The Cult
The Cult are an English rock band formed in Bradford in 1983. Before settling on their current name in January 1984, the band had performed under the name Death Cult, which was an evolution of the name of lead vocalist Ian Astbury's previous band Southern Death Cult. They gained a dedicated following in the United Kingdom in the mid-1980s as a post-punk and gothic rock band, with singles such as "She Sells Sanctuary", before breaking into the mainstream in the United States in the late 1980s establishing themselves as a hard rock band with singles such as "Love Removal Machine". Since its initial formation in 1983, the band have had various line-ups: the longest-serving members are Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy, who are also their two main songwriters.
The Cult's debut studio album Dreamtime was released in 1984 to moderate success, with its lead single "Spiritwalker" reaching No. 1 on the UK Indie Chart. Their second studio album, Love, was also successful, charting at No. 4 in the UK and including singles such as "She Sells Sanctuary" and "Rain". The band's third studio album, Electric, launched them to new heights of success, also peaking at No. 4 in the UK and charting highly in other territories, and spawned the hit singles "Love Removal Machine", "Lil' Devil" and "Wild Flower". On that album, the Cult supplemented their post-punk sound with hard rock; the polish on this new sound was facilitated by producer Rick Rubin. After moving to Los Angeles, where the band have been based for the remainder of their career, the Cult continued the musical experimentation of Electric with its follow-up studio album Sonic Temple, which marked their first collaboration with Bob Rock, who would produce several of the band's subsequent studio albums. Sonic Temple was their most successful studio album to that point, entering the Top 10 on the UK and US charts, and included one of the band's most popular songs "Fire Woman".
By the time of their fifth studio album Ceremony, tensions and creative differences began to surface between the band members. This resulted in the recording sessions for Ceremony being held without a stable line-up, leaving Astbury and Duffy as the only two official members, and featuring support from session musicians on bass guitar and drums. The ongoing tension had carried over within the next few years, during which the band one more studio album – The Cult – before disbanding in 1995. The Cult reformed in 1999 and released their seventh studio album Beyond Good and Evil two years later. The commercial failure of the album and resurfaced tensions led to the band's second dissolution in 2002. The Cult reunited once again in 2006, and have since released four more studio albums: Born into This, Choice of Weapon, Hidden City and Under the Midnight Sun.
History
Early history (1981–1984)
The band's origins can be traced to 1981, in Bradford, Yorkshire, where lead vocalist and songwriter Ian Astbury formed a band called Southern Death Cult. The name was chosen with a double meaning. It was derived from the academic term Southern Death Cult, used to describe a cluster of 14th-century Native American groups now classified as the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. The name Southern Death Cult also inspired by what the band viewed was the centralisation of political and economic power in Southern England ; there has long been a perceived notion of an England North–South divide based on social, historic and economic reasons. Astbury was joined by guitarist Buzz Burrows, bassist Barry Jepson and drummer Aki Nawaz Qureshi; they performed their first show at the Queen's Hall in their hometown of Bradford on 29 October 1981. The band were at the forefront of an emerging style of music, in the form of post-punk and gothic rock, they achieved critical acclaim from the press and music fans.The band signed to independent record label Situation Two, an offshoot of Beggars Banquet Records, and released a three-track, triple A-side single, "Moya", in 1982. They toured through England headlining some shows and touring with Bauhaus and Theatre of Hate. Southern Death Cult played their final performance in Manchester during February 1983, meaning after only 16 months the band were over. A compilation album named The Southern Death Cult was released, this being a collection of the single, radio sessions with John Peel for Radio One and live performances – one of which an audience member recorded with a tape recorder.
In April 1983, Astbury teamed up with guitarist Billy Duffy and formed the band "Death Cult". Duffy had been in the Nosebleeds, Lonesome No More and then Theatre of Hate. In addition to Astbury and Duffy, the band also included bassist Jamie Stewart and drummer Raymond Taylor Smith, both from the Harrow, London based post-punk band, Ritual. Death Cult made their live debut in Oslo, Norway on 25 July 1983 and also released the Death Cult EP in the same month, then toured through mainland Europe. In September 1983, a deal was made to switch drummers, Mondo would be replaced by Nigel Preston, as the drummer for Sex Gang Children and Preston would join Death Cult. The single "Gods Zoo" was released in October 1983. Another European tour, with UK dates, followed that autumn. To tone down their name's gothic connotations and gain broader appeal, the band changed its name to the Cult in January 1984 before appearing on the Channel 4 television show, The Tube.
The Cult's debut studio album, Dreamtime, was recorded at Rockfield Studios, in Monmouth, Wales in 1984. The record was to be produced by Joe Julian, but after recording the drum tracks, the band decided to replace him with John Brand. Brand produced the record, but guitarist Duffy has said the drum tracks were produced by Julian, as Preston had become unreliable.
The band recorded the songs which later became known as "Butterflies", " Gimmick", "A Flower in the Desert", "Horse Nation", "Spiritwalker", "Bad Medicine ", "Dreamtime", "With Love", "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 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 No. 1 on the independent charts in the UK, and acted as a teaser for their forthcoming studio album Dreamtime. This was followed that summer by a second single, "Go West ", before the release of Dreamtime in September; the album reached No. 21 in the UK, and sold over 100,000 copies in the UK alone. On 12 July 1984, the band recorded five songs at the BBC Maida Vale 5 studio for a Richard Skinner session. Before and after the album's release, the Cult toured throughout Europe and England before recording another single, "Ressurection Joe", released that December. Following a Christmas support slot with Big Country, the Cult toured Europe with support from the Mission. Dreamtime was released initially only in the UK, but after its success, and as the Cult's popularity grew worldwide, it was issued in approximately 30 countries.
Mainstream success (1985–1990)
In May 1985, the Cult released their fourth single, "She Sells Sanctuary", which peaked at No. 15 in the UK and spent 23 weeks in the Top 100. The song was recently voted No. 18 in VH1's Indie 100. In the following month, after his increasingly erratic behaviour, Preston was fired from the band. Big Country's drummer Mark Brzezicki was picked to replace Preston, and was also included in the music video for "She Sells Sanctuary". The Cult then finished recording their second studio album, Love, in July and August 1985. The band's music and image shifted from their punk-oriented roots to 1960s psychedelia influences. Love was a chart success, peaking at No. 4 in the UK and selling 100,000 copies there toward a total of 500,000 copies throughout Europe, as well as 100,000 in Australia and 500,000 copies in the United States. Love reached number 20 on the charts in the Netherlands, where it remained for 32 weeks. To date, the record has sold over two and a half million copies worldwide.From late September 1985 to June 1986, the band went on a worldwide tour with new drummer Les Warner. Two more singles from the Love album followed; "Rain" and "Revolution". Neither charted in the US. Another single, "Nirvana", was issued only in Poland. The album version of "Rain", as well as the remix " Rain", were used in the Italian horror film Demons 2. Once back in England, the band booked themselves into the Manor Studios in Oxfordshire, with producer Steve Brown, and recorded over a dozen new songs. The band were unhappy with the sound of their new studio album, titled Peace, and they decided to go to New York so producer Rick Rubin could remix the first single, "Love Removal Machine".
Rubin agreed to work with the band, but only if they re-recorded the song. Rubin eventually talked them into re-recording the entire album. The band's record company, Beggars Banquet, was displeased with this, as two months and £250,000 had already been spent on the record. However, after hearing the initial New York recording, Beggars Banquet agreed to proceed. The first single, "Love Removal Machine", was released in February 1987, and the new version of the album appeared in April that year, now renamed as Electric, reaching No. 4 and eventually outselling Love. The band toured with Kid Chaos on bass guitar, with Stewart on rhythm guitar. Two more singles, "Lil Devil" and "Wild Flower", were released during 1987. A few tracks from the original Peace album appeared on the single versions of "Love Removal Machine", and "Lil Devil". The full Peace album would not be released until 2000, when it was included as Disc 3 of the Rare Cult box set.
In the US, the Cult, now consisting of Astbury, Duffy, Stewart, Warner and Kid Chaos, were supported by a then-unknown Guns N' Roses. The band also appeared at Roskilde Festival in Denmark in June 1987. During the Australian part of the world tour, 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 been certified Gold in the UK, and sold roughly 3 million copies worldwide, but the band were barely speaking to each other by then. Haggis left the band at the end of the Electric tour to form the Four Horsemen for Rubin's Def American label. Astbury and Duffy fired Warner and their management team Grant/Edwards, and moved to Los Angeles with Stewart. Warner sued the band several times for his firing, as well as for what he considered were unpaid royalties 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 album.
For the next studio album, Stewart returned to playing bass guitar, and John Webster was brought in to play keyboards. The band used Chris Taylor to play drums during rehearsals and record the demos, with future Kiss drummer Eric Singer performing during the second demo recording sessions. The Cult eventually recruited session drummer Mickey Curry to fill the drumming role and Aerosmith sound engineer, Bob Rock, to produce. Recorded in Vancouver from October to December 1988, and released in April of the following year, Sonic Temple went Top 10 in both the UK and the US, where it was certified Gold and Platinum respectively. The band went on tour in support of the new album and new single "Fire Woman" , with yet another new drummer, Matt Sorum, and Webster as keyboardist. The next single, "Edie " has become a regular song at concerts for many years.
In Europe, the band toured with Aerosmith, and in the US, after releasing another single "Sun King", they spent 1989 touring in support of Metallica before heading out on their own headlining tour later that same year. The fourth and final single, "Sweet Soul Sister", was released in February 1990, with the video having been filmed at Wembley Arena, London, on 25 November 1989. "Sweet Soul Sister" was partially written in Paris and was inspired by the bohemian lifestyle of that city. Released as a single in February 1990, the song was another hit in the UK, and reportedly reached number one on the rock charts in Brazil. After playing a show in Atlanta in February 1990, the band's management told Astbury 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, the band were on the verge of breaking up due to Stewart retiring and moving to Canada to be with his wife, and Sorum leaving to join Guns N' Roses.
In 1990, Astbury organised the 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. Also in 1990, a ten CD box set was released in the UK, containing rare songs from the Cult's singles. The CDs in this box set were all issued as picture discs with washi paper covers, housed in a white box called Singles Collection, or a black box called E.P. Collection '84 - '90. In 1991, director Oliver Stone offered Astbury the role of Jim Morrison in Stone's film The Doors. He declined the role because he was not happy with the way Morrison was represented in the film, and the role was ultimately played by Val Kilmer.