By Max Stewart
There is nothing more heartwarming as a music fan that seeing formative artists getting a second (or sometimes third or fourth) life with their music being appreciated by younger audiences. In the case of England’s new wave / post-punk icons XTC, the opportunity to see their songs performed live was few and far between as they stopped touring in the early 80s.
Per the band’s website: “For almost four decades, XTC fans could only dream of witnessing the sensational XTC classic songbook played live. That dream has now become a reality. XTC’s legendary drummer, Terry Chambers, is back on the road with his band EXTC (named and approved by XTC frontman, Andy Partridge).”
The recently-formed EXTC also features Steve Hampton (vocals & guitar, also played with Joe Jackson, The Vapors and Dead Crow Road) and Terry Lines (vocals & bass, also played with The Rams and Dead Crow Road). The band played a long list of shows across North America, with a stop at Atlanta‘s Garden Club at Wild Heaven West End towards the end of the tour.
The concert itself was a joyful basking in the live performance of a wide-range of XTC songs, something many attendees had waited decades to see live. Staples such as “Making Plans for Nigel” and “Senses Working Overtime” were welcomed alongside some deeper album cuts and tunes from most every era of the band, including 1992’s “The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead” from Nonsuch. The band’s most prolific album, Black Sea, was well represented with “Towers of London” and “Generals and Majors” translating perfectly in a live setting.
The trio were all in sync musically, as Chambers provided a steady groove and backbone throughout the night. Both Hampton and Lines’ interchanging vocals were superb, matched by top tier musicianship on their respective instruments (there were a few solo sections that really showcased Hampton’s impressive guitar acumen). Fans ranged from Gen X to Gen Z, with old faded 80s tour t-shirts to newly-purchased EXTC shirts littered in the crowd. Everyone associated with the band could not have been more endearing and appreciative. In fact, as the band finished the set with “Life Begins at the Hop”, there was no ‘exiting stage right’ antics by the performers, but Hampton in fact encouraged fans to wait around the merch table and say hello. Dozens waited for their change to meet the band and have Chambers sign various XTC relics. It is also worth noting that Chambers and Hampton’s respective wives were running the merch stand and were a cordial and hilarious chat (my favorite quote of the night: “Someone has got to wash the socks”…).
Ahead of the show, we had a chance to sit down with band before they took the stage, and they were truly accommodating and clearly appreciative of the fans that were coming out to enjoy the music of XTC. Below are some highlights from our conversation with Chambers.
North American tour highlights as the tour was winding down in Atlanta, Chambers remarked: “Last night (Nashville) was a highlight, but really they have all been good. Detroit was good. Pittsburgh was a surprise and they were loud. St Louis was very good. It has been good whereever we’ve been…”
Chambers’ perspective of touring now versus when XTC toured in the early 80s: “I’m handling it better now than I used to. In my early days, in my early twenties, burning the candle at both ends because you never think you’re probably gonna come back again [to the city]. But now, I got to pace myself for the next day. I think we all take it a bit steadier.”
“We’re also playing a bit longer time, in the old days we would play about 1 hour and ten minutes and it would have been full-on, frenetic sort of stuff… and now we have got more material to choose and more time to play it. Because we have enabled ourselves two sets – so that we can do a cross-section of the music. Cause there is always going to be someone out there that says, ‘Well you never played THIS,’ so we are going to do almost two-hours tonight.“
Chambers’ thoughts on seeing a new generation of fans discover the music of XTC and coming out to see the band live: “It’s surprising and great. We had two boys and a lady and I would argue they weren’t even 20 last night. And then always the odd person who had seen us 40 years ago.”
Most memorable gig ever played? “I was talking to Jeff Seitz last night in Nashville, who is Stewart Copeland‘s drum tech. And that period of time in touring with The Police, and we toured fairly extensive in that period. That was a great time, mainly for the fact that I could see them every night for nothing. That was probably the best.. other that the tour we are playing now. It was a great time, and we only would go in and play 45-50 minutes but we were on the same bus as them and traveling all around the place. Arguably, that was probably the highlight.”
And in talking about chumming it up with fellow drummer Copeland he jokes: “Oh, he’s rubbish. [Laughs] No, they were all good guys and that’s what made it so memorable. In addition to a great band they were decent human beings.”
EXTC’s future touring plans: “We have got quite a few gigs in June and July in the U.K., we are doing some festivals. We are doing another festival in Belgium, and we’re touring with Hugh Cornwell, who was guitar player with The Stranglers in November and December. March next year we are doing more dates in the U.K. and lining up more dates in April and May hopefully in Europe, once again with Hugh [Cornwell]. Hopefully convert some of The Stranglers into XTC fans.”
Set 1:
This Is Pop
Statue of Liberty
No Language in Our Lungs
Love on a Farmboy’s Wages
Real by Reel
Towers of London
Paper and Iron
Senses Working Overtime
Jason and the Argonauts
Ball and Chain
The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead
Set 2:
Summer’s Cauldron / Grass
No Thugs in Our House
Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)
Rocket From a Bottle
Respectable Street
Living Through Another Cuba / Generals and Majors
Making Plans for Nigel
Stupidly Happy
Life Begins at the Hop