Holy Crap, Tom Tom Club is Back!

Remade/remodeled live album accompanied by fall tour.

By Blurt Staff

Latin alternative label Nacional Records has set a Sept. 28 release date for Genius of Live - and yeah, you guessed it: a new (sorta...)  album from the Tom Tom Club.

It will feature select tracks from classic album ‘Live At The Club House' as well as a Latin remix tribute to the group's iconic hit, "Genius Of Love."

Tom Tom Club will also embark on their first lengthy U.S. tour in 10 years this fall.  "It will be a real pleasure for us to see so much of the USA again this fall," said Tom Tom Club drummer/founder Chris Frantz (you may also remember him and his partner Tina Weymouth from the Talking Heads). "We are all very excited about this tour, to go out and make new friends and reconnect with old friends. The band consists of seven players, is smoking hot and completely live. We don't use any sequencers or backing tapes at all!"

‘Live At The Club House' was recorded with the group performing at peak energy for a collection of friends in their Connecticut home studio. It features Tom Tom Club's effervescent, energetic, and upbeat live show while proving their original fusion of hip hop, reggae, Afrobeat and funk is truly timeless. The album travels the group's catalog from "Genius Of Love" and "Wordy Rappinghood" to their renowned covers of Al Green's "Take Me To The River" and Hot Chocolate's "You Sexy Thing." It was recorded shortly after the September 11 tragedy, converting the stress and paranoia of the times into positive energy.

"We have a really exciting band and wanted to record the band for posterity while we were all together," said Franz. "Who knew if we would still be all together in the future? This was in October immediately following the harrowing events of September 11 and we wanted to do something positive and fun to counteract the sad and confused feeling people were experiencing at the time."

"Genius Of Love" has been prominently sampled since the early days of hip hop, from Grandmaster Flash to Mariah Carey and Tupac Shakur to T.I. On ‘Genius Of Live,' Latin alternative artists like Ozomatli, Nortec Collective, Money Mark and The Pinker Tones tackle the track for their own remixes.

"‘Genius Of Love' is a song that really has taken on a life of its own," added Franz. "It is not just about dancing or getting down. It's about musical salvation; that a life can be saved by funky music. When we were first introduced to Grandmaster Flash, he said, ‘You're going to hear a lot of people using this track.' Of course, we had no idea how right he would turn out to be."

Franz and Weymouth originally connected with Nacional founder/president Tomas Cookman in a conversation about Cookman's longtime management client Los Fabulosos Cadillacs. They were approached to produce the legendary Argentine band's album ‘Rey Azucar.' 

Explained Franz, "I took one look at the video for ‘Matador' and before I knew it, I was on a plane to Puerto Rico to meet the Cadillacs. I soon found out that Tomas had been a habitué of CBGB's and we shared a lot of common. My first thoughts were, ‘How will I communicate with the band if I cannot speak Spanish?' But, when I met them for the first time and saw what amazing musicians they were, I knew that we would be able to understand each other on a musical level. Producing ‘Rey Azucar' in the Bahamas was a completely satisfying and successful experience and one that we will always remember with great affection."
 

Tour Dates:

9/21 - StageOne - Fairfield, CT
9/22 - - StageOne - Fairfield, CT
9/23 - Rock and Roll Hotel - Washington, DC
9/24 - Grog Shop - Cleveland, OH
9/25 - Midpoint Music Festival - Cincinnati, OH
9/26 - Exit In - Nashville, TN
9/27 - The Old Rock House - St. Louis, MO
9/28 - Metro - Chicago, IL
9/29 - Mickey Finn's Pub - Toledo, OH
9/30 - Phoenix Theatre - Toronto, ON
10/1 - Cabaret Mile End - Montreal, QC
10/2 - Higher Ground Showcase Lounge - Burlington, VT
10/3 - Paradise Rock Club - Boston, MA
10/8 - Great American Music Hall - San Francisco, CA
10/9 - The Getty - Los Angeles, CA
10/10 - Echoplex - Los Angeles, CA
10/12 - Casbah - San Diego, CA