All language subtitles for The Curngs of A Lostorld
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and it's also different sequence in an
album putting an album is different to
just presenting a song to someone it's
like bide disappear yes that's the sad
part of it because in the old days we'd
have really good songs we think we use
them as bside so that it didn't you know
they weren't going to get lost whereas
now you think where's it going to go you
know
it's super are we all happy we're ready
we're ready to start it's a
r everybody everybody's pH on silent
says to
myself say action yeah
action you yeah are we good yeah all
good if you could introduce yourself
first it' be good yeah I'm Robert from
The Cure
and let's let's start at the start let's
start when did you think you sort of
officially started writing this
album
um I was thinking about this a bit
earlier I think when we first when the
band first started out and we were kind
of um doing the traditional root of
album tour album tour and and you did
have this very I had this strong idea of
like we now have to you know we're going
to write an album we're going to it was
just there it's just what we what we did
um I don't think there was really a kind
of an official beginning to this album
because it's been kind of drifting in
and out of my life for like an awful
long time I mean if I have one regret is
that I said anything at all about it in
2019 because I really shouldn't have
done um because we'd only just started
creating it um I don't know there are
various points where I thought um I
think we're going to make a new
album and then it's kind of the idea
sort of like for various reasons other
things have happened um and the idea has
been sort of pushed back so I'm not sure
but there have been definite points
along the way where I thought ah you
know this you know whether it be the
first song I think I mean key I think in
the history of the band is um if I know
what the opening song is and I know what
the the closing song is I think that's
the album's halfway done you know
they're the two that's the key to to for
an album um so I can remember those two
moments and and lyrically I can remember
a moment when I was I thinking this is
going to be we're definitely going to
make a new album but honestly in in
probably in 2016 2017 I I Was preparing
for the 40th anniversary of the band and
I thought a new album would be the way
to to um you know to to do that um and
life again kind of just like crashed
down on me and and it never got done and
it's um as things turned out it was
probably good that that I didn't do it
then because the songs that I was that
we were going to record in 2017 are not
the songs we ended up recording in 2019
so so tell me about that how come sorry
can I just interject just one thing
Robert uh your uh playing with your uh
bracelet ever so slightly there and so
just try not to
fidget
sound everybody does it um yeah it's
okay honestly do we want to run that
question again no a little bit of
bracelet noise is fine honestly be all
right yeah so that's the least of my wor
it's when I start
wheezing yeah so what was it going to be
then
tell me about this this moment that well
I I I was I felt that um we should be
kind of summing up and so I thought
we've got the the 40th anniversary of
the band happens in 2018 and the 40th
anniversary of the first album was was
2019 so I was thinking we'll do
something which kind of like sums up
what the band is and where we've got to
and it was all you know it was a grand
plan and Grand plans generally don't
work very well in my experience so um it
wasn't really being done for the right
reason Seasons it was kind of a bit
triumphal I suppose looking back and and
and the tone of it was a bit sort of
like it was wrong you know as it turned
out um what happened in 2018 was a great
way to Mark the anniversary of the band
and allowed me the time to actually
think about why we would be making a new
album and and and what happened in 2019
was much more natural and and it kind of
everything evolved out that there was no
longer this idea that we were kind of
celebrating something or marking
something it was just like a it was
becoming something it was much more more
artistic actually to be honest rather
than something that was a part of this
overall sort of idea of like here's the
Cure after 40 years like you know be
amazed so the songs were all written
over that period there was no kind of
much older songs oh no the're really old
I mean the oldest song on this album is
a the demo was done in 2010 actually
that they stretched all the way through
the bulk of them I would say
of them probably have been written since
2017 but three of them are you know
one's 2010 one's 2011 I think and one's
about 2013 or 14 so there there's so
many there's so many songs to choose
from that um I mean this is jumping
about but I mean we
recorded 25 26 songs I think in
2019 we recorded three albums in 2019
that's always been the problem because
I've tried to I've been trying to get
three albums completed cuz my idea was
like let's after waiting this long let's
just like throw out cure arms like you
know every few months
um yeah I I you know it's everything
with hindsight you think like really I
could have done that a lot better but um
it it will work out this time because
having finished this one is L and the
second one's virtually finished as well
the third one is a bit more difficult
because
um yeah if we get that far after you
know she talking about the Third
see what I mean so I can't help
myself yeah this is going to be one of
my questions about like that kind of
process if there's like a whole Spate of
demos that get worked on simultaneously
or like specific songs get finished
before you move to the next one how does
the kind of but I guess it's everything
it yeah I mean probably since the um in
the in the early part of the band so
like the first 15 years of the band the
writing was pretty much it was all me I
mean it was just and
everyone you know I was more like I
conducted everyone I showed them what
they should be playing and and everyone
interpreted it and then I say no or yes
less often yes um and Simon would often
join in and and and he'd give you know
there's always a great Simon song on on
the early albums um sometimes more than
one to be honest and but really it was I
was just writing and writing and writing
and that's sort of what I did but
the in the latter half of the band's
career I've been I have said to the
others you know if you've got something
play it to me and like if if I like it
we'll do it you know and often some of
the weird stuff that we do isn't me at
all it's like it's one of the others you
know because I think well that's really
I would never have written that so I
always write the words but the but
musically some sometimes you know Roger
comes or Perry or and say you know I
don't think it suits us but what do you
think and I'll think that's great you
know it's like let's do you know like
some of the like the jazz songs and
stuff on wild Ms and and it forces me to
write and know lyrically writing a
different way singing a different way
and the band it becomes better for it
you know we it expands in in ways which
I wouldn't have otherwise imagined if it
was entirely left down to me I think we
would be a much less interesting band um
but when push comes to shove it I have
to be able to write I have to be able to
sing it you know we're not an
instrumental band so that's really you
know once it gets past that point and
I've written something and I sing it
then you know the so the process has
opened up over the years but um with
this particular album they were all they
were songs that I had written they were
all my demos and and I didn't you know
and everyone kind of understood that we
we got together in 2017 and I talked
through what went to it at that point
everyone was giving me stuff and we we
had this like I was saying earlier this
plan of but by 2019 I had focused in on
a group of songs that I had written over
the previous 10 years and I thought this
this is actually what I want to focus on
I want you know if we just get one album
out of this and then I'll engage with
the others to do what you know what they
want so we ended up in 2019 recording
all the songs were recorded were my with
my songs were my demos so which is
really unusual hasn't happened for a
very long time um so it's a strength in
one way because that there is a sort of
a there's a cohesion to the songs which
I think would otherwise not be there
which is really the thing that I Most
Wanted about the album was for I wanted
it to feel like it was a a thing so some
cure albums have have had have been
thematically kind of you know they
they're very they kind of put together
in a certain way albums like um
disintegration or pornography these
albums that BL flows they they they have
an atmosphere that you know other cure
albums like the Kiss Me album or wild
Mings or a much more kind of like you
know scaton and like they're
um I prefer the ones that are
thematically you know the the progress
through and have an
atmosphere I like us doing the other
stuff but I really I I I I just engaged
more with the stuff that's got more of
an emotional core I think so I wanted
that this album to to be one of those
kind of albums and it helped that I was
writing all the music as well as it was
because the cohesion was there anyway so
um but yeah it's it's a it's a been a
strange and protracted process because
from from recording 2019 it's like 5
years later and like the first album
comes out you know first new album's out
it's it's slightly bewildering if I'm
honest
that's but there's this lovely thing
where where you're touring on the 22 23
shows over 90 dates you played six songs
six brand new songs so those songs have
sort of seeped into the audience's
Consciousness I mean did that did
playing the live shape
then yeah it has that has been strange
we've done that a few times over the
over the years um particularly in the
early days funny enough when I'd be
writing we'd be writing songs as a band
and playing them and I'd be just having
a couple of beers and going out the
stage and just singing Whatever came
into my head a lot of bands do that
whether they admit to it or not um and
sometimes you think you know i' I'd get
them to record out front and i' I'd
listen back and I'd think that's really
that's a really good line you know some
of the songs from 17 seconds were
written like that some of the faith
songs were written like that
um but as you as you become
more popular and the audiences get
bigger you're less inclined to go out on
stage and just like you know jibber
jabber into the mic um it takes more
than a couple of
beers I'm not sure
um that I you know playing the the songs
be we'd already recorded them and I'd
already sung the songs so we knew what
we were doing so they were actually like
within cure world the new songs were
were part of the repertoire and that
this is what we were going to play
and it was weird going out because I
thought right will I get better at this
will the songs develop will they become
something else having already done
vocals actually to of of the so five of
them are on the album of the six that we
did and of those three of them I thought
I won't get any better than that because
the vocals were very raw they were like
they were written and sung and they were
kind of that's in a in a genuine genuine
emotional state and I thought you know
but it's one of those strange things
with with songs when you record a song
it almost by it becomes the defining
version you know that's and sometimes
it's it's um it's a bit of a millstone
you know because you you record stuff in
the studio and you you've
never often you know in the in the early
days I'd be writing songs and the sing
of First Take and that's it and then you
go out and like in a year later you
listen back and you think really you
know it's like there awful um so this
allowed me to to to sing you know like
night after night the these songs and
also more importantly I think to gauge
the audience's reaction and to see how
far I could push it like emotionally
like vocally and and the band also like
you know really grew into the songs we
were playing the songs a lot better than
when we recorded them I have to admit
and we did redo quite a bit of a Simon I
think re replayed everything actually
and um and Reeves I spent a few more
days with Reeves doing other things
because he was suddenly playing stuff on
stage Reeves is a kind of guitarist like
if he's got people in front of him he
plays in in a totally different way than
in the studio he's like much more
expansive and and reacts to to the live
environment um so capturing that was was
important um but as it turned out at the
end of it I did I did after the European
leg of the tour I did reing everything
at home I did all vocal at home and I I
reang everything
um and I when we came to mix the album I
preferred the original vocal on all of
them because there's something about
them that was that was
um very like I said earlier just raw it
just like I I I think I sang them better
Some Nights on tour and I think some of
the defining versions of those songs
actually happened live but it it seemed
wrong somehow to go back and meddle
with what I'd already done I don't know
it's it's a it's it's the live versions
are there you know bootleg bootleg B I
think in history but um so all those
versions are out there so I thought this
version you know particularly of of
alone the opening song and end song um
and I can never say goodbye that those
three songs in particular I I didn't
even though I felt like I was singing
them better whatever that means after
the tour they didn't have that something
that the original vocals that I did had
you know I don't know
so it's the weird thing is it's almost
like after you done it once everything
else is a cover version of the first
version you've done sort of it almost
always is which is why it's strange that
we were able to have this option to to
play it like over and over and over and
then and then I still ended up you know
like like preferring the the first
version I I did changed some of the
songs um after the tour weirdly enough
some of the songs that we didn't play
because I realized why we hadn't
included all the songs into the into the
repertoire and I looked at the you know
then the three the three other songs
that are on the album
um were changed because of of the five
songs that we that we have been playing
and the sixth song that we did will be
on the next one so it's um yeah it's an
interesting process it's also strange
that it's a new album but but cure fans
kind of know more than half the album
which is that's that's odd in itself
that's quite cool yeah as a as a side
point because you did the Roy Festival
Hall in
2015 and played two songs that haven't
made the record but I presume they're
going to be finding their home yes they
um um they they were quite old then I
mean they I think we recorded them
originally
in in for the 413 dream album 20 2007 I
think
2008 um we have since re-recorded those
and a couple of others from that session
and some others from SE from The Cure
session before that and actually a song
from The Wish Album sessions in 91 so um
yeah I haven't been afraid of going back
and and using stuff that didn't seem to
work at the time and and using what I
know now to actually turn them into
because sometimes if if you've
got there's lots of things make a you
know a good song and and you know Melody
is is obviously pretty key and it for us
as a band and there are songs that have
been left behind I think it's such a
great Melody such a good cool
progression stuff but I haven't managed
to understand what the song is I haven't
been able to write for it or I haven't
been able to sing it or there's just the
wrong Tempo something about it just
doesn't work hasn't fit at the time
doesn't fit with the other songs so I I
I spent um some of lockdown when I was
actually focused a little bit on on what
on the fact that I was in a band which I
forgot for most of it um to revisit all
these old you know in fact their old
cassette tapes and stuff and transfer
everything and listen to stuff and came
up with some you know and I've been
doing that with the remastering of all
the UR albums I've come across some some
things so we went and recorded quite a
few things so the things we did at the
the two songs there were part of that as
well we've re-recorded those um one of
them we've been playing live quite a lot
actually um it can never be the same
which was called Christmas without you
when we first did it um and that's goes
down really well it's a really you know
it's it's a lovely song to play and it's
it's a powerful song to sing um so that
will be out on probably on the next one
um yeah this is oasis is it like the
next out when they talk about
the next Al's much better than this um
so yeah so there's a big poll of songs
and and but as I was saying before that
we started um filming the
the I I was imagining this this album
songs were lost was going to be very
much um everything was going to be
relentlessly downbeat that was sort of
my idea for for the album
and a few people who I trust listened to
it and said you know that it's the the
songs individually are really really
good but it's it's too much we can't you
know you can't expect people to listen
to this much Doom and Gloom it just
doesn't work you know you need something
else in there so um so a couple of the
songs which I really do love were kind
of like knocked off and a couple of
songs brought in which I didn't think
would work at all and yet and I actually
streamlined the whole thing took it was
originally 13 songs
um and now it's like eight and it's it's
a much better record for it because it
has a bit of light and dark and it's
also it's um I mean most people have
heard up to this point want to hear it
again that's the first time in a long
time that anyone said that about Cur
album because they've been too long you
know it's like our shows it's like it
took me to doing a 4H hour plus show to
suddenly realized that we were probably
playing for too long
it's it's it just takes me a little bit
longer to to realize than the people
around me what was the track that was
there a track that you finished that
kind of unlocked the record that kind of
like when when you had it down you're
okay now I feel like I know the the
maybe the identity of the whole record
because this this song has kind of
pointed the way unlock the door yeah as
I said earlier the the the opening and
closing songs those those two songs
they're always key in every cure album
they're always the key to to the album
and I remember I discovered or actually
I rediscovered a poem by um Ernest dson
an English poet who who um it's called
dregs and I've got a book and I I jot
down you know over the years things that
like I think that's interesting like
it's not some of it's just like you know
couplet some of it's like rhyme some of
its words that I look this word up you
know it's just a general sort of it's
not a journal it's it's a lot of it's
gobbley go you know it's not it travels
with me and and there's more than one
book actually to be honest and you know
I'm outside in the dark actually like
and you know scribbling most of it's
illegible to be honest and and and a lot
of It's Just Junk but occasionally I'll
turn a page and there'll be something
and I think oh that's great and I'd
actually transcribed this poem I don't
know when um and and I I was struggling
to find the right imagery for for the
opening song for alone and I had some of
the stuff in it and I kind of knew what
I wanted and I and and this poem the
opening line I thought that's it you
know so I I didn't Nick it I was
inspired by it I mean it just the the
idea of um because it was in the back of
my mind I was thinking I've read this
somewhere that that every song we sing
like we we're alone however much we you
know ultimately we're alone and um but
however I was writing it it wasn't
poetic and sudden I discovered this I
thought that's it that's that's what's
been bugging me so that was a moment
when I sudden cuz I knew what the song
was supposed to be about and end song I
wrote it just in one night and it was
actually in 2019 um because the album
The Sessions were called live from the
Moon it was actually called life
transmission one was the first session
transmission 2 is the second session it
was um because it was the the 50th
anniversary of Apollo 11 the lunar
Landings and and I was actually outside
and I was remembering back to you know I
was I think I was um 10 years old and I
was in the backyard with my dad and I
was I I remembered you know the feeling
of like really you know I didn't believe
him I didn't actually believe there was
a man on the moon but um and I was and I
thought here I am still stargazing you
know and I'm still kind of like I I do
believe man walked on the moon I'm not
so I don't think it was done in a studio
next door um but just the idea of how
the world seemed to stall at that moment
in a in a strange way you know I kind of
grew up like in the The Glorious 30
years from like the end of the second
World obviously I wasn't born until 59
but the world that I was born into was
getting incrementally better every year
every year it just seemed that the world
was on an upward trajectory and and the
moon landing was part of that and and it
around that time I turned 1675 and it
seemed like the world sort of like
stalled and then has been traveling down
ever since and I mean that's the core
that's the Beating Heart of the of the
album of the songs of were lost world
that
is the lost world and I realized when I
wrote the you know I just wrote that in
one go outside like this is how I feel
about you know the young me where did it
go sort of thing it's
um at that moment I thought well that's
that's the end I've got the end song I
got the opening song you know so it was
a I think those two moments put together
and both happened in 2019 I sort of knew
that that you know which is probably why
I started blathering about the album to
people we've got a new album we've got a
new album when in fact we had like 26
pieces of music and two songs so I was
being slightly disingenuous but I I did
it in good faith I thought it might
motivate me to kind you know once it's
like when you make a promise in public
it becomes more difficult to break it
and I thought you know as it turns out
I've eventually you know finally got
there but it's just taken a lot longer
for various reasons um yeah we're
talking about lockdown how did it how
did that impact you and impact the
record or did it just serve as a did it
do well things I don't know how was it
how was it for you down
um yeah strange I again with hindai I
feel I could have utilized lockdown I
could have finished everything really
you know it was like 18 months pretty
much um over a 2-year period where very
little went on you know we we couldn't
do anything you know a lot the time you
you couldn't see anyone do you couldn't
leave your
home um I was in a very privileged
position where i' I've got enough room
at home for me to think like well I you
know I'm not crowded on top of other
people and it's so and we live in a
reasonably remote area so it wasn't too
fussed about
um you know walking out the gate I
didn't think I was going to be
immediately arrested I wasn't doing a
Boris Johnson but you know and in fact I
after a while I because I was in a
privileged position I actually relished
the um certain aspects of lockdown I
loved the fact there were no planes in
the sky it was [ __ ] great and the
birds were singing a lot more I mean
everything
was sort of reverting back again into
this like it felt like an old world and
it's like um I'm I I've never had a
smartphone and there's only one thing in
the house that connects to the internet
and if the lids shut the the house is
like you know we're disconnected we're
not off the grid but um I was oblivious
to like so and I actually really loved
it you know I said to you earlier
there's a part of me that really
actually enjoys solitude it's a strange
occupation for someone who enjoy Sol
because a lot of it is actually you know
um so I I liked the idea of of not
having to do I didn't get dressed very
often you know some weeks I was just
wandering around I did this I did a few
things um I think in the first lock down
called which end up being called
Barefoot sessions I did some stuff from
home of just playing some old songs and
I didn't even realize that I wasn't
dressed I mean it was actually quite a
you know in a funny way I like because
it went out online and um saying he's
not wearing any shoes or socks and I
thought am I not and that was like that
was the thing oh he's got he's got feet
you
know um so yeah it it changed I almost
took a step outside of myself as
thinking about because I did a lot lot
of things that were nothing to do with
with what I do as you know my my I don't
really have a normal life I suppose I I
but I kind of stepped out of me through
lockdown and I did stuff I read all of
John larro's Books the whole irra in one
go stuff like that I thought you know I
never thought I'd have time to do any of
these things I read War and Peace you
know I never honestly thought I everyone
say they going to read war in peace I
read it it's like um what's it like is
any good uh I think it's one of those
books I I realized that big big famous
books like that um you've invested so
much time and effort into getting to the
end that you have to say it's good I
mean honestly I I it was it's well
written is me going to critique war and
P this is going to be great um I didn't
enjoy it that much actually to be honest
I I didn't because I wasn't really very
sympathetic to any of the characters in
it I didn't really see the point it's
very of its time it's very mannered it's
like a lot of historical literature
where you just think for [ __ ] sake
just say something you know like because
it's all to do with like you know social
Moors and and and and it's very hard to
to to sort of take them seriously like
with a lot of that kind of literature
you just think just speak up man you
know it's like um and then I embarked on
reading you know on on the back of of of
this stuff I was reading a lot of books
that meant a lot to me when I was
younger to see if they had the same
resonance so I read an all probably you
know 100 plus books in in the first year
lockdown what I did I listened to vast
amounts of music I just had I thought
right it was almost like an extended
holiday the Dark Side of is it meanwhile
like um all all my remaining aunts and
uncles died um in Care Homes and you
know my cousins I mean everyone that I
knew was was kind of dealing with with
this sort of awful reality of like not
being able to my mom and dad had already
died and and so I didn't have to go
through that I think it would have I
would have had a completely different
experience if I had seen them in in the
situations that many of the people that
that I know were were were not able to
go and engage with their own families I
mean it was really awful after the event
you know when I start of talk to people
it dawned to me the reality of lockdown
for most people wasn't it wasn't a good
thing you know I mean I don't think it
was a good thing cuz people would die I
was aware of it but I mean just on a
personal level for me it was just about
quiet and Solitude you know it was very
very selfish lockdown if you like was
like which is the spirit of lockdown in
the way I I would um I was relieved it
came to an end [ __ ] h i did grow
tired of it I must um doing the thing
that I did with the church churches in
particular and we did the thing with
gorillas and it was like the first thing
the first time I've been out you know
like for for months and it was really
weird how desocialized everyone was it's
the mask covered up this fact that like
behind the mask you kind of gning
because you weren't quite sure how to
compose your face in front of other
people so it was very very odd it took
quite a while actually to to get back
into some Seance of normal all this sort
like St you know even now people stand
slightly further apart than they used to
and like and there's a this like very
slight hesitation in shaking people's
hands and stuff it's all minimal things
but it it was an enormous thing looking
back and and um and as you were saying
earlier it seems to almost like it's a a
mass forgetting of what it really was
and I always think of it in my own mind
when I'm trying to piece together from
2019 through to now it's all sort of
it's kind of quite blurry smeared sort
of memories of like what happened then
the only defining thing for me is
actually I got um I got shingles in my
face at one point um and I got it
because the the bloke who treated me
said it goes it's chickenpox basically
and i' had it as a kid and it the virus
stays in you and it's most of the times
it's triggered by stressed and he said
are you stressed off I'm actually not I
feel more relaxed than I've felt with my
20 OD years um and he said oh have you
been out in the sun Aline I said yeah I
have been out in some much much more
than I normally would and he said it's
it's that sun sunlight can trigger
Jingles I so yeah I had all this my
entire face I look like Elephant Man for
a brief period of like postulating s war
and things so that was um I can remember
that that there's a before shingles an
after for me so cuz it it [ __ ]
hurts so the album songs of L world I
mean it it it deals with some with some
dark themes and you've talked about
experiencing loss during the creation of
the records I mean how was it going
through those experiences then putting
that down capturing that yeah it's one
of the I mean
our songs have always had that element
of of um you know a fear of mortality I
suppose one of a better way of putting
it this always been there since I was
young I mean I've kind of wrestled with
it since I was pretty like 8 years old I
think um but as you get older it becomes
more real and and all all of us you know
the circle of people the band and my
most of the people that it's kind of
like know um socially we're all growing
older at the same rate give or take
um and death and dying becomes more you
know more every day unfortunately and
it's some it's something you so it be
when you're younger it's a kind you
romanticize it even without knowing it
you romanticize it all and it's a and
then it starts happening to people like
you know your immediate family and and
and friends
and suddenly it's a it's a th it's a
different thing and it was that really
and it's something that I struggled with
lyrically was to how to put this into
the songs because I feel like I am a
different person than I was when we last
made an album you know and I wanted to I
wanted that to come through I think I'm
um yeah and and and I struggled a lot
with the right tone of like I can never
say goodbye was about my brother dying
it was trying to achieve the right
balance
between like the outpouring that I had
after the event and and just trying to
take the right part of that and put it
into a song you know some of the
versions of that I that I did were so
overr you know I thought they were great
and then i' I'd play them they like you
know you
can't it's too you know it's too much
you can't you can't do that and I
realized I couldn't doing that song Live
sometimes it would actually there was
the one it would really kind of break me
up and and it was very difficult to um
to to not go over the top um but yeah I
mean that that that was been true for
all for me trying to write the words to
all of the new songs is just trying to
have the right sort of tone and trying
to reflect the fact I mean I don't feel
my age at all but I'm aware of you know
I turned 65 this year it's like for
[ __ ] sake I'm 65 so um I want to be
aware of that I want to reflect that in
the songs I want to reflect the fact
that I am where I am and that the things
that matter to me now aren't the things
that mattered to me like 20 years ago
and it's
um yeah and so in some way it constrains
me it has constrained but I think in a
good way I think it sto it stopped me
from um straying too far from you know I
want the songs to mean something I
suppose what I'm saying whereas in the
past I wasn't really that bothered there
have been big periods of the of The
Cure's history where some of the songs
mattered and some of them didn't on this
album they all matter you know so it's
cuz I realiz I haven't got that many
more albums although I've got another
two kind of not that many more I how did
it how did it change you doing this
record cuz like we're not the same
person going into a record as we are
coming out of record or any kind of
artistic Endeavor it's byid of doing it
it changes you how did this record
change you it does but it's very because
of the way that it's been done it's kind
of incremental and so I think that it's
more I I was ready to make the record
before we made it whereas of often I
know what you mean often in the past
there's something and particularly if
you if you make an album then you go and
tour it at the end of that
period That's how I Define my adult life
is by albums and tours you know I mean
in some ways it's it's great because I
can actually place things you know I'm
there's lots of photographs and stuff
and I can I can place where I was what I
was doing who I was you know by songs
it's it's strange even when I'm on stage
and I'm singing songs live it takes me
back you know for that three or four
minutes I can go back to where I was
when I when I did the song it's an odd
sensation I think with with this album I
was kind of ready I I felt like I'd
already made it in a funny way it it
just came out of me because I was
already there you know so it the change
that happened to me I think between the
last it was the 10 years that we'd spent
as a band kind of like playing that's
the period I changed through I think we
got to 2019 I I think I pinned so much
on 2018 as an anniversary year that I
think once it was gone I I was it was
that that changed me I was sort of like
it's all behind me and I thought every
moment from this point on is pretty much
above bonus you know cuz I I thought
that the high part show would be it I
thought that that was the end of the
Cure I went into it thinking that that
that's you know I didn't plan it but I
had a sneaky feeling that this was going
to be it um and it was only because it
was such a great day in such a great
response and I enjoyed it so much and
like we suddenly got a flood of offers
to headline every European Festival you
know every every Maj glur came do you
want to play glast like you know I
thought well maybe it's not the right
time to stop but I wasn't stopping
because I was sort of like thought I
don't want to do it anymore I just
thought it'd be a nice time to stop and
it allows me a few years while I'm still
kind of like you know able to do
something else I can go and do something
else and and and really um I wasn't that
bothered funny enough I thought that's
it I've kind of because I'd i' I'd
arranged everything to end in 2018 so
when we got to 2019 I sort of felt
really
relieved like we we did it so it's I've
had a very different Outlook to
everything actually since since 2019 I
see it the world in you know and because
everyone that died that pretty much
everyone that died that meant something
to me died prior to
2019 um it just I felt like this you
know I've got to make the most of this
it's like you know it's so it's kind of
like the freedom of splitting up but
then not actually having to split up
yeah in a strange way I mean 2019 was
the culmination of all that we had a
fantastic year playing festivals and
then um I want because then I started to
work on the songs and I knew that we
needed to expand the band in order to do
justice to him live we Perry came back
into the band and and since then we you
know there like another kind of version
of The Cure's gone out and played stuff
so yeah I mean it's it's a strange sort
of sense of of us evolving or just just
changing but very slowly it's not really
like a like we've made the album oh it's
like a you know it it it's just
gradually sort of like turning into
something else all the time so when we
next play it will become something else
again you know so I'm I look forward to
to it it's a a blessing because I find
it very hard to live in the moment I
think that's another thing about
lockdown that I enjoyed I actually found
myself spending the day just not
thinking about anything to do with
tomorrow it was like very unusual for me
because I'm normally kind of always
thinking ahead to like what's what comes
next um and I've fallen back into that
way of thinking unfortunately I haven't
managed to retain the the lockdown sort
of like you know today the only day has
ever been sort of thing um which is what
one of the songs was about was like
trying to to retain that sense of of
self just existing In This Moment not
yesterday and not tomorrow but but
now tell me a bit about that was a
rambling answer that's why we needed two
hours
it um tell me a bit about the artwork
tell me a bit about the sculpture where
that comes from and why that was chosen
uh this is an U story actually I don't
have many of these but um I was given a
book um this particular book
of
um Slovenian sculpture and it was a
signed book by um the one of the sculpts
in it Janes Pat his name and
uh this was like in January 21 and I was
I was I was doing all this I was
clearing stuff out and I came across
this book and I thought I've never even
opened this book so it's just full of
photographic plates of of sculptures and
I was looking through it and I saw this
photo of this this head it was kind of
like it's sculpted it's emerging from
from rock or it's embedded in rock or
it's kind of a and there's something
about I thought that that's it that's
the album cover I don't know why it just
like struck me I thought it's like this
is it's things that just sort of happen
you think that's it you know that's the
image I want I don't know why and and so
I thought I better find out if he'll let
me use it so I open the lid up I went
online I looked him up and he died that
day Anis P had actually died the day I
looked and I'm not I don't normally buy
into this you know like oh it was meant
to be um but it was a very strange
coincidence so which cemented the idea
thought that is it you know that this
has got to be the this has got to be the
album cover um so I got I got in touch
with this Widow eventually and like and
actually ended up with the with the
sculpture itself I now have the
sculpture at home which is really is
fantastic sculpture um so yeah it just
that that was it there was no other you
know I didn't know anything about it
just it arrived that and that was it it
just yeah I don't know and yet people
that see it and then and hear the the
few people that have seen it and hear
and have heard the album think it works
as well there's a connection it's you
know I think it's because of it's the
Lost World it just looks like something
it's obviously taken a lot of you know
it's done by hand obviously and it's
taken a lot of work a lot of care a lot
of thought and it's just um it's a
beautiful object and it's just I don't
know just resonates with me I don't know
it's it's beautiful it's kind of Jacob
steiny kind of thing really yeah it's
work um cure album artwork usually
includes a few lines by famous poet yeah
this time the words from a poem when I
have fears that I may cease to
be yeah why why do I do that uh I to put
me in my place in case I'm getting like
to Grand ideas of like of of where I
stand in the scheme of things um I don't
you know I was thinking about this as
well but I don't really enjoy a lot of
poetry I'm not kind of person like I'll
settle back and read a book of poetry I
I find most poetry really tedious um but
when I come across something that works
I I I'm in I've always been really
intrigued by how a great piece of poetry
can make you feel something and you
can't put your finger in it that's for
me is the mark of a great poem it's like
you don't really know why you're
reacting the way you're reacting it's
like great music so it's exactly the
same emotional response and and I'm
always striving to do that with just
like with one line or a series of lines
just to just to try and get that kind of
emotional response you know in in a song
it's a slightly different thing because
you obviously you're you're trying to
marry words of music and you're trying
to create a hole when you're writing
words to a song it's not really like
writing poetry but there is an element
of poetry to the best lyric writing you
know it's um it's a blurred boundary
between the two um and I just again
going back to my like you know notebooks
with a junk it's there's lots of se you
know fragments of of poems that have
really moved me over the years and and
generally they're the ones that end up
on on cure album covers that I'll think
I know what this you know this reminds
me of and it'll be you know I think we
used a tennis in one on the last album
and I think a words was before that so
they're traditional you know they're
English poets in the main and um
yeah I don't sort of like s you know I'm
not sitting there reading poetry by
candle light I wish I was something but
no I I just I I like the the fact that
it can conjure up an emotion I think
with that set of of lines it's sort of
the breath before you listen you you
start listening to the album it kind of
sets you up and you read that and then
you start listening to the album it kind
of puts you in the right frame of mind I
suppose that's what I do when it was
done when it was sequenced and mixed and
mastered and you sat down and you
thought and you listened to it and you
were able to kind of you know final
brush strok so I'm going to step away
from the painting I'm not going to put
any more on it or take any more away and
I'm this is it and you listen to it tell
me about CU that's that's the big it's
kind of letting go tell me about yes how
did it feel that was actually here that
was in Abby Road it was the in the the
um because the final part of it was
doing the atmos mix you know the big
cound mix and I did that here over a
couple of days and that was the very
last part of it because it was after
that you can't really change anything I
had been changing things the vyl mixes
ever slightly different to the digital
and the CD mixes I still going home and
like and change stuff cuz I mixed it at
home so but when I came here it was the
final part of it was was the atmosph and
I'd had to pay really close to attention
to everything in the
songs and I hadn't really done that when
we were recording them it's different
you kind of almost putting it all apart
to see which bit goes where and if you
really want it to go anywhere or if you
want it all to stay down the front or
like and it was actually sitting here
and I sat on my own and listen when we'
done it and listened I listened back to
it and and in the mid you know and it
was that moment I thought it's it's done
you know um a mixture of enormous
relief uh having actually finished it um
and also I I really like it I think it's
a really it's a really good album I mean
I'm not again I'm going to sound like
racist it's not as good as the next one
but I'm I'm pleased I I my original
ideas for for what it was going to be
I'm glad that I was flexible enough to
change that kind of Midstream and to
turn it into something which is it's a
much more engaging piece of work I think
it's sequenced in such a way that I
think you it kind of takes you somewhere
you end up at like you know it's just
about 50 minutes long and I think you
end up somewhere different than when
where you started out and hopefully it's
a it's a you know people will react to
it the few people that have heard it so
far have which I'm really it's very
gratifying having spent the time with it
that I have to suddenly let other people
listen to it you know it's a strange
thing it's always it's always a weird
moment when suddenly people start
listening to what you've been doing cuz
you can't help but like I mean why
bother unless you want people to like it
I ha people that say it's a kind of faux
Artistry when you think I'm just doing
it for myself I mean you're really not
you don't make records for yourself it's
like you you can sit home and strumble
acoustic guitar and sing for yourself
but you don't bother going through all
this and like making an album unless you
want people to really like it and so
um yeah I think it's it's turned it's
turned out really well it's
great when can we expect to see the Cure
on stage then I presume the intention is
to take it out
um yeah I we'll we'll be playing I think
we'll be playing an album show this year
but um yeah we'll start up again next
year doing I mean I I still have to I
seriously I have to finish the second
half so we were going to play festivals
next year but I just a couple of weeks
ago I decided that we wouldn't play
anything next summer so then next time
we go out on stage will be Autumn next
year but then we'll probably be playing
quite regularly through until the next
anniversary the 2028 which is my it's
just like looming on the horizon the the
2018 one I to think about late 2016 I
thought I've got a year and a half it's
it's easy and I still didn't manage to
get there in time so now I'm starting to
think right like 2028 I must start to
get things in order so um the
documentary film and various other
things like so I am actually still now
thinking about 2028 is as been I I I'm
70 in 2029 and that's like the 50th
anniversary of the first cure album and
that's it that really is it if I make it
that far that's it um so in the
intervening time I'd like us to to you
i' would like to include playing
concerts as part of the overall plan of
what we're going to do cuz I've loved it
the last 10 years of playing shows have
been the the best 10 years of being in
the band I've absolutely you know it's
it it pisses all over the the other 30
God years it's been great that's kind of
cool yeah I mean it's for not having a
new album you know for for all that
period of time from you know and read
joining the band and actually the makeup
of the band being allowed you know
allowing me allowing us to actually
we've played I know
1340 different songs because we're
playing we've just turned into like a
live band that that draws on the catalog
so we can go out and play shows and we
can play two nights of three hours a
night and play completely different
songs both nights know it's there's a
freedom of which any band you know I
mean if you've got a good catalog you
can do it but the pressures are always
there this Insidious sort of pressure to
you know
and 2008 when we did the last album
that's we didn't we were out of contract
for the first time since the first album
we didn't have a record label and I
didn't sign this to anyone so for 10
years I could wake up in the morning
think this is what I'm going to do and I
didn't have to consult with anyone I
just so i' just tell the others this is
what we're going to do and and we do it
so there was an enormous Freedom um and
great joy actually in just going out and
playing music and i' not that I'd
forgotten it I don't think I'd ever had
it like I I'm going to take it for
granted and I think meltdown made me
realize I shouldn't really take it for
granted okay am I back in the right
place yeah looks sort of technically
technically yeah sorry could
just thank you okay I mean you touched
on this before but over the past decade
you've mentioned all these different
projects there's 146 dream live in Paris
South America Tour film cure
documentary Pope any of these things
looking like they're going to happen
they they all stall for different
reasons
um most of them will get completed the
the South American tour film that we
made we we took Tim with us to South
America I mean it was utter chaos and
some of the footage is really funny and
the shows were good um but they didn't
seem any point to it I sort of started
watching it all back and I thought why
would we make a film about this it
didn't but it's there you know and
similarly 2008 we actually did finish a
film that we made in Paris of the band
but um that was probably the worst and
most acrimonious disintegration of any
versions of the Cure and I really
couldn't be bothered for you know it
just needed tweaking and finishing off
and mix the Final Mix and stuff and I
just couldn't be bothered and then I we
moved on and I've never really gone back
to it which is a shame because I suppose
time has kind of softened my um anger
and it's a it will probably emerge at
some point I suppose be after I've died
I don't know but um and the Tim pooke
the document thing with sorry
documentary thing with Tim Pope
um that will definitely happen yeah
that's like an ongoing thing it's it's
it's the preliminary stuff all the
digitizing and all the and and once we
do it it will be done really quick but I
mean essentially it's my um perspective
on everything that I've done with the
band so I'm you know I've been hanging
fire really um well everyone
else makes their version of events
public I I'm I've just waited and so
it's just seems so for me that if if I
do get to the 50th Anniversary that that
will be the summing up of of really
essentially what I've done with my life
I suppose but
um yeah things that I don't normally
talk about and stuff that you know
footage and and recordings and things
that wouldn't otherwise see the light of
days so if you're interested in the band
it will be interesting it's a historical
kind of piece you know it's not really
um it's not going to be salacious in any
way but I but it will be uh revealing I
again because we're in AB Road I love
the thing like the Beatles thing you
know lots of people plan it way too long
you know I it's great I wished it was
like another 10 hours it's like you know
so you either like that kind of thing
you don't
so the thing I'm doing with Tim is more
kind of that it's more like an overview
for me of what it was like to be in the
band rather than like to here's what we
did here's what we did it's like this is
what it meant you know is that the
perspective is slightly different so um
I mean I'm enjoying the preliminary
stuff I'm enjoying like digging through
stuff and and and and realizing what was
important to me and what wasn't you know
and what I thought was important and
what really isn't um so yeah I mean that
that'll definitely get done there there
are a lot of outstanding projects and
I'm I sometimes I you know I've I've
actually got like two lots of shelves
with like labels on like you know and
posted notes get this done and it's like
a really you
know so like in terms of other stuff
you've done in recent years you've
worked with churches uh gorillas couple
the Twilight sad remix No Gallagher like
tell me a bit about what you get out of
those that collaboration process working
with different people yeah they they're
quite random I mean I get um a
reasonable number of requests through
um in in an average year to do things
get involved with you know producing or
or whatever sometimes I do things like
not publicly just like I'll I'll comment
on on you know if it's like a younger
artist younger band like what I you know
offer an opinion um for what you know
but actually collaborating and getting
involved you know in something which is
going to be for public consumption it's
very um I don't know if there's any
really any good reason I just sort of
think that would be be good you know
there's no I I don't have a manager we
don't have management and and we haven't
had it like I said we haven't had a
label so something just you know it
appeals to me I did the thing with um
with chino from the death tones like
recently and it's just because he just
sent me the chat said you fancy like you
can s what you want I thought it's great
I loved it you know um I
Pro I'm kind of
picky um in what I do or I don't do but
I think that um if I'm sent something
and I'd like it then just do it I don't
really think I will this further their
career or mine I just think this would
be really you know I was surprised you
know when like when Daman asked me to do
gorillas I was genuinely surprised that
they asked me but it was great you know
I hadn't um spoken to him for you know I
don't even know how long um and it was
just really nice to be part of that for
a brief period it was a really enjoyable
experience um and simly like being asked
to
remix um one of the old songs you know
like you know I didn't know he was a
cure fan i' I'd seen him you know we
we've bumped into him over the years at
festivals and stuff and and the crew
always say to me no G was watching him
the
side where else you going to go on a
festival like with the headline band
everyone ends up on the side of the
stage um but yeah you know so that was a
nice surprise
and yeah I probably should have done
more if I'm honest I should probably
have used my time you know but often I
think really once I get involved with it
I think I really want it to be great and
I'm not always sure that I can bring to
someone else's project what they think I
I'm going to bring so I often just
decline because I I'm never I you know
there is a part of me that worries that
it's not going to be like they want it
to be it's not going to be as good as
they think it's going to be and so I
think it's better just to remain like
shadowy figure and know it could have
been great but you know so have you got
any more collaborations planned or any
more kind of work I do actually have one
coming up yeah I won't say what it is
cuz they want it to be a surprise but
yeah there is one in in the offing but
um but now I'm more immersed in this
back into cure world as well so um but
yeah I you know I I I like it just makes
me step into someone else's world that's
how I feel it's like I'm drawn into
someone else's sphere and it's like um
it's just nice engaging with with people
who who do what I do and just see how
they do it's just it's it's kind of it's
interesting and and generally people are
you know everyone's really nice and it's
it's a it's a good experience often I
turn things down and then Afters I think
why did I say no you know that's the
downside to it but
um were there any when you were like
look back and you were gener like that
if I should have done that
one um no because at the time when I've
turned things down with hindsight as
with always with highight you think it
could have made that work but at the
time I knew that it wasn't the right
thing to do a lot of what these things
that um if you don't have label and
management you're entirely working on
Instinct you just kind of think like all
or whether you think you'll enjoy it or
not um and some sometimes I suppose I've
second guessed myself and and then I
think I probably could have made it well
probably would have been good F if I
just know but at the time you think oh
there is a sort of element of self-doubt
that Creeps in particularly when you
being asked to do something with someone
who you know is really really good you
know and you think I'm actually not as
good as you think I am it's so I'm not
fishing you know it's it's a genuine
concern I I'm when I started singing and
I first Steeps on stage I I never
thought I'd I would sing I sang like one
song because I because I just wanted to
see what it was like at the very first
show we did and and I hated it you know
and I became the singer by default
because we went through a number of
singers who were all absolutely really
Dreadful um and I thought well I'll I'll
do it until we can find someone cuz I
didn't want to not play I just thought
we unless we start playing and we got
played to people so I became the singer
and then I just ended up being the
singer and it's always
um it's intrigued me as because it made
me start to think how I could be better
as a singer and how I should present
myself and all that sort of stuff but Al
also you you can't make people like you
you can't make people like your voice
it's one of those weird things that and
I was thinking whether it's sometimes
you fall in love with someone's voice
when they're singing you don't know
anything about them you can hear a voice
and think God that's that's fantastic I
love that voice for me it's like hearing
Nick Drake when I was about 10 years old
I didn't know anything about Nick Drake
my brother played this album I thought
what you know I didn't think what a
great voice there was something about it
I was like absolutely entranced by it
and all through my life I've like
wondered about what the the marriage
between when you know someone you know
something about them whether you're
projecting something onto an artist when
you listen to them or whether you
genuinely know who that person is or you
think you know who they are and and so
you're listening so it doesn't really
matter you know some people do really
well and they got terrible voices some
singers got awful in my opinion really
[ __ ] awful voices but they're great
and I love them other people are
technically brilliant and I [ __ ] hate
them you know so there's something about
the human voice that's like it's not
like any other instrument and it's a
it's a it's a thing it's always kind of
um I think about from time to time it's
like why I've ended up being able to
sing to people when I don't again I'm
not being funny I'm technically I'm a
very um I can sing in a certain way but
that's kind of it you know I'm not I
haven't got a particularly um you know
voice of every oh you know he's got a
five otive ranges but there's something
about that that draws people in I'm able
to emotionally connect when I sing with
people and it's like if I wasn't able to
do that I wouldn't be doing it you know
I wouldn't be able to be doing it so
many people I know who have tried to you
know who are really otherwise great are
the great musicians they step in front
of a mic and start to sing you think oh
no no don't you know and yet they can
hold the note they can pitch they can
breathe it's like it's um it's one of
those those strange things said that
I've yeah I've been very lucky in that
because if if people didn't kind of
engage with me as as a singer we we
wouldn't really I wouldn't have that
much of a career to honest because I
don't practice guitar enough to be a
guitarist questions from different areas
now do you still follow QPR do you still
follow Queens part
rers I fell out of love with football
about 10 years ago I come um I don't
know just I don't know lots of silly
little reasons it just
each season become more and more
predictable more tedious I don't support
anyone else I just don't I don't really
bother with football any um anymore I
mean you know I went I met Stan BS he he
was doing um uh sort of meet and greet
at at Rangers the last time I went to a
football match I went out for a curry
with him which was one the highlight of
my life cuz he was my idol when I was
when I was a kid um but no I don't know
I mean football was sort of it was
different I suppose when I fell in love
with football when it was just a it was
a completely different thing I it sounds
like it's really kagin is it but it it
was just it it's it was more it was
about other stuff I think you know I
mean going to football matches in the
70s was a kind of it was a bit of a
right of passage really and it was a it
was a different experience entirely and
the footballers themselves were funnier
you know they were in the pub before the
game at QPR I mean it was just it was a
different again it was a different world
it's just very corporate it start with
football's just all about kind of you
know I mean it's about hair and I mean I
say hair and tattoos but it's like and
it's just about selling stuff everything
is about like branding and about um you
know sponsorship and and
betting it just doesn't it doesn't move
me like it used to I suppose I I you
know I I followed I I still watch um the
euros and the World Cup and I watched I
hosted a a Euro's final
night watched England I watched every
game watch like you stumble into the
final I was the only person drinking
Spanish beer at the at the final and I
was the only one smiling at the end as
well yeah so I'm a foot I am in so at
heart I am still a football fan because
I Spain were the best team in the
competition they should have won the
competition they won the competition I
was happy I've fallen out in love with
International football for the same
reason that I've fallen out out in love
with a lot of international sport
because like the you either like buy
into the idea that it's like it's my
country against your country or you
don't and if you do it's my country
against your country it's kind of like
inherently stupid I appreciate that I
mean you know and it go it flies in the
face of everything I believe in like you
know like we're all on the same Planet
but if there are members of a of a
national team that that have you know
barely even been to the country they're
playing for it makes it like goes into
the Absurd and so I've really fallen out
of love with International football
because I think like it's you know any
of the latest game that was on I think
like they you know he actually had the
goal the commentators like they used to
be Irish but now they're English and I'm
thinking this is really quite surreal
you know I've had so many arguments over
the years about about how you know you
should qualify to for for an
international team looking back there
quite funny always drunken and always
you know like but what about if you're
born in international War you know one
of those sort of arguments
but um something I want to ask you about
so during the North American leg of the
shows of LOF world to you very vocal
about giving fans like a really fair
deal on tickets and merchandise you know
I guess that's something that's always
been been really important to you that
kind of cause yeah keeping control over
prices has always been has played a part
ever since we um so we we we moved away
from
ition which had been our label since the
beginning in 2000 with the blood flows
album that was the last album we did
with them and up to then we'd always had
like a a support structure of a of a you
know an independent label attached to
affiliated with you know the UN what's
now the universal group um and I used to
leave a lot of it you know I used to
delegate and just say comes with the
headline stuff you know and I'm not
going to but after that I started to get
more involved also realized I didn't
know as much as I should know about what
the industry that I was in and The Wider
world that it existed in and you know
and so I started to learn about how it
all kind of like how it worked and
um I was shocked actually at how much
profit is made on everything it's it's
absolutely astonishing so I thought well
we don't need to make all this money on
everything everything doesn't have to
make this much money is like it was a
really simple kind of like and that
still it drove us through with with
everything and I've all my fights with
you know with through through the
ensuing 10 years with the label was
always about like how we could price
things lower because I I always thought
well we have longevity if we're good
enough and if we're good enough that's
up to me and if we haven't got longevity
why would I you know that's the only
reason why you'd be charging more
because you're worried that it's the
last time you're going to be able to
sell a t-shirt you know it's like if you
don't have the self-belief that you're
still going to be here in a year's time
you want the show to be great because
you want those people to come back you
don't want to charge1 as charge as much
as the market will let you you know
because that's you can squeeze everyone
just it sits really you know it doesn't
sit well with me at all and so it
reached a point now I'm pretty much
doing everything myself because I know
you
know it's easier for me to just to say
yes or no because I know how it all
works I say like don't be ridiculous
like I know how much it costs to do that
we're not charging that so it was very
easy just to set ticket prices it's
still a battle I you still have to spend
an awful lot of time because the other
side will try and wear you down they
have teams of people telling you why
your idea is a bad idea so you have to
kind of be very you know be quite
resilient pigheaded there are people who
would say that um
and you know it I also realized I'm like
with the Ticket Master thing that
happened in in um on the American tour
on that leg it's not it wasn't really
about Ticket Master I mean it's it's the
system you know it's you take a step
back you're working in a capitalist
system but it's essentially that Ticket
Master have shareholders that they're
legally obliged to make as much money as
they can if they don't they'll go that
you know some well they won't end up in
sh no one ever does but um that's what
they're there for if it wasn't them it
would be someone else that's the way the
system works so what pissed me off most
was that I had spent an awful lot of
time ensuring that we were selling like
$25 tickets because I wanted younger
people to be able to afford to come and
see us um and then they were loading
those tickets they were charging more in
fees and more like and and all this
other stuff so we we didn't allow
Dynamic pricing because it is a scam you
know and and every artist could just say
I don't want that and it would disappear
but but you know most artists hide
behind management so we didn't know any
we didn't know it was going on the fees
side of things I was saying you know I
was saying I want the fees included in
the ticket price I want a $25 ticket to
cost $25 and yeah yeah of course you do
of course you do yeah so then when it
first they started rolling out the
tickets and then said like $25 and by
the time someone get reached his
checkout it's like
$57.50 you're thinking like where the
[ __ ] is all this where are these fees
going so there then I'm on the phone to
the broker runs Ticket Master and he's
like oh Robert you know this is like you
know summon us to up the building the
car I said look if all this is true and
they why don't you just tell people what
the fees are for put it on the front of
the website say like you're going to pay
$25 for the ticket that's what the band
are charging and we're going to charge
you $27.50 to you know to sweep the car
par and see what happened you know so in
the end I managed to wear them down I
managed you know because I they they
they really did piss me off because at
first they weren't taking me seriously
and it's like you know it just drove me
crazy so it takes an awful lot to get me
angry and I did get really really angry
so then I said like you have to re start
reimbursing people they're like what and
they did you know it cost them quite a
few million dollars in the end but um
but I wasn't thinking like his me up
against Ticket Master I was thinking
like I was just pissed off that actually
the thing that came out of it I was
pissed off that no one no one apart from
Neil Young had had either the the
inclination the courage or whatever to
stand up and say yeah actually this is
this is a Fair Point that he's making no
one of all the like the major and they
all know what's going on and anyone that
says they don't they're lying they're
are [ __ ] stupid or they're lying um
it's it's just driven by greed but it's
it's the system system you know it's
like you're up against something where
you everything's monetized I mean that's
like my lost world is like you know it's
a kind of a it's seeing the
world know historic through rose-colored
spectrals to some degree but there was a
time when not everything you know the
goal to privatization stuff we're moving
into very sensitive areas but it's like
it it's it's Madness it really is I mean
that's the reason why the world is kind
of Fallen apart is because is you know
is greed inequality Mone ation it's just
it's insane so in my own small corner of
the world I was like you know you won't
this won't happen to us so it's um yeah
but we're selling T-shirts how can you
sell a t-shirt for $20 like half of that
profit I mean we're making we sold 10
times as much stuff I'm like reducing
the prices all the time $15 and we sell
100 times more t-shirts and I I'm saying
to people look we reduced everything
down so that there was barely any profit
on any of the stuff we're selling
and we still made so much money we sold
so much stuff it's like we just do the
same everyone's happy we're happy we're
sending loads of stuff loads of people
wearing t-shirts we're making money off
them loads of people wearing t-shirts
cuz loads of people could afford to buy
them you know it's people saved money on
the tickets so they bought Birch or they
bought beer I mean it doesn't really
matter what they're spending on it's
like there's Goodwill the shows are
fantastic people if we went and do you
know we go back and play the same shows
people are going to come and see us
again it's like so it's a self-filling
good vibe you know and I don't
understand why more people don't do it
it's just it's either laziness I I say
of stupidity or greed it has to be one
of those three things there is no other
reason let's do uh a little bit on each
of the songs just so we know kind of
where each the songs of the record are
coming from so should we start with
alone if you could if you could give us
the title of the song and just
Yeah It's Tricky talking about the songs
individually because the I think as I
said before we started that that I
lyrically I spent a lot of time on them
trying to make them making them less
obtuse than I normally would I spent
more time put the other way I trying to
make it very obvious what I was singing
about there's not very much ltitude for
misinterpretation on the on the songs on
the album I think alone like again like
I said earlier was was
was I had written most of it but I was
waiting for like in the back of my mind
I had this this um this line about um
and it was an Earnest dson poem called
dregs and it was about we we toast with
bitter dregs and I was thinking like
where where is that from where have I
read that from and I was actually and I
was outside like
and two or three of the songs were all
written in the same place um outside I
spend spend quite a lot of time out
wandering around outside in the dark
that is something I do which is in
character I don't R by can like but I do
wander around I'd love you I've got a
telescope I'd love being outside and
looking at at the sky and um and usually
there's a fire going and there was a
when the fire dies down and the stars
blink out and Dawn arrives there is a
feeling like ah the night's gone you
know I've always felt that from being
young it's like there's a certain the
sun that's comeing up for most people
it's like oh the sun's coming up for me
it's like oh the stars are
disappearing it's um it's not you know
it's and it was that I wanted to capture
that feeling of like of being feeling
very very solitary there is a moment
when that happens that you suddenly
realize it's getting light you feel
incredibly like um vulnerable and alone
and that was really what the song was
was trying to just like get that that
feeling of being just like you know born
alone and dying alone it's a it's a it's
a it's
trite which is obviously always with a
lot of this stuff a lot of the stuff I'm
trying to
write it's your it's a balancing act
where you don't kind of like Tipple over
into like oh really you know we're all
going to die surprised me you know it's
it's it's trying to sort of dig into the
that and getting some kind of like
emotional connection of like what you're
really feeling it's like but essentially
the songs you know do Doom and Gloom is
is just his fear of death it's that
simple I mean everything's fear of death
pretty much that's greed Fe of death
love comes into it somewhere um [ __ ] me
I'm simple AR I um
uh and nothing is forever if you could
name the song and nothing is forever it
was um about a promise that I made to
someone who was very ill that I would I
would be with them when they died it was
that it's that simple
um and I
wasn't and because I wasn't I wrote the
song which is small compensation for me
in my darker moments but I wasn't able
to be with the p with the person for for
for what were good reasons but um it
still it upset me
cuz you can imagine it's like you make a
promise to something it's it's not good
to break promises so yeah the song was
just an attempt for me to um I suppose
reconcile myself with with something
that had happened there's nothing I can
do to change it so I thought perhaps by
memorializing it it would somehow make
it easier for me to deal with but is it
it was emotional singing it on
stage
um yeah I think yeah the the person who
the song's about would would
be would be happy with the
song I
think a fragile thing once again if you
could know a fragile thing is um it's a
it's the love song I think on on the
album and but it's not really a love
song and way the love songs a love song
it's about love and and and how love is
kind of like the
most enduring of emotions I think it's
the most powerful emotion and it's and
it's incredibly resilient and yet at the
same time incredibly
fragile it doesn't that's paradoxical I
know it doesn't really make much sense
but I think you know what I mean it's
like it can it's you feel sometimes
you're in danger of destroying something
and yet you kind of know it can't be
destroyed it's I don't know it's a I
struggled with that song to try and it
was actually originally it was called
kill the sun and it was a very different
song and it was a um and it mutated into
this this song which was very specific
to me I suppose but I'm hoping that it
resonates with other people because it's
is a universal theme again I was trying
to keep the album on universal theme so
even though most of the songs are very
personal that they they are they're not
exclusive they're not things that only
happen to me so um yeah I me FR I think
it's it's I suppose within that it's how
you can not live up to the person that
you really think you should be I think
that's part that that drove me to write
the song a disappointment in myself I
think was at the heart of
it thank you we
good once again if you could give the
title for us War
song war song
um was a song it's it's a generalized
song I suppose about so it's we're born
to war again it's a it's a kind of
it's I sadly as I've grown older I've
started to believe it more I was I was
brought up to believe in the best in to
believe that people are generally good
and less proofed otherwise and um it's
hard to maintain that
through as you grow older because
there's so much evidence points in the
opposite direction and um just you know
how I think the world is kind of spiral
downward like I was saying earlier and
it's like that we almost like it's
always sort of people always fighting
each other for like absolutely nothing
it's so it's so ridiculous and and it
just feels like that you know you you
can you know at a certain age males in
particular will just like want to fight
it's just because we're basically
because we're monkeys you know it's like
it's just what we do but it's weird how
it's it's part it's just become the norm
it's just like you kind of live with it
it's like there's always war going stuff
and and and then on a on a personal
level it's also it's about someone in
particular that I fell out with who I
shouldn't have fallen out with who I was
who over the decades I've I've I've kind
of fallen out with and made up with
fallen out with made up with and it's
just St to think like it's weird because
like everyone has those relationships
where you can't ever sort of like Get
rid of the person or really ever want to
get rid of them but you know that you're
just going to r with them or just argue
about it's it's strange and it's like
but that's well okay I kind of quite
like I liked it and the original version
of the song was about that and then I
expanded it into the idea actually what
I'm doing with this person is really
what everyone on a grand scale
everyone's like and there's no reason
why I'm doing it it's just you know for
the same reason that people are like are
just fighting each other for absolutely
light and that was you know and at the
end of it everything's the same it's
like except a few million people are
dead it's it doesn't make any sense it's
um so it's a bit of a dismal song war
song probably I in my mind the most
dismal song on the album actually great
guitar
solo uh track five drone no
drone yeah drone no drone was
um I think that's it's a strange song
again it had there two there were two
versions of it the original version was
a
um someone sent a drone over our house
and I was outside and it really upset me
um
cuz in my
pants not just for that reason but um I
thought it's like I hate this you know
this is the it's kind of was the modern
world here we go again it's like why
would you send a drone over like to see
what what I'm doing outside the back of
my house it's like really pissed me off
um and that this song but then it
mutated into this of like a completely
sort of like a weird there is there is a
connection in my own mind and I kind of
like if if I read it through I could I
could say where the connection is but it
ended up being about me coming to terms
with my reaction to it of of how I'm
kind of like becoming an old grouch you
know and and it's again very easy to tip
over into like oh the fund me memories
of of a world that I think is is rapidly
disappearing or has already disappeared
which has happened to everyone in
history you know it's like it's like I
don't thankfully I'm not like oh music
in my day was I still I actually think
music my day was better but um I'm not
going to like you know I know too many
younger people who I can who are
coherently arguing that their music is
is as good if not bad and I realize that
it's what means most to you is what what
good means but I I I'm aware that some
of my reactions to to the modern world
are a bit extreme you know I'm like for
[ __ ] I mean I'm tell you know I don't
believe
it I'm in danger of that sometimes you
know um and so Dron OJ was was really
about like me coming to terms with the
the end of what has been a you know a
chaotic life at times and me thinking
all that do I have the the the drive and
the persistence to continue like can I
step back out can I walk out the front
door again and continue doing this and
it's um yeah I mean I can and I and I
will I do um but there are moments that
I think oh you know I just really don't
want to turn that I just let's leave the
front door shut let's just go back
upstairs I just I think there'll be
enough in there but there was a bit of
chair creaking oh that's right yeah yeah
will think it's my
prosthetic track six I can never say
goodbye title the answer again yes I can
never say goodbye it is um there was
when when my older brother Richard died
obviously affected me a lot because he
kind of brought me up he T taught me
everything really when I was younger
um I there was an enormous outpouring of
know emotion which was like words music
and just general sort of you painting
even you know I started I was just I I
needed to somehow get what I was feeling
out of me I couldn't stand what I was
feeling and um and I I wrote this song A
lot of different ways as well um until I
hit on the just it's a very simple um
Narrative of actually what happened
on the night he died so it it went all
around the houses I went everywhere with
this song to try and um sum up how I
felt and and in the end it just turned
into like a a reasonably Bleak little
vignette so it's a I think it's it's
also I wanted the music on on on the
song I think the music was more I wrote
the song about it and the music itself
was what I wanted to breathe so I I kind
of like was aware of that so some of the
I didn't want the words to dominate the
song in a way that sometimes what you
can dominate a song the music just
becomes like a a backdrop to what you're
singing in this song I think that the
music is more important than what I'm
singing in a way it's kind of you know
so
um yeah it's again it's a very difficult
song to sing live but um but great you
know people say cathartic too much but
it's a it it was has allowed me to to
deal with it all and I feel much more
comfortable with it all than than I than
I did and I think it's helped me
enormously to you know it's
beautiful yeah
thanks track seven all I ever
am yeah all I ever am is is a probably
the it's the hardest song in a way to
explain because it's
um it's it's essentially it's it's about
the P this is going to sound so this is
private eye stuff
I think of a way to put this without
appearing in in that
um it's about how you how you remain
yourself but not in the sense I don't
want to change it's like it's the
Persistence of of of
um of being through time you know what I
mean it's like how how we you know so
when you look back at yourself and and
like if you see a photo or something and
you think that's me like so prior to
like maybe like the last 150 years and
people thought back of themselves I I I
think they must have thought their
memories must have been firstperson
memories about where they were that what
they were doing and I think with the
Advent of of um photography and that the
your memories become the third person
you see yourself like and and then film
like now [ __ ] knows you know because if
anyone ever watches what they film I
don't know but your memories are sort of
of so my memories of me being young are
formed by home cine films and and
pictures in photo albums and so I kind
of I don't really engage with what I and
I realized I don't and I've written a
song about a song called Lost which is
about the same kind of feeling when I'm
thinking like that was that isn't me
though and then it's even not me five
years ago I'm thinking how how is that
me when I did that you know it's not a
way to like absorb yourself of like you
know think that wasn't me you know Al
plays some part in it think I can't
believe that you know that really wasn't
me it's the Persistence of of of being
and and in fact that that of course it's
you you know that is you that's who you
are now it's it's it's there it's part
of you it's in there and it it was me
trying to understand whether I believe
that or not so the Tong's kind of like
it's slightly ambivalent as to whether I
do you know whether I can genuinely feel
me at this moment is all the M that's
ever been or whether I think me at this
moment is is nothing to do with the all
me so I mean I know in my head that of
course I'm the sum of all the parts but
in sometimes I don't believe it I just
cannot accept it so it's it's a strange
feeling of dissociation from myself and
it was that I was trying to put in the
song and I don't I'm not alone in it
because when I've talked to about it
with people like most people seem to
have it to some degree there feeling
somehow think something's not quite
right whether it be you think you're
going to get your life over again or
with there are various ways that you
kind of get this sense that things
aren't quite as they as they seem
and it was that that sort of
uncomfortable feeling that um maybe I'm
not who I think I
am it's yeah it's an odd song actually
and and took me that's took the longest
for me to be happy with with with it and
I'm still not quite sure when I read it
cuz I've done it in such a way that it's
it's actually quite hard to one of those
this is like War and Peace again it's
just like a very very long sentence you
think like how did it start it's got
like three double negatives in it it's
like what does he mean so it's a it's a
yeah
it's it makes sense to me kind of it's
like that SL but when I was talking to
someone that knows about these things we
talking about memory and I assume that
memory was like a fing cavity you bring
out the pitch and you remember you don't
you you when you think of something you
re imagine it every time you think of it
so your memories and slightly change it
are being not only you're drawing them
again every time but everything that's
happened to you and doing to you is
changing the way you draw that memory so
you are changing your own path
yeah that's what I mean it's like a
feedback loop because because you are
the sum of your memories but at the same
time your memories themselves are being
changed by who you are yeah I know I
mean it's that it's all it's that and
also it's like the Persistence of being
it's like um of you know I I I can't
remember the title of the book which set
me off down this train of thought um
there's a very particular book um
arguing that we're not that we don't
persist through time you know it's it
was a philosophical that it was rubbish
it was a great book and made me think
but at the end of it I'm like you know
it's one of those the arguments I used
to have in the band like you know you
know and you always used to with someone
like punching you in the head and say
that was real you know and most
philosophical arguments I've ever had
end up with someone punching me in the
head and saying that was real
but um and the final the song at the end
end song yeah end song was um
as I said at the beginning I was me
looking back at at the moon landings and
and thinking you know where did it all
go and that's say that's the line in the
song it's like
um and and book ends with alone they the
the themes are the same and I wanted
them to kind of echo each other and in
fact there is a the the song That's
supposed to end the album after end song
which much as we do be disintegration
which ends with disintegration to all
intense purposes but then has homesick
and Untitled and Untitled for was always
the end song on on disintegration for
most people they think it's
disintegration but it's Untitled and I
wrote this song called um bodium sky and
in fact the word the lyrics are actually
on one of the vinyl versions I think um
and that right up until the end that was
going to be the last song and then right
at the very end I took it off
and it's it's a kind of um it answers
the the the where it all gone in endong
um and it's it was kind of an up it's
just me and an acoustic guitar very sort
of hippie end and in the end that's
probably what what put me off it because
it seemed a bit self-indulging but it's
a lovely little song and it and it it
did do something and it's it kind of
lifted you up after you know but that
that was when the album was much more
intense and didn't have drone no drone
in it and it didn't have
um I don't think it had all over am in
it either it was much more lowkey and
much more you know and this was just
like a little spark of light right at
the very end a little twinkle um and I
didn't think it needed once I put those
two songs into the album I thought
actually we don't need this song at the
end so we'll probably redo it as a band
and have that on the next one but um
yeah I end song I suppose you know the
clues in the
title but it uh yeah it was just me
wondering it kind of Carries On from
what we just saying about um all I over
am because I was thinking like who am I
still
you know I feel the same looking up at
the Moon as I did when I was 10 but I'm
not the same as I was when I was 10 and
yet I kind of am
so the moon's pretty much the
same
um not far now not long to go um this is
a question I'm looking forward to asking
you what are your 10 favorite Cure songs
and why off the top of your head yeah I
mean there's no such thing as there is
like my 10 very c songs it would change
if I start if I answered now I'll change
my mind halfway through it's
um um I I when I think about what we've
done I suppose if if I was to answer the
question honestly and if I picked a song
from each album it would proba it would
reflect the songs that I would like to
have written for this album so you know
I I I'm not going to say love cats
because that's not really kind of how I
feel but I think the fact that I wrote
love cats is great great and I'm really
you know I think well that's that's an
unusual song to have written at the age
that I wasn't it's um I I would pick
song so I would pick three imaginary
boys the title track of the first album
would be a song I'd be happy with now
it's still kind of resonates with me I
think um at night from 17 seconds for
the same reason we play that a lot live
I think it has the same kind of mood as
this album it would fit quite happily on
this album I think Faith the title track
from faith
I it was always been a song that I feel
when I wrote that I can remember
thinking ah I can write songs it was
actually the first song I I was really
really proud of and it's there's not
much to it and yet there's something
about it which I was just it was
everything I wanted it to be I could
have given up actually when I wrote
faith I thought that's it I provve to
myself I can do it um I
think what on the pornography album I'm
not sure actually if there cold probably
is because we've been playing that a lot
live in the last few years that would
fit on this album mood-wise and
musically um this is going to be
difficult for me to the top album um I
think the probably the title track the
top I think that's that would kind of
fit that's a weird song it's strange
sort of mood um sinking from the head in
the door again bit of Doom and Gloom but
it's kind of couched in a more sort the
whole album's a bit more sort of like
bright and Breezy than than this that
we've done um
if only tonight we could sleep would be
the song from The Kiss Me album because
that's another song we've played live
quite a bit over the last few years and
has a lovely kind of mood to it when
it's played well um disintegration it
would be Untitled actually the the
because it's one of my favorite that is
one of my favorite K songs um I like I
like that I didn't title it I it's
really stupid but I had the courage to
not bother thinking of a title
um uh what comes after that wish album
to wish impossible things actually is
one of my favorite that's another one of
my favorite C we never play that I don't
know why i' be there if we play that but
that would fit happily on or unhappily
on this album um wild M wild M next oh
God this is difficult one I'd have to
say from Wild M no treasure actually
treasure would be a great song to fit on
this cuz that's about loss that was
inspired by Christina Rosetti P another
one that's inspired by some else's words
um last day of summer from blood flow
cuz we played that quite a lot over the
last few years and that's become a
favorite um I was never quite sure about
it as a song but I think it is it is a
good song um now it gets tricky The Cure
album I know
uh my probably my least favorite album
that we've that we've made so I'm not
really I don't I don't like some of it's
the only album I don't really think
works actually I like before three I
think it's a good song that would that
would probably work um and then 413
dream uh Hungry Ghost CU I just think I
think it is a really good song I think
that that's it wouldn't fit on this
album but I do like it I think it's a
good it's it's about how um people are
consumed by wanting more and more and
more including me and um it it I just
think it's a good song Words of Music
work really well I think that's it I
think that's all the Cure albums I lost
God dear me that's all that's it for
me it's my entire light like flashing
before me I'm going to ke over in a
second um just couple more questions um
the question was going to be like what
are your sort of favorite songs by other
people but maybe we could tether it to
this album are there things that maybe
you listening to or things that maybe
feel like I can see how I'm not yeah I
can't do another 13 songs by other
people like this is really beond me um
songs that spring to mind that would
would probably inform me as a as a as a
writer or as a musician or um would be
referring back to Nick Drake again it
would be like um th has told me which
was the song I was on a sampler it was
on an island record sampler called nice
enough to eat I first heard ni Drake
that song it stuck with me all my life
it's like his voice the way he plays the
Simplicity of what he does and yeah it's
incredibly difficult impossible to
replicate like if you can play anywhere
near what Nick Drake play on the guitar
you're a good guitarist you're better
than good guitarist um and beautiful
words really simple the way he delivers
him it's all very heartfelt very
emotional it connects and I just you
I've always loved him as an artist um
Jimmy
Hendricks informs everything I've ever
done just because I always wanted to be
him when I was a kid I didn't know
anything about him I didn't I didn't
know he was black I didn't know he was
American I didn't really know he was a
guitarist I just thought it was a poster
of my my brother's W with Jimmy hendri I
thought I'd like to be Jimmy
hendris that that would be really good
fun I mean I was that's you know I was
in school being told what to wear so
being Jimmy Hendricks was a great option
um janisan
um that album you know te sympathy or
song like that would be the sort of mood
and emotion I'd be trying to capture on
this album or Joan armor trading love
and affection all the I'm going back to
old stuff but so this is my Lost World
stuff um yeah Bowie obviously always
informs everything I ever do I was kind
you know what would David do but yeah a
song like young uh not Young Americans
Life on Mars actually would be that's a
song huge impact on me it's like you
know um the way it was although you know
it's kind of nicked a little bit
structurally and stuff but the way it's
put together and the way it's delivered
again it's just it's perfect um yeah I
mean I could actually go on buy me a
drink I a CH night about song like like
um yeah they're all there they're all
there you know I
I the the music that you listen to when
you're there a certain period of
everyone's life I think the music that
you listen to during that particular
period sort of like around about 13
usually maybe a bit earlier up to about
sort of 17 sometimes a little bit
further on they're the songs that I
think that you know if you turn into a
creative person later in life or even at
that point they're the songs that that's
the music that informs you you can pick
other things up along the way I've you
know I've fell in love with M and I've
loved them ever since and there there
are lots of other bands as well but the
the resonance that you get the emotional
attachment that you have to songs that
you hear when you're at that particular
you know you you discover sort of your
own music you discover books for
yourself all those things matter so much
more that um than they should really cuz
rereading Rel listening I mean I'm lucky
that the things that I liked when I was
young musically I still like I you know
I I think I was right in my appraisal of
most artists and most music it sounds
bigheaded but I think I was right about
most people I kind of got the sense of
who was who was good and who wasn't not
so much with literature I think I'm I
stumbled a little bit around some of the
books that I thought were great and and
I've reread and I don't think they're
that good at all again going right back
to the start I feel like shaking some of
the protagonist in the books that I
really like some of the cathus like just
get up and leave you know it's like so I
think in that I realize that I have
changed but but it's that's more to do
with just like you know it's growing
older and and having agency which is I
think a lot of the stuff that appeals to
you when you're at a young age is
because you have no power and you invest
That Into You Know into objects and and
other and works of art and music and
stuff so but it does it it has a hold on
you that like like that and it never
lets go which if youve you know if
you've been exposed to and you fall in
love with the right things it's great
cuz you can fall back on them they're
always there
so total tangent just cuz we're doing
something about them were you talk talk
fan I wasn't I see that's a band I
admire what they did and I was always
aware that what they did was really good
but I never fell in love with them but
it was too late by then there I was a
competitor you know I mean when you
start in a band I mean whatever anyone
says you are very competitive you have
to be you know it's like you have to
believe that you're better than everyone
else otherwise you you you fall by the
wayside there is that sort of horrible
determination that you have to have
which most people don't sort of
acknowledge because most people want to
be artistic but you do have to like
think ah you know they're [ __ ]
rubbish and you even saying anything you
know they're really not they're probably
better than us but you can't say it I
someone showed me yesterday that I said
about um Joy Division that they using me
that they're doing that New Order thing
like New Order Joy Division thing and
I'm apparently in it saying like d
pissed all over us and they supported us
at the market which they did you know
but like probably shouldn't I shouldn't
have said
it I mean had had I done nothing in the
interfering period I would think why did
you say that like you were
headlining what's the best thing about
being Robert Smith right now well apart
from this from this right been know to
like you walk into Abby Road
um I'm I have have led a very privileged
life I can't believe how lucky I've been
um yeah I I am say in all sincer I I
find it astonishing that I've I've had
the life that I've had and I I suppose
the fact that I'm still upright is
actually the best thing about being me
because there have been points in my
life and I I honestly didn't think I'd
hit 30 you know or then 40 and then 50
so it's like it's nice to still be
reasonably my mind functions not quite
as I have the same kind of like acity
that I used to have but I'm able to
enjoy stuff um I'm much more relaxed
than I used to be um I think I'm easy
much much easier to get on with than I
used to be I know I am because people
smile at me a lot more than they used to
uh yeah it's good I um you know I'm I'm
lucky and I've have people around me I I
enjoy you know and and I'm able to do
something which I always wanted to do
and I'm still able to do it I mean that
probably is that that's the best thing
about being me I I'm I'm still doing
what I've always wanted to do so that
19y old boy in the
Cure still here we are that's yeah and
funny enough
that voice never leaves me that's all I
always always it's it's the yardstick
that I still use it's like what would I
have thought when I was a punk still
that informs like you know the Ticket
Master stuff and everything it's like
come on you know like I mean I've said
it a few times about going to a Bowie
show and like we buying the tickets on
the back market slepping up to London
like it cost I didn't have any money and
like and he played for like 42 minutes
or something I was like no you know you
I was right at the back of CAU I thought
it's taken me like five [ __ ] hours to
get in this seat and you finished and
like there's no on it's like ah so part
of like like if you ever do this don't
ever do that you know and even though he
was my my my hear I thought you know
come on if you knew all these people
idolize you and they could you know it's
not enough and so I've always um
probably too much you know maybe why we
play too long a lot of the time but um I
always feel that voice saying remember
you know remember that feeling of you
know so it's there and the decisions
that I make are still informed by this
sort of like pretty naive 19y old voice
which is good I think it's a good thing
I I I would hate to um to feel like I I
wasn't able to justify myself to that
19y
old I think yes interesting that that
punk part of that punk thing is still
yeah yeah that doesn't leave you I don't
think but that's not really about the
you know it's it's either you're either
like that or you're not it's a it's a
thing it's it's a character
thing yeah it's been good to speak you
that's been yeah very interesting thank
you very much I feel almost socialized
at the end
it um that's all our questions I don't
if there's anything I don't think if
there's anything we've covered
everything