Robert Smith confirmed in a South African radio interview broadcast Tuesday that The Cure are recording their first new studio album in more than a decade, and told the host that he’s still making new music after all these years “for the right reasons.”
Smith spoke to host John Maytham on Cape Town’s 567 AM CapeTalk ahead of The Cure’s concert in that city on Thursday night. The band played its first-ever South African concert in Johannesburg on Saturday.
“We just recorded a new album,” Smith said. “The first one for 10 years. I’m still doing it for the right reasons … I still get satisfaction from doing it and other people seem to enjoy it, too. They’re the two big reasons.”
Listen to the interview — in which Smith also talks about reclaiming “Killing an Arab” — at capetalk.co.za.
In a second South African radio interview on Wednesday with Nick Hamman, Smith addresses the new record again, this time saying, “We’ve just started, not quite finished, recording our first new album for 10 years.” Still no other details revealed as to when fans can expect to hear it.
A new album from The Cure would be the first since 2008’s 4:13 Dream. Smith didn’t say anything else about the record, though previous comments have suggested it’s new music and not another attempt to finish off the unreleased second-half of 4:13 Dream, which, once upon a time, was to be titled 4:14 Scream.
In December, Smith told Sirius XM’s “Debatable” program that “we’re going in (to the studio) in about six weeks time to finish off what will be our first album for more more than a decade.”
Around the same time, Cure keyboardist Roger O’Donnell, in a separate interview with Cleveland’s WKYC TV, said The Cure was going back into the studio in February. “We listened to all of the demos, and Robert, I’m pretty sure, right now is busy writing lyrics. So we’re all very excited. It’s been a long time since The Cure’s been in the studio,” he said.
In the meantime, 2019 is shaping up to be a very busy touring year for The Cure, with the South African shows followed by full-album performances of Disintegration in Sydney, then — so far — 23 announced headlining appearances at European and Japanese festivals this summer. O’Donnell, in his interview, referred to it as a year-long “world tour” that would be “ending probably in South America.” He said there also could be “possibly American shows in the fall.”
The band also is poised to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and is preparing a Tim Pope-shot film of its huge 40th anniversary concert in London’s Hyde Park last summer.
Check out The Cure’s full tour dates below.
The Cure tour dates
SOUTH AFRICA
March 21: Rock on the Lawns, Cape Town, South Africa
AUSTRALIA
May 24: Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia (Disintegration 30th anniversary show)
May 25: Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia (Disintegration 30th anniversary show)
May 27: Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia (Disintegration 30th anniversary show)
May 28: Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia (Disintegration 30th anniversary show)
EUROPE
June 8: Malahide Castle, Dublin, Ireland
June 9: Pinkpop, Landgraaf, Netherlands
June 14: Nova Rock, Nickelsdorf, Austria
June 16: Firenze Rocks, Florence, Italy
June 21: Southside Festival, Neuhausen Ob Eck, Germany
June 23: Hurricane Festival, Scheessel, Germany
June 24-26: INMusic Festival, Zagreb, Croatia
June 28: Rock Werchter, Werchter, Belgium
June 30: Glastonbury Festival, Pilton, UK
July 4: Exit Festival, Novi Sad, Serbia
July 6: Roskilde Festival, Roskilde, Denmark
July 11: NOS Alive, Lisbon, Portugal
July 13: Mad Cool Festival, Madrid, Spain
July 17: Ejekt Festival, Athens, Greece
July 18-20: Colours of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic
July 22: Rock the City, Bucharest, Romania
JAPAN
July 26-28: Fuji Rock Festival, Naeba Ski Resort, Japan
EUROPE
Aug. 3: Afisha Picnic, Moscow, Russia
Aug. 7: Oya Festival, Oslo, Norway
Aug. 8-10: Way Out Festival, Gothenburg, Sweden
Aug. 9-11: Flow Festival, Helsinki, Finland
Aug. 16: Summer Sessions, Glasgow, Scotland
Aug. 23: Rock en Seine, Parc de Saint-Cloud, France
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- The Cure to enter Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside Roxy Music, Radiohead and more
- The Cure unveils plans to play Dublin, headline ‘around 20 festivals’ next summer
- The Cure unveils first touring plans of 2019 with first-ever concerts in South Africa
- The Cure closes Robert Smith’s Meltdown by going ‘there to here and back again’ — hear the full set
- Robert Smith to play Meltdown with ‘curious friends,’ says he’s working on new music
- The absolute best of The Cure: All 225 songs ranked by Slicing Up Eyeballs’ readers
Yay!!!
Sadly, I can’t imagine how it’s going to be any good.
Confirmed new album to be released in 2022.
The last time Robert Smith was inspired by other artists we got the self- titled album, which was terrible when it was released and has not gotten better with age. I wish I could say I had confidence in this new project, but I’m on a very much wait and hear basis. Oh well.
I will stay excited b/c of the two unreleased tracks we’ve heard very recently. ICNBTS is awesome. SITL is better than a lot of songs on the self-titled album.
Me farting into a paper bag is better than a lot of the songs on the self-titled album.
Isn’t that what Ross Robinson did in the studio?
Lost
Before Three
The End Of The World
Anniversary
Us Or Them
Alt. End
(I Don’t Know What’s Going) On
Taking Off
… this albums is like WILD MOOD SWINGS Pt. 2 for me, fuck y’all!
Likelihood of completion: same as tour by Morrissey.
Correction: Same as tour by Morrissey sponsored by Burger King.
No. He generally cancels no matter who the sponsor might be.
I think Mr Robert Smith should put the remaster Wish album edition out now instead to release a new one. Needless to stay that all the material released after Bloodflowers is horrible. I’m really tired of waiting for all the missing material to be release someday. The Cure’s audience is getting old as Robert Smith himself. Life isn’t forever and things change too much. The new generation do not give a damn to what The Cure was someday and the 80’s is too far from them. They’re not for physical music format but digital music instead so things must be release now before it’s too late.
After Disintegration I was all about a Wish remaster, neglecting Mixed Up. I was totally shocked when that came out.
Therefore, I wonder if before we get Wish (it will happen) there will be a remaster of Show and Paris. Would love a Paris remaster but am terrified that it would sound totally different just like Entreat.
Full show remasters of Show & Paris, along with DVD/Blu Ray of Show.
VERY Excited. I think the production completely sucked on the last two albums, not the songs themselves. So I can hear past that and know for example “I don’t know what’s going on” is a great song, it’s just produced and mixed horribly (and in most cases Roger needs to be turned up). Going Nowhere, Truth Goodness and Beauty, Labyrinth…there are plenty of tracks from the release that are as great as anything previous.
and I’ll add if they are using Fender guitars again instead of the shit they have made for themselves that sound like MUD amplified, then it could be a great album.
Yes, Schecter guitars seem to have a harsher sound IMO than Fender, but I more agree with your production POV. A lot was learned about what Ross Robinson did in the studio but I don’t recall seeing hardly anything about techniques and recording details for 4:13.
All good points Scott. I was really hoping they’d finally “deluxe” Wish personally but I’m in for this release no matter what.
Hoooo boy. I won’t deny the fact that the news of a new Cure album is exciting, but after what’s come (and hasn’t come) out of the past 18 years, I’m somewhat ambivalent. The self-titled album was called “The Cure” because Robert said it sounded like themselves, but the finished project sounded like its own tribute band. Now, there were some good songs on the album and there were some awful ones, but the truly great ones were left off the album (which was something Ross Robinson argued against oddly enough). As far as 4:13 Dream..? That was the first Cure album that actually debated on not buying at all. After over a year of delays and teases about it being a double album, and it being a throwback to Wish-era majesty because of Porl’s return, what came out was a huge let down. It just sounded thrown together, lazily produced, and half developed ideas. At best, it was finished demos that needed to be pushed further. (Imagine what Dave Allen or even someone like Flood could have done with them..!)
Sorry, I’m ranting. But if it’s just going to be another 4:13 Debacle then I’ll pass.
Doesn’t matter, we Cure fans remain faithful. What one may like, another may not. We will always love Robert Smith. Cant wait to hear what he has created.