"Hi, I'm Sarah Beahan, the girl that was lucky enough to be involved in the recording of Love Will Tear Us Apart by The Cure. First off, I think I'd better explain how I won the competition. Triple J, an Australian radio station, had a "Triple J covers Livid" competition running on their Breakfast Show. To enter the competition you had to pick a song for either The Cure, The Dandy Warhols, or Sonic Animation to do a cover version of. I picked Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division because a) I love that song, and b) it would be perfect, seeing as Joy Division and The Cure were both very gloomy bands. It turned out that the Cure liked my choice in song, and they picked me as their competition winner.

I won an all expenses paid trip to Brisbane, Queensland, where I had tickets to the Livid Festival waiting and VIP passes. The Festival was really great, there were around 60 bands performing over the day, but I spent my whole day feeling extremely anxious about meeting The Cure later that night. It turned out I had nothing to worry about. They were all really nice people, especially Robert Smith. We did the recording in a little caravan in the backstage area of the Livid main stage. The Cure were all very professional about the whole thing; I found out later that they had been practising the song while on tour around Australia, they had played it at a few of their gigs and were using it as a soundcheck!

For the recording, I stood in the corner with my tambourine, with Jason the drummer on my right and Roger on my left. We did at least six takes before Robert was satisfied. They could see that I was really nervous about the whole thing, so they were constantly offering encouragement, most of all Robert. When the recording part was over, I got a chance to get autographs and a photo with Robert. I also talked to him for a while about the song and why he picked it. He said it really took him back. The Cure were supported on a gig by Joy Division in '79, and Robert Smith had always been in awe of Ian Curtis' talent. He always wanted try a cover of one of their songs, but was scared he wouldn't be able to do it justice. Well, I think Robert did a really good job of it, and can be proud of himself and the band. And as for myself, I'm just proud to have been a part of the recording of a song that fans of The Cure and of Joy Division can enjoy."

(Thanks Sarah, and congratulations!)

Steve Wyatt from the British Music Show on 3RRR 102.7 in Melbourne on Friday 20th October,2000 at 2.45pm:

RRR: This last Tuesday just gone the Cure played at the Tennis Centre, I wasnt that enamoured with the gig actually, I thought they played all their dirgey plodding numbers and there wasn' t any light and shade, it was all a bit morbid, but I suppose thats what theyre all about. They came across to me as a bit old, which they are, but I know a lot of people enjoyed it, so, thats good, but I wasnt that into it - however, I had the chance, prior to that, to interview Perry and Robert anbd they were very nice, so I'll play the interview for you now and a few tunes from there latest album, Bloodflowers - the Cure.

Plays: Out of ThisWorld

RRR: Perry and Robert welcome to Australia

R: Thank you

RRR: For Robert at least, this is your 4th time here I think

R: 5th.

RRR: Should get residency

R: Well, we had more than 20 years and actually this is the 20th anniversary of our 1st visit. We came in '80 and'81 and '84 and (to Perry), you came them

P: '84 was the first trip to Oz

R: Then '92, then 2000. Gaps are pretty long between trips

RRR: The 1st time you didn't do a show though

R: Yeah, we were, thats when we were a 4 piece and we came and did the 17 seconds tour, Australia and New Zealand. It was No. 1 in New Zealand - we thought that was it, things couldn't get much better than that.

RRR: Thats a great record. I was actually gonna say to you that 17 seconds really stands out- now anyway as being something thats really relevant now, because the drummings very electronic and robotic almost and the experimentation - a lot of bands are getting involved in theat sort of thing now, but you were all doing it out raw in the studio, what are your thoughts on 17 seconds now as a record?

R: Um, I think its weird looking back at how different the album is to the first album, 3 imaginary boys, how different it is to 17 seconds, I always think about as the first cure album. I never really liked 3 imaginary boys and it was, I mean as minimal as possible and partly that was making the best of what I had around me in a lot of ways, cos Lol was criminally bad as a drummer, and looking back it was quite good that he was because it imposed this, you know, there was no chance of him doing fill or anything fancy cos he physically couldn't, so we kind of cultivated that and made the most of it. And i just liked the holes in the music, you know , there was probably, if I had my own way and not been kind of moderated by Simon, in particular, there would have beeen even less on that album. Well, actually Matthieu as well insisted on playing at least one keyboard line. Yeah, I mean, look, it has dated, the 17 seconds album, but I think its not that in that it sounds old fashioned, it sounds like something that wouldve been done then. I think if I was trying to acheive the same thing now, it would sound kinda different. I think its sweet though that its, I think it was good that we tried to do something that was different at least, even though Im not sure that it all works. There's some good songs, there was a couple of really lame songs now I think, looking back.

RRR: Looking back over your career which has been now some 20 years plus, what are the moments that stand out to you as defining moments?

R: I dunno really in a short answer. The defining moments of the band always seem to be just based around a last album, but I dont really remember much else, over the years. I can remember, its like when you think back to things like summers or something when youre on holidays and there's a defining moment and thats it and your memories reduced to this one image that comes, thats like the essence of the whole experience and for me, as I imagine it is for everyone in the band, is theres usually some moment in the studio making the album that sticks with me and i think thats what I was trying to do. And i suppose on the Pornography album, I remember the day we finished that and thats about all, I remember of Pornography thinking that we'd done something that was really extraordinary and I remember doing Disintegration and feeling the same way - I thougt I was making Art for the first time in a long time and I really liked recording the title track to Bloodflowers when I was singing it, I thought we'd done something really good, so theres loads of things that weve been very lucky with, that Ive been lucky with, good lineups and what were doing now and what we did for the 15 years. You know, the Internets made us more aware of what people think about us. Youre kind of much more, you can be too aware,

RRR: Is that a good thing , bad thing?

R: I thinks its interesting to pick and choose, what people think of what were doing. I mean, its good, the feedbackss generally good, amazing from what weve been doing this year. I can imagine in the past were taking too much notice of it wouldve wound me up cos its never primarily aimed at anyone, what we do. You cant make, you hope, people are going to enjoy it, but it has to be driven from a desire to do it yourself. There have been for me, I tried really hard to remember concerts, make a concious decision to think, I will remember, and I really do remember some of the shows. But theyre always the big key, like 2 nights in Paris and the 2 nights in Los Angeles and like the stranger ones like Las Vegas. Actually before we go on stage, I think, I will try to remember something about this. You know id be crazy, youd be insane if you remembered too much.

RRR: Remebering Bloodflowers, seems like an album that almost does look back on everything and seems almost in alot of ways saying good bye and saying goodbye in a very affectionate sort of reminicsing way and it seems to increase in a violent resistance to saying goodbye to everything as you reach the end(of the album) and you group it with Pornography and with Disaintegration and it carries similar themes, certainly to Disintegration.

R: I think that the trilogy notion has been a bit overplayed. I was something that was not really a casual thing Id said, I want everyone in the band primarily to think there was going to be like a third album - it was easier to create an atmosphere, or so Id hoped and also to alert the the fans in advance, that it wasnt going to be like a mixed up stly of album, it was going to more dark side of the cure

RRR: and a consistency running through it

R: Well, there is for me, because of course lyrically there is, depending on when the albums recorded, what stage of life I was at, they represent changes in my life. Im not sure theat they fit together, I mean, they do sort of fit together to listen to - I have listened to them once, back to back

P: I think that, that albums kind of shape themselves according to whats going on , or whats just taken place previously and its easier in retrospect to say, yeah, well I can see how this came out, now, you know coz coming off the back of a lot of personnel changes and Wild Mood Swings, there was a lot of stuff was kind of fragmented and you can see with hindsight, like, you would with determination, put an album together like this and you can then say now, we intended.

R: Lyrically OOTW opens, wasnt intended to be a farewell to the group, its actually about something completely different - its just in a general way using the illusion, good feeling, that feeling you know, its not going to last, theres dissatsifaction mixed in, feeeling like its all slipping away, you know, that was the theme of the record. But I realized straight away, early on, I changed it slightly from its original form, I can imagine me singing this in front of people knowing that would create a mood but I think maybe some days it the only one thats actually about the group, out of the 9 of them, the other 8 songs arent. But the overall mood is one of nostalgia and letting go, but as I've said before, the process of making it and actually playing the concerts this year has made me want to do more, so when it was written I was 39 to 40 and I thought the group was going a bit stale really, I just didnt feel excited by the prospect of playing concerts, then at the start of this year I was worried that I would get to half way through and think, why did I ever agree to this?, but halfway through I was thinking, I wish there was more.

RRR: Are we to assume that there was a consistency to the Bloodflowers that there were more uptempo songs that were left off the album or former recordings? I know you said youre going back into the studio as soon as you finish this tour.

R: I suppose its easier now that were out of contract with the majors, that we can actually start putting stuff up on the website, instead of worrying about lawyers in the past, which we just couldnt do, we just werent allowed to do it. The stuff that we did in the studio doesnt theoretically belong to us, although they could prove that we did it then and not now, more to the ponit, though beyond that, its not really the right, it doesn't fit with what were going to do next.

Played Bloodflowers.

RRR: If you liked that track, its on the new album, and Thanks to Perry and Robert for coming into the studios for that interview.

(Thanks to Janine for typing that up for us)

"I am a Canberra resident working at the National Library of Australia. On the day of The Cure concert last week, my excitement was somewhat deflated when I realised that a lot of my work colleagues did not even know who The Cure were! (a Canberra thing, not too surprising) The following day (after the best concert experience ever!) I was approached by someone who works in the ephemera section ( they collect pamphlets, catalogues, leaflets etc.). She had seen my "Dreamtour" T-shirt and heard that I had attended the concert. She wanted me to contribute something to the national collection for historical preservation! (true story!) Imagine my joy at meeting a non-Cure fan who thought that a record of the band's visit to Canberra was worth including in the collection. I could not part with my ticket stub, so I donated a print advertisement that I had made into a poster. I don't know if this qualifies as Cure spotting but I though Cure fans (esp. Aussie ones) would appreciate the fact that there will forever be a record of The Cure's final tour of Australia, in the National Library of Oz."

(Thanks Lily)

* The music section of the local newspaper of Tel Aviv (called "The City") recommends in today's issue a "good music to take our minds off the military situation". Their recommendation is for "Kiss me Kiss me Kiss me", with a shot of the album cover.

* The last issue of "PC-Media", an Israeli computing magazine based on some Ziff Davis publications runs a translated article on music on the internet (generally talking about mp3), the author tells how he used the web to dig up MP3's of all the albums he had on Vinyl, the article sports the cover photos of most of the older Cure albums. The original version (in English) of this article probably appears in a few magazines in the states.

* Many pubs in Tel Aviv have fixed playlists. A few where I've often encountered Cure stuff are "The Balcony" in Nachalat-Binyamin and "B-Square" in Jaffa.

(Thanks Uri)

I know that many of you had problems getting it from Temptation, but it seems to be working now and they have a better version available.

(Thanks to Brent, Craig Pepper for recording, encoding and uploading the first files and to Nicolas LeBlanc for providing the alternate link)

(Thanks Candide and Stef)

"The Jeff Boortz Band (Houston Press Best New Act nominee for 2000) will be performing a set of Cure songs this Saturday, Oct 28th at The Sidecar Pub in NW Houston. This will be a Halloween party with costume contests and a haunted house leading into the club. Expect Jeff Boortz in full on Bob mode with makeup, great fog, lights, and Cure intro music. The Cure set will begin at 9:00 followed by female goth rockers, Sinister Sirens. Let's have a strong showing of Cure fans Saturday!"

(Thanks Jeff)

"I was in Paris for the only Smashing Pumpkins show (october 19th 2000). They haven't played the blood at all. It's completely false!"

(Thanks Charbo)

"I know Morrissey and The Cure (particularly Robert) hate each other and have made various cracks throughout the years against each other, but I have never, even in cyberspace, found out the root of this fueding. Even at the Roseland show in February, when the Cure played 3 days after Morrissey did, Morrissey said "as you all know, Limp Bizkit will be here next week" (Limp Bizkit was not, nor scheduled to be).

Anyway, Friday night there was a Morrissey DVD signing at Virgin Megastore at Union Square. We got there late and were the last 2 on line, so we had a few minutes to talk to the ex-Smiths front man himself.

So, I walk up to Morrissey and shake his hand sporting a 'Bloodflowers' tour shirt. He quickly looked around the store as if it were some sort of 'Cure' stunt to rain on his parade. He then leered at my shirt for several seconds as I approached him and as I shook his hand, he said to me "When are you going to have second thoughts?".

We both laughed and I said, "Funny you should bring that up. I've been trying to find out why this all started. How come you both dislike each other so much when you are two of the best bands from that genre?"

He replied, " I don't know what you mean."

I said, "Come on, man. How did this feuding start? I can't find out anything on any of your sites or the Cure's."

He again, mocking a puzzled look and a smirk said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

So I guess I'll never find out. And I went straight to the source, too.

Oh, well. Hope you understand my e-mail and why I think it's worthy of Curespotting. There are a lot of Smiths/Morrissey fans that are Cure fans. If you wouldn't mind posting my e-mail address, I'd love to hear from someone that has some insight on this subject or that can lead me to it.

But the funny part is, I would never dream of wearing a Morrissey shirt in front of Robert Smith or other Cure members. I guess the respect level is just a tad higher for The Cure."

(Thanks Scotty Dog)

"Robert Smith is on the cover of ColumbiaHouse's GiftGiving (Alt. Edition) Music Guide, he's in on the top of the gift box above Sting."

(Thanks didthehansa)

"The Livid competition was won by a girl named Sarah who plays tambourine (!) with the cure as they cover "Love Will Tear Us Apart". The song will be played on Triple J tomorrow (Tuesday) on the morning show - some time between 6am and 9am Australian Eastern Time. Once again people can probably listen on line..."

"Got in touch with triple J about the cure cover of Love will tear us apart and this is what they mailed back. the breakfast show runs between 6am and 9am monday-friday sydney time. I asked if the song was part of the set or done backstage (see answer)...so we have to listen to the f*** show for four days now, not easy when you're not a morning person...cheap publicity stunts!!!"

" It was recorded off stage. It sounds excellent, and we are going to play it later this week, but it might be a one off"

So that will be between 3-6pm eastern / 2-5pm central / 1-4pm mountain / noon-3pm pacific. Sorry for the short notice.

Update: It will not air today. All that they said was that it will air later in the week. They just want to hold us hostage, don't they? : )

(Thanks Craig Pepper and Marc)

"For anyone interested and living in Australia or New Zealand, the concert at Livid in Brisbane is being broadcast on Foxtel, 4th November at 7.30pm (EST) on Channel V. And yes the Cure is being taped. For anyone else interested, try going to the Channel V website to listen to it as it is being broadcast on that date."

And here's what the Channel [V] website says about it:

Livid special on [V]!

Channel [V] airs our Livid one-hour special on 4 November 2000, 7.30pm AEDST. Interviews at this stage (hopefully) include 28 Days, Millencolin, Boss Hog, No Doubt, The Living End, Green Day, The Cure, Dandy Warhols, Muse, Unwritten Law, Jungle Brothers, No Fun At All, Royal Crown Revue, Guttermouth, Bodyjar, Grinspoon, Sunk Loto and Motor Ace. We’re shooting live songs from 28 Days, Dandy Warhols, Millencolin, Boss Hog, No Doubt, The Living End, Green Day, The Cure, Regurgitator. What a sexy bundle of footage that will make!

(Thanks Craig Pepper and Melissa)

DYING FOR MUSIC? SMITH AND MARTIN HAVE THE CURE

Siobhain Ryan and Ben Ryan

The Cure's lead singer Robert Smith flew into Brisbane last night looking more tired than usual. Maybe it was the flight. Maybe it was the plane food. Maybe it was the fact he has been travelling with his parents. "They kill me. They stay up late and get up early," Smith said. For a man who stays up all night after a concert, it takes it toll. "That's why we're a bit touchy," Smith said.

Smith, who has a cult following in the Gothic music scene, took a low-key approach to his Brisbane stopover. Dressed in black bicycle shorts, boots and heavy make-up, the main attraction of today's Livid music festival at the Brisbane showgrounds waited at the baggage claim to collect his luggage before walking out the front door of the terminal. It was a far cry from the Latin legend Ricky martin who flew into Coolangatta yesterday by private jet and was collected from the tarmac by a limousine.

Smith has turned his Australian tour into a mini-family reunion. He said he had caught up with 20 blood relatives during The Cure's tour and this was his first stop without family around him. He said he was only now learning about newer and younger bands that were taking over the music scene in Australia. But Smith said he didn't have too much time for the established Aussie musicians. "Obviously apart from Kylie" (that must be tongue in cheek my words) he said.

The Livid line-up also features Lou reed, Green Day, the Dandy Warhols, rappers the Jungle Brothers and some of Queensland's hottest homegrown talent including Regurgitator, Not from There, George and Sunk Loto.

Looking like extras from Miami Vice, Latino hearthrob RRRRRicky MMartin and his entourage jetted into the Gold Coast yesterday onboard a private plane. Less than an hour after his jet arrived he was relaxing in a VIP suite at the Sheraton Mirage. Martin has received etc etc"

(Thanks Minnie)

"Two new shows have been confirmed for CURIOSITY the official belgian cure coverband :

Dec. 9th, 2000 LE CAP VERT - Belgium, Visé, near Maastricht.

Feb. 3rd, 2001 HEIDELBERG (germany)

Some others dates have to be confirmed......"

(Thanks Vincent)

"There is a cure-party happening in vienna: Wednesday 25th October 2000 AVANTGARDE, Landstraßer Hauptstraße 38, 1030 Wien - 01/7106131 (Subway U4 - Rochusgasse) for details (unfortunately i haven't found yet any info about entrance-price or starting time there): http://www.avantgarde-club.at/ "

(Thanks Peter)

"Amazon.com is listing a 5-cd box set titled "America's Top Ten Through The Years" that includes The Cure's Lovesong. Just thought I'd let you know."

(Thanks Joe)

"I just wanted to let you know that The Smashing Pumpkins played Paris recently and finished their concert with an accoustic cover of The Blood."

(Thanks Bruno)

"Just watching MSNBC on they were playing In Between Days, speaking about George Clooney before going to commercial break!"

(Thanks Mike)

"Today an italian program "Art-tu ei tavoli rotondi" (italian channel RAITRE), has played "High" to throw an article."

(Thanks Stefy)

"i frequently hear the cure while out and about, and don't think too much of it as it's usually one of the singles, but my "curespotting" last night was a bit more interesting. we were coming out of the "haunted graveyard" at a local amusement park, and as we walking back to the entrance/exit of the park the music playing on the park's pa was "fear of ghosts." i guess someone thought it fit the "halloween" theme. it was a pleasant surprise to hear it."

(Thanks Mike)

"I found a Cure reference in the October 19 issue of Time Out New York magazine. Here is a quote from the movie review of Lost Souls (starring Winona Ryder)... "Playing the sole lay member of a Catholic team devoted to seeking out the devil, who's apparently due to take human form at any moment, Ryder wears ridiculously heavy eye-shadow throughout, as if planning to attend a Cure concert immediately following each exorcism."

(Thanks Mary)

"Walked into a Hot Topic in San Diego wearing my Bloodflowers tour baby tee and "Pictures of You" came up on their radio. I say thanks to the girl at the register and she just said that the music played is on a random disk selection. I guess I have good timing."

(Thanks CureFan95)

(Thanks Craig)

11th Nov., 2000 Halle - Steg e.V. Liveact: Revoice entrance fee: 5 DM Starting time: 8pm (20.00 Uhr)

for more information:

(Thanks Dennis)

"I was watching the gymnastics world tour show on channel 4 and when the US guys performed on the parallel bars in the background lullaby was heard, but only the instrumental version. that put a smile on my face."

(Thanks Fayden)

"I just had a great birthday experience. While I was having dinner (for my birthday, of course) in a small, hole-in -the-wall restaurant in Delray Beach, I heard "The Kiss" playing. You don't hear that one much over the radio, so I kept listening and, sure enough, the very next song was "Catch". After which the whole "Kiss Me'' album was played in its entirety. This restaurant has definately won me over!!!"

(Thanks Emt1er1)

(Thanks Andrew)

Tom Waits - (Looking For) The Heart of Saturday Night

RS: "What a beautiful song. You're listening to Triple J, this is Robert from The Cure. That's a song I play more and more as the year wears on, on a saturday afternoon. Although it's still Saturday morning for me in a strange way. Uh, anyway I'll play a bit more music before I start waffling too much. The next one is a Nirvana song called Come As You Are."

Nirvana - Come As You Are.

Jimi Hendrix - Bold As Love

RS: "That was Bold As Love by Jimi Hendrix, and um, I think I better find some people who are still living actually, I just realized there's a bit of a theme developing here. Um yea, your listening to Robert of The Cure on Triple J, home of the hits. Not necessarily hits of this particular year, but now I think I'm going to take a call from someone."

Caller: "Yes, hello"

RS: "Hello, who am I talking to?"

Caller: "This is Jody. How are you Robert?"

RS: "Hello Jody. all right, thank you."

Caller: "This is fantastic, I can't believe I'm speaking to you."

RS: "Where are you calling from?"

Caller: "I'm in Wannapool (I have no idea) which is pretty close to Melbourne."

RS: "Yeah, I know it really well."

Caller: "I've been a fan for years, and I must say that your work is brilliant."

RS: "Thank you."

Caller: "I just wanted to ask about the possibility of you making a solo album after The Cure are finished."

RS: "Um yeah I've already sort of done it. I keep putting it off because I'm enjoying myself with the band too much, so most of its written and I've contacted the various people, other artists that I want to play on it to see if they're interested and most of them have said yes. So I expect I'll start it sometime next year, probably next spring. But I think what we are going to try first when we get home from Australia, I think we're all going to into the studio and try another Cure album. See what happens, but if it doesn't work, you know....anyway, thank you for asking. I'm going to go back to music now, because I feel like I'm ??? myself up through the Saturday. And someone who's still alive thankfully, this is 1979 by the Smashing Pumpkins."

Smashing Pumpkins - 1979

Joy Division - The Eternal

RS: "....No one told me it was ending. That was two songs back to back, 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins and a song recorded in 1979, what a link, Eternal from Joy Division. That's like falling from summer into winter in about 5 minutes. This is Triple J and this is Robert from The Cure, the unfamiliar voice that you're hearing. I'm going to take a couple of calls now, the first one's Fletch. Hello Fletch."

Caller: "Hello Robert. I wanted to ask you why there weren't any music videos for the last album?"

RS: "Primarily because I got fed up making them. We did one for Wrong Number, the single off the Galore album and no one showed it, so it seemed like a bit of a waste of time making another one that no one was going to show."

Caller: "What, you just don't want the inconvenience of it any more or..."

RS: "It's mainly that, but there's also the idea I think that The Cure are, I mean with Bloodflowers there was no intention of having anything played on the radio, I mean it wasn't like we were thinking 'we're going to make an album that isn't gonna get played on the radio', but we sort of realized that we'd have to compromise what we wanted to do in order to get played on the radio and the two pretty much go hand in hand these days. I think the days of us making a darkly-funny video and getting it shown on MTV are gone really and I'm sort of thankful they are."

Caller: "What about like on your website, like with Radiohead, how they've done a lot of visual sort of stuff? Why couldn't you get into art, like the art side of it on your website?"

RS: "We always mean to, I mean like between us we have a couple of handhelds and we are filming stuff all the time. It's really like getting around to doing it because we want to do it all ourselves. I mean our website is very up to date, but unvisual I suppose. But if you try to go on-line in England you'd understand why, it takes forever you know. I think we probably will...we're going into the studio when we get home and I think probably there'll be some down time for certain members of the band, hehe, and they can probably utilize that by putting stuff together. Hopefully by Christmas we'll have something a bit more visual put together, we're intending to change the website at Christmas anyway, so we'll try and incorporate it, it's a good idea."

Caller: "One last question, would you be able to play the Drowning Man tonight? I mean are you playing it or...?"

RS: "Yeah, well we haven't done it yet, but yeah, if I remember."

Caller: "Just my little request, that's all."

Robert: "I'll try and bear it in mind when I'm putting together the setlist."

Caller: "Ok, it was awesome talking to you. I'm huge fan. See you tonight."

RS: "Thank you, hope you enjoy it. And next I've got Lorenzo."

Caller: "Hi, how are you?"

RS: "Fine, thank you."

Caller: "I'm sure you're sick of hearing people say I'm a huge fan and everything else, but I am. I just had a quick question. I read somewhere that in the past you guys used to send Perry into the crowd before a show with a video camera, speaking to people, asking what songs they'd like to hear in particular."

RS: "Yeah that had to stop when he joined the band though. He insisted, it was part of the deal. Anyway, sorry carry on."

Caller: "I just wanted to know when was the last time you did that?"

RS: "In fact even when he joined the band, because we've known Perry for a long time before he joined, I think it was 1990 the first time he played with us, he was still doing that on certain dates of the Wish tour in 1992, he was still going out to the crowds, I think he got a bit hooked. It's good way to meet people anyway. No, it was interesting, its like we did through most of the 80's actually, just like we used to watch the videos of people, it gave us an idea of who was in the crowd and what they wanted to hear, and we felt we were playing to people. We don't do it now because, you know, we can't find anyone...I mean Perry's sort of had a certain rapport with the audience and managed to sort of pick the right people. We have tried it with other people and it's a bit disastrous because as you probably know, you react to the person behind the camera when you're talking to a camera and when Perry was doing it, we used to get a good reaction. We haven't found the right person to operate it, but I mean with the advent of the internet as well, we can find out what people want that much easier 'cause we just have to go to like fan sites and chat rooms and see what people are talking about what we've been doing at other shows, to find out what's going down and what people would rather hear. If we want to tailor what we're playing to what the fans want to hear, which of course we do, we just go on-line."

Caller: "That was kind of my next question. I was looking at a lot of the setlists on your website that you've played in Europe and the States and they tend to be quite a lot different between one and the other. Are we going to get closer to what you're playing in Europe or closer to what you played in the States? Because it seems to be more commercial what you're doing in the States."

RS: "We didn't really, it's like if you look over all of them, we've played about 55 songs, maybe a bit more, like this year. And we played all of them in America as well as in Europe, I think occasionally we threw in a slightly more upbeat set in America, but the difference was that we were playing in Summer and we were playing outside and it's a slightly different sort of vibe. I mean probably here, looking out the window it's sunny, but once we're indoors and it starts to create an atmosphere?, it will probably be more like Europe."

Caller: "And just another quick one, sorry to take up all of your time, there's a few b-sides obviously from Bloodflowers, are we ever going to get a chance to hear them all? Are they going to be released with anything in particular?"

RS: "That's sort of like what I was saying earlier, it's all part of our master plan to update the website, is actually making everything available. Now that we're out of contract with all of the majors, we can hopefully just put all of that kind of stuff up, all the outtakes, all the b-sides, without me being hassled by lawyers from around the world. Which is really what's held things up to this point, because I just don't want to be bothered with dealing with it."

Caller: "Will that be the b-sides collection you were talking about last year or a few years ago?"

RS: "Yeah, I mean it's one of those things that is really time consuming and I don't know if I've got the right personality to sit down and sort things, I always think why am I wallowing in this, but I will get around to it, or someone will, I should learn to delegate a bit more. That'll be my New Year's resolution, hopefully it will be up on the website and you'll be able to hear it. Anyway, speaking of hearing things, thank you very much for calling in, pleasure to speak with you, hope you enjoy the concert, and now you'll hear Only Shallow from My Bloody Valentine."

My Bloody Valentine - Only Shallow

Nick Drake - Pink Moon

The Pixies - Monkey Gone To Heaven

RS: "You're listening to Triple J, the unfamiliar voice being Robert from The Cure. You heard My Bloody Valentine and then Pink Moon from Nick Drake and Monkey Gone to Heaven by The Pixies. All part of an hour of very magical music. And I'm taking a couple more callers to stop me waffling on, the first one's I think Sebastian."

Caller: "Hi Robert, How are you?"

RS: "all right, thank you."

Caller: "My questions about the current tour. I was wondering what influenced the decision of this being the last one, I mean why's it the last?"

RS: "This is a tricky one. It's like instinct, like with anything I do with the band, I never really have very good reasons once I verbalize them, but it's just inside myself I know that I've enjoyed this year of touring more than any other year of playing with the band. I just can't see me doing it anymore. I don't necessarily think we'd stop playing completely, but doing a Cure tour is quite a big thing, 'cause if we go somewhere, there's usually alot of people who want to see us, and so it's like, I mean it's boring but there's like scale things and ergonomics and lots of people, lots of crew, lots of travel, I think you kind of have to want to do it and I've been doing it for a long time and I just figured if I don't make sort of a definite break from it, I'll find myself being wheeled in and out of venues."

Caller: "Yeah, yeah, I guess it would be very monotonous."

RS: "I mean once I'm doing it, I love it. Particularly when the shows are good. It's just the rest of it, all that goes with it, it's a little bit much I suppose and it's one of those things where you can either do one thing or another, and I feel there are probably other things I'd rather do.

Caller: "Ok, thanks very much. Have a great tour."

RS: "That's all right. Thank you very much. Next on the line I've got Chris I think."

Caller: "Robert, Hello. How are you doing?"

RS: "all right and you?"

Caller: "Very well, thank you. First of all, thanks very much for bringing the show down to Australia, you have such a huge fan base, it's awesome to see you here. My question is you've mentioned doing some demos for the next album, I was wondering if it will be along the same lines as the trilogy or whether you're going to have a new direction once again?"

RS: "Well the others were expecting me to, I mean usually I react against, you know like when we did Disintegration, the next we did was Mixed Up which was like remixes, I think the others were expecting me to do something similar, but I'm surprised myself actually by continuing on in pretty much the same vein as Bloodflowers, I think because I've enjoyed making the album and playing the songs this year that the songs I've written are in a similar mood, if anything, they're more miserable. But I haven't quite decided on how to approach it lyrically yet, but certainly musically it's very, the more atmospheric side of the band, sort of like that part. There are no radio singles I fear on the next album either."

Caller: "Great. Thanks for continuing."

RS: "That's all right, I hope you enjoy the shows. all right next up we've got a song by Suzanne Vega. Small Blue Thing."

Suzanne Vega - Small Blue Thing

Depeche Mode - Walking In My Shoes

Mogwai - Come On Die Young

RS: "Yeah, from the album Come On Die Young that was Come On Die Young by Mogwai. Before that was Walking In My Shoes by Depeche Mode and before that, Small Blue Thing by Suzanne Vega. You're listening to the national countdown show on Triple J with Robert from The Cure. A couple more callers before I go. This one is Stephanie. Hello?"

Caller: "You doing well?"

RS: "Uh yeah, I think so."

Caller: "I'm fine thanks. My question is I was wondering if you have one stand out Cure track that you enjoy playing the most live?"

RS: "Probably through the course of the year I think Bloodflowers has become my favorite Cure song, 'cause we usually close the main set with it pretty much every night and it's become a very emotional moment."

<Silence>

RS: "There you go, that was it, that was my answer."

Caller: "Ah, thank you very much, it's one that I like too."

RS: "Thank you very much."

Caller: "Thank you for everything, the time, the music, the tours, all of it."

RS: "Thanks."

Caller: "And... <gets cut off>

RS: "Oh, that was it. Richard I've got on next. I'm sorry about that, I'm not very used to doing this, it's not my real job. Hello Richard."

Caller: "Hi. My question is How was your trip over here?"

RS: "Well it landed. So it was fine. Apart from that I can't say much about it, I wasn't really all there for most of the trip. I brought my mum and dad over with me actually. They've never been to Australia before and I figured like as I'm giving up I may as well. They've got a lot of relations out here that they haven't seen in like years, so they kind of kept me occupied and um, I took (?) drink with me and time flew."

Caller: "I went over and saw you in the Wembley Arena and it totally went off. And I was wondering if it was going to be anything similar to tonight in Sydney?"

RS: "You think I can remember what we played at Wembley? Some of it's gonna be the same, I'm probably going to base tonight and tomorrow night on sort of what we did, we did 2 nights in Paris early in the year and 2 nights in Los Angeles and I figured out a good way of breaking up the 50 songs across the 2 nights, based on the idea that some people are gonna go both nights, so I'm not quite sure. I haven't done the setlist yet, I'll be doing it when I get down to the venue, so who knows."

Caller: "Cool. Anyway you're my hero at the moment. And it's great talking to you."

RS: <laughing> "What do you mean "at the moment"?"

Caller: "Well it jumps you know?"

RS: "Yeah, until some other youngster comes along."

Caller: "Being a 15 year old I have to leave my options open."

RS: "Yeah, that's true, I keep forgetting how fickle teenagers are. All right, well I hope you enjoy it anyway. Ok, bye. Right, I've just about run out of time. I'm being allowed just 2 more songs. I've had a fantastic time, thank you very much Triple J for having me in here. We'll finish with Brand New Key from Melanie which is sort of a weird choice, but something I've always loved from the days when I was a teenager and Hello, Goodbye from The Beatles. Anyway, BYE"

Melanie - Brand New Key

The Beatles - Hello, Goodbye

"Saturday oct 7, i was watching at a report about the NHL on french TV Canal + (again), an I heard two cure songs in the background : lullaby (US single mix) an strange attraction (i had quite forgot this song...)"

(Thanks Pierre)

"When I entered Saturn in Hamburg (a major home electronics + cd store) yesterday (14th) at 1.30pm, they played the 'bloodflowers' album in its entirety!"

(Thanks Dennis)

"I went into tower video in nyc wanting to buy standing on a beach video & on my way out of the store the FREE giveaway posters on the counter were a HUGE pic of Robert promoting Bloodflowers. i took two."

(Thanks Stacyx)

"I live in AZ and every weekday morning the DJ (Ted Simons) on Mix 96.9 fm plays Cure songs in his background music (usually Pictures of You , Lullaby and The Walk), he never uses any other music but if you call and ask them to play any Cure song they never seem to do it!

(Thanks Cure Smurf)

Background music: Jumping Someone Else's Train, Let's Go To Bed, Lullaby

FS: The Cure are touring around Australia at the moment doing some shows leading up to the Livid Festival, and a lot of people are very excited to see them because Robert Smith has said that though the band might record a new record this is probably the last time they're going to tour. And they're performing in Sydney on Saturday and Sunday nights, just finished a show in Adelaide last night, Melbourne next Tuesday and at the Livid festival next Saturday week. Now, Robert Smith came into the studio earlier this week to have a chat about the band's amazing career, and he spoke to me about the influence that punk rock had on The Cure, of course the Cure started around the time that punk was in full flight, but the Cure never were a punk band, and Robert explains why:

RS: Well the thing that we all enjoyed about punk was really just that 'do it yourself' ethic, the music didn't really appeal, we were never really a punk band. Me and Simon used to go and see the Stranglers[?] and I liked the Sex Pistols and the Clash - but I think it was actually not wanting to be part of a movement, which was the reason why we weren't punks.. I mean I've always shied away from.. we've been lumped in with various movements, usually goth over the years, but I've never felt part of a movement its just not really in my nature, and I do.. I hate people who follow fashion I think its ludicrous, and that's want punk very quickly turned into, a uniform, so it wasn't just the musical constraints, but I mean that... I just didn't ever feel inside myself that I was ever really like gonna make an 'Anarchy in the UK' kind of album (laughs), I was more drawn.. I mean even though I really liked the energy of punk I liked the stuff that the Buzzcocks were doing, because I thought it was more melodic and I just enjoyed it more, and Elvis Costello, looking back, was the person who had the most effect on me from that era, you know, the very early days of punk, and certainly his first album, 'My Aim Is True', I mean I love the kind of.. the cheap sounds on it, I thought it was very clever the way he achieved, you know, the way it all worked together, but I'd loved the idea of using just like using really really kind of.. I mean they weren't actually cheap instruments, I found out later (laughs), but it just sounded you know like they were just kind of like... plug-in-and-play sort of music, and that's... I wanted to have that kind of spontaneity.

[Start of Lovecats]

FL: When you started recording that trilogy of songs after Pornography - Let's Go To Bed, The Walk, and Lovecats, were you surprised at how good you were at writing pop songs?

RS: Well I think though the first album, the Three Imaginary Boys album, was a pop album. It was um... songs like Boys Don't Cry and Jumping Someone Else's Train, I mean I was trying to write three minute Beatles pop singles when were first started out, it was only really after that first album I got it out of my system and thought 'right, what do I wanna do now?', and that then lead on to the more sort of atmospheric stuff. And I think Pornography I'd got it out of my system again, and I was just looking around and thinking 'well what would I really like to do?' Also there was a lot of um, kind of baggage i suppose I was carrying around at the time, and I'd become.. I was sort of turning into a person I didn't really want to be, and people were expecting me to act a certain way, and it all became a bit kind of grizzly and I just figured that Let's Go To Bed was a good way for me to kind of shake all that out of my hair really - I mean it sort of upset me in a funny way doing it (laughs), because I realised I was kind of taking tentative steps down a very different road, and um.. in its turn that actually got a bit much for me as well and that kind of culminated in so much.. kind of like success on a level that I wasn't really hoping to achieve, and becoming so recognisable and so well know that I did actually kind of try and destroy that.. I mean after the Kiss Me album which is what it kind of culminated in, um Disintegration was s'posed to be a kind of retaliation against all the pop stuff (laughs) - I know it didn't work, that's the weird thing about it which... everything would have been very different about it if you know.. I imagined Disintegration was going to kind of destroy our audience again, cast off all the people who had kind of latched on to the pop side um.. and we'd be going back to being a kind of underground band again, but I miscalculated (laughs).

FL: Robert Smith from the Cure talking about the success that he just couldn't avoid, and of course you can catch Robert with Richard Kingsmill tomorrow from four on the radio playing his favourite tunes and in Sydney this weekend performing two shows, Melbourne next Tuesday night and of course at the Livid festival in Brisbane on Saturday the 21st of October - should be a great gig that one Lou Reed, Greenday, and a bunch of other great bands performing there as well. We'll play you more of that interview next week here on the morning show...

(Thanks Andrew)

CUREOSITY

If this tour really is the last time we'll see the Cure it's sure to be a grand final, writes CAMERON ADAMS.

For 25 years the Cure have existed in a private world of their own, sending out regular musical souvenirs to the rest of the planet. But they're about to stop that world and get off.

Since the release of their BloodFlowers album in February there's been an unspoken pact that it was the final Cure album and their current tour their last. Cure frontman and soul remaining founding member Robert Smith now confirms it. "It's been kept within the band," Smith says. "I haven't used it as a selling point. I've refused to allow anyone to use 'final tour' on any of the advertising because I don't think it is really important. "I want it to be the best Cure tour. I suspect, well, kind of know it will be the last Cure tour, but that's unimportant. I don't want people to come and see us just because of that. "People should come to see us because they enjoy what were doing. For me it's immaterial. Anyone who is going to miss us is going to come anyway ; anyone who isn't isn't going to give a shit whether it's the last tour or not."

Perversely, the very fact that it's their final tour means Smith is enjoying it "more than anything I've ever done. Ever." He wants the Cure to go out on a high. "Everyone in the band is convinced it's the last time were going to do it," Smith says. "It just adds a certain poignancy to the whole performance. Some night you can see it on stage, people thinking, oh my god, 'God, this is the last time we'll tour city X'. that's a big deal after 20 plus years. It's a real wrench."

Will Robert Smith miss being in the Cure? "Hugely. But I think if I don't stop now I'll turn into a doddery old rock and roller and I don't want to do that." Indeed, the last time the Herald Sun spoke to Smith, for the bands Galore compilation in 1997, he'd spoken of quitting before he turned 40. "Yeah I'm a year out," Smith now 41, says. "It took me a year longer than I thought it would to make BloodFlowers. I wasn't banking on putting a big hole in my 'quit at 40' itinerary, but I took a few months off and changed the date to 41. I'm still on course."

However, while Smith says this will be the last Cure tour (and Australia the last leg of it ), he's not prepared to put the band on ice just yet. They may still play some festival shows next year. "There's a mental difference between playing a few concerts and doing a tour. A world tour for the Cure is six months plus, it's a huge undertaking. Once you've committed, that's it. You can't wake up and go, 'Actually, I don't really want to do it, I was only joking '. "Iv'e felt the motivation to do it has kind of disappeared. "this year the others convinced me it would be a good thing to do. I reluctantly agreed to it and I've surprised myself at how much fun I've had."

Fun probably isn't the word to describe the mood of the current Cure tour. Showcasing the bleak BloodFlowers, the marathon shows (they recently cracked the 3 hour-mark, and most go for at least 2 1/2) stretch right back through Cure history. At one recent show the encore consisted of the bulk of 1981's gloomy Faith album. Other recurring songs include such early tunes as A Forest, Boys Don't Cry and Primary, the pop hits Inbetween Days and Just Like Heaven, and songs from their classic Disintegration album, recently called one of the most depressing albums ever made. "It's quite intense," Smith warns of their live set. "We've got a pool of 50 songs. We've excluded any songs anyone in the band was unhappy about doing. There's a lot of old style Cure stuff in there and for me that's brilliant, to go on stage and sing in what is a much more emotional show than the shows we've been doing for the past few years. "And most of the performances this year have been of a really high standard. I've convinced everyone in the band that there is no next time if we don't get it right. And it's worked. A lot of band forget to pay attention to detail when you get to our stature."

CERTAINLY their stature is as impressive as their longevity and survival. They still perform their debut single, 1978's Killing An Arab, while new bands such as the Living End cover the song's b-side 10.15 Saturday Night. Twenty-odd years later, the Cure have I diehard following, yet can constantly reinvent their sound and vision. They have both flirted with the mainstream and slapped it in the face. They're like the boy scouts of alternative music, recruiting teenagers and weaning them onto the harder musical stuff, as well as being the alternative band pop fans can admit to liking. Indeed, Backstreet Boy Nick Carter says the Cure's Lovesong is his favourite tune. "There's no higher accolade," Smith jokes.

In their time the Cure have done electro pop (Let's Go To Bed), electro goth (Charlotte Sometimes), novelty (The Lovecats) and a trilogy of gloomy albums (Pornography , Disintegration , BloodFlowers). Their back catalogue stretches from an album of dance remixes to the primitive rock of their debut and over 27-million album sales. BloodFlowers, the 13th album, has been their most successful in years, despite having no singles or videos released from it. "Industry norms don't hold true for us. There's no mainstream T.V or radio airplay, so in some respects it's a low-key L.P, but I'd be more than happy if it was No.1 around the world," Smith says. "I wasn't putting out an album to be obscure. If it does well, it does well, that has always been my philosophy. Generally speaking, things have always done better than I have expected."

Indeed, the band operate in a weird arena, seen as alternative by the mainstream and commercial by the underground. "I've been frustrated by it . Why can't it be accepted that we do both? But it never really has. It hasn't done us that much harm. "From an artistic or creative point of view, albums like bloodFlowers or Pornography are much better albums than the pop albums. That's how I feel now, but when I made the Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me album I was really into doing an album like that. "The albums reflect how I was at that time. Looking back I prefer the melancholic, introspective side of the Cure. I've always felt more at home playing that type of music than jumping around doing the pop stuff."

When Smith's friend Billy Corgan split the Smashing Pumpkins, he said he couldn't keep fighting against the Britney's. Smith disagrees. "I've never felt in competition with other bands. I don't feel threatened by Britney Spears. I don't think we're competing for the same audience. "I've never thought we could occupy that top spot on the chart. I don't really think I'd like that, to be honest. The rewards of being slightly further down the ladder are greater than being at the top because you don't have to put up with half as much shit and you get to do what you enjoy"

Indeed, Smith admits he's sabotaged the Cure's career by avoiding more exposure at key moments , such as when they hit No.2 in the U.S with Lovesong (behind Janet Jackson). "There have been times when we've been on the verge of the sort of popularity that I know I would have found it really hard to cope with on a lot of levels. "I hate that sense of being public property. I really enjoy how when we play shows people come to see us and when we don't play I don't have to live in a bubble."

With the future of the Cure uncertain, Smith has long talked about a solo album. But he says now it might turn into another Cure album. "I'm torn. I like the idea of BloodFlowers being the last Cure album, but I'm not sure I wouldn't rather see what this line up (of the Cure) does with some of the songs I've earmarked for my solo record. "There's no big career plan. I'll try something. If it works it'll probably be a Cure album, if it doesn't I'll probably get some real musicians in!"

THERE'S also a whole swag of unreleased Cure material due to surface next year. "All the songs are there. The record company just sits on them because it's not going to sell. I'll have to phone up legal departments to get them . "In that respect I see what Billy (Corgan) was saying, the relentless struggle against the stifling nature of the major labels. If there isn't an X percentage return on their investment, they won't help. "Which is bollocks because they never earn money out of anyone except bands like us anyway. But they don't put any money back in, that's the difference. We fund all the other idiots."

(ANOTHER SMALL ARTICLE FROM THE SAME DOUBLE SPREAD)

THE AIR UP THERE'S ALMOST FINE

The Cure were last in Australia in 1992, touring their Wish album. At the time Robert Smith was battling his fear of flying, a fear he has almost conquered. "Me and Simon (Gallup) just meet early at the airport bar. It doesn't bother me as much as it used to. I've got a more fatalist perspective of it. "After 10 years of constant flying I realised there were other aspects of the travel that were doing my head in, rather than just the up-in-the-air part. "The constant missing of flights weighs you down. I have spent so long running futilely through airports with heavy bags and never actually getting anywhere. So I did stop flying, and we took busses, but lately we've been flying everywhere."

On the groups last Australian Tour, Smith avoided flying interstate. "We did a couple of journeys by road, and I made some enquiries about it this time, but the others said they'd kill me. "On paper the journey times look quite reasonable, but when your in the 16th hour and it's the middle of the night and no one's got a bed but me, things get a bit fractured!" Smith still claims that Australia is one of his favourite places, and on the groups last visit, he surprised many by visiting various dingy clubs. "We might go and see something cultural this time," Smith says. "Like a pool hall."

(Thanks Brent)

"While interview was being played bits of Faith , Watching Me Fall , A Forest and The Last Day Of Summer were played in the background.

D.J - ..to eleven.Your with Francis Leach here on JJJ's morning show. Well since they first started back in 1977 with their first record the cure have always been part of the JJJ family. Each time they release a record Cure fans ring the station up demanding that they get to hear it , that we play it , that we talk about The Cure , and through successive hottest 100's The Cure have always been perennial favourites , in fact that if we did a list of the band that has featured most in the hottest 100 there is no doubt The Cure would win by a mile. And so with their current Australian tour almost certain to be their last it was time to talk to Robert Smith about his remarkable band and their incredible career. He came into the JJJ studio a couple of days ago to talk to me and it was great fun having a chat with him , and I began by asking him whether this particular tour the Dream Tour felt different to the other ones that he'd done over the last 20 years.

R.S - Yeah it feel's totally different to anything weve done really since the Disintegration tour 10 years ago because I was very adamant we were um , were sort of talking about whether we should you know go out and tour this year and how much we should do and that I would only do it if I get my own way entirely and just sang the songs that I wanted to sing cos I think that with the other's 1 or 2 other members of the band worry that we need to put crowd pleasing songs in like the hit's to get audiences going but um I just thought itd be , I figured that the stuff that I like that The Cure does is much more in the theme of Blood Flowers the album and so we pulled together like 50 songs that I felt all all complimented stretching right the way back. There's very little of the first album but really from the second album onwards we've got like quite a lot of stuff from each record.

D.J - Im wondering how you go about selecting songs that fit that mood , I mean is there a particular theme that runs through the show itself or is it just about the feel of the songs that matters to you?

R.S - Its probably... half the songs kinda pick themselves cos there just like I feel like there our best songs , a lot of them are pretty well known certainly to concert going Cure fans , ah songs like From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea , ah Trust , songs like that , um and the other half are really songs that we havent played for so long , um I felt that if that this was going to be the last time that we did it I would like to have just one last go at singing them , songs like All Cats Are Grey from the Faith album , and quite a few , you know a couple of songs from 17 Seconds and like The Kiss from the Kiss Me album has come back into the set and stayed. Weve kind of like re discovered , ive personally re discovered a lot of the old stuff like the reasons why I enjoyed being in The Cure I suppose in the last decade , well 2 decades ago now it was ( laughs ).

D.J - I read that its part of a trilogy and its no surprise to long term cure fans that Blood Flowers sits very comfortably along the feel of Disintegration and stretches back to Pornography in 1982. Is it simply the mood that links them or is it chronological about the experience of those 3 records? Youd be a very brave person id suggest if you sat down and listened to all 3 in 1 sitting.

R.S - ( laughs ) Yeah I mean it wasn't really um , when I started saying that I was kind of aiming it more at the band when I first suggested that it was the 3rd part of a trilogy. Obvioussly when we were doing Pornography I had no idea that wed make another record , or draw another breath nevermind do a trilogy that culminated 18 years later. Um on a personal level Pornography , Disintegration and Blood Flowers have all happened at kind of important moments in my life and they reflect kind of lyrically , that I think ive kinda.... It's a sort of taking stock moment and looking back moment. I think musically there are kind of themes, lyrically obviously because of the nature of the songs there are themes. I really wanted the others in the band before we started recording to understand the mood that I wanted to get with it. It helped in that Simon and Roger were there for Disintegration and Simon was there for Pornography. I mean they were kind of distur! bed that I would wanna ( laughs ) make a 3rd part of this imaginary trilogy because they..... I think they realised very quickly what it would entail which is like extreme moodiness in the studio and me being kind of pretty uncommunicative but um , hopefully the end result justified the torture that I put everyone through.

D.J - But you've always been interested in pushing it a little bit havent you I mean listening back to 17 Seconds and Faith you basically created a world of your own on each of these records for people to disappear into , and that obviously meant that you worked very very hard to find a sound that you felt fitted with where you were at that time.

R.S - Yeah looking back to certainly those 2 albums I wanted to strip everything back , I mean it was almost.... if im being honest I almost didn't want to make music, it was weird. I.... and so I wanted to make as little music as possible whilst putting across ( laughs ) an idea , ah it was like hugely minimalist in concepts and it was only because we were kind of discouraged from.... I mean to me they were cluttered even as they are and I actually wanted less on them. Im glad I was kinda talked around a little bit mainly by Simon who felt that you know that if there was no bass on there at all there wouldn't be much point in him being in the band ( laughs ).

D.J - The moment I heard Out Of This World from Blood Flowers it sounded like a goodbye from a much loved friend. Was that the sense you had when you made Blood Flowers that it was like saying goodbye to friends who had travelled a path with you for over 20 years?

R.S - Yeah I think that particularly with Out Of This World I was just trying to get that sense that I often have which is a kind of curse that whenever I'm enjoying something im always thinking that its gonna end... and then i realised that within that framework that I could actually make you know , use it to like you know....use it too..... i was imagining that I would be on stage singing it when I was kinda like fine tuning it. So it was intentional opening the album like that , we open the show with it as well we have done every night this year and it kinda sets the mood. The weird thing is that in the course of this year ive had so much fun with the band I think because of the songs that weve been playing and just the mood generally onstage that um , im very loathed to just walk away from it without trying something new so um at the moment weve got a pretty firm plan to go back into the studio virtually as soon as we get home from Australia.

D.J - Robert Smith there , never say never they might still record a new album. Playing tonight in Adelaide THEN ANNOUNCES REST OF AUSTRALIAN SHOWS AND THAT ROBERT WILL BE ON JJJ ON 14th OCT AT 4:PM FOR 1HR AS GUEST D.J. THEN OUT OF THIS WORLD IS PLAYED."

Apparently, Francis is playing parts of the interview each morning and will be airing more next week.

(Thanks Brent and Minnie)

(Thanks Mikez)

"On Saturday October 14 I will be co-hosting a two hour long show at my college radio station. We will be playing Cure music the whole entire two hours and if any of you want to listen or make requests you can listen on line at www.wonc.org or you can tune in if you're from the Chicagoland area to WONC 89.1 FM. I'm hoping to play numerous B sides and other rarities so tune in from 8-10 pm (central time) and enjoy!"

(Thanks Lindsey)

"On 10/9 The Travel Channel had a special about Jane Seymour's St. Catherine's Court and the people who have vacationed there. They talked about special guests of the Court and The Cure were mentioned along with a picture of Robert. The host emphasized how even if you had enough money to rent the estate, you had to be deemed worthy of staying in such a high profile place."

(Thanks Kristi)

"Yesterday I've heard a commercial on the Radio Index - a very popular radio in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. They played "Why can't I be you?" in the background. This wasn't the first time to hear The Cure song in the background on local TV and Radio stations: A few months ago, the TV station Studio B played "Disintegration" in the background for some of their street reportages. They played almost half of the song! :) Also more than 4-5 years ago, the main TV station - RTS used the intro of "Hot Hot Hot!!!" (from Mixed Up) for Sport magazine commercial. And finally, local rock groups & actors recently made a song whose chorus is ALMOST IDENTICAL to The Cure's Caterpillar song! The first time I heard it was at demonstrations in Belgrade. I couldn't believe it - I was sure it was The Cure! Then it turned to be something totally different. :)) Anyway, the song is about the people who were blind by Milosevic's fairytale of the so called 'good life'. "

(Thanks Ivan)

"tonight on the show 'Hast Du Toene' (you have to guess tunes a studio band plays) on German tv channel Vox, in the final 7, the first song to guess was 'Friday I'm in love', the candidate got it after 5 seconds."

(Thanks Dennis)

"hi. I'm not sure if this was reported earlier in the year: there is a cover of "Killing an Arab" on an album realeased by the Eye called "Joy of Driving." The catalog information is Miltona CD # 8978. I came across this info while searching the All Music Guide web site."

(Thanks Rust)

"On the 6 Oct. the Italian Public Channel RAI 2 played "Close to me" as a music background to a report on fashion shows broadcast during the news at 8.30 pm CET."

(Thanks Giorgia)

ROBERT SMITH: "I DID IT MY WAY"

"Wanna be a rock star?" It's the sort of lead in to a classified ad that tends to invite, at the least, suspicion. It conjures images of seedy, self-interested 'managers' of record companies keen on the idea of a quick buck. About 23 years ago, 18 year old Robert Smith saw this very wording in the classified section of Melody Maker, placed by the German record company Hansa. Smith gathered together the other members of his band, The Easy Cure, and recorded a tape in response to the ad.

Twenty-three years later, 41 year-old Robert Smith is one of the most recognisable icons of popular music, an ageless symbol and heartthrob for the discontented. He's been in total control of The Cure since its inception and has overseen countless line up changes which, he says, have corresponded directly to his own personal changes.

To put The Cure's longevity into some kind of perspective, their first Australian tour took place in 1980 - 20 years ago - which they followed up with a repeat tour, the Faith tour, in '81, and another in '84. We didn't see them again until 1992, a tour reportedly prompted by a petition bearing hundreds of thousands of Cure fans' signatures. It's hard to believe it's been as long as eight years since we saw the band down herre.

"In part", begins Robert Smith from his home in Brighton, "it was another petition that influenced our decision to come back to Australia. We were also a bit frustrated that we missed out on Australia during the 1996 world tour that we did."

Smith has placed his band in the hearts and minds of a vast cross-section of fans, which has bred a very rare loyalty. They've weathered the eight-year layoff stoically. On one hand The Cure has released commercially successful singles like Friday I'm In love in 1992 yet they've also maintained their credibility by releasing albums which, as Smith notes, appeal to a whole different audience and one which is less fickle than an FM radio pop audience.

"We've always managed to juggle those two different audiences. I think there's integrity in the group that is perceived in how we go about doing things. I think a lot of people are interested in what we're going to do next."

If his audience does wonder what will come next it is perhaps because Smith himself struggles to maintain a firm path. When the latest album, Bloodflowers, was released, Smith noted that it would represent the band's last studio album. Now he's not so sure.

"When we were making Bloodflowers I certainly intended it to be the last studio album, but I think the enjoyment I've derived from the shows we've played so far this year has changed my mind a bit in that regard. I've never enjoyed the band as much as I have this year in all the years I've been doing it. I've never had as much contentment I suppose, on stage as well as off. We're playing really well and the shows and audiences have been fantastic. I thought it would be pretty dumb to say 'let's stop now'. I'll probably be tempted to record something after this tour of Australia just to see what happens and I won't mind if it doesn't work. I don't have any long-term plans. If Bloodflowers ends up the last studio album The Cure makes then I will be happy with that. I will be content. It was supposed to be."

Where does this contentment come from?

"I don't know. Everyone gets on at the moment. Everyone has a common purpose and there's a real sense of excitment when we're on stage and to be honest that's been missing for the last few years. We've been playing festivals in Europe and America for those couple of years and I've felt absolutely nothing when I've come off stage. The shows haven't really moved me. But every show we've played this year I've come off stage feeling like I used to to feel, you know, years and years ago. That for me is a great source of contentment. I'll settle for that. When I'm discontented with the band I just don't want to do it anymore."

He is happy. He jokes, laughs and even asks the operator to allow this interview to continue beyond its prescribed time when she attempts to wrap it up. Years and years ago, as he would say, Smith was the brooding, Albert Camus-quoting, intellectual representative on England's post-punk swampland. There were few giggles then. He was too busy justifying songs like Killing An Arab to journalists unfamiliar with the works of certain existential writers from North Africa. And then, in 1994, former Cure member Lol Tolhurst attempted to sue Smith for unpaid royalties for the Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me album, which didn't please him in the slightest. Smith fired Tolhurst from the band in 1989, essentially for not making a contribution. Tolhurst always looked slightly odd in makeup anyway.

"And believe me," Robert Smith says between chortles, "that wasn't the only bad thing about Lol.

"It was a silly thing for him to do," he continues regarding Tolhurst's legal claim, "beacuse he knew he was going to lose it before he started out. He put a lot of people through a lot of grief unnecessarily."

What about your own sartorial periods. Are there any period that send sudders of embarrassment through your soul when you look back on them?

"Not really, apart from that period of the very first album. It was perhaps unwise of me to wear corduroy trousers but they were comfortable, hardwearing, they got through a lot of travelling. But seriously, I think we've come out of it relatively unscathed. There's an 80's nostalgia thing happening the the UK at the moment and it's fucking embarrassing. I mean, I thought it was ludicrous at the time and I've never appreciated this post-irony thing that goes on. But there are very few photos of me from the time that make me cringe. I mean, there are a couple that may cause me to raise an eyebrow but there's mothing that can't be explained away by an excess of drink."

Your made-up face is still a common image on t-shirts around the world. That must be a source of delight for you.

"I guess we're lucky that we're still held in that sort of esteem, being worn on people's chests. But, you know, I feel a step removed from it. Even when I see someone wearing a Cure t-shirt I don't think of it as me. It's more like a comic thing, an image that's twice removed."

Do you see it more as the trademark for a company you own?

"I do. It's a logo, my face in full make-up. All the hair and so on is like a brand mark rather then it being me."

You're a happier man these days compared to say around 15 years ago?

"Oh, yes. Completely. It's be impossible otherwise. Fifteen years ago what I wanted was exactly this, what I'm doing now."

Which is what?

"Well, to not have to work," he laughs. "I've achieved my life's ambition. I've reached 40 and I've never done a day's work. I've worked hard but I guess if you enjoy what you're doing it's not really work, as such. The things that bothered me fifteen years ago were based on the uncertainty of what I was going to end up doing. I knew what I wanted but I didn't know if I'd ever get close to achieving it."

What do you do if you're not being The Cure's creative force?

'Well, I visit friends, spend time with my nieces and nephews (which range in age from newborn to 21), I've just come back from a walking holiday, recently I read the Oxford Companion to Philosphy to re-educate myself. Basically I do things that people would do if they didn't have to work. I'm very lucky, I know. Nobody really tells me what I should do or what I shoudn't do, except my mum. She still has a good go at me every now and then. I get a good ticking off now and then."

Does she still urge you to get a real job?

"She doesn't anymore. She's given up on that. She came to see us play in Paris this year and she was mightily impressed. She's come to terms with what I do now."

(Thanks Craig Pepper)

Those masters of modern melancholy, The Cure, are finding it hard to say goodbye.

When the legendary band began recording their 13th studio album, last year's Bloodflowers, enigmatic singer/songwriter Robert Smith informed his cohorts it would be the last. He'd reached the end of the road; life as The Cure wasn't a buzz any more. The end of the most enduring 70s stylists was nigh.

But a funny thing has happened over the past six months - The Cure have been rejuvenated. Smith says the group, which rose out of the late 70s British punk movement to become heart-throbs for the discontent, has never sounded better. That has resulted in him having a rethink about the band's future. All in all, it's great news for the group's Perth fans, with The Cure kicking off a five-date Australian tour at the Perth Entertainment Centre on Tuesday night.

Long-time addicts of The Cure, Californian group No Doubt, said recently they'd watched The Cure in Paris and were blown away. "Without a doubt, the best shows I've ever done have happened this year, so No Doubt wasn't lying," Smith said. So far this year, The Cure has toured the US for two months, spent time in the UK and Europe on the festival circuit and wound up a two month break this weekend. "I think the secret to it is how we approach things," Smith said. "Having Bloodflowers as the album we are basing the tour around has brought out the side of The Cure I particularly enjoy. "We decided right from the start we'd play songs we wanted to play, disregarding what people have come to expect. "And it has worked to our advantage because we're playing between two to three hours each night and covering stuff we haven't played for 15 years or more. "So because everybody on stage wants to play those songs, it really has become a vital experience. It's great, really. "This year we started out with a completely new look. We got new sound people and everything was done differently from the word go. "We organised everything ourselves this time and we've got a mind-set that 'No, this isn't to sell albums, it's for enjoyment'. So we're having fun playing some of the 'doomier' Cure music. "There's also the fact," he adds with a chuckle, "that I've told the others this is it. They think that if I have enough fun maybe it won't be the end." Smith says The Cure's career is on a real high right now, so it would be a good time to quit. But he admits it will take "an awful lot of convincing". "I've told the band that we'll see how the tour of Australia goes," he said.

The Cure, Tuesday, The Perth Entertainment Centre, 8pm, $66.

(Thanks Brendan)

Thursday, September 28

Robert Smith - The Cure maybe tomorrow, maybe someday

'I've got to let it go and leave it gone; Just walk away, stop it going on; Get too scared to jump if I wait too long'. — Maybe Someday, from Bloodflowers. It's not as though Robert Smith hasn't previously hinted that he thought The Cure might be coming to an end, it's just that this time he seems a little more definite about it being the case. Well, possibly. Having this year released Bloodflowers, a return to the more melancholic form of such previous classic Cure albums as Pornography and Disintegration, and receiving acclaim all 'round for the band's Dreamtour — which has thus far taken in the US and Europe — Smith sagely points out that it would be a perfect moment for The Cure to finally break up after more than 20 years. Having recently hit 40 (a scenario addressed in full on Bloodflowers) Smith these days seems more comfortable thinking of himself outside the comfort and confines of The Cure. But there's a nagging doubt. He hasn't been this happy with how the band are playing in years. And then there's the fans, those ever-growing, unpigeonholable masses of people who possibly can't imagine life without the gloom and musical whimsy of The Cure. This week's X-Press Interview was conducted early last week, with Robert Smith up and about at home in London, as chipper as can be at 2.30am. The Cure perform at Perth Entertainment Centre on Tuesday, October 10, presented by X-press magazine.

by Bob Gordon

You've been on the road for Bloodflowers for most of this year, what's it been like taking that album and that music out on the road?

It's been fantastic, actually. It's been the most enjoyable Cure tour I've ever done. Which has surprised me. Hugely (laughs). I think that's probably because we've been playing songs that I really like, the side of The Cure that I really prefer live, which is the darker side. We've kind of extended songs and the shows have been really long and I've just really got into it. I think, also, that the audiences have been fantastic as well. Which is probably to do with what we're playing, because we're creating an atmosphere, and they're just great. I mean there's a holy grail for Cure fans which has always been the Disintegration tour of 1989 and I was quite shocked to find that as we were going along this year the internet reviews were getting more and more glowing. They've reached the giddy heights of 'as-good-as-or-if-not-better-than-the-Disintegration-tour'. There's no higher accolade from Cure fans than that. It's been great. The band has now clicked. This line-up has a fantastic sound now. It's kind of got its own identity which has taken a few years for it to happen. But it's great. It's been a really good year so far.

Bloodflowers was originally due in mid '98. We spoke in November '97 and I'm pretty sure you were working on it then. Was there something of a delay?

(Pauses) God, it was so long ago (laughs). Yes there was actually, it took longer than I thought. We went into the studio at around the time of Galore, actually, that was '97 wasn't it? We did about six songs in a few weeks and I suddenly had a blinding realisation that what we were doing was rubbish. We were about halfway through the project and I just abandoned it 'cause I thought it was just stale, it didn't sound right. I took a break from everything for a few months and then came back to it in '98. I don't know, it was just instinct. I thought we were heading in the wrong direction. I'm really glad I did, 'cause Bloodflowers turned out to be a really good album and what we were originally working on wasn't. Then it was just a question of getting things right. I kind of obsessed a little bit about Bloodflowers. We did endless demos and rewrites and stuff, 'cause I wanted to get everything just so before I went into the studio.

It's been noted that Bloodflowers exists as part of a trilogy that include Pornography (1982) and Disintegration (1989). Are they also unified by an obsession in their creation?

Yeah, it was slightly disingenuous of me saying that. I was doing it just to let Cure fans know in advance that what we were working on was something in that kind of area. The Pornography/Disintegration side rather than another Wild Mood Swings (1996) or a Japanese Whispers (1984 mini-album) style ... or a Mixed Up (1990 remixes collection) album, God forbid. That it was just gonna be the more introspective side of The Cure. It was also the best way to describe to the others that what I wanted was this imaginary trilogy of Pornography and Disintegration with Bloodflowers as the third part. For me, lyrically, it was like 10 years on from Disintegration. I wanted to pick up from where I left off and see how much further I'd got ... which wasn't that much further really (laughs). I found myself obsessed pretty much by the same things. I wanted to pull elements out of what The Cure have done in the past musically and out them into Bloodflowers. I wanted to make the archetypical Cure album, really. I wanted it to be the sound of The Cure that I really like, which that melancholy sound rather than the more upbeat pop stuff.

At the time of Galore there was the potential for Wrong Number to be seen as an indicator of what the next Cure LP would be like, but it obviously didn't follow suit...

No, I saw that just like Never Enough from the Mixed Up album. It was just like an aberration. I mean it was good fun, but it was a one-off. We did it with Reeves Gabrels and he had a huge influence on the sound of it. I pretty much did that with just him and Jason (Cooper, drums). It just arose out of a jam, really. It turned into a nice, heavy pop song. In some ways, like I said earlier, we did actually start to go down that road. That's when I thought 'this isn't really what we do best'. It was a weird hybrid of rock, dance and something else. It just wasn't working because without Reeves it just didn't sound good. I've kind of accepted over the years that there's a certain type of music that The Cure play really well and that's what I wanted to concentrate on. In the past I think we've tended to pretend to be another band from time to time. It's probably when I'm least convinced of what we do.

Was it also possibly a reaction to bringing out an album such as Galore? You've never claimed to be a singles writer, but that LP was a celebration of that. Was the focus on singles something you may kicked against?

I s'pose, slightly. I mean there's always a part of me that's reactionary. Bringing Galore out though was a pretty pragmatic decision. My heart wasn't in it when we did Galore. I got disenchanted really because the record company wanted a greatest hits and I wanted Standing On A Beach Part 2, a documented CD of 'these are the last 10 years of singles by this band'. I would never claim it to be a greatest hits or best of or anything. They quickly saw that this wasn't the big TV advertised Cure album they were hoping for and they just pushed it out very gently. So I think with that whole year I got into a bit of a strop really, with The Cure and all it stood for. It wasn't going in the right direction for me.

Bloodflowers also appears to echo Disintegration because both mark you moving into a new decade of existence. On Bloodflowers there's songs such as 39 and The Last Day of Summer that things can be read into, is that the case?

Yeah, it was a very conscious decision. I knew that when I was heading towards 40 that I wanted to document it in some way. I thought what better way than to write a collection of songs? I wrote all the songs in quite a short space of time actually, the ones that made it onto the album. I just wanted to reflect how I felt at that time. In a funny way I was quite morose before we made the album, heading towards 40. The process of making it and what we ended up with and turning 40 and realising I hadn't had any major breakdown, I felt very much better. The old cathartic chestnut, which hadn't happened to me since Disintegration, that was the last time I felt anything like that from making a record. Usually, it's far less Road To Damascus than that.

At the time of Disintegration you threw out your collection of personal photos and cine-films, an incident that later inspired the song, Pictures of You. Are you tackling change and the passing of time better these days?

Yeah, this time I read a lot of old books that I knew had influenced me when I was young. I kind of re-absorbed a lot of my favourite things to see how I felt about them. I kind of discarded them. In a way I sort of did the same thing but not literally. I didn't bother throwing away video tapes and films and throwing books out the window, but I discarded mentally some of the crutches I still had and I thought I didn't really need anymore. Some passed the test and others didn't. Once every 10 years I kind of allow myself to get nostalgic. I'm running out of time, otherwise, to look back on things. I did a lot of thinking about what I'd done particularly over the last 10 years ... I don't mark my life by Cure albums, except when I'm making Cure albums. So I sort of though 'since Disintegration what have I done artistically and creatively with this band?' and that kind of led into Bloodflowers, because I felt I knew what I wanted to do with this marking me hitting 40 and this possibly being the last thing that we do, it being the end of a particular part of my life and all that. It all conspired to become the sort of nostalgic, melancholy album that Bloodflowers turned into.

Okay, you've just alluded to it and the song Maybe Someday suggests as much, as have some recent interviews... but it seems a little in the air. Is it really going to be the end of The Cure?

Well... I really struggle to imagine this band playing any more shows after this year. I really don't think we will. I think the others know that, they've taken me seriously. Certainly the way that everyone's played this year and the general mood of the tour has been such that I'm led to believe that everyone is kind of convinced that this is going to be it. And I'm happy if it is, because I feel it's such a natural way to end. I'm less sure about Bloodflowers being the last Cure album, because part of me feels it'd be a bit of a waste having got this band to perform so well. We actually sound really good together. It seems pretty stupid to decide to knock it on the head now. So I kind of figure we could go and record a few songs and see what it sounds like. But if it dosn't work then I won't because I think Bloodflowers is a fantastic way to end. I would hate to compromise that. I suppose part of me says things to motivate the others. I think if we just approached this as another tour and another album it would have been dismal, really, 'cause I knew that that's what was wrong with the band. There was a complete lack of passion. I think that telling everyone 'this is it, you can believe it or not' that they have believed it and I actually believe it as well. It is sad, actually, it's very sad. When it comes to the end of the year I know that I'll miss it but I think I've got to make a break really 'cause otherwise I'll never do anything else.

You said before you life is not marked by Cure albums, but from the outside people would contend that the band has defined you for 20 years. Either way, would it be hard to walk away, would you feel disconnected?

Not really, because I thought of myself much more as someone who sang and who was in The Cure 10 years ago than I do now. Quite naturally the emphasis has sort of shifted in my life. When I'm doing it it's the most important thing I do, but it no longer takes up all my time. So therefore it is no longer the one and only important thing in my life. In that sense I don't think I'll miss it anywhere near now as I would have before. If 10 years ago someone had said to me 'you've got to stop now' I would have been 'uhh? What do I do now?'. I'm not gonna stop writing music, cos I do that anyway. I love playing and writing music, I think it's great. Lots of people want us to carry on, I know. It's a stability that people crave, but for me it just feels like the natural time to stop being in a live performing band. But I think if we were to make another album and it was really good, there'd be a point to it. If we're making music that people want to hear I don't really have a problem with that.

It sounds as though the tour's setlists are very strong on Bloodflowers songs, but also a mix of past material that you've been keen to do. Does doing such a tour bring back what most songs mean to you?

Yeah, we had a competition on the website before we started the tour where we asked people what songs they wanted us to play that they hadn't heard us do for years. In fact eight out of the top 10 responses we had already included in our pre-rehearsal setlist. So that was very reassuring, actually, to know that what we had decided to play was pretty much what people wished we were playing anyway. I realised then that it was going to be a good tour, because I thought we were gonna get up on stage and play half the stuff and no one was gonna know that the hell we were doing. But most of the audience is really happy that we're playing old stuff from Faith and Kiss Me... It's fantastic doing some of that stuff again. Some of those older songs, we've added little bits to them and tried to slightly model more into how we would do them if we played them now, but the character's still there. Some of the old songs that have that character are really good, they're a pleasure to play.

Is it gratifying or surprising that after all this time the audience is so in tune with the band?

Well the strange this with us is that with the audience we've retained a small percentage of our own age group - there's a few diehards that have been there since day one - but the audience is constantly rejuvenated by younger people. We attract a new generation of Cure fans with everything we do, which is great. It keeps me feeling young. Or it keeps me pretending that I'm young and there's a huge difference (laughs). But what we do I think attracts a certain type of person. I don't think age has much to do with it, you either get into it or you don't. You could be 16 or 60 and you're either gonna like us or not like us depending on your sensibilities.

Whether or not this is the last album tour, how would you like The Cure to be remembered?

(Pauses) As an almost pop group. I don't know, really. Just as being a band of integrity. Apart from wanting to be remembered for making good albums, the fact that we've done things on our own terms all the way through and that if I had my time over again I wouldn't do anything differently, I think that's been the most important part of it.

The Cure perform at the Perth Entertainment Centre next Tuesday, October 10, presented by X-press Magazine. In part two of our interview Robert Smith tells Bob Gordon of his songwriting future and beyond.

While most indications seem to point to the break-up of The Cure by the end of this year, Robert Smith hasn’t been sitting around despondently, even when on break from the band’s Dreamtour, staged in support of their most recent album Bloodflowers. On the contrary, Smith has been busy writing a new batch of songs, in an approach that embraces the future while paying heed to his past.

“It’s what I’ve been doing this summer,” he explains, “’cause we’ve had about two months off. I’ve pretty much finished writing another album. I’ve actually gone back to how I wrote The Head On The Door album (1985). I’m using the same equipment, I dug it out of an old box in my garage that I hadn’t opened up since I moved. There’s a little four-track and various old effects pedals. I plugged them all in and thought ‘well this is how I used to do it’. “It’s really nice, actually, getting back to that incredibly simple way of just putting four things down that have to work with each other to make a song.”

It wouldn’t seem that Smith has emulated his Head On The Door approach simply because that album was so successful, but perhaps more as a reaction against what he admits was the obsessive creative process behind Bloodflowers.

“Bloodflowers was actually a really technically complicated album to write even though it ended up sounding dead simple,” he says. “I actually had a whole studio set up for the first time ever at home. I was using real drum samples that Jason (Cooper, drums) was sending me and playing everything as if I was making a ‘real album’. In a way it was bad because I did start to obsess about incredibly stupid things that I know no one else in the whole world would ever hear. The pre-delay on an echo and stuff like that. “Looking back I think ‘how do I get like that?’. It’s just part of my nature, really. So it’s quite nice to be liberated by knowing that I’ve only got four instruments and four tracks and if I want to write something that’s all I’ve got. It’s quite a nice discipline again.”

Adding to the ‘are-they-breaking-up-or-aren’t-they?’ riddle that is both tantalising and terrifying Cure fans the world over, Smith is non-committal as to whether the resultant LP would be a Cure album or a solo release.

“Either way I’d probably get the others to play on it anyway,” he says. “I’m getting on with them so well I can’t really see any point in asking anyone else to do it. In some ways it’s really whether I want to think ‘is now the time I want to be a solo artiste or do The Cure make another record?’ To me it’s more important what it sounds like. I don’t really worry about what it’s going to be called until I’ve done something else.”

In news that will please Cure completists, according to the band’s official website there’s plans to release 10 Dreamtour shows on CD. Laughing that it’s ‘a straight steal from Pearl Jam’, Smith seems to be simply fond of the idea, as oppossed to any notion of taking on the bootleggers directly.

“I think that it was probably being a bit optimistic when I put that up, because having listened to some of the shows, we might be doing a composite European and composite American CD for starters and seeing if there’s any demand for anything more. It’s the same deal (as Pearl Jam), it’s not gonna be a proper commercial release. We’ll do it as cheap as we can. It’ll probably be a charity thing that we sell through the website. It’s really just that people have gotten in contact with us in their thousands asking us to do something like that just so they can have a memento. Pretty much every show we ever do is bootlegged, but it’s very rare that one is of good enough quality to be listened to by anything other than the most fanatical people though I s’pose only fanatical people buy bootlegs. But it’s not really a commercial enterprise, I’m not really getting into that side of things. Competing with the bootleggers is a bit difficult. I think we’re in the Top 10 most bootlegged bands in history according to a web-poll (laughs). I think it’ll be just our version of events and we might put a couple of little extras on that you can’t get anywhere else, to encourage people our way.”

Quite a few people may well have been encouraged The Cure’s way when Smith made a guest appearance on South Park in 1998. It certainly swung the ever-doting uncle’s 21 nieces and nephews around...

“Yeah, that’s actually what clued most of them well, the middle lot into who I was. Up until that point they thought I was just some disturbed individual that turned up every now and again. They’re an extremely demanding bunch the older they get,” he laughs, with tongue firmly planted in cheek. “They get stroppier and louder-mouthed, I preferred it when there were fewer of them and they were quieter. They’re beginning to realise what I do, demanding to be taken to Australia and so forth.”

The Cure’s imminent Australian tour is their first in eight years, the last being part of the band’s world tour for the hugely successful Wish album. Smith is aware of the excitement of Australian fans about the visit (indeed he knew about the upcoming Cure tribute night at the Amplifier Bar as he’d read about it on the internet) and seems similarly excited himself.

“It’s been too long,” he says. “Looking back I can remember why we missed out Australia in ’96 but it was for stupid reasons, really. Everything else was too long, we spent 16 weeks in America and by the time the suggestion of Australia and the Southern Hemisphere in general came up everyone was so pissed off with each other that it didn’t happen (laughs). “The time we’ve played far less. We’ve only had six weeks in America and six weeks around Europe, so everyone’s itching to play still. I think it’ll be really good.”

(Thanks Andrew)

(Thanks Marc)

"Unfortunately I missed actually watching most of it live, but I taped it of course. What I saw was really quite good. It was an hour long with clips from Staring at the Sea, Orange, the 96 in studio appearance at MuchMusic and many segments of an interview held before the Toronto Dream Show. Also several clips from show itself (Maybe Someday, Loudest Sound, and most of Shake Dog Shake). Once I have the chance to sit down and watch it properly, I'll probably let you know some more. With the Toronto show being near the end of the 2nd leg of the tour, Robert was expressing previously heard sentiments that he really thought "Bloodflowers" would be it, but the strength of the tour and performances may change things. More later.

I've finally had the opportunity to watch the entire special, and it is really excellent. It's a pity MTV won't pick this up. A very well made and accurate reflection of what the Cure has done over the years. Interview clips from 85, 87, 89, 90, 92, 96, and 2000 with Robert and clips from 96 from all current members (rare to see people actually going out of the way to interview Simon or Jason). Live clips as well from Toronto 85, Edenfest 96 and as previously mentioned Toronto 2000. The general theme of the special was to emphasize the Cure's attitude and uncompromising fiath in "doing things their way" and all the interview clips and live cuts were carefully selected to reinforce the points being made. All together a fabulous show. A shame more people won't have the chance to see it. I couldn't help but think that if I didn't know much about the Cure and had watched this special, that I would have been intrigued and want to find out more! You really couldn't ask for more."

(Thanks Greg)

"Fully renovated Pink Pig website ... check it out!

Just a short note to let you know that a fully renovated Pink Pig website is out there: http://www.pinkpig.com.ar The new site includes juicy info about the project and the presentation of the set, press coverage, a poll with prizes and a cool rotational photo gallery featuring photos of pinkpiggers and artwork/presentation of the covers. More sections and stuff will be added in the next couple of weeks, so keep an aye on it. Questions? You can contact us at pinkpigproject@yahoo.com

Once again, thanks a lot to all the people who took part in the project and/or supported Pink Pig throughout these 15 months.

Love Flor, German & Juan Jose"

"Tomorrow's Curiosity show at the soundstation is only a private show for a birthay!! I don't think that the people are allowed to come without invitation...."

(Thanks Vincent)

Sat 7th October Bristol Powerhouse (0117 924 4300)

Sun 8th October Newcastle Trillians nightclub (see nme listings for tel no)

Mon 9th October Kingston-Upon-Thames Bacchus nightclub (see nme listings for tel no)

and future gigs are as follows:

Sat 21st October London Camden Underworld (020 7482 1932)

Fri 24th November Dublin , Ireland , Temple Bar Music Centre

(**NEW GIG**) Sat 25th November Cork , Ireland , Fred Zeppelin's (**NEW GIG**)

and just confirmed The Cureheads will be headlining a special Xmas party at the London Astoria 2 on Sat 9th December.Doors approx 7pm (tbc) till 6am - should be a good night.

up to date information can be obtained from www.cureheads.com

(Thanks Sean)

"I bought this new book about Aleister Crowley called "Do What Thou Wilt: A Life Of Aleister Crowley" and in the intro before the first chapter, The Cure are mentioned as being lyrically influenced by The Beast! I wonder if Robert Smith has any of Crowley's books?"

(Thanks MikeM)

"I was watching at Canal + (french TV) today and during commercial for the movie "judas kiss" I was really surprised to hear just like heaven."

(Thanks Pierre)

"The Story of...The Cure 60min.

Thursday, October 5, 9pm & Midnight ET, 6pm & 9pm PT

Friday, October 6, 2pm ET 11am PT

**NEW** British alternative band, The Cure, are featured. Includes a new exclusive interview with Bill Welychka, as well as rare and archival moments

Also, their website www.muchmoremusic.com has a nice little "history of" that says nothing new, and features some pictures, all of which are from Ten Imaginary Years I think, but is some nice exposure."

(Thanks Greg)

"Just to let Aussie fans know, JJJ will be dedicating this weeks J - Files to The Cure(5th October). This means 3 hours of rare interviews tracks etc. it runs nationally from 10pm - 1am."

This works out to 7-10 am eastern US time / 6-9 am US central time...I think, and we should be able to listen to this over the internet.

(Thanks Fuji)

"I just received word from the people that were preselling the Pornography Pic disc that it isn't an official release. Just another bootleg. Thought you might want to pass that along so no one gets it thinking it is a Fiction release."

(Thanks Greg)

DOTMUSIC LAUNCHES NEW LIVE CHANNEL WITH THE CURE

dotmusic launches a new LIVE channel this Friday October 6th with the Cure live in concert at 8pm (UK time).

The brand new channel features an interactive gig guide, live concert webcasts, webchats and archives, live reviews, unplugged sessions, festival coverage and a massive photo gallery of dotmusic's best live photos.

The channel launches with the a webcast of the Cure live in concert as the band reaches Australia with their hugely successful 'Dream Tour' which kicks off in earnest on October 10th in Perth.

We'll also be rebroadcasting the show 'as live' on Saturday night - again at 8pm (3pm EST).

The Cure gig will be followed next week with live webcasts of both Coldcut and Muse, whose brilliant 'Muscle Museum' single is released on October 9th. There will be lots more webchats and live gigs added to the schedule soon so stay tuned.

I'm not exactly sure what this is going to be, but I would doubt it will be "Live", since the schedule for this week doesn't call for any live shows before flying to Australia. So unless they plan to do a secret show or to broadcast one of the rehearsals, it must be a repeat of one of the Dream Tour webcasts (most likely the London Astoria promo show). I'll look into and post as soon as I know for sure.

Update: The official website has confirmed that this will simply be a rebroadcast of the London Astoria show.

(Thanks Jean-Francois)

Triple J Covers Livid!

If you could cover any song with any of these bands (The Cure, Sonic Animation, Dandy Warhols) what would it be? We'll be flying someone to Livid, recording the cover and playing it on air. Like ... how good is that?

Fill out the entry form and send in your suggestions to be in the running to fly to Livid!

You've got until close of business (5pm) on Friday 13th October to enter. The winner will be announced on the Breakfast Show on Wednesday, 18th October.

(Thanks Minnie, ML)

(Thanks Amy)

(Thanks M)

"Vast's Music Echoes '80s Modern Rock (10/2/00, 3 p.m. ET)

With the new Vast album, Music For People, mastermind Jon Crosby combines his futuristic soundscapes with the sound of '80's modern rock, such as the Cure and Depeche Mode. Crosby told LAUNCH that the mood of those bands and others in the '80s sank into his consciousness.

"I like a lot of '80s alternative bands," he said. "That's like the music I'm most fond of for some reason. I don't know why. There's no reason. I mean, it's not 'in' right now and there's nothing about it. There's no message behind it. It's just that all that, kind of like the dark wave stuff and the English stuff like U2, Depeche Mode, and the Cure and all that stuff just sounds good to me. You know?"

Vast tours with Queens Of The Stone Age until October 8, then hooks up with Unified Theory starting October 10 in Omaha, Nebraska. -- Darren Davis, New York"

(Thanks Jennifer)

"When i've been to London two weeks ago, i bought the second novell "thirty-nothing" by Lisa Jewell (who also wrote "Ralph's Party", which was 99's bestselling debut novel). Istarted reading it and here's what it says on page 206:

... the old Delilah had sat on his shoulders waving a pint of snakebite in the air while they watched the Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen and the Smiths at lager-soaked venues all over London ..."

(Thanks Patrick)

"I've had a surprising cure-spotting the passing weekend: there is a program on austria's alternative radiostation FM4 (called "guest room") where famous musicians are invited to play and comment one hour of songs which they enjoy listening to. on sunday 1st october CHINO MORENO from the DEFTONES was guest and he chose (after faith no more, nine inch nails, mr. bungle, ...) "same deep water" - i always knew he is a good one! they played the song without cutting off and suddenly i really didn't mind anymore to be stuck into a heavy traffic jam."

(Thanks Peter)

"I was just looking at the Theatre Of Tragedy web page, under the band information section. Hein Frode Hansen, the drummer, lists the Cure as one of his favorite bands. This is a really cool band, btw. The first time I heard them I jeard a really stong Cure vibe in their music. I would suggest checking them out."

(Thanks rODenT)

"I had two Cure spottings yesterday. I was at a concert all day, that our local radio station, X96 puts on. It's called the Big Ass Show. In the sea of band shirts that I saw, mostly Blink 182, Tool, NIN, Deftones, and Green Day, I saw one girl wearing The Bloodflowers shirt. It was pretty cool. On the way home, one of the DJ's were interviewing Orgy. The DJ asked them if that was only the second time that they had played in Utah. Orgy said no, that it was their third time. The first time that they played here was with the Family Values tour, I don't remember which year they said, but they said that the DJ's called Orgy, "The Cure on coke." "

(Thanks Treeweel)