The Cult

[Falcon]

http://www.noisecreep.com/2012/07/05/the-cult-tour-bus-crash/

The Cult's Tour Bus Crashes in Croatia

The members of The Cult, currently on tour in Europe, experienced a terrifying crash just before 6:00AM local time earlier this week while in their tour bus traveling from Split, Croatia to Ljubijana, Slovenia.
 
"I was the only one awake," said the band's vocalist Ian Astbury, who was seated in the bus's front lounge. "All of a sudden, the bus veered violently, hit the guard rail and tipped on a 45-degree angle, then righted itself and came to a halt. The guard rail was the only thing that prevented us from going over an 80-foot drop."
 
Astbury was thrown into the aisle and suffered injuries to his neck, back and shoulder. The rest of the band and crew were asleep in their bunks, so no one else was badly hurt.
 
Limping down the highway, the driver was able to get the bus to a service station a few miles up the road. Astbury's injuries were iced and he received pain medication. After some temporary patching up of the bus, the band was able to make it to the venue for that night's show, and played a full concert. But it wasn't until 5:00AM the next morning that their fully-repaired bus arrived to take them on the 20+ hour trip to the next gig.
 
"No one has had any sleep, so the guys are pretty beat, and we are still in shock, to be honest," admitted Astbury. "You never think something like this is going to happen to you, and it just did."
 
The Cult - Astbury, guitarist Billy Duffy, bassist Chris Wyse and drummer John Tempesta - are on tour to support their new release, Choice of Weapon, hailed as the band's best work in 20 years. The remainder of The Cult's European tour dates are below. Following this European trek, The Cult will kick off Leg Two of their North American tour

[BurningHills]

http://www.noisecreep.com/2012/07/05/the-cult-tour-bus-crash/

The Cult's Tour Bus Crashes in Croatia

The members of The Cult, currently on tour in Europe, experienced a terrifying crash just before 6:00AM local time earlier this week while in their tour bus traveling from Split, Croatia to Ljubijana, Slovenia.
 
"I was the only one awake," said the band's vocalist Ian Astbury, who was seated in the bus's front lounge. "All of a sudden, the bus veered violently, hit the guard rail and tipped on a 45-degree angle, then righted itself and came to a halt. The guard rail was the only thing that prevented us from going over an 80-foot drop."
 
Astbury was thrown into the aisle and suffered injuries to his neck, back and shoulder. The rest of the band and crew were asleep in their bunks, so no one else was badly hurt.
 
Limping down the highway, the driver was able to get the bus to a service station a few miles up the road. Astbury's injuries were iced and he received pain medication. After some temporary patching up of the bus, the band was able to make it to the venue for that night's show, and played a full concert. But it wasn't until 5:00AM the next morning that their fully-repaired bus arrived to take them on the 20+ hour trip to the next gig.
 
"No one has had any sleep, so the guys are pretty beat, and we are still in shock, to be honest," admitted Astbury. "You never think something like this is going to happen to you, and it just did."
 
The Cult - Astbury, guitarist Billy Duffy, bassist Chris Wyse and drummer John Tempesta - are on tour to support their new release, Choice of Weapon, hailed as the band's best work in 20 years. The remainder of The Cult's European tour dates are below. Following this European trek, The Cult will kick off Leg Two of their North American tour

Damn! Glad to hear that everyone is alright.

Someone was watching over them to make sure that they didn't take the plunge...

[Falcon]

Ian talking about the crash amongst other things yesterday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9kVtJ89rTI

[Falcon]

The Cult played another new song from "Choice Of Weapon" 2 nights ago in Utrecht, Holland
"Life > Death" made its live debut.

Setlist:

Lil' Devil
Honey From A Knife
Rain
Lucifer
Nirvana
Embers
Fire Woman
The Wolf
The Phoenix
Rise
For The Animals
Wild flower
She Sells Sanctuary

Encore
Life > Than Death
Spiritwalker
Love Removal Machine

[Falcon]

A new Duffy interview from MMR Mag, lotsa gear info:

http://www.mmrmagazine.com/5742/current-issue/what-the-pros-play-the-cults-billy-duffy/

What the Pros Play: The Cult?s Billy Duffy
 
July 12, 2012
 
by Christian Wissmuller
 
This is the first installment of a new column that will outline the instruments and gear of choice for notable musicians, across a wide spectrum of genres.  The goal of ?What the Pros Play? is to offer retailers both greater insight into equipment they may (or may not) currently stock, as well as another tool that might convince that potential customer who?s ?on the fence? about a specific purchase to open his or her wallet?
 
One of the primary architects of post-punk hard rock in the 1980s, The Cult draws upon diverse influences to create a distinct and instantly recognizable sound.  Through the band?s various stylistic phases ? the psychedelic goth-stomp of Love, the AC/DC-ish bombast of Electric, Sonic Temple?s anthemic arena-rock, forays into industrial and metal realms on later albums ? they?ve somehow always maintained that ?Cult sound.?
 
A big part of that sound is provided courtesy of the band?s co-founding guitarist Billy Duffy, whose knack for single-note riffs that hook the listener and stick in the head for days have made him an icon and influence to a generation of players.  If you?re a guitarist of a certain age, it?s a safe bet you know how to play (at least the main riffs of) ?Love Removal Machine,? ?Fire Woman,? or ?She Sells Sanctuary? (which recently was given new life via a mash-up with Flo Rida?s hit, ?Good Feelin? that appeared in a Budweiser Super Bowl spot).
 
The Cult?s new disc, Choice of Weapon (Cooking Vinyl), finds the group at the top of their game with Duffy?s soaring lines setting the tone, throughout.  Tracks such as ?The Wolf,? ?Honey from a Knife,? and lead single, ?For the Animals? showcase the chiming, drone-y fretwork that first established him as one of hard rock?s most charismatic axemen.  Billy recently sat down with MMR to discuss some of his go-to gear?
 
MMR: First off, I?ve got to fess up: I?m a big, big fan of The Cult and of your playing.  You were a big influence when I started learning guitar, way back when.
 
Billy Duffy: Thanks, man.  That?s great to hear.  Much better than the alternative ? ?I?ve always thought you guys sucked!? [laughs]
 
MMR: Choice of Weapon is just a really strong effort from you guys.  I?ve been enjoying it ? and based on critical and fan feedback, I?m not alone.
 
BD: Thank you.  It?s been great.  It seems like this is the album people have been wanting from us for a while.
 
MMR: Since we?re going to be focusing on gear with this Q&A, let?s start by talking guitars. Even though it?s hardly the only instrument you use ? or even the guitar you use the most ? you?re so identified with the Gretsch White Falcon.  Why do you think that is?
 
Billy Duffy: The Gretsch is kind of a ?big white buffalo? [laughs] ? it?s a mythical beast.  When I was a kid, the White Falcon was this almost-otherworldly guitar to me.  It?s flashy and showy in appearance, but by the same token I beat mine to death.   I think part of the association is also just that it?s a less ?common? guitar, so it sticks out for people.
 
MMR: You?ve modded your Falcons a bit, though ? most notably switching out the pickups, correct?
 
BD: I changed the pickups initially in the ?80s because the output was so feeble, so Seymour Duncan helped me ? I?ve been working with him since 1986.  I wanted to keep all of the high end ?chime? of a Gretsch, but with the lower end chunk of a Les Paul. Seymour Duncan installed new pickups in my two ?70s White Falcons and in a Country Club.  That Country Club was a backup guitar, which I stripped and repainted, and I sort made my own ?Black Falcon? before Gretsch thought of the idea. It doesn?t play as well as the White Falcon, but it looks wicked.  That?s the guitar in the ?Lil Devil? and ?Love Removal Machine? videos.
 
MMR: I?ve seen you guys perform a few times over the years and I?ve always been impressed with how you seem to have zero feedback issues with the Gretschs.
 
BD: Well, with every semi-acoustic you have some feedback potential.  I put some stuff ? t-shirts and things ? in the guitar, but not too much; you don?t want to affect the tone.   You just have to watch it, because you?re right ? there are those low-end notes that will send feedback through the roof if you?re not careful.  My techs know how to work around it at this point, plus one key for me is I don?t run my backline super hot.
 
Going back to the pickups issue, which Seymour Duncan helped me around ? wanting to have that Gretsch chime with some low-end power ? nowadays, the TV Jones pickups you get through Gretsch do the same thing just fine.
 
MMR: Speaking of which: Is it true that there?s a Billy Duffy Signature Model Gretsch on the way?  
 
BD: We?re working on it.  My original 1975 White Falcon that was on ?She Sells Sanctuary? and Dreamtime has been gone over forensically [laughs] and there?s a prototype on its way.  The construction of ?70s Falcons was a little different than those currently being sold, so they?re trying to make it similar.  It?s not going to be an exact replica, but it?s going to essentially be my guitar.  It?ll be out in 2013.
 
MMR: Am I completely off base, or was there talk of a Billy Duffy Signature Les Paul back in? 2008?
 
BD: You?re right. There was supposed to be a signature Gibson Les Paul and we got as far as a prototype, but we could just never agree on the finish.
 
MMR: What was the snag?
 
BD: They wanted a black one like on the cover of Sonic Temple, but I usually use wood finish Les Pauls, like Mick Ronson?s and? after a while the project kind of slipped through the cracks.   I still have a great relationship with Gibson and, as you alluded to, I really use Les Pauls as much as Gretschs.
 
MMR: A lot of the songs people assume feature you playing the Falcons are actually Les Paul tracks, if I understand correctly.
 
BD: Absolutely.  On the Electric album, for example, while I used Gretschs in the videos because that was already visually established as ?my guitar,? I used Les Pauls for essentially the whole recording.  That was when I used a rented Les Paul that was black with the finish taken off the front, like Ronson had done, which is why I did that later, myself.
 
MMR: Very cool.  Moving on to amplifiers: you use Marshall amps, which is pretty standard fare for hard rock guitarists, of course, but a big part of the ?Billy Duffy sound? is the Roland amp ? which you?re still using to this day.
 
BD: The Roland JC-120 2?12 combo has always been a big part of my  sound.  If you check pictures from our earliest gigs, you?ll always see me playing the Gretsch with a JC-120 somewhere onstage, all the way through the mid-?80s.  I?d never just use the JC-120, though ? I always used a splitter box and a valve amp, with the Roland left on the chorus setting.
 
MMR: And you also favor another Roland brand ? BOSS ? when it comes to effects, right?
 
BD: I use all BOSS delays and I use their flanger and the Super Overdrive, still, on occasion.  It?s funny ? a lot of the gear I still use was initially ?inherited? when our original bass player, Jamie Stewart, joined the band.  He had been a guitarist and when he moved on to the bass he sort of handed over his gear and said, ?I guess I won?t be using these anymore??  That?s when I got the MXR Phase 100, which still gets use.   I mix it up, in terms of effects, so that?s always evolving, but I do use BOSS quite a bit.
 
MMR: Any other effects you?ve recently taken a liking to?  Anything different or new used on the sessions for Choice of Weapon?
 
BD: I?ll tell you ? my new love is the Kalamazoo overdrive by Lovepedal.  They?re great, great pedals and a great company.   It?s essentially an [Ibanez] Tube Screamer, but you don?t lose the bottom end.  I don?t particularly like fuzz or distortion; I only like overdrives.   Bob Rock let me use a Centaur by Klon when we were recording Choice of Weapon and it was great, but they go for, like, $1,500 bucks on eBay.   These things are stomp-boxes, right?  I want to be able to take them on the road and have ?em take a beating.   I wear motorcycle boots onstage and I?m not prancing around delicately.  I heard about this Lovepedal that goes for around $150 bucks and is supposedly fantastic, I tried it out, loved it, contacted Lovepedal?s founder, Sean Michael,  who turned out to be a big fan of The Cult and? here we are.
 
MMR: Anything else unusual employed on the new album?
 
BD: Let?s see? It?s always pretty much the same basic food group of gear for me.   Chris Goss was involved in the recording ? he actually did about half or 2/3 of it before Bob Rock came on board ? and he has a few of those small Supro amps.   I used those on a couple tracks, but mainly I used a Marshall, a Badcat, and the JC-120.
 
MMR: Ok, last question: Is it true that you use Dunlop Herco Flex 50 picks because that?s what Johnny Thunders played?
 
BD: I?ve got a good story about that.   Thunders gave me one of those picks, himself, back in ?77 or ?78 when he was playing Manchester University.   He was at a payphone and he pulled one out of his pocket while he was on the call and handed it to me.  I?ve never played anything else since.  Another thing: I play with the pick ?sideways,? compared to the traditional grip, and always have done.  Not a lot of people know that.
 
MMR: I?m going to go home and try that.
 
BD: Don?t go stealing my tricks!  [laughs]
 
MMR: I don?t think you have much to worry about.  Billy, thanks very much for taking the time to talk gear with MMR.  
 
BD: My pleasure.  See you on tour!
 
   

[Falcon]

Here's the entire interview Billy Duffy did on SixxSense Radio a couple months ago, if you can get past Sixx's jackassary it's a good interview.

http://www.sixxsense.com/pages/mediavault/mediaplayer.html?uri=channels%2F386387%2F1682331

[Falcon]

The Cult played another new song from "Choice Of Weapon" 2 nights ago in Utrecht, Holland
"Life > Death" made its live debut.

Alot of Cult fans are drooling over this (not me) - the live debut of "Life > Death"

It's a bit of a snoozer for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kLI2cudlA4

[Falcon]

Here's a cool old school pic of Soundgarden and Mother Love Bone backstage at a Seattle Cult gig in 1989, I believe it's the same gig mentioned in the Pearl Jam documentary.

Ian and MLB's Andrew Wood were good friends back in the day, it's a cool pic.

[Falcon]

An in depth interview with Ian with Glide Magazine:

Crossing The Great Divide With The Cult?s Ian Astbury

By Leslie Michele Derrough
http://www.glidemagazine.com/articles/58680/crossing-the-great-divide-with-the-cults-ian-astbury.html

[Falcon]

A pic of Billy and Slash at one of the recent Euro fests:

[Falcon]

And a pic of The Cult, GNR, and BLS at one of the recent Euro fests:

[BurningHills]

And a pic of The Cult, GNR, and BLS at one of the recent Euro fests:

Bad. Ass.

[Falcon]

And a pic of The Cult, GNR, and BLS at one of the recent Euro fests:

Bad. Ass.

Too bad Ian and Axl weren't in it.

Frontmen...

[Falcon]

Some comments from former Cult touring bassist (current Billy Idol guitarist) Billy Morrison attending his former bands gig in Madrid last week:

"Once we are safely checked in and unpacked, I decide to go and see The Cult, who are playing tonight at the same venue we are playing tomorrow. A swift flurry of emails with riffmeister Billy Duffy and we are all set for the gig. I grab Jeremy and Derek in the lobby, and we jump a cab over to the Riviera (a nicely laid out indoor venue that?s extremely hot and sweaty and full by the time we get there). A round of hugs and hello?s follow our entrance and the guys are hospitable to the max ? and I chow down on Duffy?s rider (the first food I?ve eaten since my case of Montezuma?s Revenge!) while we talk tours, busses, gigs and such. I have to say that I love this band. It was an honor to be involved back then, and it?s an honor to count the guys as my friends. Ian and Billy have written some HUGE rock/indie/alt anthems and as they open with L?il Devil, the place goes crazy and a huge grin spreads across my face. There?s nothing like a seminal rock band in a packed venue, playing songs you know and love. We stay WAY beyond my usual three song maximum (yeah I know ? jaded old fuck, Morrison!!) and the band kick some serious ass. Firewoman and Nirvana are amazing (Nirvana has always been my favorite Cult song, both to play and to listen to) and we duck out as they finish Rise, jumping a taxi back to the hotel. Thank you to all the Cult peeps for the love and the rock. We had a great time."

[jarmo]

And a pic of The Cult, GNR, and BLS at one of the recent Euro fests:

That was at the hotel in Bucharest, the night before the show.






/jarmo

[Falcon]

A good article with Billy Duffy from Glide Magazine:

http://www.glidemagazine.com/articles/58702/billy-duffy.html

And one from Ian with Virgin Radio Italy:

http://video.virginradioitaly.it/tv/episode/view/id/1768

[FunkyMonkey]

A good article with Billy Duffy from Glide Magazine:

http://www.glidemagazine.com/articles/58702/billy-duffy.html

Nice interview.

THE CULT Guitarist Talks 'Choice Of Weapon' Album, Performing Live - Aug. 9, 2012

Leslie Michelle Derrough of GlideMagazine.com recently conducted an interview with THE CULT guitarist Billy Duffy. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

GlideMagazine.com: What about playing the new songs live?

Billy: The big acid test of a band is you play the new music live. I know a lot of the audience hasn't heard much of it because they can only have really heard "Lucifer", which we kind of released as a teaser track on the Internet. You could listen to it for a limited period of time but nobody could download it. And then obviously "For The Animals" has been released as what people would call a single, whatever that means these days. [laughs] But now stuff is out and people are hearing it on the radio and on the Internet and obviously on YouTube. These days people can see us playing some of the new songs 'cause we did them at SXSW in March. And the songs went down great, so we're very enthusiastic. You know, the last thing you want to do is play songs from the new album and people are like, "Oh dear, play a hit, this is killing me." [laughs] But that happens. I've been in the crowd when bands do that. So we try and mix it up. We think the new songs are really strong and exciting and I think we've made the album that THE CULT fans wanted us to make and I think as a result it's going to be good fun times playing the new songs. It invigorates the band. There are certain songs of THE CULT that I never mind playing, like "She Sells Sanctuary" or "Rain". I could play those songs forever. But there are certain other songs from certain periods that while people might like them, I'm not personally as crazy about playing them. It just depends. So it's great to have new music and have a tour and a new purpose to go out there. Obviously there will be some old hits thrown in and mixed up in the bag but it should be a fun night out. We've got two great opening acts so it's a nice package. People get good value for money. We've got a lead singer who has changed gender in AGAINST ME, so that's an exciting thing. Never could have a simple tour with THE CULT. [laughs]

GlideMagazine.com: Do you have a favorite song on the new record that you're looking forward to playing live?

Billy: I like playing "Honey From A Knife" 'cause it's just like the kind of punk rock/rock and roll song. I like playing all of them, really. I mean, "Lucifer" is a bit of a workout for me. It's very busy on the guitar, so I don't get a lot of chance to kick back and relax. But we got to do that. I like playing a song called "Embers", which is included on the album package, not on the plain album. But I enjoy playing that one 'cause it's really quiet and I get to kind of play some introspective guitar. I really look forward to that every night, like, "Oh it's coming up, I can take a breather," [laughs], 'cause I like loud guitar music as much as the next fellow but for me it's nice to be able to play that one and actually not be such a punch-in-the-face type of deal.

GlideMagazine.com: So is touring what you have planned for the rest of the year?

Billy: Well, I think so. We've got a few months of it. We should be thankful that people really want to come see us, so hopefully we can keep it going for a while. I'd like to come up with a really exciting answer, like we're all going to get on a capsule and orbit the Earth [laughs], but you make a record and then you go out and play it and you take it to Serbia, you take it to Romania, you know what I mean. And you have to connect with THE CULT fans and we'll be in Portugal, we'll be everywhere; Australia and New Zealand early next year probably. The usual. It's what everybody does if you're lucky enough to be able to go out and play and people want to see you. I like doing festivals, enjoy the juxtaposition. It's inconvenient as a musician because you sometimes have to compromise how long you can play and what soundcheck, if any, you get. There are a lot of compromises at festivals, but I love playing with different musicians and playing to crowds that might not be CULT fans and seeing the reactions and mixing that up with regular CULT gigs, which is kind of playing the home game, you know. You pretty much know everybody through the door is going to like what you do unless you really suck and we don't [laughs], so that is usually going to be good. Then it's a question of how good can we make the night, how special can we make it, and that's the challenge there. So I look forward to all that stuff. I could take or leave traveling. Flying sucks these days, it's no fun. I mean, it's the worst. It used to be fun and I used to look forward to great airports and planes ? brilliant, we can have a laugh, it'll be great [laughs] ? and now it sucks.

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=177944

[Falcon]

From The Cult:

" 'Honey From A Knife' is blowing up at radio SUPPORT CULT call you local radio station and tell them to join the action . FILM CLIP coming soon hang tight for details."

It's pretty cool how this happened, radio just basically took to this song and ran with it, "made" it the next single.

As a long time fan, it's fun watching how the success of this record, singles and tour(s) has played itself out.

Here's the song, give it a listen - it rocks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0HXMSjsq6w

And a live version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBUQ8cFDAIw

[Falcon]

Billy Duffy (and others) talk Boss pedals:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNBJT19xTBs&feature=player_embedded

[Falcon]

Here's a shot from The Cult's upcoming film clip for the single "Honey From A Knife", looks like the "Choice Of Weapon" cover character will be featured in the vid.