Welcome change for Tears for Fears

The voice that exhorted a generation to “Shout” it out is cool when confronted with domestic distractions on a weekday morning.

Curt Smith politely calls to delay an interview for a half hour. Would it be all right if he rang back a little later? He has a plumber monkeying with his pipes.

These are the kind of quotidian matters that now consume one of the twin pillars of the pop-rock duo Tears for Fears, who will perform Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Center.

Along with Roland Orzabal, the pair from Bath, England, cranked out a string of massive hits like “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and “Sowing the Seeds of Love” that make up a significant part of the soundtrack of the ’80s. The band sold more than 22 million albums.

But a lot happened between then and now. The Berlin Wall and the Twin Towers fell. Smith and Orzabal spat and split, seasoned, reconciled and reconnected. Both have continued to ably create music independently and together. And perhaps more significantly, they became fathers.

“I think parenthood does change your priorities quite drastically in an incredibly good way — most of the time,” Smith says from his home in the Hollywood Hills, where he’s holding down the fort with daughters Diva and Wilder while his wife, Frances, head of marketing for Juicy Couture, is in London on business.

“You become less precious about other things. If you have a fight at work you get to go home afterwards and things will be fine. It’s an opportunity to be a little more selfless and that is always a good thing.”

Now sporting a growing swath of gray on both temples, the 47-year-old bassist and songwriter applies a father’s patience both to his working relationships and to his fans, who he actively engages through Facebook, a blog and regular Twitters.

In a June 16 blog entry, he explains with a Ward Cleaver tone why he removed several postings that he said were not just critical but abusive.

“As I tell my kids every time a situation like this occurs — just walk away, it’s not worth it and life’s too short. I can only hope that a person who has met me once will heed that fatherly advice,” he writes, signing off “respectfully” as Papa S.

In fact, that is what Smith did. He and Orzabal, who musically connected back in their early teens and formed Tears for Fears in 1981, like many bands, suffered a creative clash.

Smith walked away from the band in 1990. And while Orzabal continued to perform all but solo as Tears for Fears — his ‘93 album “Elemental” went gold — Smith dialed back. He made his way to New York, where he hosted an MTV show, a music radio show syndicated to more than 300 U.S. colleges, taught a music industry course at New York University and in 1995 formed a new band, Mayfield, with songwriter-guitarist Charlton Pettus. Smith was less interested in high-gloss studio production and more in live performances in smaller venues.

But then in 2001 the ice started to crack between the old bandmates. Business matters forced them to start talking again and within several years they not only were talking but creatively collaborating. In 2004 they released “Everybody Loves a Happy Ending.”

So what changed?

“Our priorities shifted,” said Smith. “We know life is too short to get into fights about stupid, petty things.”

Although they have often been described as “Beatles-like” in their harmonies, Smith believes the TFF reunion effort proved more an homage to McCartney and Wings.

“It was intended to be lighthearted. We are only having fun with it,” he says.

Done with the grind of living on the road, the pair are continuing to perform together, planning just one short, limited tour each year. At the moment they’re completing production work on a Tears for Fears live album. And the band got a boost of exposure to a new generation when “American Idol” runner-up Adam Lambert picked the band’s elegiac “Mad World,” written the year he was born (1982), and performed it with such emotional intensity the audience burst into sporadic screaming. It produced a standing ovation from the pitiless Simon Cowell.

Living on separate continents — Orzabal remains in England — the two have the freedom and distance to also maintain their individual identities.

Smith came out a strong supporter of Barack Obama, who he says inspired him to become a citizen so he could vote. At the same time he wrote regularly for the Huffington Post.

“I have some lively, engaged debates on my Web site. A few people are strong Republicans. I think I even changed a few minds, which was fantastic.”

Now he’s turning his attention to the governor’s race, Twittering energy for Gavin Newsom.

“You can wind up reaching 100,000 people with the click of a mouse,” he marvels.

Understanding that technology has dramatically changed how people experience and exchange music. His latest solo album, “Halfway, Pleased,” is being released independently, song by song.

Issued under a Creative Commons license, “Halfway, Pleased” can be be copied, distributed and performed by fans, so long as it’s non-commercial and properly attributed.

Smith said at this point he’s intrigued by the prospect of writing soundtracks for film and television, if the right script came along.

“You never stop trying to make progress as a musician,” he said. “At some point you want a challenge. I’m starting to get to the point where somebody else giving me the subject matter would be an interesting thing, as opposed to me always talking about how I feel about things.”

You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com or 521-5204.