Photo by Trudy Fisher
In 1982, the San Francisco-based alternative rock band Translator released their debut album, Heartbeats and Triggers, which immediately set them apart from the superficial approach that many other bands were embracing at that time. With clever lyrics and unusual chord progressions, Translator were more intellectual, yet still exuberant. The band released four studio albums before calling it quits in 1986. They recorded their farewell show, which is now being released – Beyond Today: Live at the Farm – San Francisco 1986, will come out on May 9 via Liberation Hall Records. This marks the first time the song “Puzzles” will be released, and the album also includes two new tracks, both of which were mixed by the legendary producer Ed Stasium (who’s worked with The Ramones and Talking Heads, among many others). Since the 1980s, Translator have reunited on occasion, releasing the album Big Green Lawn in 2012. And as vocalist/guitarist Steve Barton tells The Big Takeover during a call from his home in Portland, Oregon, there may be even more in store for Translator down the line.
How does it feel to have a show from almost forty years ago finally being released to the world at large?
STEVE BARTON: It feels really good. It’s interesting because this whole thing came about because this live recording literally was on a cassette that our sound person had done at this show back in 1986. At the time, we thought it was going to be our farewell show. We thought we were breaking up – but we ended up, throughout the years, coming together from time to time. But still, he wanted to document that show, so he recorded it. And then I found the tape in my collection of cassettes, and it was really good. And so we sent it to the guy that I like to work with in London who’s a really great engineer, and he got it spruced up so it sounded not like a forty year old cassette, to the best that he could. Then Liberation Hall heard it and expressed interest in putting it out, so we were pretty thrilled.
Do you remember this particular show well, or did hearing this jog your memory?
STEVE BARTON: I think both. I certainly remember parts about the night. I remember tying balloons to the amps to kind of make it a celebration, even though in the back of my mind it was like, “Oh, we’re breaking up – what am I going to do?” It was sort of like a celebration but also mixed with trepidation. That being said, we played really well because I think we gave it our all, and the audience was incredible.
If you were at the top of your game, then why were you going to break up?
STEVE BARTON: We had reached a point where we were at a little crossroads creatively, I think – what direction we wanted to go. In retrospect, maybe [we could’ve said], “Hey, let’s take six months off.” But instead of doing that, we just said, “Yeah, I think we’re done.”
This is the first time you’ve released the song “Puzzles.” What made you decide to put that in?
STEVE BARTON: Because we did used to play it live, and [there was] one guy in particular who came to a lot of our shows would yell out “Puzzles!” whenever we were tuning or whatever. So we thought, “Let’s put it in here.” And I kind of forgot it was there until I listened to the cassette, to be honest with you.
Let’s hope that guy who liked it so much hears it now.
STEVE BARTON: Yeah, really!
And then how did the two new songs come about?
STEVE BARTON: In two different ways. For one of them, “These Days to Come,” Robert Darlington (guitarist/vocalist) had this idea for a song. I thought, “This could be a Translator song.” It was cool, but it didn’t have a chorus. And I thought, “What if I put a chorus on this and a guitar line at the beginning and at the end?” – just sort of add whatever I bring. And then the other song, “With Your Dreams,” that’s a song that I had written here in my studio in Portland. I made a demo, thinking I’ll put it on a solo record. But then as I listened back to it, I thought, “This sounds like a Translator record.” And so I sent it to the guys, and everyone loved it. So it was done sending files around, and everyone put their parts on, and then we had our pal Ed Stasium mix both of them.
He also worked with you in the 1980s – so how did you know you should work with him again now?
STEVE BARTON: We just all said, “Let’s see if he wants to do it.” It was kind of a no brainer. He had the time, and he was really into it. We’re still close friends. I’ve worked with Ed a few times in the intervening years; he produced one of my solo albums, and has mixed a couple of things for me. So we’ve been in touch throughout the years, and so it was really natural to give him a call. We’re really glad he could do it.
As you look back on what you did with this band, do you notice any kind of themes that you were consistently trying to get across with your songs?
STEVE BARTON: I think it’s the same stuff that I have always done since I started writing songs when I was twelve. They seem to be about looking for connection, somehow. Something real. I used to say, “All my songs are love songs,” but I think that might have been a little bit of a flippant answer. But in a way, they kind of are, but I come at it from some sort of unique angle.
How did you learn to write lyrics like that in the first place?
STEVE BARTON: I had a band when I was eleven called The Present Tense, and then they broke up after we made a single that we never released, that I wrote. When I was fourteen, I got my first publishing deal. I was writing songs at home on a reel-to-reel tape recorder. I’d beg my parents to turn off the TV and go, “Be quiet, I’m doing a song!” I don’t know what they were thinking. Either, “He’s a genius” or “He’s driving me crazy,” it was one or the other. So they gave my tape to a friend of theirs, who gave it to this publishing company, ABC Dunhill, and I think they liked that I was fourteen. But even back then, I wrote really dark songs, for some reason. I had one song that was all about, “The clock says it’s time, time to die.” [laughs] And I’d send them to the publishing company, and they’d be like, “Yeah, we kind of thought that because you’re fourteen, you’d write bubblegum songs for us.” And so I started writing stuff like that for them. But that said, I’ve always had this sort of poetic streak when I’m writing lyrics. Like, if you do want to say “I love you,” you want to say it in some different kind of way. So I’m intrigued by that, different ways to say things. I think I always had that. I like words.
And then when you started Translator, did you know what you sounded to sound like, or did it evolve into what it became?
STEVE BARTON: It kind of evolved into it. In the beginning, we were a trio and it was all my songs, so I was sort of pointing the direction, except Larry [Dekker] on bass and Dave [Scheff] on drums clearly brought the songs to life. So they’d go in directions I wasn’t anticipating sometimes. So we were definitely on the same page. It felt very organic.
What inspired you to become a musician?
STEVE BARTON: The Beatles. Before that, I had my act on the elementary school playground where I would think, “Maybe I’m a musician, or a ventriloquist, or an impressionist.” And I’d entertain the kids in recess. But then when The Beatles came out, everything changed.
What made you want to play the guitar, specifically?
STEVE BARTON: Well, I started on drums. Across the street, these kids started a band and they needed a drummer, so I said, “I’ll be the drummer.” So my parents got me a snare drum, and that was my drum set. Then they got me a drum set for Christmas one year. I was the drummer in my band that I mentioned, The Present Tense. We had a lead singer, but I’d sing a lot of songs, too. When that band broke up, I already played the piano, but my parents got me a cheap guitar that I still have, and I started writing songs on that. Really rudimentary songs. But also, weird chords, even back then. I would say, “Why should I go G to C when I could do this weird chord?” Even back then, I was thinking that way.
And then when did the lead singing come into play?
STEVE BARTON: It was sort of out of necessity. After that group broke up, I had my publishing thing, and then after that, I was a guitar player for hire for a while. And there was a thing that used to be in LA called the Musicians Contact Service – you’d go down to this place on Sunset Boulevard and there was a big book you’d look through. “Oh, there’s a wedding on Saturday, I could do that one,” or whatever. I got all sorts of gigs through that. With not much singing, until I responded to one that was a Beatle cover band called Beatle Fever and I ended up being the John Lennon character. The drummer they had wasn’t really cutting it, so I called Dave Scheff, who was my old friend, and who ended up being the drummer in Translator. I said, “Hey, we need a Ringo Starr.” I brought him to a rehearsal and we played “She Loves You,” and the other guys went, “Whoa.” We went to Japan with that [band]. On the plane back, Dave and I looked at each other and said, “Let’s start our own band.” And that’s how Translator started.
You have a solo career now, but is there any chance you’ll do another Translator album?
STEVE BARTON: I could see it. Especially [after] having done these two new songs with Ed. I could see, if I wrote a few more songs, and Robert did, too, if it felt right, we would definitely do something. I definitely don’t rule it out.
