November 1993 by Richard Kingsmill
Australian Rolling Stone
Clad in a bulky black suit, shuffling
on ridiculously oversized sandshoes, an unthreatening figure approaches the
microphone. Smiling sheepishly, he pauses. He's too overawed for this to be
some kind of act. "Hello," he mumbles from behind his teased hair,
thick eyeliner and painted lips (the longest surviving fashion gimmicks in
pop!). He flees from the !spotlight and finds safety in the shadows. Thousands
scream. The loudest of them were stumbling around their mother's knees when the
Cure began in 1976. Now they're cheering their hero of youth alienation -
Robert Smith. A hand, covered by a sloppy sleeve, picks a simple melody line on
the guitar. It's The Doors' Hello I Love You. Smith hints at a
smile, then gives the slightest nod and Inbetween Days crashes
in. It's all so understated but a glimpse at the crowd suggests that everyone
is being lured into the Cure vortex. These scenes from Show (the
Cure's new feature film, video, CD recorded in Michigan, Detroit, on last
year's Wish world tour) are not typical stadium rock histrionics.
Putting it bluntly, you're either asleep within minutes or hooked for the
two-hour journey.
Were you tense or
nervous when Show was being filmed and recorded?
We were very worried about that. It
did have some effect because there were 18 cameras there, so the lights had to
be slightly brighter than normal, and the smoke was less dense.
I was worried that it was going to
make everyone tighten up in the wrong way and be very nervous about the fact
that this was our one big chance for posterity. But it had the opposite effect.
Everyone was really keyed up for it and played to the utmost of their
abilities. I'd rate it as one of the ten best performances of the year.
It encapsulates what we were trying
to achieve last year - the scale of what we were doing. We were immense some
nights. That sounds really big headed but it's not meant to.
We were striving to create something
that was larger than life. I don't think we'll do it again.
It was a pretty
mammoth tour then?
It was huge! It was nine months out
of 12. For us,! it was the biggest tour we've ever undertaken. It was strange
because the year before I had vehemently denied any rumours of a tour at all
[laughs].
One thing I
noticed was you still don't talk much on stage. Why don't you talk to the
audience more?
It sounds funny, but I've never felt
that comfortable doing that. I don't mind when I'm involved in the performance
side of it - I get very lost in a lot of what we do and I really enjoy that.
But in the gaps between songs, I actually feel excruciatingly embarrassed. I
can never think of anything to say. I often look out, and just as I'm about to
say something, I think "no, please don't say that, it's going to sound
stupid". So I end up saying nothing.
Sometimes I've gone over the top and
I start rabbiting on and I really regret it afterwards. The others in the band
look at me like I'm an alien.
Have you ever
practised? Thought up funny things you could've said on stage?
[Laughs] No - I don't live like that.
I think contrived patter is one of the most excruciating things you can
experience. When I see people play, I don't really care if they talk to me or
not. I don't feel they're ignoring me if they don't. But I do know what you
mean. I have been criticized though the years for not communicating with the
audience. It's just something I'm not very good at. I prefer to sing.
What about
watching the film? What goes through your mind when you watch yourself on
stage?
Well, when the director's cut came
back it was awful. I was really disappointed and I couldn't believe someone
could make is look that boring and bad on stage. So as soon as we finished the
tour, I went in during the first week in January and I was editing from then
until April. I'm horribly over familiar with every aspect of the Cure on stage!
I did go to the premiere and had a
few drinks and sat back and watched it. I think it's good, but I would say that
anyway.
Sometimes you can
be your own harshest critic...
I am, without question! I question
every single thing I do in regards to the group. And with the film I was torn
between a certain amount of vanity - you want the best shot of yourself - but
the most powerful shot might not be the one that shows you in the best possible
light. In those instances, I would always go for the more dynamic shot - under
duress a lot of times!
We've obviously seen ourselves on
stage before. At the start of a new tour, we film ourselves on a home video,
watch it on the back of the bus, and talk about how we can improve things.
Prince supposedly
videos every performance and as soon as he's off stage, he's watching it.
Oh no! No - that's insanity! It
doesn't leave you any real life! In Australia, as soon as we were off stage, we
went out watching other people. It's much more fun!
Who have you seen
on stage that's impressed you?
Last year we saw a few bands while we
were on tour. Ride were still particularly powerful. My Bloody Valentine were
excellent. And I saw the Jesus and Mary Chain for the first time in years and I
thought they were absolutely brilliant!
It was difficult last year seeing
bands. If we were in a town with a night off and we went and saw someone play,
there was usually someone in the audience who would've been going to see the
Cure play as well. Sometimes it's quite uncomfortable because you almost become
part of the show.
It must be a bit
like that every time you step out of your house?
Well, I've cut my hair off, so it's
easier now. It's about an inch long.
You're back to
what it was like in '84 and '85?
Yeah. Although about every three or
four years I chop it all off. It gives me a fresh perspective on things.
You're back to the
Robert Smith of 1977 as well?
Errr....I don't think I can turn the
clock back that far somehow.
You said recently
: "I hate my peers. They have nothing to say and their music is
shit". Who were you referring to ?
I was talking about people who are
currently in groups who started off around the same time as us. I don't feel I
have anything in common with those people.
I see a group like Ned's Atomic
Dustbin and I just think they're really good. They're full of life and what
they're doing is genuine. It's fuelled by youth. Then I see some of the people
that I grew up with, still pretending that they've got that, and it's so
patently obvious that they haven't! It just makes me laugh. I just despair at
some of the people I see now who are older than me, doddering about pretending
they're teenagers, holding onto something that's long gone. I particularly
don't like it when it's happening to groups I used to admire.
We've always tried to stay true to
how we feel as individuals. If we don't feel strongly enough about something,
then we don't attempt it. We know it's not going to work. But some people don't
want to let go because they're terrified of what it's going to be like having a
normal life without being in a group. I've never really worried about that. I've
never been wrapped up in that notion of being famous or being in a group and
ergo being greater than everyone else. And, unfortunately, having met a lot of
my peers over the past couple of years, they've just completely lost it -
mentally, more than anything else!
How old do you
feel? As old as you are?
No, I'm 34 and I don't feel 34. I
don't know what it feels like to be 34! I don't feel like I've aged since I was
17. I've experienced a great deal and hopefully I know a bit more, but I still
feel passionately about the same things. I still get angry about the same
things and I still get pleasure from the same things.
I seem to be the only person in pop
who actually ages, or at least admits to it! There's nothing worse than people
who are trying to stay young. !You shouldn't have to try; you either do or you
don't.
So growing older
has been easy?
Yeah! The only way I gauge my mental
aging is dealing with much younger people like my nephews and nieces - of which
there seems to be hundreds now! I don't actually think of them as children. So
if I can communicate with them on a basic level whereby they treat me in a
different way than they do their mums and dads, I know I haven't aged that
much.
You haven't had
kids yourself yet?
No [pauses]. I feel it's too much of
a responsibility for me at the moment, particularly because I'm still not sure
what I'm going to be doing.
Would you like to
one day though?
[Pause] I don't know. Contrary to
most people, I think it's quite a big step having children. It's not a snap
decision. I've thought about it for a long time, but ultimately I don't think I
will have them because I'm too selfish [laughs a little].
I just think it brings
responsibility.! I see the down side probably more than I see the up side of
it. A lot of people I know are fathers, and there are obviously huge benefits
to it - but there are also huge disadvantages.
Doing the Unstuck is an
'act now' song. You're telling someone to get into life now 'cause it's never
too late. Do you practice what you preach in that song?
I try to. It was the first song we
wrote in the studio when we were recording Wish. We pinned the
words up on the inside of the studio door so everyone would feel like they had
to make the most of that day. Obviously you can't do that every day. You'd be
unbearably chirpy if you were full of that credo!
Whatever I'm doing and whatever mood
I'm in, I always at least try to experience something new. It doesn't always
have to be a happy thing, but I hate the idea of just coasting. It's an
anathema to me.
Sad thoughts still
seem to be your main motivation in terms of writing songs. Is that a fair thing
to say?
Yeah. My more reflective side. I've
always written things down to try to sort them out.
Does that actually
help?
Yeah, a lot! Ninety five percent of
what I write never makes it as songs. Very rarely is anything I write written
as a song. Doing the Unstuck and Friday I'm in Love
were, but everything else on Wish were things I'd written in the
preceding two years. I'd made songs out of them.
Are you interested
in doing a book of your writings?
Not seriously. I do read poetry. I
find it helps me think. But the stuff I read, I don't think I could ever come
near.
Like what?
The classic Lake Poets like
Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, and I've just been given Shelley's complete
works.
My favorite place in the world is the
Lake District [the English lakes in Cumbria and I'll often go there to recharge
as they say. You can get very involved in poetry there. A lot of people say
that classical poetry is dead, but I think that's only because it's not read in
the right environment.
That must've been
my problem with Wordsworth at Uni. I could never get into it.
What, were you on the beach reading
it?
No, that would've
been okay! It was a dingy room with a flickering fluorescent light.
No, no - that's Sylvia Plath
territory!
Well, if poetry's
out, are there other things besides music you'd like to try in the future?
Unfortunately it's become very
populist because of Jurassic Park, but me and Perry (Bamonte - the
Cure's guitarist / keyboardist) have been getting into archaeology over the
last 18 months. It's not a new career but it's just an interest that's been
with me since I was very young. I've decided to take some time out to explore
it more fully. I'm going on a dig in the north of England at the end of
November. There's medieval ruins very near the Scottish border.
Have you seen Jurassic
Park?
I did actually. I took seven children
to see it on it's first week of release.
Seven!!?
Yeah. In my capacity as part-time
child minder and insane uncle.
And you're worried
about the responsibility of having one?
[Laughs] Well, I could take them home
afterwards and it's not my home!
What did you think
of the film?
I liked it when the tyrannosaurus
picked the man up off the toilet. That was the highlight of the film.
With the Cure now
a four-piece, what's the plan for the future?
We're all meeting up again in a few
weeks. We'll be having a drunken dinner because we haven't been together
socially for about eight or nine weeks now. We'll talk then about! what we want
to do. I have a feeling we'll be back in the studio probably this side of
Christmas.
It's really a case of everyone either
agreeing on what we're going to do next or disagreeing to the point where we do
something individually. I really don't know. I have to feel what we're going to
do and I don't feel it yet. I don't think I've had enough of a break to feel
excited about throwing myself back in the pool, so to speak.
Does that worry
you?
Not at all. It's never worried me.
In the past there's always been a
morning when I've woken and gone, "Ahhh, this is what I want to do". So
I just wait for that wake up call, really. If it doesn't come, it doesn't come.
It doesn't bother me like that. Like I said before, I would hate to force it.
We'll talk about what we want to do,
but if there's no real need to do it - if we don't actually feel that as a
group we want to do something - we won't do it! It'd be absolutely pointless!. Particularly
after the reputation that the Cure's built up and what it means to us. The
record companies would like us to follow up this live album with a new studio
album as fast as possible but it doesn't work like that. We might have an album
out by next April but it's just as likely we won't have anything out at all
next year.
Let's see how that
dinner goes then...
The trouble is not actually how the
dinner goes but it's whether anyone remembers what was said the next day!
What will you be
eating that night?
Indian. We always take our big
decisions over an Indian meal!
Finally, which
Cure album do you feel most proud of?
It's difficult to narrow it down to
one. Or even two. There's three basically that come to mind. Before the Wish
album, I would've instantly said Disintegration, followed closely
by Pornography. Disintegration was the most
accomplished Cure album to that point. It captured perfectly a period of the
group and my life in particular. I'm unable to listen to that album out of all
the Cure albums. It's still too recent even though it's five years old. If all
but one was going to be erased from memory, I'd pick Wish though.
It's my favourite album because it has more variety and depth.
That must be
incredibly satisfying to think that about your last work?
I am really pleased about that. But
it would be very strange to me if it weren't the best thing we'd done. There
doesn't have to be that trade off between learning your craft and losing sight
of why you initially wanted to do it...that spark of invention. I don't know if
there's a secret to holding the two. I think you just have to not practise too
much!
A lot of people also hit a point and
that's their moment. An obvious example is the Happy Mondays. Suddenly things
clicked and that summer belonged to them.
For me, it's much more satisfying to
keep going off on tangents and not to be too mainstream. That's what I've
always thought the mainstream means...to be associated with a certain time. It's
death, really, for a group to be identified too easily with one particular
period of time.