Psychedelic Furs Enjoy a Return to the Music Charts with ‘Made of Rain,’ Band’s First New Album in 29 Years

On July 30, The Psychedelic Furs returned with Made of Rain — the band’s first new album since 1991.

(Click here to pick up Made of Rain from our Rock Cellar Store).

Simply put, Made of Rain is a revelation in its depth, finding Richard Butler and the band rejuvenated and refocused, even nearly three decades removed from their previous recorded activity.

The album was met with universal acclaim, and that has translated to chart success: Made of Rain debuted at No. 11 on Top Current Albums chart in the U.S., No. 13 in the U.K., as well as taking up residence at No. 3 on Billboard’s U.S. Indie Albums, No. 4 on Current Alternative Albums and No. 4 on Current Rock Albums.

In Rock Cellar’s new feature interview with Butler conducted by Jeff Slate, the Furs’ front man speaks at length about the creative mind set that went into Made of Rain. Among the many revealing and candid things Butler says in the chat is this answer to the question about writing music with a specific audience in mind:

“I’m really making records for those people who come down and see us. Myself first, but I do think of myself performing them when we’re writing them and working on them, and I would hope that the people that come down and see our shows will enjoy them. And that’s about as far as it goes.

We’d be foolish to be writing songs to try and get on pop radio, at this point. That’s not going to happen.”

As for how the musicians collaborated remotely on the new material:

“It’s interesting how it worked. The members of the band would send me ideas, and I’d work from those. Rich Good lives up in the desert in California somewhere. Tim, my brother, is in Kentucky. Mark is in Chicago. And Paul Garisto is in Baltimore. They’d send me ideas. I’d sit down, and with some ideas nothing would come to me. With other ideas, I’d come up with a melody pretty quickly, and I’d write lyrics and send it back. And then back and forth it went.”

If you haven’t yet listened to Made of Rain, do so below, via Spotify.