June 1991 by Laure & Jan
French fanzine Three Imaginary boys
Translated in english from french by Mad, Laure & Jean
TIB interviews are privileged moments, and insights deeper than we can find in the media. These interviews often take place outside of normal promotional periods , and try to present a different side of The Cure. Bercy's backstage provided the starting point for these series of rendez-vous. From the tentative meeting in the fascinating atmosphere of The Prayer Tour, an irrepressible attraction to this exercise lead us to renew the experience, first in the recording studios during the Wish demos, then on the following tours. You'll read in this chronicle, extracts from the most significant words gathered as the years go by... (http://www.thecure.com/tib.html)
In a middle of a rather slack year, the event was created by a French CD box gathering the all work of The Cure and the very expected video tape Picture Show. Assessments in the career of the band.
The release of Picture Show was the perfect moment to meet Robert and friends while demoing the next album in a studio near London.
A warm meeting, in the relax atmosphere of a cottage. Around a rustic solid oak table, Robert, with his particular sweet and thoughtful voice is delivering his feelings about the past months.
T.I.B.: There is a new video called Picture Show, what can you say about it?
Robert: Basically, it's all the videos since the last video collection, since Staring At The Sea. It starts with "Why can't I be you?" and it's those videos up to the new one of "Close to me". And then, in between each video, it's got relevant bits of footage of the group: there's a sequence of us on tour in America, and there's bits of us making the "Lovesong" video, there's bits of us talking between the 5 of us, there's us travelling in a van... It's to try and give the idea that something else is going on, other than the videos. To give you sense of time, really, as the group changes things. Otherwise, if we have just a collection of 10 videos, it doesn't have any relevance. So we found out a lot of our old home footage. There's us in the dresses about 15 seconds when we did the Champs-Elysées thing. There's lot of little bits in between each video.
There's about, I think, half an hour worth it, which is all the little bits added up. I like that sequence before "Pictures of you"; it's Roger filming, on the day that we made the video. And it's just like a story of what the day was like, and it's really funny. And I also like the sequence about us backstage at Dodger Stadium in America on the Disintegration tour, 'cause it really catches the atmosphere of what we're sort of like before a big concert, it's got a tension, it's good.
What is exactly on the sleeve cover?
It's an old photo in a book that I've got called "The Encyclopaedia of Mysterious Things", or something: it's a girl... you know a planchette for automatic writing, it's a bit like a ouija-board except it has a pencil and you're going to trance and you do this and you draw pictures of... you're writing. I just thought it was a nice picture of this girl, because at first sight you don't really know what it is.
It's true, at first we thought it was your hand.
No, on the original photo it's much more obvious that a hand is actually coming out from her own body. But Andy (Creator of Cure's record sleeves since "Primary") moved the hand back, so it looks like someone else is... that's art.
Among all these videos, which one is your favourite?
Having watched them all through a few times when we put it together, I think my favourite is "Never enough". I just think it's very well put together, and I think it's got a good atmosphere to it. And it's a very strange marriage of song and video, because if you've heard the song you wouldn't think of the video until you've seen, and I think it's quiet... Of course, I think "Lullaby" was a good video cause it came across really strong with the all idea of me being sort of sick...
But they've all got things to comment them. Some of them aren't very good. I don't really like "Lovesong", and I don't like "Fascination Street" particularly. But it would have been stupid to leave some of, because other people have come up and said: "Oh, I really liked Lovesong..."
Is there any funny anecdote about the making of these videos?
Well, videos are not very much fun to make. 'Cause you spend hours waiting about doing nothing. You wait for the lights to be good; you just wait for the shots to be composed. And then you might do it one or three times, and it would be like 10 or 15 seconds on, then that's it. You wait an other hour for the next shot... so it's a very laborious process. And also the others have to wait around a lot particularly for me to do the solo shots. So, during the course of the day of making a video, which usually lasts for us about... midday until about 6 o'clock the next morning, it takes 18 hours to do a video.
There are a lot of funny things, but just there are not really anecdotes. It's just seating around, talking... Particularly the videos with Chris Parry and Bruno (roadie), have been quite funny. Because we've had them as victims.
Like Bruno in the polar bear in the "Pictures of you", that was quite a funny day. And Chris Parry having to take helium to get his voice high (Chris Parry was playing the freaks' master at the beginning of "Never Enough"), that was quite funny. Just Tim Pope kept making him doing and doing until he collapsed, he's unconscious, so...
Usually there's not enough time for things to be fun. I mean, there are a few funny bits that's supposed that we've caught on film, they're on there. Like the sequence before "Hot Hot Hot !!!" when we're seating, waiting for some of the shots, and I'm spitting on Laurence. But generally they're not really wild and funny days. In fact, they probably work harder to make a video then anything else we do. 'Cause when you leave at the end of the day, you don't feel like you've done anything, 'cause you don't actually have anything at to listen to or to look at...
But after the event, it's really pleasurable to see how they end up, you know, when Tim adds bits, that's good!
Could you work with an another director than Tim Pope?
I don't know if we would. I don't know if there'd be much point. I think the reasons that kept us attracted to Tim, and he to us, is that we've done and always do the same things. People say he's got a style, but it's not really true. Because if you look at other things he does like The The videos, or Talk Talk videos, or the commercial he does for like the Sugar Puff, or the commercial he does for Carlsberg Lager, he does different things for different people. And when he works with us, he's got to work with me. And so that's why people think he's got a style with The Cure. But I think any director would be a bit tied down by what we're prepared to do. We won't do certain things, we won't try and look... I suppose something that we're not. We're prepared to look stupid but we're not prepared to try and look serious. But I've never really felt the need to work with another director since we met him. It's like working with Dave Allen a lot, he translates our ideas on to tape. And the same for Tim, he translates our ideas on to film. It would be a bit pointless to find someone else, I think.
But in 1989, there was a project with Mondino?
All the time, particularly when the record companies come to us with suggestions. But he wanted a fortune, and I didn't want to do it anyway, so it fell through.
So you always agree with the image of the band given by Tim Pope through the videos?
Not always, no. But it's not his fault. Like the Lovesong video is a good example. We talked about it; we also saw each other a lot before, to make sure that we had the same ideas. We had the same reference points, in films, in books... just general thoughts. It was as the other videos that we've made. But with the Lovesong it went wrong because everyone looked wrong. And no one was prepared to really do anything. And so, what he was stuck with was a group just like sitting and looking pretty miserable, except for me. And I obliged him to look more miserable, 'cause everyone else is miserable, so... and at the end of it, I think we came out of that not really looking like... that song is probably, for me it's the worst example of video with a song.
But generally, I always go to the rough-cuts, and I see how he led it. I've only have argued with him about one shot, and that's the start of "Lullaby". It had a different shot at the start of "Lullaby" and I refused to let him use it. It was just a really close up with me. It was just like this part of my face (He's miming the shot, both hands around his face), and it was with lot of sweating and stuff... just because it was so horrible I thought, if people see that they might think: "Oh, no!". And all the way through you think: "Oh! this is horrible". So, I thought we should have the bed, so that you get the idea that I was supposed to be ill. But I don't actually look that horrible. But... There's a mixture of vanity, I suppose, and... genuinely not wanted people pulled off by the first image.
Have you shot videos that you've never shown?
Not properly. Not with the crew. And we've filmed a lot of concerts from the mixing desk, just like static shots at the stage all the way through. I recorded all three nights at Wembley on Disintegration, and three or four American concerts like that. I don't know why I never watch them! I like the one at Giants Stadium, we've used a bit of that in this video. But generally, they're just one shot, they'd be too boring. Sometimes I just film to see what the lights look like, to see if there could be any improvement on the lighting. So I do it for a critical reason, not really for enjoyment. I really wish that we've made a proper film for the Prayer tour. It would have been brilliant. But we didn't, so... We didn't do it because we're stupid. And no one around us wanted to make a film about this. We never have anyone there that says: "I make a film"...
And why not a movie: In Bed With The Cure?
It would be unbroadcastable! I haven't seen that film with Madonna, but I know that I wouldn't allow anyone to film me in certain situations. I don't want that kind of exposure. If you really want to be that open about you, you'd have to be seriously deranged. If you have no secrets, it'd be horrible.
You told in 89 that Tom Sheehan took a perfect picture of you.
He once took what I thought was the perfect picture of me, which I've got at home, but have not used.
Because it's just really, it's just a big close up. I was wearing my leather jacket and he took it when I wasn't expecting him to take it. And it looks like I imagine I'd look. So it's got like a kind of natural always when I have my photo with my look, in a certain way I know my photo, but it's very rare for someone just to take a picture, and it's just a very natural sort of pose. So I like it. I am saving it for something, I don't know what.
We read in Melody Maker that you plan to release two albums, what is the purpose of this?
Well, one's gonna be the album, next normal album, which is gonna be ten or twelve songs and the other one's gonna be an instrumental album, which is also gonna be ten or twelve songs, but different songs, and they are less like the group.
And the instrumental one is called "Music For Dream" and that will be like all the stuff we've been doing over the years, it's sort of weird.
Is it going to sound like Carnage Visors or something like that or no?
No, it won't have a theme. It will be ten or twelve distinct, different songs but with just... basically without me singing on anything.
As for the album, how is it going to sound? Have you got a basic idea such as for Disintegration?
No, no. In fact, we were just talking about that this afternoon. I don't have a strong idea of what it should sound. We've done, we've now demoed thirty of these songs. And seven of them are definite, I think. They're all different, so there won't be, it will be much more like The Head On The Door. I mean it won't sound like it but the idea that the songs will all be different to each other, so there won't be an overall feel to it. I suppose. But it won't be like the Kiss Me album because that was, we tried to do lots of different styles that weren't natural like Hot Hot Hot !!! , Why Can't I Be You? There won't be those kind of jocky singles on it. It's still like a Sire's record I suppose. But it's got like a breadth that Disintegration didn't have. It doesn't have that one thread on through it.
Are we going to find the new songs like The Big Hand, Away or Wendy Time on it?
Umm... I dunno. I mean we've demoed obviously those four. I think two possibly The Big Hand and Letter To Elise will make it to the album. They are like two favourites out of those few. I'm not convinced by the other two still. They sounded different the other day here and they sounded like really good so I don't know. There's too many. And we start to argue about what the best.
Last January you won the British Awards, how do you feel about it?
I was very pleased, just because it's nice to win something. It doesn't really make much difference we didn't cash in on it. We didn't immediately bring out, Polydor wanted to bring something out straight away, but we wouldn't 'cause it would have been too stupid. No, we didn't expect to win but we won. It was only when we were actually there that we knew that we'd won. It was just a good evening out really. It wasn't the most important event in my life, but... I think my mum was really pleased.
Is there an artist today that you'd like to work with?
No. 'cause in fact All About Eve asked me to play guitar on their new album last year and I went as far as meeting them, talking, listening to the demoes, but I thought about it, and there's something wrong about it I can't really imagine doing it with anyone. I don't know. I mean I don't have any desire to, so I don't see the point of doing it really. I like listening to people, I don't really want to get involved. I think I'd feel very nervous if I had to play with people I really admire.
You went to see Lol in concert, what did you think of it?
I thought it was dull really. I thought it was dull, boring. It just wasn't, I thought B; he tries very hard to make something of it, but the two things I hated about it was the fact that Lol at the front pretending to play keyboards and he didn't play anything all night as all the other people play. Nothing's changed. And also there's like... it sounded like formula music. I don't know. They didn't have any presence. I thought it was the wrong choice of name, anyway. I mean if they didn't have Lol, they'd be alright, as he was so to be Cure.
Could The Cure exist without Robert Smith, like Echo and The Bunnymen without Ian Mac Cullough?
Well, I couldn't, not in my head. I think it would be a bit strange. No, I wouldn't like it too really. It's too, I've invested too much of my life in it for it to be without me. But I think see that as a reverse when people say that I'm The Cure, but that's not true because if you turn it around, there is, it's only that I couldn't imagine them existing without me, but they are two different things but the perspective is different. It wouldn't be there if I wasn't there, but just because I'm there it doesn't have to exist without me. Anyway!
Considering that every Dc Jekyll has his Mr Hyde, what is yours. How is your Mr. Hyde?
The one that wants to be the centre of attention, when I want to be the center of attention. I find myself doing that and when I wake up the next day, I think: "Why did I do that?" I despise that side of me. But I suppose that's what part of being in the group is really. If I wasn't like that, I wouldn't be singing. I wouldn't be singing in front of people. So I'll have to live with it. It's something, it's not really a curse but I have to live with what I'd enjoy do which involves the part which I absolutely despise.
London, June 1991