Interview with The Glove's Jeanette Landray

Excerpt from a Post-Punk interview with Jeanette Landray:

"Soon after their split and Siouxsie and Budgie’s subsequent pairing, Ginette met Robert Smith and Steven Severin, who were working together in the Banshees. Both musicians were in need of a desperate diversion from their prospective projects, in Robert Smith’s case a break from the personal strains of recording and touring for 1982’s Pornography. “They needed to get their creativity out in another way. They had been writing the Glove album together for quite some time, and knew what they wanted quite well. They were very certain about it. I was a good friend of Steven’s, and I asked him if I could sing for the record, and he said ‘you can’t sing!’ I replied, ‘so?'” And so it was…

During the recording of The Glove record, Jeanette admits that there was a slew of drugs taken and b-movies playing at every turn, both of which served as inspiration of sorts during the sessions. “The only film I can actually recall is Barbarella,” Landray states, but one can assume that during the haze they also watched the film Blue Sunshine, a 1976 zombie film about experimental strains of LSD and their after effects. The title, directly utilized for the record, sums up the playful, maddening chaos of the sound and creation of Blue Sunshine.

“(Robert and Steven) never suffocated me, they let me experiment. There was a time when my singing of ‘Like An Animal’ was not getting crazy enough, and all of a sudden, I hear this soft voice singing from behind a couch. I walk over towards the voice and it’s Robert on all fours singing ‘Diamonds are a Girls best Friend!’ Let’s just say Robert and Steven were easy to work with. Siouxsie and Budgie would often look in on these sessions, and they had the sensibilities to know that we were doing something fantastic… something magical.”

Promotional efforts for Blue Sunshine included releases for ‘Like An Animal’ and ‘Punish Me With Kisses,’ and though the three-piece never played shows together, the album still became a cult favorite.

With the Glove’s popularity growing after almost 25 years (30 now) and the recent remastered edition of Blue Sunshine out on the shelves in 2006, one might wonder if the band will ever perform live…

“Robert and Steve never talk about playing, or at least, they never talked to me about it! I have not talked to Steve in over a year, and I have not seen Robert in over fifteen, but if they wanted to perform as The Glove, I would do it in a heartbeat!”

One could only hope for this dream-laced reality…"

Read the full article and see some of her art at Post-Punk. (Thanks Mintsauce)

NME's 50 Iconic Indie Album Covers

From NME's 50 Iconic Indie Album Covers: The Fascinating Stories Behind The Sleeves

Disintegration: Paul Thompson and Andy Vella had designed all of The Cure's artwork until this point, but for 'Disintegration' Robert Smith was thinking of using someone new. In response, Thompson and Vella moved from their usual abstract designs into one that focused on Smith's face, which some saw as a conscious ploy to curry favour.

Boys Don’t Cry: The sleeve for ‘Three Imaginary Boys’ featured a fridge, a vacuum cleaner and a lamp – the latter apparently representing Smith. The same designer, Polydor art director Bill Smith, produced a similarly artful sleeve for ‘Boys Don’t Cry’, albeit one that seems to interpret the track ‘Fire in Cairo’ quite literally. (Thanks @colinaindow)

Win a Reeves Spacehawk guitar

Enter here.

"The second signature Reverend from The Cure guitarist Reeves Gabrels (formerly with David Bowie, Tin Machine) takes semi-hollow design to another level. The highly resonant body coupled with the revolutionary Railhammer Chisel pickups make for a versatile and uniquely responsive guitar that handles everything from woody clean to high gain mean. Unique features include: forearm contour, sealed body for controlled feedback, on-off toggle switch, custom soft-touch tremolo spring, and push-pull phase switch (in the tone control) to push the sonic boundaries. Finally, an innovative semi-hollow for cutting edge players! Learn more."

Cure night in Chicago April 23rd

Living on Video - tribute to The Cure through Music and Video

4/23/15

NEO

2350 N. Clark, Chicago

21 +

Facebook event page

(Thanks Kamar)

Roger with Hannah in the Wars

Hannah in the Wars debut album out April 17th, 2015 in New Zealand, and May 25th in the UK on Roger's 99X/10 Records.

soundcloud.com/hannah-in-the-wars

Update (03/19/15): Article at Jammer Zine about Roger's work with them, plus album previews. And another article at Planet of Sound.

Update (03/21/15): Roger will be a special guest at their May 16th show at Sebright Arms in London. Get tickets here. Facebook event page here.

Update (03/27/15):

Very proud to be releasing @hannahinthewars new album on my label 99X/10 preview here https://t.co/K2gscK9egE
— Roger O'Donnell (@RogerODonnell) March 26, 2015

Update (04/19/15): From New Zealand Sunday News:

How did the connection with The Cure's Roger O'Donnell come about and how did it develop into you recording an album at his country home studio?

I met Roger through a mutual friend right when I first moved to London in June 2011.  I was fresh off the boat, didn't know many other musicians in the UK and sad to have left the close musical community of Auckland behind so it was wonderful to immediately meet another musician.  We got on really well right from the get-go and after attending my first couple of London shows he said that he'd like to help me out in any way he could. He has been a huge support, a great friend and something of a mentor.  We recorded most of the album in East London with Hugh Harlow, a friend from our days at the University of Otago.  Roger came into the studio for those London sessions and was a quiet presence, largely leaving us to it but stepping in at times to help steer us in the right direction.  The songs were already arranged as we'd been playing them live for about 6 months and so he mainly served as quality control, along with Hugh.  We got most of the album down over a three-day weekend in London and then headed out to Roger's place in Devon to record vocal and guitar overdubs, as well as the synth and piano parts.  It is so tranquil out there, it was a beautiful place to finish off the record.  Hugh and I spent many hours together in the London studio after that, weaving it all together.  He is one of the calmest and most generous people I have ever met, a true pleasure to work with.

Another "Cure not in the R&R HoF" article

From Metro Weekly:

25 artists that belong in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (but shamefully aren’t)

#4. The Cure (2004)

The Cure started in unassuming fashion, with their quirky 1979 post-punk debut Three Imaginary Boys. Robert Smith’s vision has always driven the band, and he and his bandmates followed it to a much darker place with three brooding classics that are cornerstones of “goth” rock –- Seventeen Seconds, Faith and the tortured Pornography. In November 1982, Smith lurched from anguish into pop with the synth-laden ditty “Let’s Go to Bed.” From that point forward, The Cure has been a schizophrenic mix of giddy, often euphoric pop and somber, emotional epics. Their peak era of success began with 1985’s The Head on the Door featuring the classic oddball pop of “Inbetween Days” and “Close to Me.” Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, released in 1987, highlighted by one of the decade’s perfect singles, “Just Like Heaven,” and brought The Cure an even larger audience. With their towering masterpiece Disintegration in 1989, they became an unlikely supergroup. The band’s commercial peak in America was the 1992 album Wish, with singles “High” and “Friday, I’m In Love” pushing it to #2. Critics may dismiss The Cure as “mope-rock,” and not take Smith seriously because of his ghoulish stage appearance, notable for smeared red lipstick and a wild nest of dark hair, but their opinion of his genius is ultimately irrelevant. The Cure’s influence on other bands is undeniable, and they’ve been a soundtrack to the adolescence of millions of fans. Their catalog of creative, quirky, beautifully conceived and inventive alternative-rock is loaded with treasures. The Cure belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and as a younger generation infiltrates the nominating committee it will doubtless happen -– hopefully before Smith is sporting a giant spiderweb of white hair instead of black. (Thanks @banditFFX)

And another one at SC Times, though only a brief mention of The Cure. (Thanks Perfect.Murder)