The Cure’s now a few day into a month-long break in its summer festival tour, and frontman Robert Smith says the band will use the time to record with new guitarist Reeves Gabrels for the first time — plus, he claims, the long-promised ‘Mixed Up 2’ will come out before Christmas with new remixes by the likes of Mogwai and Cranes.

The Cure is preparing a deluxe 20th anniversary reissue of ‘Wish’ for release sometime in 2012, as well as a new 7-inch of that album’s hit single ‘Friday I’m In Love’ to be released on Record Store Day next April to help raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

This French TV report from sometime in 1987 features footage and interviews with both The Cure and Depeche Mode in the studio, as they work on their breakout albums ‘Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me’ and ‘Music For the Masses,’ respectively.

Further evidence that Robert Smith may be revving up for an active 2011: The son of bassist Simon Gallup posted on Facebook that he was in the studio with The Cure last week, news that lit up fan sites and forums over the weekend.

The Cure will reissue its 1989 masterwork Disintegration in an expanded and remastered 3CD edition next spring, Robert Smith announced today, the first salvo in what appears to be a flood of new archival releases from the legendary band — including the first-ever DVD release of 1987’s long-out-of-print “In Orange” concert film.