The Cure still a remedy for mainstream

By Karla S. Blume
Los Angeles Times

Band leader Robert Smith, 45, of The Cure, checks out a guitar before being inducted into Hollywood's Rock Walk. Los Angeles Times

On the eve of releasing the band's first album in four years, leader Robert Smith, 45, talks about The Cure's legacy and why he handed the production reins to someone else this time.

This summer the quintet will headline their Curiosa Festival, featuring bands they influenced, such as Interpol and the Rapture.

Q. It's an accomplishment to maintain a hold on your original fans, as well as attract a generation of new fans. Why can so few bands do that?

A. I think it's because it's unusual for someone my age to still be passionate about music. You lose it, for better or worse, ... 'cause other things become more important. I don't think there is anything that's more important than music to me, because there's nothing else that makes me feel anything like that. ... I haven't got any children, so I think my perception of life and my place in it hasn't changed that much.

Q. Cure fans might have been a little shocked to read that you were going to work with producer Ross Robinson on the new album. He's known for going into the studio with such bands as Limp Bizkit and Korn, whose hard-core music seems the direct opposite of yours.

A. Ross is a big Cure fan, and he wanted to make an album that reminded him of what life was like for him growing up when he listened to our album from 1989, "Disintegration."

Q. Even though the album lists you as co-producer, you gave most of the control to him. What was it like giving that up?

A. When we're in the studio, I only have one shot of doing a song correctly, so it's not really an issue of control so much as the thought that if someone's going to mess it up, it's going to be me.... But I completely trusted Ross straight away, because if I didn't, there was no point in doing an album. There's no second-guessing.

Q. What was the atmosphere like in the studio?

A. It was quite surreal, some of the things that went on. Ross was chucking stuff at us, attacking us when we were playing. We filmed some of it because I was so outraged at first that I thought, "No one's gonna believe this." He took one of my guitars and smashed it into the drum kit because he thought that we weren't playing with enough passion. But it's good, because we all got mad and played better, and that helped him get the desired effect. Ross makes you think about ... what the point is of hitting this first chord.

Q. Now that you are eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, how do you feel about someday being inducted?

A. It doesn't mean anything to me. When I was young, I really despised (awards). I thought that if I was ever offered a knightship. ... I couldn't bear to accept it. In the same way, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame sort of represents something that I really don't like. And yet, at the same time, if we were to say no to it, it might be bad, because as it is we're struggling not to be airbrushed out of history, particularly in the U.K. ... It's only now that they've sort of readdressed the fact that The Cure did do something for the last 25 years.