David Byrne’s lockdown despair: ‘I’d wake up and ask What am I doing today and why?’ – The Guardian

I kept telling myself I was OK, says David Byrne, recounting his last seven months living through various stages of lockdown in New York. But like a lot of people, there were mornings when Id wake up, stare at the ceiling and ask myself, What am I doing today and why? There have been moments where you start to wonder what it is all for.

One of the things Byrne has been doing is ink drawings: the former Talking Heads frontman is about to put a set of humorous, hand-drawn images created during the pandemic up for sale. And its through these that you perhaps get a more accurate sense of his state of mind.

Theyre not explicitly about lockdown or being alone, he says. But thats the undercurrent. Doing something creative like this becomes a kind of therapy, where your fears and anxieties come out. Things you maybe darent say to yourself, much less to other people. So someone may look at them and say, Oh, so is that what you really think?

He lets out a manic laugh, a frequent occurrence during our enjoyable Zoom chat. With his white hair and spectacles, jerking his arms and body around like an early Talking Heads record, he seems every bit the nutty professor, bursting with ideas.

In 2018, Byrne set up an online magazine, Reasons to Be Cheerful, through his Arbutus Foundation, and these drawings were created for that not to fit specific stories but to be used as dingbats (also the name of the series) to break up the text. He has done so many now that hes lost track of them, but whenever I bring up a specific one he bursts out laughing at how absurd they are. Theres Nature Man, which depicts a mountain range with eyes. That could be read as a climate thing, but its also just very creepy, he chuckles. And theres TMI, which shows a person buried beneath a giant mobile phone. Everybody has that feeling! he says, laughing again. And right now people are saying theyre never going back to the office. OK, so its going to be just screens from now on? God save us!

The illustrations are being sold for $3,000 (2,275) each, with the money raised covering costs for writers, editors and designers (Has the Guardian tried this as a form of income yet? Im just imagining asking all the writers there if they could maybe contribute some nice watercolours). Reasons to Be Cheerful is working on a project called We Are Not Divided, which focuses on stories that bring opposing sides together in the run-up to the election. Hmm, good luck with that, I say.

Yes, and that was my reaction too, he grins. But its been running for a few weeks now and theyve found some great stories. Some of my bandmates just went for a bike ride on Staten Island and theres a little community there from Sri Lanka, which only came out of 30 years of civil war in 2009. So you have people from both sides of that war living cheek by jowl, and you think, How is that working out? Well, in Staten Island, its working out really well, actually. They all love the same food, so they come to the same restaurants, theyve started talking to each other. Now that theyve been separated from the conflict, they can treat one another as people, as opposed to the enemy.

Such stories are helping Byrne feel more positive about the world, but hes not head-in-the-sand about the struggles going on around him. I read the papers every morning and I see new chicanery every day, he says. This morning it was a story about Republicans putting out misleading ballot boxes in California. Ive done a lot of research on the history of the Philippines and I often think, This is Philippines-level shit here. The kind of country where you go, Oh yes, thats the kind of thing they do there. Well actually, its the kind of thing we do here.

Aside from his magazine drawings, Byrne has been promoting the filmed version of his hit Broadway show, American Utopia. Director Spike Lee had been a huge fan of the stage version, frequently turning up to watch it: Not every night, but basically he had an open invitation. I think he came at least seven times. He really dedicated himself to understanding how it worked.

He has also passed the time during lockdown teaching himself new recipes and going on socially distanced bike rides. But one thing he hasnt found time for is reading his Talking Heads bandmate Chris Frantzs memoir Remain in Love, which painted a, shall we say, less than rosy picture of Byrne and what the author deemed to be his runaway ego (Believe me, if you knew David Byrne, you would not be jealous of him, was one memorable quote from a recent jaw-dropping interview). Noooo, he sighs when asked about the book, before adding pointedly: I knew that if I read it I would get asked about it. So Ive avoided it.

Some of Byrnes drawings carry soft political messages. Supply Chain shows a snaking train made out of vegetables; Byrne says the pandemic made us all aware of how complex and important they are: How does the food get to the grocer? How does the grocer stay safe? The demand for bikes has rocketed here and the poor shops cant get the parts.

Balanced Life, meanwhile, depicts not blissful feng shui but a person with a teetering tower of possessions stacked on their head. Thats how it feels sometimes, like youve got all this stuff weighing on you your house, this and that, maybe another person or your children. Its a real balancing act.

Yet hes come through it unscathed? So far I think? he says, cautiously. But hes not calling time on the drawings any time soon. Were not out of the woods just yet.

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David Byrne's lockdown despair: 'I'd wake up and ask What am I doing today and why?' - The Guardian