IAN ASTBURY Says THE CULT Will Release A 'Capsule,' Not An EP

May 2, 2010

Simon Sweetman of Stuff.co.nz recently conducted an interview with vocalist Ian Astbury of THE CULT. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

On he and guitarist Billy Duffy being compared to other famous guitarist/singer duos like Mick Jagger and Keith Richards from THE ROLLING STONES or Steven Tyler and Joe Perry from AEROSMITH:

"Oh god, no — not at all. Billy and I are not married!

"I am able to go away and do my stuff and Billy is able to go away and do his stuff — and you don't get that if you feel like you're in a musical marriage. We know the songs together, we wrote so many of them together and that's the common bond. Beyond that we explore different avenues. I'm working a lot with film now — I've got a film in a festival at the moment and I'm exploring both documentary and short film making. And I'm looking at other music outside of THE CULT, too. But for right now I'm enjoying being in THE CULT again."

"For a start, I play guitar as well, I've just not felt the need to play guitar on stage with THE CULT. I mean, I wrote 'The Witch'! But I have respect for this material; it is the work of the band THE CULT. And I don't need to go off and play it when it's not me and Billy and the band."

On THE CULT's forthcoming EP, which will take the form of new songs and will include "a film aspect, music videos that you can download or purchase on DVD and maybe a T-shirt":

"First of all, check your calendar: it's 2010, mate. 'EP' is old technology that stands for 'elongated play', that's dated. So we're not releasing an EP. We're releasing 'a capsule'."

On how THE CULT will look to release the fancy new "capsule" on both vinyl and cassette tape, which may be deemed to be "old technology" by some:

"Well, yes, but you see, this is where the capsule idea comes from — it 'encapsulates' it all. Whatever we decide to release will be available in whatever format for download or over-the-counter purchase. Or to buy at gigs. We need to move with the times."

On his involvement with THE DOORS (Astbury fronted THE DOORS OF THE 21ST CENTURY; tackling the Jim Morrison role, working with original THE DOORS members Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger during a long hiatus from THE CULT):

"Well, I can honestly say that I was never much of a frontman until I worked with those guys. They taught me so much — things that I have taken back with me and use now with THE CULT. I just learned so much from working with those legends."

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