The Cult

[Falcon]

The Cult have a few moments in the new Pearl Jam 20 documentary, this from the forum at www.cultcentral.com:

Just watched the Pearl Jam 20 movie (which was really great). A few minutes in during a scene from I think '89 or '90, before they were Pearl Jam, then Mother Love Bone, Stone Gossard tells the camera "we're trying to get in to see The Cult". Really cool...

Also, when Jeff Ament talks about moving to Seattle and being around like-minded people and going to punk rock shows the guitarist they show in the movie is no other than Billy Duffy (01:21:11).

[Falcon]

THE CULT @ SINNER'S DAY
Hasselt, Belgium @ Ethias Arena 30/10/2011

SETLIST:

The Phoenix
Spiritwalker
Horse Nation
Lil Devil
Edie
Sweet Soul Sister
Embers
Nirvana
Rain
Rise
Dirty Little Rockstar
Fire Woman
Wild Flower
Love Removal Machine
She Sells Sanctuary

[FunkyMonkey]

^^A couple of short clips from the show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtaDV9F00gc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW1QGpFtNwQ

[Falcon]

A bit of official website news I've been sitting on til it was deemed "official"...and now it is.

From The Cult:
It won't be long now -- thecult.us will be back up before the end of November. lookout. thanks for being patient....

New design, new content - more to follow.

[Falcon]

The Cult
headed to ABU DHABI tomorrow ...YAS ARENA on the 12th. UAE

[Falcon]

It appears Duffy has been hanging in Manchester visiting friends and family, including none other than..

From AJ's twitter:
I had the cutest skype session with @Johnny_Marr and his family! Billy is spending quality time with his best mate before we meet in Dubai.

Easily the 2 most influential guitarists of the post punk era in Great Britain, friends since high school - pretty cool..

[Falcon]

The Cult
headed to ABU DHABI tomorrow ...YAS ARENA on the 12th. UAE

And a review of The Cult/Incubus show:

The Cult frontman Ian Astbury knows all about long journeys.
 
Speaking backstage before the performance, he said he had to catch a 5am flight to Los Angeles this morning.
 
Astbury said while the group rarely spent enough time in a country to sample its traditions, the intensity of the band's interaction with fans is a worthy pay off.
 
"Most of the time the only experience you have of the country is the stage, that is why it is a very special space," he said.
 
At the interview's end, he asked how to pronounce the Arabic word for thank you. "It is shukran, right?" he said.

While the crowds spanned ages, nationalities and cultures, both bands had little trouble in engaging the fans with greatest hits sets.
 
The Cult put on a blistering performance including the set opener Lil' Devil, the swaggering Sweet Soul Sister and the driving Rain.
 
By the time the memorable riffs to She Sells Sanctuary rang out, sections of the crowd danced along with fists held high.
 
In the middle of its world tour, Incubus wasted no time in keeping up the energy with Anna Molly, Love Hurts and the folky singalong Drive.
 
But the last word goes to Astbury.
 
"How many of you have been to a rock show? Some of you guys look a little bit uptight," he joked. "It's okay, relax and just let it go ? shukran

http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/rockers-give-best-of-the-best

[Falcon]

The Cult have a few moments in the new Pearl Jam 20 documentary, this from the forum at www.cultcentral.com:

Just watched the Pearl Jam 20 movie (which was really great). A few minutes in during a scene from I think '89 or '90, before they were Pearl Jam, then Mother Love Bone, Stone Gossard tells the camera "we're trying to get in to see The Cult". Really cool...

Also, when Jeff Ament talks about moving to Seattle and being around like-minded people and going to punk rock shows the guitarist they show in the movie is no other than Billy Duffy (01:21:11).

Speaking of The Cult and Pearl Jam, here's the audio of the infamous Pinkpop Festival show in 1992 when PJ joined The Cult on stage to close the show with a cover of The Doors "Roadhouse Blues" and "Love Removal Machine"..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC17_96pUNg

[Falcon]

And a new interview with Billy before the Dubai F1 gig:

'The Cult' is here to stay

It's just like a marriage, says guitarist Billy Duffy of being in the rock band. So will The Cult go on and on?

By Orlando Crowcroft Business News Editor
Published: 00:03 November 14, 2011

The dressing room backstage at Yas Arena smells like scented candles, which The Cult singer Ian Astbury is quick to point out are not his. On a table by the door is a box of Frosties, various bags of crisps and mineral water. USA Today lies on the coffee table. It's slightly tense, but all very civilised, until we realise we're in the wrong room.
 
tabloid!'s pre-show date is not with The Cult's controversial frontman, but with guitarist Billy Duffy, who greets us just next door with a firm handshake and a disarming Manchester charm. Same room, same snacks, no candles. So this is what backstage at a Cult concert looks like. Not massively rock n' roll.
 
"We're pretty straight-laced," explains Duffy.
 
"I can still get in the same sized jeans I wore 10 years ago, just about. It's a bit of work, I have to avoid the cheese plates, get in the gym a bit. But that's what keeps you vital, actually.

"I learnt that from going out with Aerosmith in '89 when I was still partying. We opened for Aerosmith and they'd just cleaned up, we're in the dressing room and it's all, like, healthy."
 
The Cult, of course, have played with pretty much everybody since they started out back in 1983. And, while they have had their issues, they've aged well. While some of the bands who stated out supporting them, such as Guns N' Roses, have long since risen and descended into farce, The Cult are still here. It can't only be healthy living that has led to that longevity.
 
"We're the tortoise, aren't we? The tortoise wins, doesn't it?" Duffy says.
 
"No, it's just like a marriage, being in a band. I honestly believe it is almost like a dumb love for doing what we do.
 
"Not everybody in a band wants to do it. Guys end up in bands by accident, and then they grow up and think, I don't really like the lifestyle, and if the band isn't successful, they're like, you know what? I think I'm going to get a real job. Not everybody can spend the time, make the sacrifices.
 
"Nowadays it's different. We're middle-aged guys, kids, wives and all that, but when you're in your 20s and 30s, family and life took a back seat. That's why Jamie Stewart, our original bass player, went after 10 years. He just couldn't do the touring. He said, ?I love playing in The Cult but the lifestyle, I can't do it. I want to have a home life, I want to live, I can't live out of a suitcase any more.'"
 
The partnership between Astbury and Duffy has often been a tumultuous one. A typical guitarist vs lead singer set-up, really. It's often appeared from the outside that Duffy is left to deal with many of Astbury's very public decisions ? such as his decision to join the Doors revival some years back ? or, more recently, his very public comments that The Cult would stop writing albums.
 
Technology
 
"That was Ian's quote, not mine, but I think what he meant was that he felt that the whole concept of an album as we understood it had pretty much died, because of technology. That process of going into a shop and buying a CD is just on its way out," says Duffy.
 
"It was kind of taken as we'll never make a new album, but it wasn't that at all. You can't qualify at the time, so we have to qualify it now. He loves doing new music, probably more than I do. It can be a bit of a struggle after 27, 28 years."
 
It's ironic, really, because nowadays making new music is what The Cult is all about. Duffy says that while they enjoy shows like the one at Yas Arena, the band's main focus now is writing. Straight after the show they will head back to the studio. So will The Cult go on and on?
 
"I don't really see an end to it. I don't project too far forward but as long as me and Ian can get in, and most importantly that we get off on writing new music... that's what we're doing. I mean, these gigs, we're delighted to be here but we're in the middle of making a record.
 
"The record ain't gonna sell a lot because nobody sells a lot of records any more, but it's like a commercial for your band. It breathes fresh blood into it. It re-energises the fans," Duffy says.
 
The relationship between The Cult today, which is celebrating a five-year unchanged line-up, is something that Duffy is proud of. The band have had plenty of ups and downs, a period of stability is something that everybody can now enjoy.
 
"We've had the typical retinue of dead drummers and all the things you have to have to be in a rock n' roll band, dead guys, drug habits, arrests. We've had all kinds of phases," he says.
 
"We're pretty good though, we manage to have a frank exchange of views without anybody taking the ball home. I think you get a bit more tolerant, and that might just be a sign of being more middle-aged, or whatever.
 
"We're just happy that we've still all got our own hair."

[BurningHills]

  Gotta love Billy!

 I'm currently cranking the Wildflower and Sweet Soul Sister EP's in the car!

[BurningHills]

Just picked up "Ghost Dance."

What should I be expecting? I understand that it's nothing like the rest of the band's catalog.

[Falcon]

Just picked up "Ghost Dance."

What should I be expecting? I understand that it's nothing like the rest of the band's catalog.

It's the band in it's early incarnation - tribal/gothy, post punk-ish.

[Falcon]

Looks like the boys are back at work, this from their twiiter feed:

"back from ABU DHABI. final days in the studio."

[BurningHills]

Just picked up "Ghost Dance."

What should I be expecting? I understand that it's nothing like the rest of the band's catalog.

It's the band in it's early incarnation - tribal/gothy, post punk-ish.

I probably won't be too in to it then, but I do want to have as complete of a discography as possible.

I'll get The Southern Death Cult CD soon enough as well.

[Falcon]

Sounds like AJ has a bit of a scoop about The Cult's recording with a "mystery person" they've worked with before.

"AJCeli
The Cult is back in the Studio working on their Album. I can't wait until they announce who they're working with for the final touches!"

[Falcon]

From Ian's twitter:

"long day in the studio with bob .... doing the final overdubs"

Speculation is "bob" would be none other than Bob Rock, the "mystery" blast from the Cult's past AJ has been talking about.

The Cult and Rock have been friends for years, they were the first band of note he ever produced, hitting big with "Sonic Temple" in 1989..

[Falcon]

We have relaunched www.thecult.us with new info, pics and content.

Mailing List:

We'll send out email newsletters to you personally.  Just enter your email address on the right hand side of the page at http://thecult.us/main/

Forum:

Discuss all the latest here:

http://thecult.us/forum/

Speculation of Bob Rock's involvement along with Masters of Reality/QOTSA mastermind Chris Goss on the new record's production team are confirmed, The Cult is locked down in studio placing the finishing touches, Billy is playing Bob?s (Wayne Kramer MC5 Reissue) Stratocaster.

[Bansidhe]

Easily the 2 most influential guitarists of the post punk era in Great Britain, friends since high school - pretty cool..

Indeed. Also both Man City fans 
Not sure why but a lot of my favourite guitarists seem to come from the North of England. Billy & Johnny of course but also guys like Geordie (Killing Joke) John Squire, Mark Knopfler (technically he's Scottish but he moved to Newcastle when he was still young), Noel Gallagher, Mick Ronson.

Must be something in the water.

[Falcon]

Easily the 2 most influential guitarists of the post punk era in Great Britain, friends since high school - pretty cool..

John Squire, Noel Gallagher, Mick Ronson.

Oh hell ya to all 3, Squire in particular - he actually played a gig with Ian a couple of years ago in NYC.

[Bansidhe]

Oh hell ya to all 3, Squire in particular - he actually played a gig with Ian a couple of years ago in NYC.

Yes I remember hearing about that. Wasn't it for some fashion thing? Wish there had been a recording of it.
I'm intrigued to hear what the new Roses material will be like.
It's kinda odd as although the Roses only had 2 albums (not counting Garage Flower) but they kinda echoed the Cult in the way they went from a kinda alternative/dark sound (with loads of effects and such) to a more rock sound from the Stone Roses album to the Second Coming. Like how the Cult went from Love to Electric. They both swapped Gretsches for Les Pauls and started being "rawk". Check a lot of the live Roses vids from the 2nd coming era, Squire clearly has a Jimmy Page fixation.