The talking Cure

The backcombed hair is still defying gravity, the red lipstick still smudged across his mouth - so it's business as usual, then, for Robert Smith and the Cure? Not at all, he tells Zoe Williams, thanks to an American nu-metal producer who's forced the fortysomething British bandmates to get personal for their new album.

"Is he still wearing the lipstick?" is what everyone wants to know about Robert Smith. It doesn't say exactly what it means, this question - it means "I know who you're talking about, I can conjure up a visual, I'm sufficiently well brought up to take an interest in what you've been up to, but I don't particularly want to know what you think of his new album, not because I'm not interested, just because I've seen your CD collection." Robert Smith is the lipstick guy; he's the lipstick guy, and the Lovecats guy. Lovecats is the song that would make you think "Cure",

The Cure - A forest

An Interview With Robert Smith of The Cure

Eastcoast Rocket
July 22, 1987
Interview by Harold De Muir
reprinted without permission

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Robert Smith is late. Seems that the mercurial Band leader has spent the previous evening getting soused with Curemates Simon Gallup, Lol Tolhurst and Boris Williams - fifth member Porl Thompson is back home in England - and is now sleeping it off, incommunicado, in his hotel room. This does not sit particularly well with the staff of Manhattan's $300-a-night St. Regis hotel, who can be forgiven for worrying that an exotic-looking British pop star who's got his door double-locked and his phone off the hook may be floating face down in the bathtub.Once a hotel security man is reassured that Smith is indeed still breathing, the now-awakened singer decides he can't do this interview in his room, because he "decimated" it last night. Once another room has been secured and Smith has checked to make sure that Tolhurst hasn't sustained any major injuries from last night's barroom, brawl with Gallup, we can get on with the business of alerting the public to the charms of The Cure's new double album Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me.

The Cure - Plainong

The Cure

Biography

The Cure is an alternative rock band which formed during the punk era of the 1970s in Crawley, England. The band started playing together in 1976 while Robert Smith and Laurence Tolhurst were still in secondary school. Their initial sound placed the band amongst the Post-punk/New wave movements while the darker music that followed, helped formulate the Gothic rock genre that developed through the 1980s. The Cure have released thirteen studio albums and over thirty singles during the course of their career, and as of 2010 have sold 32 million albums worldwide.

They remain one of the most enduring bands of the last thirty years, as proven by receiving the ‘Godlike Genius’ award at the Shockwaves NME Awards in February, 2009. The Cure has gone through several lineup changes, however, their current lineup resembles an early lineup consisting of founding memberRobert Smith (vocals, guitar), original guitarist Porl Thompson (guitar), long-standing member Simon Gallup (bass) and Jason Cooper (drums). Smith is the only member who has continuously been in the band since its formation. The Cure’s full lineup history is as follows: Robert Smith (Vocals & Guitar 1976-present), Lol Tolhurst (Drums & Keyboards 1976-1989), Michael Dempsey (Bass 1976-1979), Porl Thompson (Guitar & Keyboards 1976-1978, 1983-1992, 2005 -present), Simon Gallup (Bass & Keyboards 1979-1982, 1985-present)