Over the next 11 weeks I’ll dig deep into the 2014 Coachella Music Festival lineup, featuring one band per day. The purpose of this piece is to assist in difficult decisions that inevitably you’ll need to make, as well as, serve as a fun countdown to Coachella Week. Note: All bands appear in a completely random order… Enjoy, and let the countdown continue!
Day 54 = The Cult
Performing = Friday
This is an updated version of the Flashback Friday I posted last July.
The Cult are a British hard rock band formed by Canadian Ian Astbury in 1983. The band’s origin is traced back to 1981 when Ian moved to England and formed the gothic rock band Southern Death Cult. The critically acclaimed band enjoyed immediate success and praise while opening for Bauhaus and Theatre Of Hate. Record labels lined up for a chance to sign the up-and-comers, but before they could put pen to paper Ian broke up the band 16 months into it. While on tour Ian met Billy Duffy from Theatre Of Hate. The two joined forces and formed the band Death Cult, hoping to cash in on the success of the former band’s name. By 1984 the band realized that if they were to going have success in America they needed to drop the gothic connotations, and they truncated the name again to simply The Cult.
The original members of The Cult included Ian Astbury (Vocals), Billy Duffy (Guitar), Jamie Stewart (Bass), and Nigel Preston (Drums). The band’s debut LP Dreamtime which adopted Native American Imagery, dealt with issues of the Native Americans and beliefs of the Australian Aborigines, it was only released in the U.K. The success of the album later led to its reissue in 30 countries and bootlegged in many more. By 1985 the band started to enjoy mainstream success that centered around the series of albums Love (1985), Electric (1987), and Sonic Temple (1989). Songs like “She Sells Sanctuary”, “Love Removal Machine”, “Lil Devil”, “Fire Woman”, and “Edie (Ciao Baby)” grew the band into global rock stars. Their success led to other rock band’s mainstream acceptance in the late eighties such as Guns & Roses, and Metallica.
The Cult’s sound is describe as the guitar-orchestration of Led Zeppelin, the three-cord crunch of AC/DC, touches of post-punk and goth-rock, while continuing with the Native American obsession of The Doors. Got that?
The Cult have released nine studio albums over their on-again, off-again career:
Dreamtime (1984)
Love (1985)
Electric (1987)
Sonic Temple (1989)
Ceremony (1991)
The Cult (1994)
Beyond Good and Evil (2001)
Born Into This (2007)
Choice Of Weapon (2012)
Ian and Billy are the two members that have remained constant throughout the years. The band toured throughout 2013, performing the 1987 classic album Electric in its entirety. Last July the group reissued the landmark album under the title Electric Peace. According to Cult mythology, the follow-up to the 1985 album Love included a group of songs that were to be released as the album Peace. Allegedly, the sessions were abandoned when Ian showed up in a drunken stupor everyday. The double compact disc reissue includes the remastered Electric album along with the Peace tracks.
Moving forward Ian says he plans the release new music in capsules. Ian explains, “That means we’d release two new songs every three months grouped with a live recording of songs from our catalog plus visual elements. We’d do it in all formats: vinyl, digital downloads, CDs…Everything available. It’ll be dropped for a limited time in a quick strike and then it’s gone.” Sounds similar to the route the Pixies are taking. There’s only one problem, The Cult owes their record label one more album. The label thinks this is a stupid idea and would much rather have a proper compact disc stocked on the shelves of Best Buy.
In typical Goldenvoice fashion, they’ve booked another great Heritage Act that should put on an epic performance out in the desert next month. The only issue is that valuable space “down deep” will be taken up by scantily clad hipster chicks and their shirtless, backwards hat wearing, loudmouth brofriends. The dudes will get dragged into the facility for the sole purpose of hoisting the girls up on their shoulders during the hits “High Road” and “You Know What I Mean,” all the while there’s constant chitter chatter between songs about when they’re going to play “Go Outside.” I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when Ian busts into the chorus of “Fire Woman.”
Visit the new and improved Cult website here:
http://www.cultcentral.com/
Recommended listening:
“Fire Woman”
“Love Removal Machine”
“She Sells Sanctuary”
GoINDEEpMusic