The Cult

[Falcon]

It definitely grows on you. So far "Tiger in the Sun" is the standout track on an excellent cd.

Sound Of Destruction is my fav track at the moment.

It's a strong collection of tunes, a sense of urgency and sharpness.

Love the fact they did it 35 days and didn't overthink it, less is more and it's a better disc for it.

[FunkyMonkey]

THE CULT Members To Guest On BUBBA THE LOVE SPONGE's Radio Show

Vocalist Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy of THE CULT will guest on controversial national talk radio host Bubba the Love Sponge's weekday show on Thursday, October 30 between 3 and 7 p.m. on Sirius Satellite Radio (channel Howard 101).

For more information, visit www.btls.com.

[FunkyMonkey]

THE CULT: UK Dates Announced - Oct. 26, 2007

THE CULT has scheduled the following UK dates:

Feb. 22 - Forum London
Feb. 28 - Carling Academy Birmingham
Mar. 01 - Manchester Academy

[Falcon]

Astbury happy with 'Cult' status"
By KEITH RYAN CARTWRIGHT
Special to The Post and Courier

http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/nov/01/astbury_happy_cult_status20719/

Thursday, November 1, 2007

It's not a comeback album, nor is it a regrouping of the influential English psychedelic rock band The Cult.

Instead, according to founding member Ian Astbury, who spent the past three-and-a-half years fronting The Doors, it was time ? time for the multi-platinum British band ? Astbury along with founding member Billy Duffy and newcomers John Tempesta (White Zombie) and Chris Wyse (Ozzy Osbourne) ? to stake its claim not on its past accomplishments, but in regards to a viable future.

The band recently released "Born Into This," the ninth album of their career, which has been described as a passionate record filled with real experiences, real events, real observations and real people in clearly establishing itself as a "real, true Cult record."

Astbury recently talked with Preview about the psychology of making "Born Into This."

Preview: What is it about now that lent itself to making this record?

Astbury: Oh, maybe experience. I think having gone through every single permeation possible in a rock 'n' roll band ? from the proverbial broken family childhood, traveling in a band, homeless, going through punk rock, touring America, selling platinum records, going through psychotherapy, going through the crash and burn, going to the Himalayas ? the whole cycle is a very rounded experience of life, right? I think having done all of that you sort of find yourself back at the beginning point again where you go it's still me, it's still my life, it's still The Cult, it's still Billy and me and here we are. We're still standing as a group and as a body of work.

I think that gives you a great sense of confidence. ? I think our song writing has evolved since "Beyond Good and Evil." I think that was a record we tried to make like a comeback record, so to speak, but when we got in the studio we all had different opinions about what we should be doing; from the record company level to even Billy and myself had different opinions. Now with this record it just became evident that the most important thing for us to do was to be as present as possible and as truthful as possible. My whole thing was if we got entrenched in the studio for a long period of time then we were going to get into the same situation as in the past. I said, "you know what? We need to run in, grab this and get out quick."

Preview: That's exactly what allows you to capture the emotion much like a live show captures the emotion of that particular evening.

Astbury: Precisely. This record isn't a refined record. It's interesting because I think it's a body of work that really works as a record. Those 10 songs tell the story of "Born Into This." The other songs didn't connect and weren't as much a part of the collective story. ? I think performing with Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger for the last three and a half years really helped me to elevate my performance abilities. We've never been great self-promoters. You've never seen The Cult at celebrity functions ? very rarely.

Occasionally, yeah, I might go to an event. We never whored ourselves out like that whereby you're better known than your art. Whereas now we're like ... why not us?

Preview: When we last spoke you were living in Los Angeles and I had a sense there was something wrong. Now you're splitting time between New York and London, and I think that has had a positive affect on you - creatively - at this point in your career.

Astbury: Absolutely, environment is key to your records. I lived in Los Angeles, but I didn't stay there all the time. I spent at least half the year traveling, but the band was based in L.A., which was a bit of a problem, because L.A. has a tendency to stay the same. It's quite stale. I mean, when's the last time something amazing came out of Los Angeles? I can't even think of anything musically, of course film is a different story. ? I've been spending more time in Tokyo and so I've gotten into this hyper mode of traveling juxtaposed by going to India and to the Himalayas.

Preview: You made a conscious effort to get in and out of the studio, but was it a lot of work on your part to make sure you didn't get bogged down with the machinery and the mechanics of being in a studio?

Astbury: There was absolutely no time. It was 21 days in Los Angeles over maybe a seven-week period. I was in Vancouver, at the time, so I was going from Vancouver to L.A. for a four to five day session. The sessions were from 2 p.m. until 9 p.m. You keep it tight like that because when you're in the studio you're there to work, not to screw around. You're not calling your buddies on the phone. You're not ordering food or hanging out. You're not looking at somebody's new car, goofing around or playing video games ? pretty much what every other band does. It was probably six solid hours of work a day and out of that we walked out with 18 pieces of music. So we didn't really have time to (get caught up in) the recording process. ? We pretty much stayed in the groove. Then we came over to London to work with Youth, who's someone we've wanted to work with for a long time, and he said, 'I've only got 15 days' and we were like, 'we'll take it.' We just rolled tape and in that studio we were there for like 10 hour, 12-hour days.

Preview: And that's the way it should be done.

Astbury: You can't lose your head. It's a busy place and it's not a place many people go to. Once you've recorded it, then it's none of your business how other people perceive it. Then it takes on a life of it's own. Then you have a responsibility to those songs to go out and perform them and to communicate to anybody who is interested in what it's about. Life is full of contradictions and so you just go out and do the best you can with what you've got at the time.

Keith Ryan Cartwright is a freelance entertainment journalist.

[Falcon]

OCTOBER 31, 2007
VISITING ACT | The Cult
Born into Rock: Billy Duffy of The Cult speaks
By T. Ballard Lesemann

Veteran British rock band The Cult are back in fine form with a solid new lineup and a fresh set of tunes. They headline this year's J?germeister Music Tour (produced by Live Nation) and make a stop in Charleston at the Plex on Sat. Nov. 3 with support from The Showdown and Action Action.

The band is touring in support of a brand-new album titled Born Into This (issued last month by Roadrunner Records). Produced by Martin "Youth" Glover (of Killing Joke), it's the band's first new studio album since 2001.

Founding members Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy are joined by drummer John Tempesta (of Testament and White Zombie), guitarist Mike Dimkitch, and bassist Chris Wyse. City Paper spoke with Duffy last week during the first week of the J?germeister Music Tour:

CITY PAPER: Thanks for speaking with us from the road. How are things sounding on stage during the first leg?

BILLY DUFFY: It's a 36-show tour and we've just done five. It usually takes us about four or five shows to click and that's where we are now. From here on in, it's all mostly just fun.

CITY PAPER: Tell us a bit about the live sound and on-stage chemistry of this new lineup.

BILLY DUFFY: Well, Chris played bass on the last studio album. The rhythm guitarist, Mike, has been with the band on and off since, like, '93. He's a live player and hasn't been on any of the records. Tempesta is, I suppose, the newest guy. We've been with this lineup for a year and a half now, or more. We're playing the songs pretty good. We're playing, like, a lot of older stuff and a lot of the really newer stuff. We touch on the mid period, but we play the old stuff with respect and vigor, you know?

CITY PAPER: Would you say there's a mix of vintage Cult style and some newer sounds on the new album, Born Into This?

BILLY DUFFY: It kind of covers a bit of both. There's only so much you can do live. Live is live, you know? We like to keep it mean and lean. The live gigs are about energy and vibe. We're not a pop act and we're not about retreading records. I think you sometimes do stuff in the form of an album to compensate for the right energy. But live, I think you try to hit all the major keynote points, that's the key. All the great bands do that. And we don't slavishly recreate our albums, or else there'd be like seven guys on stage.

CITY PAPER: It must have been cool having Youth produce the album. Did you work together musically before?

BILLY DUFFY: Well, he mixed and remixed some stuff in the early '90s. We've worked with Butch Vig, Steve Albini, and others. Youth is very diverse. He's a proper musician and DJ and very hard to pigeonhole. He has a similar background as me ? a fan of punk rock who formed his own band and tried to make a sound that's influenced by punk, but goes somewhere else. Killing Joke are precursors of a lot of heavier stuff ? you can trace the lineage, which is cool.

CITY PAPER: Would you agree that the heavy sound of The Cult traces back to the early '80s and further into the rock of the '70s?

BILLY DUFFY: At the bottom of it, all it's rock and punk rock. And that's kind of where The Cult are at. When it all boils down, we're fans of the Stooges, and the Sex Pistols, and also Free and Zeppelin ... rock and punk rock. That's the roots, man.

http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A35438

[Falcon]

Gibson.com

Ian Astbury on The Cult, The Doors, and Life as a Dirty Little Rockstar
David Sprague | 10.03.2007

You say you want an evolution? Well, if you come to Cult frontman Ian Astbury?s door, you?ve come to the right place. Ever since he emerged from the murk of post-punk England with the dark and stormy Southern Death Cult?a combo that added an incendiary touch to the gloom of the monochromatic goth scene?Astbury has been confounding expectations left and right. After altering that band?s course and renaming it Death Cult, he dropped the fatalistic bent altogether in 1984, bringing the Cult into the rock mainstream. Amidst the crunching classic-rock riffs guitarist Billy Duffy coaxes from his EDS-1275 and his collection of Les Paul Customs, surprisingly idealistic anthems like ?She Sells Sanctuary? have emerged.

Over the last 20 years, Duffy and Astbury have had their share of disagreements, leading to several splits. During the Cult?s most recent hiatus, Astbury filled the void left by Jim Morrison in the reformed Doors of the 21st Century. But now Astbury?s back, helming what might be the most powerful Cult lineup ever. That configuration just issued Born into This, their first disc in six years, and it boasts all the innate power and good old-fashioned rock-star attitude that the title promises. ?We?re reaching for things we hadn?t reached for before,? Astbury says. ?The Cult was always live performance first, but we were incredibly inconsistent when it came to that aspect. Some performances would be garbage. I?d fall off the front of the stage drunk. The band would be loud and out of tune, but now we?re trying to get into that pantheon of excellence.?

What made this the right time to do a Cult album again after such a long break?
Everything has a season and a time, and there?s a time for the Cult and a time not for the Cult. I?ve had the experience of making records when you have nothing to say and you?re trying to sort of maintain the brand, so to speak. When you?re trying to force creativity, I don?t think you always get the best results, and I think our best works have always been when we've had something to say. Everything has its season and it?s our season again.

Did you not have much to say on your last album, Beyond Good and Evil?
That whole cycle was a bad experience. We were basically objectified as a certain kind of group, particularly on the record company level, and I was trying to pull it in a different direction. It was difficult to have so many people interfering in the process and then the Doors opportunity came along, which I did for three and a half years. But during that period, I kind of reconstituted myself and songs started coming along that I thought would be appropriate for the Cult?hence, my playing with Billy again.

Would you say you and he work together the same way you did 20-odd years ago?
I think we?re a lot more aware of each other?more aware of what each other?s strengths and weaknesses are. What we?ve developed that we really didn?t have on previous records is the idea that the song takes precedence over ego or insecurities. We know we have to serve the song. I know I can?t play guitar like Billy can play guitar, so I have to allow him to explore an idea fully and when he goes ?I?m done,? I can come in. Like with ?Dirty Little Rockstar,? he came up with that riff after being in the room for 30 seconds.

You mentioned strengths and weaknesses?what are Billy?s strengths as a guitarist?
The thing that he?s amazing at is coming up with signature riffs, signature melodic passages. That?s really his trademark and he?s gifted at it. He respects me and my vision, and he gave me a lot of room to work within the constructions I?ve set up. He allows me to get out there and not hide behind a wall of guitars, even though he could set up a wall of guitars if he wanted to?he?s capable of doing anything that?s asked of him. Here, it?s a lot more simple, rhythmic, all downstroke, three-chord aggression.



Is the first single, ?Dirty Little Rockstar,? about you?
Of course. Certainly, I?ve been a complete dick at times?an egotist thrown into the back of a cop car, but that was a byproduct and not my way of trying to make a name for myself. The song ?Dirty Little Rockstar? is more of a pop culture Polaroid.

As far as the Doors period, what did you take away from that?
In my mind, hands down, the Doors are the greatest American band there ever was. Layer after layer after layer, the expandedness, the awareness, the technical abilities they have. The thing I really got was that craft and performance is a serious business and that great performers work at their craft.

Did you have any reservations about headlining the J?germeister tour?
My manager put it very astutely. He said, ?Do you realize every time you go into a venue there?s always a beer banner somewhere? You don?t get paid for that. You?re always promoting alcohol in a venue. Alcohol?s always available, why not take the sponsorship?? Our sponsor was one of the only companies that said, ?We?ll allow you to work with the artwork and how we image this.? ?Cause a lot of the companies were basically like, ?We want you to be photographed using our brand, holding our brand.? We were like, ?We can?t do that.?

Is that mentality a product of your experience in the original punk rock scene?
We were the kids in the audience for those first Sex Pistols and Clash shows?post-punks, I suppose. We were around it enough to experience the energy and the ethos. Even during the Sonic Temple period, when I had my hair down to my ass, I still thought of us as a punk rock band. Now, we?re even closer to those roots?a sort of post-modernist, urbanist primitive thing.

[Falcon]

THE CULT: Interview mit Ian Astbury 

When you wrote this album, was there a spark?

The Cult has been on ice so there was no point going through the motions of touring and recording if there was nothing to say, and I really felt we had nothing to say for quite a while. We went away, shut the doors, and started writing with Trent Reznor, trying different areas of writing. Some songs came from our hiatus of 3 years. Different songs came at different times, we wrote while we travelled, so some songs were written in Paris, Tokyo and India.

 

During The Cult being on ice, did you have in the back of your mind you would return to it and therefore would write specifically for it?

The Cult is The Cult because of Duffy and Astbury, we have such great chemistry, I'll create a song but Billy brings such great melodies which is great as a song to work with.

 

You and Billy live in the US, but most songs on the album were recorded in the UK, which is something you haven't done for a while. Was it important for you to come here and work with Youth as a producer?

The whole intent of this record was to do something intuitive and just go with instinct and not just have some long drawn out process. We wanted to capture the energy. Billy and I both wrote a lot of songs, so after a sorting session we had 18 songs left, and it was time to hit the studio. Youth was high on our list of producers we wanted to work with and he was excited so this felt right. He was closer in age and experiences more on our level and he was fresh. We wanted to make a more artistic, driven record. We recorded the album in only 15 days. The Cult works best when being instinctive.

 

This album was made without a record label and therefore no outside interference. Is that one of the reasons for its strengths?

Once you start to second guess yourself you get further from what it is: the heart. We nailed it with Youth. Several recording companies were courting us at the time, but we kept focus on the recording process, we weren't trying to make this for anyone, we made it for ourselves, the old clich?.

 

The working relationship between you and Billy has gone through various stages of good and bad over the years. Do you have become more understanding towards each other?

I think you have to realise your strengths and weaknesses, the strengths and weaknesses of the person you're working/writing with. Once there is mutual respect and awareness it's special and unique.

 

The sound of The Cult has evolved. Is that because of little projects and new experiences and seeking new music?

It started with clothes when we were young, you project yourself into that character you create, then as you grow you seek further experiences further a field, your aware of other things, other influences.

 

Album has new experiences but whilst old keeps riffs, embrace more modern influences, the title track, maybe more groove; is that the influence of Unkle and that side of the Dance genre?

We are individual guys, we have new experiences and we've grown. That's what life's about, learning and growing. All various influences, drum beats in common with 80's stuff, disco beats from the 70's, contemporary beats, stolen back from dance music but we steal from each other. Influence each other. Amazing records being made. Very few bands that have a legacy of being alt rock, we've done it all been a part of all of it and we can pull from theses various resources. I've been around long enough to know what's contrived or what's sincere.

 

Talking of things that are contrived, the single Dirty little rock star, is that an opinion or a state of the world address on certain rock stars specifically nowadays?  Or is that just something you've observed over time, or is it more prominent in 2007?

In America you can't get away from things like Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan, when did it start happening that we start focusing on them? Sad obsessions we have with celebrity venire. How we're all, well the media is pursuing the perfect body, the world, the real world is a bit of a state. I have two sons, why don't we put the focus on something else, thanks to Bono etcetera, for bringing issues and using their fame to help support, but I like to see it in the hands of the common man. Back to the people, let us take control. Greenpeace, CND, where did they go? Taken out of the public eye.

 

I remember talking to you around the time of Beyond Good and Evil, and you said there were issues around then that inspired you the to make that album, is that a factor in your time of when The Cult return, when did you make albums when you  feel inspired by the things we were discussing?

The cult has always been considered more of a performance based band but there's always been a social political awareness. Were all affected by the bigger picture. Materialism. Not all social awareness stuff, there's personal stuff, been through a lot, spending a lot of time with The Doors I entered a different psychic space.

 

Being 6 years between The Cult albums, if you'd made it two years after the previous one would it have been as good as the album that you've made now had you not had The Doors experience and working with Unkle and Trent Reznor?

I'd have to say ?no' because I can't imagine making an album 2 years ago, we made the right record at the right time. Songwriting was something you just did but I think over the years song writing has become more important than the performance.

 

So do you think your performance in The Cult is better and stronger now as a result of being the front man of The Doors for that period of time?

Absolutely. I learnt a lot, Ray and Robbie taught me so much, they gently guided me. Confidence.

 

Does it feel good to be back looking after your own legacy?

I'm in love with what we've just done, I think by anyone's standards it's a good record, I don't like to stand in the past. No point trying to recreate something, being present now is what it's all about, especially when you're being creative. There is more relevance in what's going on with the band now.

 

The Cult being back now with a new album, new US tour, coming here to start of next year, how far do you look ahead, do you see yourself sustaining The Cult continuously beyond the cycle of this album or don't you think that far ahead?

Don't think about it, we work with what's in hand, coming home is key and is important to us. We started in Brixton, it's important to us, I'd like to come back to London, do smaller dates. Trying to find where our little space is. We want to know where our fans want us to play, get on the website and tell us.
 
 
 

[Falcon]

Vids courtesy of the one and only Marauder from www.thecult.us


"Savages"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGu57IuOsbY

"Holy Mountain"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN48pDz5wcQ

"Born Into This"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvLKmQ4LMZc

[madagas]

he he...he's a good video guy after drinking a bottle of Crown.....awesome show again Falcon

[Falcon]

..awesome show again Falcon

Saw them last week in OKC, they can flat out bring it.

As Ian so confidently says: "This is how it's supposed to be done."

I can't argue with it...

[Falcon]

THE TARTAN

CD Dropbox
The Cult returns with Born Into This
http://www.thetartan.org/2007/11/5/pillbox/al

Pillbox | Al Cohen

If the last two editions of Rock Star (a Making the Band-like TV show) are any indication, one thing can be said about the state of hard rock and metal: Talented, charismatic singers are in short supply. Perhaps that may explain the Velvet Revolvers and Audioslaves (and, if you?re my age, the Night Rangers and Asias) of the world. To many rock fans, a good, road-worn lead singer is worth all the guitar and drum virtuosos combined. Up on stage, the vocalist can?t fake that kind of connection with his or her audience. Part ringmaster and part party facilitator, lead singers are what drive the concert experience and leave the biggest imprint on any rock album.

Bands with singers of this status don?t release albums that often, and so The Cult?s Born Into This, out last October, certainly merits a review. While the title is self-explanatory, the first single, ?Dirty Little Rockstar,? eliminates any doubt that this is sleaze rock taken to an almost religious experience.

With a back catalog like the Cult?s, there is no need to introduce the band, but let me try for those unfamiliar: Without a doubt, every shortlist of top-10 rock singers of the last two decades includes Cult vocalist Ian Astbury. If you don?t believe me, ask the surviving members of the Doors, who thought Astbury worthy to sing in the band?s 2002 revival. Like Jim Morrison?s, Astbury?s voice is simply iconic ? immediately recognizable ? but the Cult has been sorely missed these past few years. Label troubles put a quick and sour end to the last album/tour cycle in 2001 for Beyond Good and Evil, after which Astbury went on to front the reunited Doors. Still, the interplay between Astbury and Billy Duffy (Cult?s guitarist) floats along the same lofty clouds as Jagger/Richards or Bono/Edge, and this music is too powerful to stay down for long. I am glad to say it remains as large-sounding now with Born Into This as it did decades ago with Sonic Temple.

On Born Into This, ?Holy Mountain? is an acoustic piece that reflects Astbury?s travels to India and the Himalayas, and the song is as sincere and unrestrained as the rest of the album. As uplifting as it is introspective, ?Holy Mountain? can be taken as symbolic of the cycle of incline and decline in Astbury?s life and career. ?I Assassin? has a beefy groove to it, and ?Tiger in the Sun? soars. ?Illuminated? is classic Cult, with a beautiful melody, while ?Citizens? updates that classic sound, if possible, just holding back as you expect it to explode. Speaking of which, the addition of John Tempesta on drums works surprisingly well. Coming from the metal world ? having played with Exodus, Testament, and White Zombie to name a few ? Tempesta?s energy fills in the space around the orchestrated chaos that Astbury/Duffy have created once again.

This is an album to love and make love to, and the Cult a phoenix that, while repeatedly burned, continues to rise.

[Falcon]

NY Post article..

http://www.nypost.com/seven/11062007/entertainment/music/cult_head_gets_spiritual_and_zen_some_90960.htm

CULT HEAD GETS SPIRITUAL AND ZEN SOME
By DAN AQUILANTE

Ian Astbury disdains materialism.November 6, 2007 -- WHEN Ian Astbury, the leg endary frontman for the Cult, walks into a pizza joint and says, "Make me one with everything," he just might be talking about getting his consciousness raised rather than getting "the works" on his pie.

Astbury, who'll appear at the Hammerstein Ballroom Friday, speaks in a lithe, calming British accent. He tells The Post: "With the huge amounts of information we all have to absorb, and all that's going on in the world, it seems that people's spirits are drowning."

On the new Cult album, aptly titled "Born Into This," Astbury points to the song "I Assassin" (one of this week's featured MPFrees) as a key to understanding that, as well as where his head is these days.

" 'I Assassin' is about taking out the ego - eliminating it - and getting unattached to materialism," Astbury explains. "That's the part of us that keeps us tied to the wheel of suffering."

While all of us might not feel the wheel, he adds, "It's easy to get hooked whether it's drugs or the material world. That's what pulls us away from the important things in life."

In the different strata of rock music found on this Cult record the layers of spirituality - Buddhism, in particular - are strikingly clear. You can hear it in songs from the title track and "Holy Mountain" to "Illuminated," "Tiger in the Sun" and "Sounds of Destruction."

Astbury lent songs on the new record a sense of precedent by connecting the dots between Buddhism and modern rock 'n' roll, citing references as far reaching as the writing of D. T. Suzuki (credited for introducing Zen to the West) through Alan Watts, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, The Doors and of course, the Cult.

He also brings firsthand experiences to the music. Astbury's met with the Dalai Lama several times in New York and has often visited Tibet and Nepal. "I want to enrich myself," he says. "I think everyone is looking for spiritual authenticity, not only in the arts, but in life."

As if to prove his dedication to the selfless life, he adds, "We're not the greatest band in the world or the most gifted musicians or the most intuitive writers. We're just trying to be honest to our experiences. As I get older, I get more truthful. With this record we've got nothing to lose, because we're not trying to get behind the velvet rope again."

Astbury brings the Cult to the Hammerstein Ballroom Friday for a one-night stand; and the band's latest record, "Born Into This," is in stores now

[FunkyMonkey]

NY Daily News article...In 1991, Astbury passed on portraying his hero Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's "The Doors"


Cult favorites

By GENE SANTORO

Friday, November 9th 2007, 4:00 AM

Since 1981, the shifting sounds of the Cult have eluded pigeonholes.

First, the group tapped into punk and goth. Then they stirred in psychedelia on 1985's "She Sells Sanctuary." By 1987, the Rick Rubin-produced album "Electric" mined heavy metal. That last entry clicked big, selling three million copies.

As singer-lyricist Ian Astbury says, "I was 10 when I bought David Bowie's 'Life on Mars.' He made me want to make music that never got stuck in one groove."

Friday at Hammerstein Ballroom, the Cult debuts their new combo of hard rock and ballads from the latest CD, "Born Into This."

"Songwriting is the key to everything we do now," Astbury explains. "We made some great street records in our first 12 years. But then it was all forward motion, tour-album-tour. We never had the chance to learn to write songs."

Back in 1978, Astbury's mother died, he was jobless, and nearly joined the British army. Inspired by the Sex Pistols, he was lured into music. His own band, Southern Death Cult - named for Native American mystics - morphed into the Cult after guitarist Billy Duffy joined.

The two couldn't be more different. "I grew up in Liverpool, Glasgow, and Canada and went to 12 schools," Astbury says. "Bill has a more grounded, straightforward upbringing. The car crash between us is what makes the Cult."

Tension between them came to a head during their 1989 world tour: They trashed about $40,000 worth of equipment, couldn't play Japan and came home barely speaking.

Then came "Sonic Temple," which went multiplatinum. But that tour halted when Astbury's father died. "The Cult started bugging me then," he admits. "I felt like I was still engaged with punk aspirations, but we were so big I really wasn't, and there was a new generation of musicians."

So in 1990, he masterminded A Gathering of the Tribes, with Soundgarden, Ice T, Indigo Girls, Queen Latifah, NWA, Guns N' Roses and Public Enemy. "I wanted our generation to have a defining moment, like Monterey Pop," he says. Its success launched fests like Lollapalooza.

In 1991, Astbury passed on portraying his hero Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's "The Doors" and rejoined Duffy for "Ceremony," an album he still dislikes. By 1995, he wanted out of the band. So he joined the reformed Doors: "That really made me think: [The Doors] have a body of work and we don't, except for a few songs like 'Sanctuary.'"

"Born Into This" distills the Cult's new approach. But its lyrical themes are classic, spiritually minded Cult: "All most people want is a new lifestyle, a new body shape," Astbury complains. "We've got a crisis of spiritualism vs. materialism. This album is about that."

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2007/11/09/2007-11-09_cult_favorites.html

[SLCPUNK]

I love this new album, great work.

Props to my boy T for sending it my way. 

[mrlee]

did guns n roses play at the above festival mentioned?

[Falcon]

did guns n roses play at the above festival mentioned?

No, they were originally scheduled to but logistics couldn't be finalized so they were never "officially" on the bill.

[mrlee]

did guns n roses play at the above festival mentioned?

No, they were originally scheduled to but logistics couldn't be finalized so they were never "officially" on the bill.

the cult n gnr always seemed pretty close when it came to helping each other out, do you know if they are still in contact anymore or get along or whatever?

well...retarded question, let me rephrase, do they still get along with axl rose now?

obviously they jam with VR members often.

[gnr2k6]

duffy was bkstage at a gnr show last year

[Falcon]

well...retarded question, let me rephrase, do they still get along with axl rose now?

Not sure really...

With Billy living in LA and Ian in NYC it seems as though their paths would cross every now and again.

[Falcon]

Here's a couple of clips from last nights gig in Baltimore courtesy from Windmill and www.thecult.us

The Phoenix:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq_mXQpA3Y8

Sanctuary:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8do2lDslQck

Go see 'em if given the chance, they will not disappoint.