saying, ‘You write songs, you write lyrics; why don’t you get up and do it?’ I
was quite ambitious but I didn’t want to do anything wrong. I didn’t want to
sign to a bad manager or sign to any bad deals.”
So he held out until he got an offer
from Warner Bros. Records to release “Kiss Me.”
Stephen developed a sense of what
paths to follow and pitfalls to avoid in the record industry by getting
involved with the local independent scene. “I spent a lot of time with the independent
labels – not with me as an artist, but with other groups, just hanging around
and seeing what was going on. And I independently distributed a single. It wasn’t
a particularly good record, but I was more interested in dealing with the
business people.”
He understands how difficult it is
for a new act to gain exposure, yet he is optimistic about Tin Tin’s future. “You
need to beat the bigger groups at what they do, without prostituting yourself in
any way. You can compete. And you can beat them without losing your
youthfulness and the ambition to make the music you want to make. It’s a matter
of being more eloquent and making people understand what you do straight away,
instead of saying, ‘You can’t categorize this’.”
Although he’s not opposed to people
making comparisons about his music, suggesting that it sounds similar to music
from the television series “Fame” made his eyes light up. He isn't wasting his
time trying to pigeon-hole the band’s sound. Instead, he is channeling his energy
into getting another single out and finishing up their album.
“What we’re gonna do now is the next
single. We’re going to have the A-side with a vocal version and an instrumental
version; then another song (that is) just a vocal version. We have so many
songs. We don’t want people to think we have limited material.
We’re going back to England to finish
the album. We’ve started a few tracks. Then we’ll come back over here. And I’m
meeting with musicians to see what, with that kind of thing, I can do live
without using tapes. What I want to do is actually play live, to play concerts,
to see if not only the music can be brought together, apart from dance, but if
we can do it live so that people can come see us – and if we can put together a
concert, and if we can put across a dance performance and make people dance
without getting bored of it.
“It all comes down to if we can make
all the songs sound different and retain that dance quality.”
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