Brit Beat: Inside the Cure’s Big Halloween Comeback: Concert, BBC Takeover and ‘Lost World’ Album
By Mark Sutherland
It’s been 16 long years since legendary British alternative rockers the Cure last released a studio album, but the campaign for the band’s new outing, “Lost World,” has made it feel like they’ve never been away.
And the band has also returned “home” to the Fiction-via-Polydor label, which released the band’s recordings up until 2004’s self-titled album. The most recent two Cure albums came out via America on Geffen, but Polydor Label Group President Ben Mortimer says he made it his “mission” to bring the band back to the record company.
“I actually can’t believe it’s happened because it’s been a conversation that’s been going on for so long,” Mortimer tells Variety. “Robert Smith sits alongside Paul Weller, who we brought back to Polydor a few years ago, as one of those people who are really in the fabric of the label. [The return] has really energized the whole label and tapped into the soul of what we do.”
Mortimer says “huge credit” should also go to Fiction Records Managing Director Jim Chancellor, “who has had a brilliant relationship with Robert for a long time.” Smith manages the band himself and Mortimer says the release plan came together over numerous emails featuring Smith’s trademark “all caps firmly on” style.
Key to the strategy was a suitably gothic Cure takeover of the BBC on Halloween, the day before “Songs of a Lost World” dropped, with a live session on BBC Radio 6 Music and a career-spanning BBC Radio 2 “In Concert” recording, which was also televised as part of a BBC 2 Cure night on November 2. The “In Concert” recording reportedly received the most ticket applications of any show in the long-running series.
“One of the stipulations Robert had on doing the deal was that the album to come out straight after Halloween,” Mortimer says. “Our production team had to jump through hoops to deliver vinyl and everything in time. It was really touch and go but Robert was very clear, unless it’s coming November 1, we ain’t doing this!”
The band also made a spectacular full live return with an intimate show at London’s Troxy venue on November 1, which featured a full rendition of the new album as well as many other songs. It was livestreamed around the world on YouTube and attended by many other musicians, from Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong to Culture Club’s Boy George.
All that attention – and some of the best reviews of the band’s career – has also translated into record sales, with the album set to debut at No.1 in the Official U.K. Albums Chart on November 8. It had already passed 40,000 units by Monday, according to the Official Charts Company. That’s despite this being the band’s first album release of the streaming age – previous studio album “4:13 Dream” came out in 2008 – with Mortimer saying the band racked up huge numbers of Spotify pre-saves.
“The Universal catalog team, alongside Robert, have done a very good job of keeping things alive for years, but it’s more than that,” says Mortimer. “If you look at their streams, there are tracks at over 700 million on Spotify, so there is a young audience there that streams the Cure.
“We’ve brought in new ideas – Robert’s remarkably open to modern ways of thinking, he’s such an intelligent man, he grasps things so quickly – but I don’t think it changed his strategy,” Mortimer adds. “Some artists are able to speak to different generations, and the Cure are one of those.”
With the band likely to announce further touring plans, Mortimer is expecting a long campaign for the album, one of the first big releases through the new Polydor Label Group, after a major Universal U.K. restructure: Mortimer now also oversees the Capitol U.K. and 0207 Def Jam labels, run by Jo Charrington and Alec Boateng respectively.
“It’s been a crazy year across the whole business, but I’m really thankful about the new responsibilities that I have,” says Mortimer. “Working with Jo and Alec is just an absolute dream, they’re some of the best A&R executives of recent generations and they’ve brought so many brilliant artists into our system, so I’m feeling really lucky. Everyone complements each other really well.”
Meanwhile, the American release of “Songs of a Lost World” goes through Capitol, meaning Mortimer has reunited with his former Polydor co-president Tom March, now chairman/CEO of Capitol Music Group (“Tom’s wonderful – having a Brit over there who gets it has been really helpful”). The pair revived Polydor’s fortunes in the 2010s and Mortimer is hopeful the Cure’s renewed success could also bring back the buzz to music from this side of the pond.
“It feels like there’s real interest in what the U.K. and Ireland does really well again,” he says. “You look at Oasis, the Cure, plus we’re getting such an explosion of interest on Sam Fender at the moment and we’re seeing growth on a band like Inhaler… We’ve been talking about it for 15 years but it’s genuinely happening now.”
