Always innovating, The Cult is in the middle of their North American Tour in support of their latest release, Capsules.
Breaking away from the normal cycle of releasing an album and touring for years at a time, The Cult is blazing out into uncharted territories with the new capsule format, and no record label.
The new Capsule format has the band recording a few songs at a time and releasing them with extra live track, videos and film montages into what
Ian calls “
a true art”, and then releasing them with coinciding tours.
TST talked to Ian Astbury of The Cult about this new venture and what he feels is the rebirth of the Cult.
TST: You’ve been on tour since mid-September, how’s the tour going so far?
Ian: We hit Europe earlier and we are on our second leg of our American tour, it’s been incredibly long.
I read that you were involved in the films that accompanied Capsule 1 . Is that some of your work?
Yeah, I directed on the first Capsule. Prelude to Ruins is actually a montage of a longer film that is being edited right now. We actually picked up a Canon 5D camera, which is just a base DSLR, but it’s quite diverse and by using different lenses you can have a pretty incredible tool for filmmaking. So, I’ve been fascinated by that process, and the fact that filmmaking and visual elements are really important, along with the culture behind it. Embracing that is really moving forward as an artist in the 21st century.
With this new format you’re delaying your releases. Is this so the release coincides with the tour, or is there a specific reason for releasing the Capsules?
Well, you know, it’s a new way of delivering music for us, so we’re pretty much doing it ourselves. There’s some stuff in the works. The first Capsule, after it was released, we certainly found out very quickly from our audience what they didn’t like in terms of the delivery system, regional coded DVDs and that sort of thing. But we very quickly got up to speed with that for the second Capsule.
For touring, it’s something that we constantly do. It’s something that’s continuous. We started out as a live band. We’re a live rock and roll band. We’re already booked through 2012. I mean, there’s a whole planet out there. We’ve booked dates all across Europe. We’re constantly working; it’s just the nature of what we do. We can’t take to much time off. It’s a lot of being on the road and in the studio working on projects.
The second Capsule will come out on this tour, while we’re out performing these songs. We’re performing “Embers” right now, which is the lead song off of the second Capsule, and we’re also performing “Everyman” and “Woman is a Star”, which is from the first Capsule. It’s interesting, because as we’re performing them live they’re kind of taking on different forms, and are actually growing during the live performances, it is very interesting. They’re as fresh as you can get.
Was there any trepidation switching over to the Capsule format, instead of adhering to the norm of album tour, album tour?
Oh yeah, we feel like albums have become cannibalized. Touring, it feels like the audience has entitlement because most artists come through often, and there are special artists who don’t come through ever. Now, there are so many artists on the road, so the actual idea of going to a concert is commonplace. So, engaging the audience based on the content you’re putting out as you tour, it forces the artist to work harder. You get to show them what you’re actually creating. We aren’t looking for a hand out from any record label or benefactor to sort this out for me, we’re doing it ourselves. We’re open to the idea of perhaps making another studio album, if it arises. Right now, we’re really focused on the Capsule format and the film elements.
I do believe that the Cult has the fan base to work with the Capsule format. And the extra things about the Capsules is the live songs and the remixes. Do you see this catching on with Cult fans?
One thing is formatting, but the quality of what goes into the Capsules is what matters. I mean, some of our fans have been complaining about the live tracks, like why are there live tracks? Well, those live songs have been performed with the full integrity that goes into recorded works; they’re not put there for padding. It is put there because we believe in this music; it gives you an opportunity to see the different live performances and the different interpretations of the music.
In regards of the value of our music; we value our music. We don’t think that music should be given away for free. You don’t go to McDonald’s and be given a free hamburger, you know? Can’t walk into a gas station and get free gas. A lot blood, sweat and tears goes into the creativity of the music, and I don’t subscribe to this current desperate industry panic mode of giving away music for free, nobody asked the artist, and I feel that is incredibly irresponsible.
It’s not just about the artists, there’s an entire community that the entertainment industry supports. So, we’re living in a type of society where we expel more music. I understand ripping some things, maybe sharing them with your friends, but the industry is in a freefall, and in a way it’s a very dangerous place. The middle ground and marketing man is more interested in marketing pop. The arts are not supported the United States, so you’ve got to roll up your sleeves and come up with your own solutions, and part of our solution is the capsule format.
With all your collaborations, Messiah, Tony Iommi, Unkle, Slash and Boris, which has been your favorite?
They’re all different. The work with Unkle was very gratifying because I introduced James to Chris Goss, who produced the whole War Stories album. So I feel like I had a hand in that particular project and recorded and wrote two of the songs, one being Burn My Shadow. Obviously, the Boris material (Magikal Child) is very fresh. I think Magikal Child and Burn My Shadow are very important songs for me.
It’s like trying to pick your favorite kid, you know. I have affection for all of them, Slash as well. I have known Slash for twenty years, and when Slash picks up the phone and ask you to come in the studio, you don’t say no. You don’t say no to Slash, you know?
You’ll be here in Atlanta at the Tabernacle on November 12th. Are there any last words for the fans?
I think we’ve played the Tabernacle three times now, and it’s one of our favorite venues in the United States. I think it is one of the most beautiful venues, and I love coming Atlanta.
The show right now, the band’s on fire. It’s really high energy. I think it’s a really exciting time. We are playing some deeper songs like White, Gone, NYC, Spiritwalker and the newer songs, Every Man, Woman Is A Star and Embers, and classics like Wild Flower, Sanctuary, Rain and Firewoman .
We have been changing it up. We are getting ready to do a major British tour, something we haven’t done in a decade. So I think our American fans are going to benefit from us digging deeper in to our catalog.
It is a real transitional time for the band and I think it is really an exciting time because we are creating these new songs and we are playing them as we go. We were in the studio last week working on two new songs for soundtracks and we have studio time booked in December.We’re touring in January, more studio time in February , and a major tour of Canada in May. There is a lot coming.
Read the entire interview at TheSilverTongueOnline.com.
