PLEASE CALL OFFICE FOR AVAILABILITY: 08447 707 788 DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED:
In 1981, singer Ian Astbury joined a local, singer-less band, and renamed the outfit "Southern Death Cult", after an obscure Indian tribe from the Mississippi delta in the 14th and 15th centuries. The band's first performance was at the Queen's Hall in Bradford, England, on 29 October 1981. The quartet was together for about 16 months, releasing a double A-sided single ("Moya") and touring with Bauhaus and Theatre of Hate before breaking up after a final performance in Manchester on 26 February 1983.
In April 1983, Astbury teamed up with guitarist Billy Duffy to form Death Cult. Duffy had previously been in The Nosebleeds and then Theatre of Hate, a band that Southern Death Cult had toured with in October 1982. Death Cult existed on the fringes of the Gothic scene in London. In addition to Astbury and Duffy, the band also included Jamie Stewart (bass) and Raymond Taylor Smith (aka Ray Mondo) (drums), the latter two having come from the Harrow, London based post punk band Ritual. Death Cult made their live debut on Oslo, Norway in late June 1983, released the Death Cult EP in July 1983, then toured throughout Europe on an admittedly shoestring budget.
In September 1983, Mondo was deported to his home country of Sierra Leone, and replaced by drummer Nigel Preston. The single "God's Zoo" was released in October 1983. Another European tour, with UK dates, followed later that autumn. To tone down the Gothic connotations of their name, and to gain broader appeal, the band changed its name simply to "The Cult" on January 13 1984, immediately before appearing on Channel 4 television show The Tube.
The Cult's first studio record was recorded at Rockfield Studios, in Monmouth, Wales in late March and early April 1984. The record was originally being produced by Joe Julian, but after having recorded the drum tracks the band decided to replace him, and Beggars Banquet suggested John Brand. The record was ultimately produced by Brand, but guitarist Billy Duffy has said that the drum tracks used on the record were those produced by Julian, as Nigel Preston by that time had become too unreliable.
The band recorded the songs which later became known as: "Butterflies", "(The) Gimmick", "A Flower in the Desert", "Horse Nation", "Spiritwalker", "Bad Medicine (Waltz)", "Dreamtime", "With Love" (later known as "Ship of Fools", ultimately "Sea and Sky"), "Bone Bag", "Too Young", "83rd Dream", and one untitled outtake. It is unknown what the outtake was, or whether it was developed into a song at a later date. Songs like "Horse Nation" showed Astbury's already intense interest in Native American issues, with the lyrics to "Horse Nation" ("See them prancing, they come neighing, to a horse nation") taken almost verbatim from the book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, while "Spiritwalker" dealt with shamanism, and the record's title and title track are overtly influenced by Australian Aboriginal beliefs.
On 4 April 1984 The Cult released the single "Spiritwalker", which reached #1 on the independent charts in the UK, and acted as a teaser for their forthcoming album Dreamtime. This was followed by a second single, "Go West (Crazy Spinning Cirles)" that summer, before the release of Dreamtime in September, an album which reached UK #21, and sold over 100,000 copies in Britain alone. On 12 July, the band performed five songs live on the BBC, Madia Vale 5 studio. Both before and after the album's release, The Cult toured extensively throughout Europe and England before recording another single, "Resurrection Joe" (UK #74), released that December. Following a Christmas support slot with Big Country, The Cult toured Europe with support from the Sisterhood (soon to become The Mission). The Dreamtime album was released initially only in Britain, but after its success, and as The Cult's popularity worldwide grew, it was issued later in nearly 30 countries.
In May of 1985, The Cult recorded their fourth single 'She Sells Sanctuary', which charted at #15 in the UK chart #15, re- entered the charts at #56 in September 1986, overall spent 41 consecutive weeks on the charts and recently voted #18 in VH1s Indie 100).
During this period, drummer Nigel Preston had increasingly erratic behaviour, which led him to be removed from the band in June 1985.Big Country's drummer Mark Brzezicki was picked to replace Preston. The Cult recorded their second album July and August 1985, which became the 'Love' album (UK#3). The band's music and image shifted from its punk-oriented roots to 1970s psychedelia influences. Love was a successful independent record, selling 300,000 copies in Britain, 500,000 copies in Europe, 100,000 in Australia, and eventually over 1.5 million copies in North America. To date the record has sold over two and a half million copies worldwide.
Over the next eight months, the band toured the world with drummer Les Warner (who had played with Julian Lennon and Johnny Thunders). Two more official singles from the Love album followed, 'Rain' (UK#14) and 'Revolution (UK#30), however none of the singles charted in the US. Another single, 'Nirvana', was issued only in Poland.
In May of 1985, The Cult recorded their fourth single 'She Sells Sanctuary', which charted at #15 in the UK chart #15, re- entered the charts at #56 in September 1986, overall spent 41 consecutive weeks on the charts and recently voted #18 in VH1s Indie 100).
During this period, drummer Nigel Preston had increasingly erratic behaviour, which led him to be removed from the band in June 1985.Big Country's drummer Mark Brzezicki was picked to replace Preston. The Cult recorded their second album July and August 1985, which became the 'Love' album (UK#3). The band's music and image shifted from its punk-oriented roots to 1970s psychedelia influences. Love was a successful independent record, selling 300,000 copies in Britain, 500,000 copies in Europe, 100,000 in Australia, and eventually over 1.5 million copies in North America. To date the record has sold over two and a half million copies worldwide.
Over the next eight months, the band toured the world with drummer Les Warner (who had played with Julian Lennon and Johnny Thunders). Two more official singles from the Love album followed, 'Rain' (UK#14) and 'Revolution (UK#30), however none of the singles charted in the US. Another single, 'Nirvana', was issued only in Poland.
Once back in England, the band booked themselves into the Manor Studios in Oxfordshire, with producer Steve Brown (who had produced Love), and recorded over a dozen new songs. The band were unhappy with the sound of the tentatively titled "Peace", and they decided to go to New York City so that producer Rick Rubin could remix the first single "Love Removal Machine".
Rubin agreed to work with the band, but only if they rerecorded the song. Rubin eventually talked them into rerecording the entire record. The Cult's record company, Beggars Banquet was displeased that the band was rerecording the entire record, because two months and £250,000 had already been spent on the record. However, after hearing the New York recording, Beggars Banquet agreed to proceed. The first single was released in February, and the new version appeared in April 1987 as Electric, an album which reached #4 and managed to sell even more than Love.
A few tracks from the Peace album appeared on the single version of 'Love Removal Machine'(UK #18), and 'Lil Devil'(UK#11). The Cult toured with Kid Chaos on bass with Jamie Stewart moving to rhythm guitar. One more single, 'Wild Flower'(UK#24) was also released later in summer 1987.
In the United States, The Cult, now consisting of Ian Astbury, Billy Duffy, Jamie Stewart, Les Warner and Haggis, were supported by the then unknown Guns N' Roses. The tour wound through Australia, where the band wrecked £30,000 worth of equipment, and as a result they could not tour Japan, as no company would rent them new equipment. At the end of the tour the Electric album had gone platinum in Britain, and sold roughly 3 million copies worldwide, but the band were barely speaking to each other by then.
Astbury and Duffy fired bassist Kid Chaos, drummer Les Warner, and their management team Grant/ Edwards, and moved to Los Angeles with original bassist Jamie Stewart. Les Warner sued the band several times for his firing, as well as what he felt were unpaid royalties to him for his performance on the Electric album, resulting in lengthy court battles. The Cult signed a new management deal and wrote 21 new songs for their next record.
For the next album, Jamie Stewart returned to playing bass, and John Webster was brought in to play keyboards. The band used Chris Taylor (drummer Payolas), to play drums during rehearsals and record the demos, then Kiss drummer Eric Singer performed during the second demo recording sessions. The Cult eventually recruited session-drummer Mickey Curry (Bryan Adams) to fill the drumming role and Aerosmith sound engineer Bob Rock to produce.
Recorded in Vancouver B.C., Canada in October, November and December of 1988, the Sonic Temple(UK#4), (US#10) record gained multi-platinum status worldwide. The band went on tour in support of the new album and new single "Fire Woman" (UK#15) with yet another new drummer Matt Sorum, and John Webster as keyboard player. The next single, 'Edie (Ciao Baby)' (UK#25) has become a regular song at concerts for many, many years.
In Europe, they toured with Aerosmith, and in the States, after releasing another single 'Sun King'(UK#42), they spent 1989 touring in support of Metallica, before heading out on their own headlining tour later that same year. A fourth single, 'Sweet Soul Sister' (UK#38) was released in February of 1990, with the video have been filmed at Wembley, in London on 25 November 1989. Sweet Soul Sister was partially written in Paris, and was inspired by the Bohemian lifestyle of that city.
Immediately after playing a show in Atlanta, Georgia, in February 1990, the band's management told Ian that his father had just died of cancer. As a result, the remainder of the tour was cancelled after a final leg of shows were performed in April. After the tour ended in April 1990, the band was on the verge of splitting due to Jamie Stewart retiring and moving to Canada to be with his wife, and Matt Sorum leaving to join Guns N' Roses.
In 1990, Ian Astbury organized the A Gathering of the Tribes festival in Los Angeles and San Francisco with artists such as Soundgarden, Ice T, Indigo Girls, Queen Latifah, Iggy Pop, The Charlatans, The Cramps and Public Enemy appearing. This two day festival drew 40,000 people, and may have inspired Lollapalooza, started in 1991.
Also in 1990, a ten CD box set was released in Britain, containing rare songs from The Cult's singles. These ten cds were all issued as picture discs with transparent covers, housed in either a white box called "Singles Collection", or a black box called "E.P. Collection '84 - '90".
Director Oliver Stone offered Ian Astbury the role of Jim Morrison in Stone's film "The Doors". Astbury reportedly read the script and was not happy with the way Morrison was going to be represented in the film, and declined the role.
By the spring of 1991, Astbury and Duffy were writing again for their next album. During the demo recordings, Todd Hoffman and James Kottak played bass and drums. During the actual album recording sessions, Mickey Curry was recruited again played drums, with Charley Drayton on bass, and various other performers. Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy's working relationship had disintegrated by that time, with the two men reportedly rarely even in the studio together during recording.
The resulting album 'Ceremony' was released to mixed responses. The album climbed US#34, but sales were not as impressive as the previous three records, only selling around one million copies worldwide. Only two official singles were released from the record: 'Wild Hearted Son'(UK#34), (Canada #41) and 'Heart of Soul'(UK#50), although 'White' was released as a single only in Canada, and 'Sweet Salvation' was released as a single (as 'Douce Salvacion') in Argentina in 1992.
The Cult were sued by the mother of the Native American boy pictured on the cover of Ceremony, for alleged exploitation. This lawsuit delayed the Ceremony record's release in many countries.
A world tour followed with backing from drummer Michael Lee and bassist Kinley Wolfe, and keyboardist John Sinclair returning one last time, and the Gathering of the Tribes moved to the UK. Here artists such as Pearl Jam performed. The warm-up gig to the show, in a small nightclub, was dedicated to the memory of Nigel Preston, who had died a few weeks earlier at the age of 31.
Following the release of the single "The Witch" (#9 in Australia), produced by Rick Rubin, two volumes of remixes of She sells Sanctuary, called "Sanctuary Mixes MCMXCIII, volumes one and two", and in support of "Pure Cult- for Rockers, Ravers, Lovers and Sinners", a greatest hits compilation which debuted at UK #1 on the British charts, Astbury and Duffy fired the "backing band" and recruited Craig Adams (The Mission) and Scott Garrett for performances across Europe in 1993, with some shows featuring Mike Dimkitch on rhythm guitar.
With the same line-up, the band released a record in October 1994 produced by Bob Rock. Ian Astbury referred to the record as "very personal, and very revealing" songs about his life, with the subject matter ranging from sexual abuse at the age of 15, to the death of Nigel Preston, to his directionless years spent in Glasgow in the late 1970's. But the record was barely noticed, only reaching US#69, and UK#21, and then quickly dropping out of sight. The single "Coming Down (Drug Tongue)"(UK#51) was released with the band going on tour in support of the new album. Only one more single,'Star'(UK#65), was officially released. That song began life in 1986 as 'Tom Petty' before being dropped by the band during rehearsals. In 1993 the song was resurrected once again as 'Starchild', and was finally completed for the record in 1994 as, just simply, 'Star'.
When the band began touring in winter 1994, they augmented the line up with James Stevenson on rhythm guitar. As with the Ceremony record several years earlier, no other official singles were released, but several other songs were released on a strictly limited basis: 'Sacred Life' was released in Spain and the Netherlands, 'Be Free' was issued in Canada and France, 'Saints are Down' was issued in Greece, but none of the songs gathered much attention.
During the 1995 tour of South America, despite the fact that several more new songs had already been recorded, the tour was cancelled after an appearance in Rio de Janeiro in March. Ian Astbury then formed The Holy Barbarians, a band which only released one record in April 1996, 'Cream', named after a popular Liverpool nightclub, before folding in 1997.
In November of 1996, a number of CD reissues were released: 'High Octane Cult' (US#139), a slightly updated greatest hit compilation released only in the United States and Japan, The Southern Death Cult 15 song remastered cd, a ten song cd by Death Cult called "Ghost Dance", consisting of the untitled four song EP, the single "God's Zoo", and four unreleased songs from a radio broadcast, and a remastered repackaging of the Dreamtime album, containing only the ten original songs from the record in their original playing order and almost completely different artwork. Dreamtime Live at the Lyceum was also remastered and issued on video and for the first time on CD, with the one unissued song 'Gimmick'.
Throughout 1997/98 Ian Astbury recorded a solo record, originally to be titled 'Natural Born Guerilla', ultimately the record remained unreleased until June of 2000. Astbury played one solo concert in 1999, and later said he had intended to do a solo tour, however when The Cult reunited in spring of 1999, Astbury's idea for a solo tour was scrapped.
1999 saw Astbury and Duffy regroup with Matt Sorum and ex-Porno For Pyros bassist Martyn LeNoble, and re-establish The Cult. Their first official public appearance was at the Tibetan Freedom Concert in June 1999, after having rehearsed at shows in the LA area. The band's 1999 "Cult Rising" reunion tour resulted in a sold out 30 date tour of the United States, ending with 8 consecutive sold out nights at the LA House of Blues.
The band signed to Atlantic Records and recorded a new album (Beyond Good and Evil) originally being produced by Mick Jones of Foreigner, until Jones bowed out to tour with Foreigner. Astbury and Duffy both speak very highly of Mick Jones, even going so far as to write one song with him for the record, whereas in the past, neither Astbury or Duffy would allow anyone to co write their material. Bob Rock ultimately filled in the producer's chair again. Martyn LeNoble and Chris Wyse would contribute bass to the record. The band were once again joined by Mike Dimkitch on rhythm guitar on tour.
In 2000 the band toured South Africa and North and South America, and contributed the song "Painted on My Heart" to the soundtrack of the movie Gone in 60 Seconds. The song was featured prominently and the melody was fused into parts of the score. In June, Ian Astbury's long delayed solo record was finally released as 'Spirit/ Light/ Speed', but it failed to garner much attention. In November 2000, yet another greatest hits compilation was released 'Pure Cult: the Singles', along with an accompanying DVD, which was later certified gold in Canada.
However Beyond Good and Evil was not the comeback record the band had hoped for. Despite reaching US#37, #22 in Canada, and #25 in Spain, sales quickly dropped, only selling roughly 500.000 copies worldwide. The first single 'Rise', reached US#41, and #2 on the mainstream rock charts, but Atlantic Records quickly pulled the song from radio playlists. Ian Astbury would later describe the experience with Atlantic to be "soul destroying", after Atlantic tried to tamper with the lyrics, the record cover, and choice of singles from the record.
After the first single from the record, The Cult's working relationship with Atlantic was on paper only, with Atlantic pulling 'Rise' from the radio stations playlists, and effectively stopping all promotion of the record. The second single 'Breathe' was released a radio station promo, and the final single 'True Believers' was only on a compilation sampler disc in January 2002 (after The Cult's tour had already ended). Despite True Believers recieveing radio airplay in Australia, both singles went largely unnoticed, and both Astbury and Duffy effectively walked away from the project. Martyn LeNoble rejoined the band for the initial dates in early 2001, and Billy Morrison filled in on bass for the majority of the 2001 tour.
The European tour of 2001 was largely cancelled, due in part to security concerns after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and the band was flown back to the United States to tour again with Aerosmith. But the 11 week tour was considered by fans to be a disaster, with the band performing a brief rundown of their greatest hits. After that, with the tour ending in December 2001, the band took most of 2002 off, only emerging in October to play a brief series of dates in the western United States. The band at that time was: Ian Astbury, Billy Duffy, Mike Dimkitch, Scott Garrett, Craig Adams. After this The Cult went on another hiatus.
