Tears for Fears Travel Fan Quarterly Update Q4 2020

This post is dedicated to The Curry Family, Darren H., Michael Magno, Lady Tamara and Lady Gwen! Huge thanks to each of them for being so super incredible and taking such good care of everyone. Gwen captured some media for us, Darren hosted some tune-in parties on the fan forum and musician Michael R. Magno always gives TFF shoutouts during his sets. Each of these fan family members always check-in with a lovely word and more to cheer up fans around the world.

Big thanks to Valerie Confections for delivering Curt’s birthday cake experience! It was so good and we still have some of the crunch pieces, mixing them into ice cream, morning coffee and everything else! It’s awesome to be able to enjoy it! #TeamCrunchCake

Let’s start off with Tears for Fears Alumni members!

There was an incredible interactive interview with Oleta Adams on Instagram hosted by Mykal Kilgore. She was his guest during his music show called “Singers Comprehension.” Fans were able to leave lots of love and questions in the comments section. Oleta answered MANY questions. Early on she confirmed that she’d get into conversation about Tears for Fears but time ran out as they got to singing and discussing what it feels like from a songwriter and singer’s point of view to deliver a song to an audience. It was incredible and quite spiritual. People were bawling their eyes out in the comments section. It really moved a lot of people and we’re so super happy to have been able to take part in that by representing the fans who travel to see her. She’s scheduled to return to Atlanta in two months at City Winery. The show was postponed after Covid broke out. Tickets were transferred to the January date and we expect to hear updates on that very soon. The City Winery has rearranged the seats so we’ll see how that works out. Meanwhile, see if you can rewatch the online show here. This link should take you right to the host’s page.

Oleta Adams was also a part of Divas Simply Quarantined hosted by the famous Sheryl Lee Ralph. During this deep conversation, we got to know how Oleta is doing during this time and what’s it’s like to be an artists during Covid. Many musicians are not working and that’s a serious situation to be in during a health crisis. She confirmed that she is okay but she talks about the fragility of the time and how important it is to re-examine the saying, “we’re in this together.” This is the first time in 102 years when people of all walks of life are having to live differently and empathise with one another about everything. She deep dives into all of that and includes the meaning of many of her important songs past and present. It was very helpful to see an artist up front and close like that and to know what it’s like for them during this tough time. Many are not sitting on the French Riviera with their feet up sipping cocktails as we await a vaccine and volunteers to actually get it. They are trying to feed their families with zero additional income and a year’s worth of cancelled shows. Their weekly gigs have been paused and, in some cases, vanished for good. This hour long interview helps you melt with others who are finding ways to survive this with all emotions on the table. We loved it for the realness! The show was sponsored by Cadillac. Rewatch using this link. Please leave a donation to Project Angel Food when you join the recast.

John Baker – Member of Graduate Band (pre-Tears for Fears)

Graduate member John Baker was also interviewed not that long ago on some of his work. Listen in and enjoy! (hopefully this link still works)

John has spent a good deal of time online interacting with the Tears for Fears fans and sharing graduate memorabilia. He also had a great pin that we’re hoping will be replicated so we can all wear one and show how far back we go as fans and the fact that we want a Graduate reunion (or at least an appearance at the conference). Also, check out this great piece of history that he shared. It’s the first time he and Roland had a gig as Graduate. This was in 1978. Curt joined the following year. This is great!

Tears for Fears

In September there was an incredible interview with Roland where the interviewer (a fan and media professional that works at Virgin Radio) did a deep dive that was very well orchestrated and free of cringe. Like a good fan, he let Roland speak and didn’t bombard him with the same run of the mill questions that commercial radio hosts and journalists have been known to ask. It’s one of the rare times they were not asked about the past in a very dramatic, nosy parker or inappropriate way. There are only a handful of great interviews where the band was engaged with intelligent topics related to the music business and being artists. In the past 20 years two of them have been the one at CNNfn (thanks Andye for alerting the network about the band’s new album release) and this one with Virgin Radio Classic artist host Eddie Temple-Morris. Listen here.

Shortly after that, the 80s Radio Show on BBC Radio 2 treated us to a Tears for Fears mashup of their top songs and we got to hear Roland and Curt talk about their favourite songs of the decade. If you participated in the recent contest where you could win a Tears for Fears vinyl from one of our TFF Travel Fan Team members and sponsors, you’ll know this already. The below was part of the trivia! Congrats Dave H. and Jennifer S. – winners of the Seeds of Love vinyl.

Roland’s top picks are World Party – Ship of Fools, The Smiths – How Soon is Now, Kate Bush – Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) and Talk Talk – Happiness is Easy from The Colour of Spring.

Curt Smith’s were Robbie Robertson’s ‘Somewhere Down the Crazy River,’ Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Sweet Child of Mine,’ Peter Gabriel’s ‘Biko’ and The Blue Nile’s ‘A Walk Across the Rooftops.’

The stories behind these songs and why they liked them are so moving and touching that merely typing this out led to tears streaming. It was a very emotional experience listening to it and that portion of the radio show should be played over and over. We need to start recording these – update we got that recording today.

After that our sister group, Tears for Fears Fan Forum hosted a huge giveaway. Our silent sponsors donated 4 box sets of the Seeds of Love album which sparked a lot of the interviews and reach outs to Oleta Adams and current members of Tears for Fears. The album reached #20 on the charts, what a come back for such a brilliant piece of work! Darren drew names out of container and one of those names was our very own Lael, TFF Travel Fan Team – Arizona. The first two box sets from our silent sponsor include a ton of cool things including books by the band and Captain Julian Orzabal. The contest was designed to allow hard core long time followers of the band to win. We helped donate some of the questions used in the trivia. The second two were just the box sets themselves which is a gem in itself.

An incredible photo released by ClassicPop featuring Roland appeared earlier this month. Be sure to read that article! Subscribe if you can. It’s a great magazine! Tears for Fears seem to stay in it!

THEN THIS HAPPENED!

The band was in the studio recently and Curt shared some inside pics including one of Charlton at the desk (Curt’s Docs included). What looked to be Roland’s feet were also in a second photo. This, of course, got tons of people excited and the photo began to circulate through the fan boards. Turns out they were wrapping up what may be ‘The Tipping Point.’ As always we do not announce releases or anything related to their work until the band stamps their approval on it. So, until they post it, we’ll say they were having a good ol’ time up in there and we are here for it!! Come through Tears for Fears, come through!!

The Election – we feel that part of being a Tears for Fears fan is standing up for justice and what is right. How can we be fans of this band if we don’t believe in their message of “Shout, Shout, Let it All Out…”? It can mean many things but it also should apply to so much of what we’re going through in the world today. Curt has always been very clear on what he stands for and is a staunch supporter for equality in every sense of the word. Roland’s son Pascal, Curt’s daughters Lady Diva and Lady Wilder all voted and have provided lots of resources and links that can help people help themselves and their communities. The band also associates themselves with likeminded people and some years ago shared an event venue in Atlanta, Georgia with the band Arrested Development, who around the same time as the Greatest Hits Album was released, had the hit Mr. Wendall. They, much like Tears for Fears, have not stopped creating music and as many remember, Curt named them the best openers they’ve had. They are super kind, very conscious and awake to the news and global topics. Andye stays in touch and meets up with one of their members a lot and makes sure we stay abreast of their releases. Their latest is ‘Don’t Fight Your Demons’ and it is brilliant! It aligns with what Curt has been tweeting about throughout the election season and in general when it comes to staying conscious/aware of the world we live in and how to improve it while dismissing anything that can divide it. If you’re feeling like making a difference you will feel solace in this album. It’s all about unification and moving forward. There’s a lot of work to do in the world. Let’s move forward together. Congrats to Nikki Merritt, a Tears for Fears fan who won state senate seat district 9 in Georgia – a state that suprisingly flipped blue in an effort for change (Andye, Arrested Development and Nikki all reside there in the greater Atlanta area). Curt shared a photo in his blue Doc Martens to celebrate peace and moving forward in unity.

Coming Up Next! Tim’s Twitter Listening Party featuring key and core members of the band’s success. Curt will be hosting alongside David Bascombe and Chris Hughes! David and Chris! OMG! Long time fans will immediately recognise their names and lose their minds. This is EPIC!

A Red Letter Day for Tears for Fears

Last but not least, an application was submitted to get Tears for Fears Day on the National Calendar for 7 March (hopefully 2021 but we can also request it for future years). Why? What does that mean? It means that we’d have a day on the National Calendar where Tears for Fears would be noted just like Valentine’s Day and other red letter days of the year. The 7th, 8th and 9th of March are actually red letter days already. Tears for Fears’ released The Hurting on the 7th of March. We also celebrate Michael Roland Magno’s birthday on the 8th. Michael is Filipino-American and we all know how much the band LOVES The Philippines and their Phils fans. They mean a lot to all of us. There are additional cool things on the 9th. It’s a great time to celebrate the band for these reasons and so much more. We’re still having meetings about how to best conduct this and what celebratory locations and parties would be realistic given Covid is still alive. We’ll keep you posted!

Shoutouts and Remembrances

Rest in Power Eddie Van Halen. He certainly was appreciated by members of Tears for Fears and their fans.

Big shoutout to all those bands who have remade Mad World and are sharing the power of Tears for Fears to multiple generations of fans all over the globe. Tears for Fears for life! There were so many remakes of the song this year and rightly so!!

Big thanks to Bonnaroo for adding Tears for Fears to the 2020 virtual line up. Loved starting off the event with their powerful music!

We’ll pause for now and start working on 2021! Thanks for reading and don’t forget to grab some cool holiday merch from the official Tears for Fears store this season!

-TFF Travel Fan Team @papasfans | Facebook.com/KerfuffleOfKooks

Follow the band at @tearsforfears on Twitter, @tearsforfearsmusic on Instagram, Tears for Fears on Facebook, @curtsmith on Twitter and @curtsmithofficial on Facebook. Please see past posts for contact information for additional members of Tears for Fears and TFF Alumni.