Dressed top-to-toe in white, his shock of hair a matching shade, David Byrne cuts quite the charismatic figure; an avant-garde angel or preacher, sat amidst the lofty heights of London's National Theatre.
Clash are here to speak with him at some length about the new stage production of 'Here Lies Love', his wildly eccentric collaborative musical theatre experience written in conjunction with Fatboy Slim, about the meteoric rise and fall of the Philippines former First Lady Imelda Marcos.
In the interim, in view of his Scottish heritage, we asked him the contentious question – 'What are your thoughts on the Scottish referendum?' – which garnered this diplomatic answer.
"I'm not that well informed, I have to say this. My instinct is that if all the talk and the vote and everything else that's going on can give Scotland more autonomy, more control of their own destiny; if it can shift that in a nice sizeable increment, that to me that might do more good than complete independence. Because it is a shared island. It's a difficult one. If Scotland had huge North Sea oil resources and that kind of thing you could see it going (laughs) 'fuck off, we don't need you'!"
This is related in a suitably lighthearted fashion, as although he left Scotland as a small child, he still feels an affinity for his birthplace: "the sensibility, the sense of humour, that sort of thing. And there's lots of good music there".
The entire interview feature discussing the production process of the show along with thoughts on working with St Vincent and Brian Eno will soon be available on the site.
'Here Lies Love' runs from September 30th 2014 – January 8th 2015 at the new Dorfman Theatre on London's Southbank – for more information click HERE.
Words: Anna Wilson
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