Steve Severin on The Glove remastered vocals

"I had a chance to speak with former Banshees bassist Steven Severin for a few minutes after his live performance of a surreal and atmospheric soundtrack for Jean Cocteau's 'Le Sang d'un poète' (The Blood of a Poet) on November 11, 2012 at the Market Arcade Film & Arts Centre in Buffalo, NY.
I asked him about the oft-repeated rumor that Robert recorded new vocals for the demos on the bonus disc of the remaster of The Glove's 'Blue Sunshine'. Instead of dispelling said rumors as I figured that he would, Steven confirmed them with a qualification, saying that Robert recorded new vocals for some of the demos, but that some of those present were indeed recorded during the original sessions, and that the new vocals that were recorded were done because Robert wanted to take the opportunity since he hadn't had the chance during the original sessions due to contractual restrictions. He also stated that what's on the remaster is all that was recorded, and that there's nothing left over.

I hope that this will once and for all put this issue to rest." (Thanks Shawn)

SummerCure feature in French fanzine Twice

"the new issue #49 of the french fanzine Twice includes a long live report on the Summercure written by Pierre Olivelli, a fan who went to 3 key concerts through Europe (Barcelona, Milano, les Vieilles Charrues) and participated to the press conference. It's called 'The Hungry Ghosts', 8 page long, fully detailed and illustrated with exclusive photos.It's out, you can get it here."(Thanks Pierre)

Cure on UK Festival Awards shortlist

The Cure are finalists in the Headline Performance of the Year category for the UK Festival Awards. The winners will be announced on Dec. 3rd. Article about this at Gigwise. (Thanks Yanic and David)

Update: Via @BBC6MusicNews, New Order have won Best Headline Performance at tonight's UK Festival Awards, beating out The Cure.

Porl items up for auction

Julien's Auctions have several Porl Thompson items listed in their Icons & Idols 2012: Rock n Roll auction. The Porl items are lots #157-170, and include guitars, equipment, clothing and 1 piece of artwork. Auction starts on Dec. 1st at 10am PST.
(Thanks @curelive)

Update: Watch it live and bid here. And it's over. Hope you got what you wanted.

Just One Kiss (SummerCure 2012)

'Just One Kiss' (SummerCure 2012 - England/Italy/Spain)
(Thanks George)

Cure at Hurricane Festival on Palladia

Palladia is showing Hurricane Festival Hour 1, which should feature at least a song or two from The Cure, tonight at midnight eastern, and a few more times over the coming days. Check the schedule here. (Thanks L and @carollo41)

Update: "Lovesong, Friday I'm in love, Wrong Number. Shown in the last segment of the show. Pretty good audio and video." (Thanks Amazin' Jeffus) 

Cure in new Sonic Seducer

Robert Smith cover and a Cure article in the December issue of Sonic Seducer. (Thanks Adrienne)

'Trilogy' on Much Music Argentina

Much Music Argentina has been airing 'Trilogy' this month. The next airing is tonight (Nov. 23rd) at 10PM, and they'll air it a few more times in the coming days. Check here for the schedule. (Thanks Emilia)

'Disintegration' one of Ian Rankin's fave albums

From The Quietus: Author Ian Rankin picks 'Disintegration' as one of his 13 favorite albums.
"It's the only album with lyrics that I can write to. It's a great album, but it took me a while to get it. In the early days of The Cure… I tried the early days of The Cure, and thought it was fine, though I loved 'A Forest', I thought that was an amazing track, but the albums didn't always do it for me. I found them a bit cold, there was something quite dry about the sound. But then you get to Disintegration and it's got so much emotion, it's got all these washes of sound. For an album that's quite bleak at its heart, it's insanely beautiful. I think that Robert Smith is completely in control of his material. He knows how he wants this album to sound, he knows how he wants it to look, he really feels the lyrics as he's singing them. It's a completely immersive experience. Again there's a film playing in my head as I listen to it."
(Thanks fmjews and Hugh)

The Cure at Le Bataclan (Paris Nov. 6th, 1996)

The Cure at Le Bataclan in Paris (Nov. 6th, 1996 complete show)

From Sven (Curevideo): "Complex plan..aehhh plan complex"

16 years ago I attended my first The Cure club gig at the "le bataclan" in Paris. I still remember the call of my friend, telling me that there will be a "special" show in the city, which had hosted  a great concert in the Palais d`Omnissports just 2-3 weeks ago. Without any hesitation we decided to get there again by car, which is quite a distance from Northern Germany. Arriving there was pretty surreal: By luck it took us only 5min!! to get tickets for the show - thanks to the help of some special friends:) After that we then went to the backstage entrance listening to the soundcheck. A truly moving moment with lots of chicken skin as the band rehearsed "Funeral Party" and "Hanging Garden".  Songs I haven´t heard before live.

Needless to say that the gig itself was a very special one. However next to the unusual venue, fan(t)a(s)tic Cure fans ("Roberrrrt, Roberrrt. Roberrrt") and many rare songs played there the gig had also its downs :It was incredible hot in there with water running down the walls. Indeed the humidity destroyed the video camera of my friend attending the show with me. Thank goodness he was somehow able to capture that special show, which you now can watch on youtube.
The conditions in the venue apparently also had an impact on the band - especially Robert, getting tired, or nearly exhausted to the end of the show. A friend of mine told me that there was not enough water served to the band.
However, despite that it was a unique experience and definitely worth the trip. Hope you enjoy the videos?" (Thanks Sven)

PLAYLIST: The Cure

The staff at Spectrum Culture pick the best Cure songs, but they can only pick 1 song per album. (Thanks Eric)

Crystal Castles' new album inspired by Robert

Ethan Kath from Crystal Castles tells KOvideo how Robert partially inspired them on their new album. (Thanks David)

Cure on French radio tonight

One hour of The Cure at Roskilde 2012 and a 100% Cure playlist tonight on the LLP radio show on Le Mouv' at 22:00. Listen online here. (Thanks @guillaumegrivaz)

Reflections London...one year later

Charlie at Impressions of Sounds posted a couple of new videos from the 'Reflections' London show - 'At Night', 'In Your House', and one of my favorites from those shows, 'Other Voices'.
(Thanks Perfect.Murder)

Interview with Gary Biddles

Missed this last year, but our old friend DJ Scribbles did an interview with Gary Biddles (Cure roadie/Fools Dance/Presence). (Thanks Joy)

Cure People - Marc Smith

Cure People - Marc Smith
The first in a series of interviews with die-hard Cure fans from Scott Witter's Cure People project. (Thanks Scott)

When winger Robert had no Cure for defeat

The Crawley Observer has this photo (Robert in back, on the left) and story of young Robert's time with the Wasps football team. (Thanks Monghi)

Robert picks 'Low' as Greatest Record Ever

Robert picked David Bowie's 'Low' as the Greatest Record Ever Made. From NME:
“David Bowie’s 'Low'. I bought it on cassette and the same day I went to a garden centre with my mum. I’d ordered it from the local record shop, and Paul, who was in the band, and is my brother-in-law, had dropped it through the letterbox. It’s like one of those weird days. I walked home from school, there was the cassette and we had a cassette player in the car. I went with her to a garden centre, and I listened to 'Low' while she went and did whatever mums do in garden centres, and I was like utterly, my whole perception of sound was changed. Just how something could sound completely different, like 'Breaking Glass', everything on there in fact, 'Sound And Vision', everything on there, everything I heard was astonishing, really astonishing. When I put it on now the sound, dunk dunk, everything is just fucking genius! There are other albums that I love much more, like viscerally much more, like 'Axis: Bold As Love', or 'Five Leaves Left', albums that I can cry to, but 'Low' was the album that had a huge impact on me, just how I saw sound. No other album has done that to me.” (Thanks Jorge)

Porl painting on ebay

"Just wanted to let you know there is a painting from Porl Thompson up on ebay. It recently sold at auction for 260 GBP and is now up for 2000 GBP." (Thanks Leo)

Reeves Gabrels interview

Not much talk of his time on the SummerCure tour (what little there is starts at the 22 minute mark, and a clip of 'Wrong Number' from Les Eurockeennes 2012 at 40 minutes in), but here's a new interview with Reeves. (Thanks thesmudge)