The Cult

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A new Astbury audio interview promoting the upcoming Canadian swing of The Cult's Choice Of Weapon Tour starting next week.

http://soundcloud.com/rock1053/the-cults-ian-astbury

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Vancouver Sun article with Ian:

The Cult rises from the embers
 
By Ben Kaplan, PostmediaAugust 17, 2012 3:00 PM


Known as the ?Wolf Child,? Ian Astbury, leader of The Cult, says his band?s new record, Choice of Weapon, is meant to be a dagger to the heart of the hipster press who prematurely celebrated his group?s demise.
 
?It?s not like I?m coming back solely for revenge. I?m not coming back straight with a knife to go [stabbing noise] ?That?s for you,?? says Astbury, 50, decked out in pants of his own design, black boots and a black hooded sweatshirt. ?I was this beautiful kid getting love letters from Madonna and the press, they wanted to destroy me ? I was the Antichrist.?
 
Astbury retired from music, had children and got sober. He calls his comeback a ?voyage.?
 
?I went away to some very deep places ? a monastery in Tibet, an ashram in India, a private facility in Arizona ? and lived as a monastic in New York,? he says. ?I had a nervous breakdown in public, but found I had to burn everything in order to put it all back together again, find my place and come out on the other side.?
 
Asked to name his contemporaries, the singer mentions Robert Smith of The Cure, another influential British mid-?80s rock band. But while The Cure were making goth music for pop fans, The Cult were cut from the same Union Jack cloth as The Sex Pistols and The Clash.
 
?I was a jump-off-the-PA kind of kid. I saw Iggy Pop perform and said: ?I want to do that,?? says Astbury, who began his group, then known as The Southern Death Cult, while squatting in Liverpool in 1981. ?I could call Slash and Axl contemporaries, but those guys are decimated. A lot of the names of the people I came up with are on tombstones.?
 
The Cult broke out in 1987 with the album Electric, produced by Rick Rubin, which helped the group cement their arena rock sound. In 1989, the band released Sonic Temple, featuring Fire Woman and Edie (Ciao Baby), and the band played stadiums with Metallica and Guns N? Roses.
 
?You become like The Picture of Dorian Gray until the portrait catches up with the person,? says Astbury, who played 63 shows with Metallica on the ... And Justice for All tour after his band performed 185 headlining concerts. In 1994, The Cult released a poorly received alternative album and, in 1995, broke up.
 

From the ashes, Astbury started The Holy Barbarians, a group that he says was more about a lifestyle than songs.
 
?I was walking around the Phoenix Festival in 1996 in a dress with no shoes on, standing in a crowd with 30,000 people, covered in mud watching The Sex Pistols perform as the sky turned purple,? says Astbury, who punctuates his interview with verses from Allen Ginsberg?s Howl. ?Of course, the U.K. media says, ?Your mom must?ve been sniffing glue,? but they couldn?t comprehend the dark places it came from. I have the perfect CV to be that self-destructive, narcissistic young rock ?n? roll star that?s going to be dead by 27.?
 
Astbury has since spoken out about the sexual abuse he suffered as a 15-year-old while working at a restaurant and the ensuing alcoholism, drug abuse and suicide attempts that have been his shadow. The new song Embers first attempted to address this reality and it helped the singer reform his band and steer the group into another direction.
 
In 2002, Astbury became the singer of a new incarnation of The Doors with Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek, but he says Choice of Weapon is his storm that?s been brewing for the past 10 years.
 
?I could no longer hide behind the veneer of being a rock star, we didn?t have that place any more and the only thing left for me was to be real,? says Astbury, who, if ever arrested for killing a music critic, will be sent away for premeditated murder due to the lyrics of almost every one of his new songs. Indeed, Choice of Weapon, produced by Chris Goss and Bob Rock, is angry, ribald and frequently punctuated by the sound of Billy Duffy?s famous blues-based lead guitar. Astbury may have studied in Tibet and India, but he maintains the wildness of his Liverpudlian youth.
 
?I will p--- all over the rock collection of some hipster who gives my album two out of 10 because the difference between them and me is I didn?t Wikipedia ?punk rock? ? I lived through it,? he says. ?I?m part of that generation who laid down their lives and their sanity to build this thing.?


Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Cult+rises+from+embers/7107437/story.html#ixzz23qQs4xUu

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The Cult kick off the 2nd leg of the "Choice Of Weapon" Tour " at the Ventura Theatre in Ventura, CA tonight, here's the North American dates remaining before heading back to Europe:



Aug 18/2012 - Ventura, California, Ventura Theater
Aug 19/2012 - Concord, California, Sleep Train Pavilion
Aug 20/2012 - Portland, Oregon, Roseland
Aug 21/2012 - Seattle, Washington, Neptune
Aug 22/2012 - Vancouver, British Columbia, Commodore Ballroom
Aug 24/2012 - Edmonton, Alberta, Edmonton Event Centre
Aug 25/2012 - Medicine Hat, Alberta, Esplanade
Aug 26/2012 - Calgary, Alberta, Cowboys
Aug 28/2012 - Regina, Saskatchewan, Credit Union Eventplex
Aug 31/2012 - Toronto, Ontario, Phoenix Concert Theatre
Sep 1/2012 - Montreal, Quebec, Metropolis
Sep 2/2012 - Quebec City, Quebec, Grand Theatre

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Almost 30 years ago, Ian on the cover of the NME - Southern Death Cult was heir to The Clash's post punk thrown:

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The Cult's new film clip for "Honey From A Knife" debuts this week, Thursday the 23 via VEVO.

PRESS RELEASE:

The Cult have unveiled a haunting still from their upcoming film clip for the track, ?Honey From A Knife? which appears on the band?s critically acclaimed new album ?Choice Of Weapon?. The ?Honey From A Knife? film clip will premiere on VEVO on August 23rd and The Cult will be revealing a special trailer further teasing the dynamic clip on their facebook page over the next few days. Shot in New York City by Rick Rogers (Prelude To Ruins) in a highly cinematic style, lead singer Ian Astbury says the new clip reveals a ?desperate descent into a fractured psyche,? and the ?Honey From A Knife? song title was inspired by the Buddhist precept: ?Wealth and beauty, to a man who will not relinquish them, are like a knife covered with honey which, even before he has had the pleasure of eating the honey, cuts the tongue of the child that licks it?. The song, rooted in the seductiveness of addiction, has been singled out in numerous media reviews for its raw energy. Of many positive live reviews The Hollywood Reporter observed the band?s live performance in New York City as having ?returned with a vengeance? and referred to Astbury as ?a menacing tyrant of cool?. ?Choice Of Weapon? was released in North America on May 22 and debuted at #15 on Canada?s Current Album Charts, and #2 on both the Indie Chart and the Hard Chart. The Cult ? vocalist Ian Astbury, guitarist Billy Duffy, bassist Chris Wyse, and drummer John Tempesta recorded ?Choice Of Weapon? in New York City, Los Angeles, the California high desert and the band?s Witch Mountain studio.

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Billy Duffy, guitarist for The Cult, wearing his custom made Rock Punk Couture snakeskin jacket designed by Michael in the current issue of Guitar Aficionado magazine.

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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.

Interesting factoid on the above pic, the photographer is none other than acclaimed actor/artist/musician Yul Vazquez, you maybe remember him in his cameo as "Street tough Bob" from Seinfeld:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkp5wuuarOs

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The vid teaser for "Honey From A Knife" -

"HFAK SNEAK PEAK FULL VERSION PREMIERES 8-23-12 ON VEVO"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSjE78WGkL8&feature=youtu.be

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http://www.canada.com/entertainment/Astbury+finds+sanctuary+life+outsider/7116972/story.html

Astbury finds sanctuary in life as an outsider

The Cult?s contrarian character is rooted in the rootlessness of its Brit-Canadian lead singer

By Jordan Zivitz, Postmedia News August 20, 2012 2:01 PM

Michael Lavine/HERFitz PR

A Briton by birth, a Canadian in his formative years, a self-described nomad ? Ian Astbury has spent time in many places, and fully belonged to none of them.

?When I go back to the U.K., they?re down on me because I have so many North American aspects of my persona,? the Cult?s singer said last week from Los Angeles (?purely a base,? not a forever home), before the band?s extensive run of Canadian dates. ? ?Oh, it?s a to-may-to, is it? Really?? ?

Astbury?s status as an eternal outsider is shared by his group. Even at the height of its popularity in the late 1980s, the Cult stood apart from its supposed kin, sharing the ecstatic volume of Guns N? Roses and AC/DC but rarely the same lyrical concerns or streamlined vision. The band?s most popular albums, 1985?s Love, 1987?s Electric and 1989?s Sonic Temple (?the trilogy,? in Astbury?s shorthand), echoed the frontman?s nomadic nature, taking the Cult from bat-cave psychedelia to boozy minimalism to unrestrained arena rock within a four-year span.

Sonic Temple may have been the Cult?s commercial zenith, but true to an outsider band, the album that best defines its contrarian character is its most underappreciated. The 1994 self-titled disc opted for shuddering textures over Billy Duffy?s guitar heroics, and repositioned the group on the fringes of the mainstream.

?The desire was to destroy to rebuild,? Astbury said. ?Destroy to rebuild this band that had become larger than life. The Cult had become this kind of iconic arena-rock animal, which was never our intention. It was just a natural conclusion.

?It was like on a game show: You take the money or you open the box. And we went, ?Open the box? ? now we?re with Rick Rubin (producer of Electric). Next thing: ?Open the box.? Now we?re with Bob Rock (producer of Sonic Temple). We just followed that, until it reached the point where we went, ?This doesn?t work for me anymore. So let?s destroy it. Let?s burn it to the ground.? And that was that record in ?94.?

The destruction was easier than the rebuilding. The Cult dissolved shortly after the self-titled album?s release, but when co-founders Astbury and Duffy reunited in 1999, they set the groundwork for a second cycle that has been fuelled by the past without staying beholden to it. The latter-day releases haven?t yielded ubiquitous singles, but have distilled the mysticism, savagery and revelry of their predecessors into a sound that has grown leaner with time.

Released in May, Choice of Weapon may be the most comprehensive presentation of the Cult. There are echoes of past victories ? The Wolf?s paisley guitar nods to She Sells Sanctuary; A Pale Horse?s muscular blues revisits the Electric era ? tinged by a rare vulnerability in Duffy?s elemental riffs and Astbury?s grizzly-bear growl.

?There are archetypal elements in this record that are always going to be there,? Astbury said. ?Billy Duffy playing a Gretsch White Falcon with a JC-120 (amp), there?s something unique to him. ... Being a baritone, my voice falls into a certain register.


?So you have those elements, but you also have current influences. For this record, being in the Himalayas was very important. Being in wilderness areas in Canada was very important. Being in New York City was very important.?

With that, Astbury was off on a series of digressions: his time in New York, that city?s multiculturalism, an exodus of its artists to Los Angeles. A generous conversationalist, as interested in rhapsodizing about his favourite areas of Montreal as in discussing the cultural hotbed of L.A.?s Beachwood Canyon, he was especially invested in a discussion of his childhood in Hamilton, Ont.

The period marked ?the last time my family was really a family,? before his mother?s battle with cancer, and would also be a source of inspiration for his lyrics and the C ult?s iconography.

?When I came over on the boat, so to speak, the other kids immediately knew I was a Limey, so I was pushed into the fringe group ? kids on the outside. The indigenous kids were in that group. ? As I learned more about their history, I was going, ?Wait a minute: they?re actually the original people of this region, and we came and imposed our cultural expansion upon them.? And that became really fascinating for me, because I felt displaced.

?I felt a kinship with them, and I was inquisitive: learning about the culture, initially Six Nations; going to the reservation, exposed to their culture, their icons, and the ideas and concepts of their relationship with the mystery, the great mystery of life. And also their philosophical way of living, their connection with nature, with the Earth ? I just couldn?t find that stuff in Western culture. It wasn?t as evident there.?

It isn?t surprising when Astbury takes credit for the idea behind Choice of Weapon?s cover, depicting a warrior in ceremonial costume. The potent image reflects not only his enduring affection for aboriginal cultures, but the fighting spirit of his band, and of a singer who bristles ?when I?m having an amazing conversation with someone and they go, ?Great! But what do you think of AC/DC?? ? like I?m just this ?rock guy.? ?

Astbury and Duffy (and their current cohorts, bassist Chris Wyse and drummer John Tempesta) are content to play the part of ?rock guys,? to a point. Speaking of the lessons learned in the wake of the band?s mid-1990s upheaval, Astbury said: ?Eventually we found out that we?re as comfortable playing Fire Woman in an arena-rock environment as we are playing (the early post-punk track) Horse Nation in the same environment; we?re even as comfortable playing those in a club, in a bar, wherever. They?re all part of our psyche.

?There is an arena-rock performer in there, but there?s also a punk rocker in there. There?s a new-wave kid in there. And there?s an urban kid in there. There are different aspects of our personality. So we don?t belong in the hard-rock community, and we don?t belong in the postmodern community

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Ian interview with UK based Zani mag:

http://www.zani.co.uk/ian-astbury-of-the-cult-returns-to-zani

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Here's a link to the entire Ian interview from the Montreal Gazette, it's full of great Ian'isms and a newsworthy teaser below

http://blogs.montrealgazette.com/2012/08/20/the-cult-the-complete-qa/

I mean, we?re doing remixes right now, and there?s a remix that?s probably going to be coming out within the next two months that?ll be very surprising. I think you will enjoy it immensely. This one?s very, very current and completely out of left field. It?s a major coup. It?s going to be a really, really important feather in the cap for the band.

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http://musicnerd.ca/the-cult-return-from-the-wilderness/

The Cult Return From The Wilderness

Posted by kenkelley on 8/21/12 ? Categorized as Music Features

Despite having weathered extraordinarily large amounts of ups and downs over the course of their career, few bands can touch the ferocity or the consistency of The Cult. Since forming in Brixton, London in 1983, the group has gone on to sell millions of albums world-wide, embraced by both the post-punk and hard communities.
 
The Cult has an amazing new record out now. Choice of Weapon sees the group embrace elements of their past while firmly moving the group forward. The album?s 10 tracks reveal a band at their most raw while writing compelling tales of redemption, revolution and love.
 
Last week, The MusicNerd Chronicles had the pleasure of speaking with The Cult?s Ian Astbury, one of the most passionate and articulate people that I have had the pleasure of speaking with.
 
The Cult is making records at a much more leisurely pace these days compared to the seemingly hectic period between 1984 and 1995 when some might argue you were at your commercial peak. Was slowing down the pace of the band more of a survival instinct in order to keep the group together?
 
Astbury: I can only really comment where are at now. It?s difficult to talk about things that have already occurred aside from a nostalgic point of view, which ends up being really boring.
 
Reality is though, The Cult have gone on hiatus twice, the first time being in 1995. We had just come off 12 years of completing an album and then going on tour. There was nothing in terms of a break and the attrition on your psyche just absolutely kills you. Many people don?t get out of this business alive because it becomes a way of life.
 
So The Cult took a break. I made a solo record; I made a record with the Holy Barbarians. Aside from music though, I travelled; I spent time in Tibet and India and other places in the Far East.
 
In 1999, The Cult reconvened and released Beyond Good and Evil in 2001 and then we ended up taking a second hiatus shortly afterwards. But that was more due to the industry itself at the time. The label that we had signed to for the release of Beyond Good and Evil was more-less cut up when Warner was merged with AOL. And after 9/11, it seemed the record industry ended shortly after that. It was a very dismal time for North Americans in general.
 
And then of course The Doors came calling?
 
Astbury: Yes they did. We played probably 150 shows together between 2002 and 2008. In addition to that, I had collaborated with U.N.K.L.E. as well as with Trent Reznor, the latter of which never ended up seeing the light of day.
 
Since 2007?s Born Into This, The Cult seem to have been on steady ground with the addition of Chris Wyse and John Tempesta into the lineup. Is this the most consistent lineup that The Cult has seen?
 
Astbury: We have really had to work at keeping it together but frankly, any relationship is like that. You can?t expect to be in a relationship and expect everyone to be 100% engaged at every moment of the day. Being in a band is like being in a relationship; you?ve got to work at it. But of course you end up spending 22 hours each day up each other?s asses and in each other?s faces. That can be really grinding. It?s okay when you?re 25 years old but as you get older, you realize that behavior is detrimental to your health. Few individuals have the capacity to be able to maintain that kind of self-abuse.
 
There has been a lot of press about your UK tour with Killing Joke and rather nasty tirade that was supposedly attributed to Killing Joke front man Jaz Coleman. What exactly happened?
 
Astbury: We made a decision to try to let everything settle before we say what we want to say. We simply decided to sit back for now. Apparently, the webmaster from Killing Joke?s website wrote the statement on their behalf; the band immediately issued an apology. Jaz wasn?t even in the country when all of this went down. But the fact of the matter is as people are taking sides, nobody cares about Jaz Coleman and nobody cares about Ian Astbury. It is easy to get caught up in the triviality of it all. For now, I will tell you that we?ve given Killing Joke the opportunity to get their house in order. I have friends that are friends with Jaz and so I felt it was right to offer a little cultural diplomacy.
 
You?re now 50 years old. Are you contemplating your mortality more now that you have reached such a milestone? Would you like to be working more, releasing more music, etc to help build your legacy?
 
Astbury: I really don?t care about legacy or anything like that. It won?t matter to me. In terms of mortality though, that is something that has fascinated me since I was a little kid. I feel that throughout your life, you have certain experiences that really wake you up to appreciate what you have and to work harder for better experiences. Sadly, awareness isn?t something that is prevalent in our culture. Frivolity and indulgence are what is encouraged in entertainment; no one or very few people seem to be having the conversations that really matter.
 
I feel that Canadians really embody a culture that I admire. There is such a vast wilderness to explore; I am envious of a man who can walk out his front door and be out in the wilderness. For me, that is certainly where I am at my happiest and I think that those themes run throughout our new record.
 
Why not be the best you can possibly be with your life? It doesn?t mean that you have to have incredible financial resources or anything like that; work with what you?ve got. Life is what you make it because one thing is for sure; we?re all going to die. [laughs]

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http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/reverb/2012/08/the_cult_ian_astbury_interview.php

The Cult's Ian Astbury: "Seattle Bands Are Like Our Cousins"

After experimenting with a variety of styles and declaring the album format dead, psychedelic hard rock band The Cult came roaring back in 2012 with Choice of Weapon, their best album in two decades and a return to the sound that initially put the band on the map in the 1980s. As part of our Tell Me About That Album series, we chatted with The Cult's singer, Ian Astbury, to dig deeper into the record, which revealed some deep ties to Seattle and its music scene, dating back to the mid-80s. The band plays the Neptune Theater tonight.
 
A few years ago you said you wouldn't make any more full-length albums because the format was dead. What changed? Public demand was one thing. The experimentation of doing these capsules, which were these EPs that we were making that contained visual elements as well as musical elements - we tried that for a while, but the problem was we became our own label, which is all well and good, but the amount of time on administration was just something we didn't want to get into. We spent more time looking at things like card stock and inks and it became really involved. We had pressure from within as well, and from our manager. And labels -- people were saying, "We love what you're doing with the capsule project, do you have plans for an album?" So I acquiesced. And the material was there so we immediately just shifted gears. We started working with Chris Goss on the capsules and the four new songs that we'd recorded become the foundation of this record. Even though those songs don't appear on Choice of Weapon they were really important in terms of putting a working template together.

Speaking of Chris Goss, he shares a producer credit on the album with Bob Rock, another hard rock heavyweight. Can you talk about selecting the two of them and how the pair divided the duties? Goss and I had been longtime friends. He worked on a solo record of mine in the late '90s and he worked on the UNKLE record in 2007. I thought we needed his energy in The Cult. Goss works more in terms of intuition. He has a presence that is almost Buddah-like. He's Dionysian. He works completely instinctively. He's a very different animal. I think a lot of the atmosphere comes from Chris. One minute we're listening to Jimmy Page, the next we're talking about [Brian Eno's] Here Come the Warm Jets. His influences are all over the shop. That was the genesis of the record. And then you get to a place where you have to make like architectural decisions -- certain harmonies or certain engineering choices. We'd kind of exhausted Chris as well so I felt like the only man who could really finish the record was Bob. Bob did four records with us. When Bob came in the room he started to work more on things like certain melodic pastures, key lines that were missing. Bob Rock's an incredible engineer, so he has all that brilliant engineering skill at his disposal. He did a lot of overdubs as well, like a piano player, which was something we'd never done before. The unrefined work was done with Chris and then the refined process was done with Bob. The interesting thing is they both have an incredible amount of mutual respect for each other. They both brought something very important to this record.

After a few albums that dabbled in different styles, Choice of Weapon is a sort of a return to the sound of your best-loved records. Was this intentional? Sometimes you've just got to try new things to realize what you're best at. Michael Jordan went a season playing baseball. You've got to try wearing a different hat for a while. It doesn't fit but there's some very valuable things in there. You really find out who you are. This is really a return to guitar-driven pieces, but having said that, there are so many influences. One thing that was really important to me is cinema - cinematic visions. "This Night in the City Forever" is a very cinematic song, or "Elemental Light." These songs have ethereal qualities, whereas "Honey from a Knife" is straight-up knife-edge, street, almost Stooges influence. There are certain esoteric elements to the record, which is one of the things about The Cult -- they can't say we're an out and out hard rock band because when we play with hard rock bands everybody looks at us and says, "What are you doing here? You're a post-modern band." We're an anomaly. We're kind of peerless in many ways right now. We had a lot in common with what was happening in Seattle and Mother Love Bone. When I met Andrew [Wood], we were immediately talking the same language. He knew the value of Joy Division and also of Freddie Mercury or Led Zeppelin or Public Image and we were able to talk on that level. Even bands like Soundgarden came out of that energy.

Do you remember the first time you played Seattle? Yeah, Capitol Theater, 1985. Or was it '86? "She Sells Sanctuary" was actually a top 40 hit in Seattle, believe it or not. Strangely enough, that period, our biggest city in the United States was Seattle. The Love album was a very important record in Seattle. Andrew Wood said to me, "Anybody who was anybody was at that show." In many ways we would say Seattle bands were like our cousins. Soundgarden brought me to an important show in Seattle with Alice in Chains and Soundgarden on the bill, I think it was 1994 Lollapalooza, and they actually brought me up to announce the band on stage. Chris [Cornell] actually walked up on stage and said, "If it wasn't for Ian Astbury there wouldn't be a Lollapalooza."

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Almost complete radio festival show from 8/19 at Colcord, CA 8/19/12

http://www.youtube.com/user/st3fanief

No lulls and no fucking around.

Setlist:
Lil' Devil
Honey From A Knife
Rain
The Wolf
The Phoenix
Fire Woman
Lucifer
Wildflower
Rise
For The Animals
She Sells Sanctuary
Love Removal Machine

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Seattle preview:

http://thesunbreak.com/2012/08/21/the-cult-sells-sanctuary-and-riffs-at-the-neptune-tonight/


The Cult Sells Sanctuary (and Riffs) at the Neptune Tonight

 by Tony Kay on August 21, 2012

The Cult thunder into the Neptune Theater tonight, and they will rock. It?s a given, what with Billy Duffy?s Hammer-of-Thor guitar riffs and Ian Astbury?s larger-than-life rock star charisma leading the way.
 
But what stands out most in my mind about ?em?way more than the nostalgia attached to their longevity (nearly thirty years in action, if you?re keeping track)?is their status as trailblazers. Don?t laugh: As far as I?m concerned, you can partially thank the veteran outfit for the way hard rock sounds today.
 
Back when The Cult started out in the early 1980s as part of Britain?s goth scene, their devotion to the Almighty Riff in all its chugging glory alienated them from their eyeliner?ed and black-hair-dyed brethren. And when frontman Astbury had the cajones to embrace his inner hippie for the band?s 1985 breakthrough album Love, the band caught major shit from the British rock press. Fans, conversely, begged to differ: The soaring brilliance of the record?s flagship single ?She Sells Sanctuary? propelled Love to the English Top Ten and inspired rabid idolatry on the stateside college charts.
 
Just when the world started to get comfortable with a pack of goth hippies, though, The Cult stripped down and cranked up, morphing into a loud, lean hard-rock band with 1987?s Rick Rubin-helmed Electric. The shift inspired even more incredulity at the time, despite the fact that Astbury?s penchant for flower-power lyrical detours stayed consistent. But the mammoth awesomeness of the resulting mix put The Cult on the top of the charts for the last half of the decade.
 
The Cult fell out of favor in the Clinton Years, toiling through a series of ho-hum records and an extended split just when other musicians started taking cues from Love and Electric. Bands like Queens of the Stone Age and Pantera proffered a style of hard rock that eased up on the wheedly guitar solos, injected traditional heavy metal with doses of psychedelia and goth, and employed singers who could sing at a lower register than metal?s customary police-siren wail. It?s easy to take such a sonic template for granted today, but The Cult were one of the few bands this side of Danzig to toy with it years before it became common musical language.
 
A lot of The Cult?s set tonight is sure to pull from their most famous ?80?s efforts, but the fact that they?re touring behind a respectable new long player, Choice of Weapon, counts as a bonus. The record strikes a nice sweet spot between Love?s psych-punk leanings and Electric?s animal crunch, vividly showcasing Astbury?s grandiose vocalizing and Duffy?s epic guitar work. Even so, it?s the band?s old goth-metal chestnuts that?ll be packing the house this evening. The Cult are still selling sanctuary, and plenty of people?yours truly included?are still ready to buy it.

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Ventura review:

Jeff Moehlis: Cult Classics in Ventura

British band rocks old and new material at the Majestic Ventura Theater

At the beginning of The Cult?s encore on Saturday night at the Majestic Ventura Theater, singer Ian Astbury declared that the band was ?officially back.? And I think that most of the fans who caught the show would have to agree.

The characteristically charismatic Astbury, in shades with hair slicked back in a ponytail and wearing a jacket that must?ve had him roasting onstage, was joined by longtime co-conspirator and riff-master Billy Duffy on guitar, plus Chris Wyse on bass guitar, John Tempesta on drums and touring guitarist Mike Dimkich. The backdrop of the show was a series of cool photographs ranging from scenes of graffiti-covered subways to classical art images.

Of course, the band played many songs from their 1980s heyday, including songs off their three ?Cult classic? albums: the pyschedelic-meets-new-wave-goth Love (?Nirvana,? ?Rain,? ?Phoenix? and ?She Sells Sanctuary?), the hard rocking monster Electric (show opener ?Lil? Devil,? ?Wild Flower? and show closer ?Love Removal Machine,? which first cracked the U.S. market for the band), and, my personal favorite of The Cult?s albums, Sonic Temple (?Fire Woman?).

The band also performed some choice selections off their new and well-received album Choice of Weapon, such as ?Honey from a Knife,? ?Lucifer? and ?The Wolf.? The latter was introduced by Astbury with the statement, ?This is about as f***ing metaphysical as it gets these days,? and has some delightfully heavy riffage that is among Duffy?s best.

The show highlight was definitely the main set closer ?She Sells Sanctuary,? which perfectly melds The Cult?s strengths into an exotic gem. This led to some mayhem in the pit, but that was all in good fun, of course. The enduring appeal of this song was apparent earlier this year when it was mashed to great effect with ?Good Feeling? by Flo Rida for a Budweiser commercial during the 2012 Super Bowl.

One downer for some unlucky attendees ? and no fault of the band ? was that shortly after the show ended, the venue stopped letting patrons into the restrooms upstairs. C?mon guys, we paid $40 to $55 each for a ticket, and then $7 to $9 for each cup of beer. Can?t you at least let people relieve themselves before they head home? I only bring this up in hopes that the venue rethinks this policy for future shows.

The Cult is riding high with a great band, a sweet new album and a rocking song catalog that continues to hold up several decades in.

Yep, The Cult is officially back, baby!

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Vancouver Review:

Commodore Review

http://www.canada.com/entertainment/mus ... story.html

First it was the Darkness. Last night it was the Cult, who brought the gospel according to Gibson to a sold-out Commodore crowd.

The U.K. quartet's ninth album, Choice of Weapon, finds the Cult receiving the best reviews in decades. It charted No. 1 in England and 15 in Canada, which was always a big market.

Co-produced by Bob Rock, who helmed the breakout Sonic Temple, the new disc also marks the first time in the group's 30-year history where no membership changes occurred between albums. Singer Ian Astbury, guitarist Billy Duffy and the rhythm section of bassist Chris Wyse and drummer John Tempesta are apparently the most stable line-up. Does it make a difference live?

They certainly slammed it with the opener "Lil' Devil," with Astbury in a fur-collared parka acting all the mystic tambourine shaker while Wyse handled the backing vocals with flair. A tour guitarist held down the extra rhythm so Duffy could go all guitar star. He looks and sounds and dresses exactly the same as he did 30 years ago. Astbury for the most part does too, save a slightly deeper range.

Oh, he still has a tendency to mumble on somewhat incoherently in expletive-laden dialogues that leave crowds slightly bewildered. Then a song such as "Fire Woman" follows -- complete with a snippet from the Guess Who's "American Woman" to start -- and it's all good.

They certainly have some classic riffs. The crowd was freaking over "Rain" from the opening chimes off Duffy's hollow body. "The Wolf" managed a Zeppelin Physical Graffiti vibe while sounding like a second part of "Rain." Good song that one.

If you liked the Cult's brand of rock and roll redux, last night reinforced why. If you were someone just checking them out, almost impossible given the crowd who knew every word and motion, you saw a solid band well aware of what it does and with full confidence in the new album.

Opening act Gloryhound can implore the house to request its new single on CFOX all it wants. But would anyone be able to tell the difference between it and all the other songs?

The quartet did nothing for me. Sad, as it was tight and energetic. Some applauded loudly. Others thought the name was Gloryhole. It happens.

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The full film clip of The Cult's "Honey from A Knife" can be viewed here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5clZblHCCk

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A cool interview from The Guardian done in Madrid a few weeks ago w/ Billy and Ian can be read here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/aug/23/the-cult-fulham-of-rock-music?CMP=twt_gu

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Vancouver Weekly review:

http://www.vancouverweekly.com/the-cult-still-recruiting-followers/

The Cult Still Recruiting Followers

The Cult at the Commodore Ballroom, August 22


It?s easy to expect a band that broke onto the airwaves almost 30 years ago to be running out of steam by this point. I?m not even 30 myself and I?m running out of steam! Last Wednesday at the Commodore, The Cult strutted onto the stage and shattered any such naive preconceptions.
 
Other than a brief lapse from 1995 to 1998, Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy have been leading The Cult since the early ?80s. Chris Wyse (bass) and John Tempesta (drums) have only been around since 2006, but six years is apparently more than enough time for these four men to meld their aspirations and talents together and achieve what I can only describe as a truly impressive and genuine cohesion.
 
The Cult walked on a bit before 10:30 p.m. and, following a Native American-themed drum-pounding intro, promptly churned out a few cuts off their latest album, Choice of Weapon (which, I must say, has unexpectedly grown on me quite a bit over the last few weeks). It was nice to see Astbury?s confidence and sense of style very much intact as he walked around his playing field with purpose, tambourine in hand, bedecked of a dark jean jacket with a huge, fur-lined hood.
 
The second song, ?For The Animals?, was a standard, straight-up rocker that found the foursome in fine rock form. Not bad ? two songs in, and seemingly clicking on all cylinders already. But don?t get too excited yet, because listen? here comes the ?Rain?. My lord I love this song. It?s not even nostalgia ? I was all of three years old when this came out. It?s just what rock should be, you know? Memorable verses, an absolutely unforgettable chorus, a rising bridge, and riffs and rhythms that all mix together to make one beast of a tune. I?ve been shouting ?Here comes the raaaiiin!? as I walk Vancouver?s streets (in various states) these last few nights. I can?t get it out of my head. If, for some reason, there were any lingering doubts about The Cult?s mojo after the first few tunes, ?Rain? put the kybosh on them. ?The Wolf? kept up the chase with its classic Cult chorus riff and verses punctuated with chunky, modern guitar.
 
By mid-set, fans were right back in the ?80s at the rock show, beer in hand, hand in air, and rock?n?roll between the ears. ?It is a fucking absolute joy and pleasure to have crossed that border,? Astbury said, as he went on to describe how Canada had over the years become a second home. The feisty Astbury went on to put some fussy fans in their place after the next tune: ?It?s a rock and roll show, you?re in the front, you?re gonna get pushed? Fuck!? He went on to explain that if you happen to get a finger in the ass in the process, consider it a bonus. Thank you? Ian? Astbury. I?m so tired of alleged ?rock? frontmen stopping shows to calm down hard rockers that are bumping around on the floor. Finally? finally, I hear a rocker tell the fans what?s what and if they can?t take the heat, they need to get the hell out. Since when is rock?n?roll supposed to be civilized?
 
The gang played a number of other new tracks (?Embers?, ?Lucifer?) which prompted an appreciative and courteous response from the crowd, never failing to throw in a classic song in there to spike the energy. Astbury prefaced ?Fire Woman? with an adlib version of a Guess Who classic/national anthem ? ?Canadian women? stay away from me?? One of these Canadian women near the front was lucky and able enough to snatch the tambourine out of the air as Ian tossed it into the crowd. She didn?t stop banging that thing until the very end. Well done, sweet soul sister.
 
The set wrapped up on a high note with ?Honey from a Knife?, a fast rocker with big riffs, handclaps, and group chants (?We got the drugs / We got the drugs / We got the drugs, the drugs in here!?), and then, finally ? sweet satisfaction ? ?She Sells Sanctuary?. I won?t bother gushing about how iconic and remarkable this song is. You know it all already. And if you don?t ? get on it, kid. This is Rock 101 kind of stuff. Astbury let his ponytailed hair down for this last one, carefully spreading his mane around his face just so, as he belted out one of the songs that defined a generation. The man?s pipes are in truly fantastic shape.
 
After a quick 60-second walk-off, the guys returned for the mandatory encore, starting off with the woefully forgettable ?Life > Death?. Astbury mentioned that this song is ?as naked as they get?; if that?s the case, they should really consider keeping their fashionable, furry denim clothing on at all times. Next!
 
That minor lowlight was quickly eclipsed by ?Spiritwalker? and its driving bass, ringing guitars and Astbury?s soulful cries; just another example of what that ?Cult sound? is ? ?She Sells Sanctuary?, ?Rain?, ?Spiritwalker?, and ?Love Removal Machine?, which they played last. For an already great show, this last tune was one of the hottest of the night, what with Duffy?s extraordinary shredding, and a pedal-to-the-metal finish which had most of us singing along ?Look out, here she comes!? The ?Machine? came to a stop and the guys gave us all a wave, much love and thanks. Astbury left the stage, but not before praising this fine city?s fine rock fans ? ?In the fucking pit! Vancouver, BC! Recognize!?
 
Before Wednesday night, I was a rather uninformed, pretty non-committal ?fan? of The Cult. By midnight, I had willingly, greedily drunk the Kool-Aid. Where have I been this whole time? Welcome to The Cult, me.
 
?Here comes the raaaiiin??