David Byrne acted like a “little tyrant” during his time in Talking Heads.
The 71-year-old musician has opened up about his younger years and conceded he wasn’t particularly “pleasant” to be around during the band’s hey day and it took him years to learn to chill out and be more collaborative.
He told PEOPLE: “As a younger person, I was not as pleasant to be around. When I was working on some Talking Heads shows, I was more of a little tyrant. And then I learned to relax, and I also learned that collaborating with people, both sides get more if there’s a good relationship instead of me telling everybody what to do.”
David also addressed the band’s split in 1991, calling the end of the group “ugly” and admitting he regrets the way he handled it.
He added: “I think [the end] wasn’t handled well. It was kind of ugly. I have regrets on how that was handled. I don’t think I did it in the best way, but I think it was kind of inevitable that would happen anyway.”
The end of the band came in 1991 and drummer Chris Frantz later claimed he’d found out David had left in a newspaper article. He later told the Los Angeles Times: “As far as we’re concerned, the band never really broke up. David just decided to leave.”
The other bandmembers continued without him as the Shrunken Heads and they released an album under the name the Heads in 1996, but they all eventually put the past behind them and worked with David again in later years even playing together at their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.
David added of his current relationship with his former bandmates: “We have a cordial relationship now. We’re sort of in touch, but we don’t hang out together.”