3/1/1986 Video Rock Stars
The Cure The Question Of Faith
When the Cure first performed in New York a little over five years ago, they played to a couple of hundred people in a late-night club called Hurrah. At that time the Cure were a quartet with singer Robert Smith, drummer Laurence "Lol" Tolhurst, keyboardist Matthieu Hartley and bassist Simon Gallup. It was fashionable to like them mainly because a) very few people knew about them and b) Robert’s tortured vocals were emotionally authentic. Especially in the punk era, people thrived on appearing miserable.
Times change. The Cure are now a quintet, minus Matthieu, plus Porl Thompson on guitar and keyboards and Boris Williams on drums: Lol now plays keyboards as well. Everyone’s hair is a lot longer and Robert has been known to smile. One of the reasons for Robert’s happier disposition has to do with the Cure’s new album, Head On The Door, which has become the band’s first American hit. They’ve sold about 10,000 seaters in the States and two hours before another American gig, Robert crimps his hair and talks about his role in the band he founded at age 16.
I’ve always felt that you are a person who would not be at ease with the idea of being famous.
Yeah, but it was obvious we were going to be successful when we did things like "Love Cats." Some of it was born out of frustration that when we were doing wasn’t getting heard, so we had to do something that would make us more obvious and expose us more. And to do that, you had to deal with the media, and therefore I had to become something which I’m not really. I’m definitely a split personality. I used to be, not really shy, but quieter, whereas now I’m not so much.
It’s always been a popular notion, judging from your songs, that you enjoy being miserable.
I don’t see it in the way I’d perceive someone like Morrisey, as a professional moaner. Because in the past our work has been weighted more towards a darker side, a bleaker side of life, more despairing. I think it’s become much more balanced. The new record, there are songs like "In Between Days," which, lyrically, I suppose, aren’t very happy, but I just can’t write happy songs. That doesn’t mean I’m not happy. Because I am, a lot of the time. I spend more time smiling than I do crying.
Actually, getting it out is like therapy really. Onstage when we do a song like "Cold," I do get miserable then for a few minutes. I get involved in it and I remember how I felt when I wrote it. Similarly, with "Sinking." But then we can do "Let’s Go To Bed" or "The Walk" onstage and that picks it up again.
Do you think the audience understand what your songs are about?
Understand. That’s sort of a dangerous area because it’s like giving a song more credit for one reason than another. For example, "Figurehead" is a better song than "Love Cats" because it has more emotional content in it. I think that was true in a certain way. But on the other hand, if someone likes "Love Cats" more because it’s a better tune, I wouldn’t be able to say that you’re wrong. It’s like arguing which is a better painting, one green line on a white background or a whole landscape painstakingly painted. I don’t know.
The audience knows us because of our longevity. The Cure have been together for 10 years through various styles we’ve been ?. When we came (to the States), some people thought "Let’s Go To Bed" was our first record. And I thought, it doesn’t matter, because whatever we do now doesn’t invalidate what we did before. Some people thought "Let’s Go To Bed" was utter sacrilege and they would burn their copies Faith because we’d done something that dumb. But it was a different time. All the things that we did then meant a lot to a few people comparatively. Whereas now, we probably mean not as much to more people.
Does going into your second decade frighten you?
It surprises me. I imagined I’d still be doing something but I didn’t think it would be as a performer. We definitely won’t be celebrating our second decade. Can you imagine Lol at 40? A freak show! Horrifying! I’ll wake up one morning and won’t want to go onstage anymore. Then I’ll probably get bored and reform the band.
