Saturday, May 23, 2026

Tim on Jools confirmed

Date confirmed. Tim Pope will be on Later...with Jools Holland on May 31st.

Friday, May 22, 2026

Disintegration 33 1/3 book in Oct

From 33 1/3 books:

World Goth Day feels like the perfect time to tell you about a book we're extremely excited to publish in our series. 🖤 

Coming October 1st 2026, Andi Harriman's book on The Cure's Disintegration begs the question: why should an album make you feel good?

Elbow’s Guy Garvey talks “wonderful man” Robert Smith

From NME:

As for what it felt like to be hand-selected by The Cure frontman to take part in the 2025 edition, Garvey told NME: “If Robert Smith gives you a call, you better get there! He’s a wonderful man, and we’ve wanted to support the Teenage Cancer Trust for years, so it was a really great opportunity.”

When asked if it was the ‘Just Like Heaven’ singer who reached out to invite them to the event, Garvey replied: “Yeah, it’s him direct. He does everything! Even if you get sneaky tickets to a Cure gig, it’s his handwriting on the envelope.

“So he’s a wonderful man. He types in capitals too, and he’s just really sweet and kind and polite… And he’s really funny as well.”

Tim's audiobook has been recorded

From Tim Pope:

#IShootRockStars It’s a wrap! Audiobook, read by yours truly, in the can and soon ready for download.

UK: linktr.ee/IShootRockStars

US: https://www.diversionbooks.com/books/i-shoot-rock-stars



Thursday, May 21, 2026

Pedro Pascal's love for The Cure

From NME:

The personal stories behind Pedro Pascal’s impeccable band t-shirt collection

There’s musical meaning to the Hollywood star’s cool-as-fuck wardrobe

The Cure are his fave band of all time

“Well, The Cure is middle school and high school for me. I also bought this shirt myself – in Paris at a record store. My stylist is going to be pretty annoyed, although I do get her approval.

“I finally got to see The Cure live for the first time here in London with Ebon Moss-Bachrach while we were shooting The Fantastic Four: First Steps. It was one of the best shows. I presumed – it’s so rude of me – that I probably missed the era of when it was best to see them live. But it was literally one of the best shows I’d ever seen. I was in tears for most of it.

“I wouldn’t dare meet Robert Smith. I can’t with musicians. They’re gods to me. Movie stars as well, like [The Mandalorian And Grogu co-star] Sigourney Weaver, but at least we can talk about a shared experience and shared skill. Musicians and singers are just like aliens to me.”

Olivia's The Cure is NOT about the band

Olivia Rodrigo was on the Elvis Duran show this morning and confirmed her new single The Cure has nothing to do with the band.

She did talk about her love for them and talking with Robert Smith every week.

https://youtu.be/Ym1Za-a7g68?si=V38Su61_HIBVEGT_

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Lol on KALX Radio

From KALX Radio:

Musician, author & performer, Lol Tolhurst, returns to the KALX airwaves on Thursday, May 21st at 2pm for an in depth conversation with Massari before Tolhurst appears at The Chapel in SF later that same evening for a night of music and conversation.
https://www.kalx.berkeley.edu/

Lol and Gray in S.F. tomorrow

From LoL Tolhurst:

See you tomorrow at thechapelsf for an evening of conversation & music with The Tolhursts! Check out Gray's new project r_image, get the inside scoop on what Lol's been up to and then enjoy some old songs, and maybe a taste of something new?

Tickets - loltolhurst.com/tour-dates


Tim on Later... with Jools Holland

Tim Pope will be on Later...with Jools Holland (No date announced yet).

From Tim Pope:

#IShootRockStars What a great, buzzy show to appear on - thanks to me old mucker Holland. Shameless book promotion? Why not. Plenty more appearances to come. Watch this space.


Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Olivia's new single is called The Cure

From Billboard:

“couldn’t be more excited for you guys to hear it,” Rodrigo added in her caption, noting that the track will drop on Friday (May 22), which, coincidentally, is World Goth Day.

“The Cure” is possibly a nod to the Robert Smith-led iconic goth rock band of the same name, which Rodrigo has said is one of her favorite groups. The feeling is mutual, as Smith has previously praised the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series singer and made a cameo at her Glastonbury set last year.

From Nylon:

"Judging by the little teaser we’ve already gotten, it’s safe to assume the song won’t actually be a reference to Robert Smith and co., but again, we’re willing to give her a pass"


Nova Rock set times

Set times for Nova Rock have been announced 

The Cure are scheduled for 23: 00-01: 00 on June 12th.

Primavera Sound set times announced

Set times announced for Primavera Sound.

The Cure are scheduled for 10:15pm - 12:45am on June 5th.


Monday, May 18, 2026

Lol in San Francisco

From TheChapelSF:

Lol Tolhurst (co-founder of The Cure) returns to The Chapel this Thursday, May 21st for an evening of music and conversation. With very special guests r.image (featuring Gray Tolhurst). 

🎟️: tinyurl.com/2rkwb39n

I Shoot Rock Stars contents pages

From Tim Pope:

The first copy! It's a real thing.


Olivia didn’t play ‘Drop Dead’ for Robert

From NME:

Olivia Rodrigo didn’t play ‘Drop Dead’ for Robert Smith, despite referencing The Cure icon: “I played him a bunch of other songs”

In the song, she sings: “You know all the words to ‘Just Like Heaven’ / And I know why he wrote them now that you’re standing right here”

By Max Pilley

Olivia Rodrigo’s new song ‘Drop Dead’ might reference The Cure, but she has revealed she failed to play it to Robert Smith when she had the chance.

The song is the lead single from her upcoming third studio album ‘You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love’, which is set to arrive via Geffen on June 12.

It sees Rodrigo singing the line, “You know all the words to ‘Just Like Heaven’ / And I know why he wrote them now that you’re standing right here”, and while Rodrigo and Smith have struck up a friendship over the last year, the namedrop of his classic song might have come as a surprise to him.

Rodrigo welcomed Smith onto the stage with her during her Glastonbury 2025 headline set, where they played ‘Just Like Heaven’, as well as ‘Friday I’m In Love’, and since then Smith has spoken about enjoying “a couple of memorable nights in the studio” with Rodrigo, but while Rodrigo did share some of her new songs with Smith ahead of their release, ‘Drop Dead’ was not one of them.

In a new interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, Rodrigo said: “Oh my god I actually don’t know if I played it for him, he might hear it today. I played him a bunch of other songs on the album, I don’t know why I didn’t think to play this one for him though I should.”

During the Glastonbury set, Rodrigo wore a t-shirt that read, “You know all the words to ‘Just Like Heaven’” in anticipation of the song’s release, and she revealed in the interview that Smith “took a Sharpie” and wrote at the bottom of the t-shirt, “Or do you?”.

“And I was like oh my god, like he graffitied on this shirt,” she recalled. “There’s a hundred thousand people out there, am I going to go out in this shirt that like has this thing on it? And I was like kind of freaking out and I was like whatever, I’m just going to put it on and honestly it’s like my favourite outfit I’ve ever worn. I’m so happy that he wrote in Sharpie on it and now it’s one of my most prized possessions.”

Rodrigo gave ‘Drop Dead’ its live debut last night (April 18) during her surprise appearance in the middle of Addison Rae’s set at Coachella, having only released it for the first time a day earlier.

The song’s video sees Rodrigo taking over Versailles in Paris, dancing around the halls with her headphones on and shredding an electric guitar. “You lookin’ like an angel on the walls of Versailles,” she sings. “The most alive I’ve ever been.”

On Instagram, Rodrigo wrote, “I love this song so much!!! It’s the first chapter in the story of ‘you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love’ and it makes me wanna skip around and roll the windows down and make out!”

Smith opened up about his relationship with Rodrigo last month, revealing that he became a fan after hearing her breakout single ‘Drivers License’, and went on to buy both ‘Sour’ and ‘Guts’.

“Although most of the songs on those two albums are not really ‘aimed at my demographic’, they are all so good that it is hard not to fall in love with them,” Smith said.

Rodrigo has since said she has been “diving deeper into The Cure’s discography”, and her Glastonbury duets with Smith were released as part of her ‘Live From Glastonbury 2025’ album.

During a conversation with NME in 2021, Rodrigo said both her mother and father were “music heads” and had encouraged their daughter’s artistic endeavours from an early age.

“I love pop-punk music; I love grunge music; I love country music and folk music,” she explained at the time. “I think, honestly, you can see little influences of all of those genres in my [debut] album [‘Sour’].”

Olivia talks about her friendship with Robert

Olivia Rodrigo talks about her friendship with Robert Smith at 11: 40.

https://youtu.be/OdyGCwzGuGU?si=6qdxhQOvcD64rUzK

Garbage covers Lovesong

Forgot to post this a couple of weeks ago, but TCT uploaded a pro shot version of Garbage's cover of Lovesong.

https://youtu.be/iTs_cgG6PHY?si=fb4R9GO0_gJFtTuC

Lol's UK/France Tour

From Lol Tolhurst:

2026 UK/France Tour

loltolhurst.com/tour-dates


A Forest used in new Stranger Things series

The Cure's A Forest is used in Chapter 2.

From Deadline:

All The Songs In ‘Stranger Things: Tales From ’85’: From The Cure To Black Sabbath

Primavera Sound Livestream

As long as The Cure give the ok, we'll have an official livestream of their set at Primavera Sound on June 5th.

From Official Charts:

Festi season is so back! And thanks to Amazon Music, you can live stream Primavera Sound Barcelona 🧡