Friday, June 4, 2021

Robert Smith says The Cure have recorded two new albums

From Louder:

 As Robert Smith and Chvrches launch new collaboration How Not To Drown, Smith reveals there are two new albums from The Cure almost ready to go

Robert Smith has revealed that two new albums by The Cure have been recorded. Smith made the remarks during an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, where he was interviewed alongside Chvrches about their new collaboration, How Not To Drown, which was released yesterday.  

"Probably in about six weeks time I'll be able to say when everything's coming out and what we're doing next year and everything," said Smith. "So we were doing two albums and one of them's very, very doom and gloom and the other one isn't. And they're both very close to being done. I just have to decide who's going to mix them. That's really all I've got left to do."

In the interview, Chvrches reveal how the collaboration with Smith came about. "It was a song that we had already been writing for the record," said singer Lauren Mayberry, "and then our manager had been technically sniffing about trying to see if maybe The Cure were going to tour again and maybe we could try and get a support slot or something.

Johnny Marr on Robert Smith

Thursday, June 3, 2021

The Cure’s Robert Smith says forthcoming ‘noise album’ will be a solo release

 From NME:

The Cure frontman Robert Smith has further alluded to the release of a noise album in a new interview with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe.

Smith featured in the interview alongside CHVRCHES, having just teamed up to release the single ‘How Not To Drown’, ahead of the band’s new album ‘Screen Violence’. Speaking to Lowe, the singer said he didn’t want to release an “hour’s worth of noise” as the band’s first record in more than a decade, so it will be a solo release.

 “I’ve always wanted to do an hour’s worth of noise, and I didn’t want it… The Cure, you wait ten years and then we bring out an album that’s just noise. So it was just like, ‘No’ – that was me doing the rest of the band. That ‘no’ was a band no. So I’ve been just having fun with that really,” Smith explained.

Smith had previously spoken to NME about the so-called “hour of noise”, along with the arrival of two new Cure albums. The singer reaffirmed these two albums elsewhere in the new interview, mentioning that one record is notably darker than the other.

Smith also told Lowe that he will have more updates soon. “Probably in about six weeks’ time I’ll be able to say when everything’s coming out and what we’re doing next year and everything … We were doing two albums and one of them’s very, very doom and gloom and the other one isn’t,” he said.

“And they’re both very close to being done. I just have to decide who’s going to mix them. That’s really all I’ve got left to do.”

In addition to his collaboration with CHVRCHES, over the past year Smith has also teamed up with Gorillaz for the track ‘Strange Timez’ and Deftones for a remix of their song ‘Teenager’.

Chvrches & Robert Smith - How Not To Drown

Before the video premiere, the band held a pre-party and called Robert on the phone (the call is around 11:10 in).

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

CURÆTION-25 is now streaming

From American Songwriter:

The Cure’s acclaimed 2018 performance in London is now available to stream, exclusively with The Coda Collection, through Amazon Prime Video. The performance, titled CURÆTION-25: From There to Here | From Here to There, is a more than 2 hour performance with 28 iconic The Cure songs.

The English gothic rock band became members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. They’ve released 13 albums and over 30 singles, as well as sold over 30 million albums worldwide, making them a staple in the rock and alternative punk scenes since the ’80s. 

 The film was captured on the final night of the 2018 Meltdown Festival, which is an arts festival curated by The Cure’s frontman Robert Smith. The set spans four decades of The Cure’s albums and songs from all 13 of the band’s studio albums. From 1979 to 2018, the band first performs songs in chronological order, and then a different set in reverse chronological order, hence the performance’s fitting name.

The Cure’s Robert Smith addressed the unique nature of this set, saying, “This Meltdown performance is memorable for many reasons. The format we chose gave the band a unique opportunity to illuminate and celebrate the kaleidoscopic musical trip we are all on, in a very special venue in a very special year.”

The setlist includes hits “Just Like Heaven,” “Lovesong,” “High,” “The End Of The World” and “The Hungry Ghost.”

The Coda Collection, launched earlier this year, is a subscription streaming service (coupled with Amazon Prime Video) that shows music documentaries and concert films that explore new perspectives on music.

Lauren & Martin on how much this project meant to them

Chvrches and Robert on the Zane Lowe show