The The were among the most critically acclaimed and politically engaged bands of the 1980s. Albums such as Soul Mining and Infected are considered among the decade’s finest releases. But for almost 20 years, Matt Johnson, the band’s founder, singer and songwriter, vanished from public view, refusing to write, record or perform. “I intentionally fell off the radar and disappeared from sight,” he says.
Now, to the surprise and delight of fans, Johnson and The The are back with a new tour, including three sold-out shows in London venues this week.
“It is 18 years since I last toured,” says Johnson, now 56. “You could fit the Beatles’ career two-and-a-half times into that. I am coming back into a world that has changed.”
Johnson’s decision to walk away from the music industry was triggered by the sudden death in 1989 of his younger brother, Eugene, at a time when The The were halfway through a world tour.
“It hit the family very hard because we were very close,” he says. “I was suffering from undigested grief. I relocated to New York and had a relationship breakdown. I lost faith in the future and the whole music business career thing felt shallow and irrelevant.”
There were also physical symptoms, as Johnson was suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome. The emotional fallout from Eugene’s death at the age of 24, coupled with a music industry that felt less hospitable to bands that produced albums rather than hit singles, left Johnson struggling to record, and he eventually quit the music business altogether. “I travelled like a man on the run,” he recalls, “rarely sleeping in the same bed for more than two or three nights in a row.”
Instead of writing or recording music he took up photography, kept a journal and became involved in fighting property developments in east London. “I had very little connection with the music industry and I was just living out of a suitcase,” Johnson says. “Accountants, lawyers and managers were saying, ‘What are you doing?’ ” When fans would ask when Johnson was going to reform The The, he would tell them he was taking time off.
If the death of his younger brother led to the end of The The, it was the death of his older brother, Andrew, in 2016 that prompted Johnson to revive the band. Andrew was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2012.
“It was in the same week that my younger son was born,” he says. “My brother was supposed to meet the baby but he had a headache and that got worse. I went from one of the happiest days of my life to sitting with my brother when he got the diagnosis [that he had only months to live]. I went to pieces, just sobbing, couldn’t sleep for weeks, and it brought all the stuff with my younger brother back. I was determined I would not repeat what had happened with Eugene.”
In fact, Andrew’s death motivated Johnson to start writing songs again, and the song he dedicated to his brother – We Can’t Stop What’s Coming – is featured in a 2017 documentary about Johnson called The Inertia Variations, which was being filmed at the time Andrew died.
“When I saw the film for the first time, there is a scene where my older son, Jack, is watching me rehearse,” says Johnson, “and he says, ‘I think it is wonderful my dad is making a comeback on behalf of Andrew.’ ” The comment reminded Johnson that Jack, who is 21, was only three when Johnson last played on tour.
“I had disconnected totally from the music industry,” he says, adding that, although he rarely listens to new music, “the music I am hearing, the popular stuff, seems to be very narcissistic, but it is just reflecting the culture it is coming from”.
Johnson had been sceptical there would be any interest in the band now. Those doubts were allayed when this week’s shows at the Royal Albert Hall, Brixton Academy and Limehouse Troxy all sold out.
Thinking back to The The’s heyday, Johnson remains ambivalent about the decade. “I hated the 80s,” he says. “I didn’t feel comfortable. I didn’t like the fashion or the TV shows or the politics of Thatcherism and Reaganomics.”
Those politics led him to write songs such as 1986’s Heartland, including the lyrics: “Let the poor drink the milk while the rich eat the honey, let the bums count their blessings while the rich count the money.” Little has changed, he says. “The gap between rich and poor is even worse now than then. The songs are quite old but the lyrical subject matter is still pertinent, which is good for me but unfortunate for the state of the world.”
There will be more UK gigs in September, and in the US and Canada. Also a new studio album. “I am enjoying singing and playing guitar,” he says. “I’ve rediscovered a sense of purpose.”
• On Saturday Johnson revealed on Twitter as he travelled to The The’s concert in Stockholm that his father, Edward, died that day, aged 86. He said he was unable to cancel the concerts because of “massive financial implications” but also as he promised his father he “would carry on with his career and make him proud”. He said it had been a “privilege” to be his father’s son and asked people for their understanding during this “difficult time”.
