Tuesday, April 1, 2014

New Robert interview with NME

From NME:

The Cure's Robert Smith reveals new album details – and says '4:14 Scream' is 'a terrible title'

Frontman says album will be a mix of brand new songs and material left over since 2008

The Cure frontman Robert Smith has revealed that the group's next album will be a mix of brand new material and unused material from 2008's '4:13 Dream', their most recent record.

Smith wanted that album to be a double, but a single album was eventually released.

Speaking to NME following the group's performance for Teenage Cancer Trust at London's Royal Albert Hall on Saturday (March 29), Smith said of the album: "There’s new stuff that we’re doing with this line-up and stuff we finished with the old line-up."

Asked why it's taken so long to release the tracks, Smith said: "Honestly? Just pure bloody mindedness. I was so fucking angry that [the label] wouldn’t release a double album that I wouldn’t give them the other songs."

The album also follows the solidification of a new line-up of The Cure, featuring Reeves Gabrels of David Bowie's Tin Machine on guitar. Smith said that the new line-up was the catalyst for adding new material to the '4:13 Dream' leftovers.

"A lot of stuff happened, unfortunately, with the last line-up of the band," said the frontman. "People forget sometimes that even when you get older, when you play music with people, there’s a very intense relationship there and when that breaks down then it’s very difficult to just pretend it doesn’t matter. The last line-up, there were a number of reasons why I felt unable to complete what we were doing. It was impossible to just get another line-up and bang out the songs we didn’t release; it would have been wrong."

Reflecting its turbulent origins, the album is tentatively named '4:14 Scream', but Smith believes it's "a dreadful title. Andy who does our covers has done a really great album cover for it, a kind of pastiche of me doing a scream, so maybe we'll keep it. It’s one of those reverse psychology things, where it’s so bad it’s good."

In addition to the new album, the band have said that they will also be releasing a series of live concert DVDs this year, and are planning on taking another 'Trilogy' style tour on the road later this year. The original tour took place in 2002 and saw The Cure headline a string of festivals and gigs in Brussels and Berlin in which they played the albums 'Pornography', 'Disintegration' and 'Bloodflowers' in their entirety. The second tour under the title in 2011 called 'Reflections' saw 'Three Imaginary Boys', 'Seventeen Seconds' and 'Faith' performed in full.

Interesting about Andy's album cover for 4:14. So something like the photo Robert posted here?

19 comments:

  1. Well this is certainly confusing. The new album will be a mix of unused tracks from the original 4:13 Dream sessions and new material? That is not what Robert said in his homepage update. Watch out for more SUCCINCT CAPITALS!!

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    1. I think they are referring to the tracks that Robert says he's rewritten and finished recently.

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  2. So, even brand new songs added? Quite confusing, those reports. If this is really the cover they will be featured on every top of the worst list compiled in the next 50 years, though.

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    1. The "brand new songs" are referring to the tracks that he recently rewrote the words for and then recorded.

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  3. Jeez, Robert if by chance you're reading this, that Scream image ISN'T "so bad it's good".
    If you need a half decent cover artist after falling out with Porl/Pearl, just give me a ring, I'm sure I can come up with something nice, in paint, photo, digital, whatever.

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    1. I don't think that's the actual cover art, just an example of what it might look like. The iconic The Scream superimposed over an image of Robert. No way he's revealing the real album art this early.

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    2. Craig, I hope you're right. But anyways, its the music I'm waiting for. I'm sure this record will be very interesting judging from Roberts post on the offical site.

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  4. maybe the journalist didnt understand..Robert said today that no new songs will be included in the record. the cover is funny, really bad. anyway i like confusion, is always very creative.

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    1. @Luca1977...Confusion might be creative or Destructive...Future will tell!!

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    2. There's really not a lot of confusion with this, His statement lays it all out pretty well, I think.

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  5. maybe the journalist didnt understand..Robert said today that no new songs will be included in the record. the cover is funny, really bad. anyway i like confusion, is always very creative.

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    1. Right. This interview took place Saturday night. Robert has laid it all out now. The "new songs" are the ones he wrote new lyrics for and rerecorded vocals for.

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  6. There is a lot of confusion around this album situation in general though. I figure a lot of it is actually started by Robert to hype up publicity...which is exactly what he is achieving.

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    1. Oh come on, Beau. You don't really believe that, do you? Exactly how has he created "hype"?

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    2. By sending out complete mixed messages. The weird press release was certainly hyping the situation up and now these interviews take it to a whole new level.

      'Oh, its just normal for The Cure to be like this' 'A Usual backtrack'.- The press are saying. I believe that Robert didn't want his words to get mixed up and for it sound like he 'wasn't fond' of the album but he has been deliberately vague about the whole situation which has turned the press into a frenzy.

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  7. I will add to that replying to the negative reviews of the RAH shows is also hyping the situation up and keeping The Cure name out there. There have been equally ignorant reviews in the past and Robert hasn't bothered to reply because these people simply 'don't get it'.

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  8. Or is it just all an elaborate April Fools???

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  9. Please, no more artwork with Robert's face...

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