Robert Smith from The Cure chatted to Jo Whiley live from Glastonbury on BBC Radio 2 this afternoon.
He talks about Glastonbury, how he never gets nervous, how they decide their set-list an hour before they go on – plus details about the new Cure album and how he hopes it will be released in the autumn.
Please note the embargo of 7pm this evening (30th June) and please credit Jo Whiley and Radio 2.
Jo Whiley - I'm a very big fan, you were my musical education when i was at school so all that comes into play so i've never seen you live ...
Robert Smith - It's been a long time since we played at Glastonbury, we did 3 headlines in a row, from 86, 90 and 95, so i 'm looking forward to it, it will be good.
JW - why this year?
RS - A combination of things, its' the first summer in a while that we've decided that we'll exclusively decided to play festivals that's probably the main reason because we did our own world tour a couple of years back. Prior to that we didn't fall into place.
There was little bit of history between us and certain people at Glastonbury whove moved on so i think it made it easier for them to invite us back, so it fell into place really and i'm pleased that it did.
JW - how was your first Glastonbury memories?
RS - if you remember your first Glastonbury, you weren't there. It was a milestone thing, everyone was like 'wow, you're headlining Glastonbury' it was 1986, we'd only been going for about 7 years. It seems a lot longer, it means something. I know one of those 3 was really muddy, beyond mud, the whole world turned into mud, it might have been the first one.
JW - is it a challenge when there is that mud thing is going on and you're looking at a sea of people who are just brown, muddy and wet?
RS - Because of my upbringing i felt really guilty that i was undercover and not getting soaked and muddy myself. I think that some people to make me feel more part of what was going on, chucked mud at me.
JW - have you had a Glastonbury when you've enjoyed the festival itself and been able to go and have adventures?
RS - i've never been to a festival ever that i haven't actually performed at in in my life. I enjoy festivals, i ask to be involved in who is on the bill particularly on our day purely so i can go down there early and see some bands that i want to see. I've seen some really good bands. The band i've been most impressed by, which is similar to you saying that you've never seen us, it isn't a surprise, are the Foo Fighters, they played a couple of nights last week in Germany, i got to see them on the Sunday night, it was overwhelmingly good, i was really blown away by it. One of the best festival bands i've ever seen live in my life at a festival.
JW: Have you watched much Glastonbury coverage?
RS: I have actually purposely watched quite a bit of the Glastonbury footage from 2 years ago just to see what a change and what the vibe was like and who was playing, what was expected. It has changed in character since we last played it, I’m aware of that. I think it’s become more of a thing, certain conventions. So essentially when we get on stage we just do what we do and hopefully people get into it. If they do, we do more and they do more. So it’s much more about the songs and the show really than the actual event because if you plonk us down anywhere and ask us to play I think we’d pretty much approach it in the same way whether it’s in a club or Glastonbury main stage.
JW: Are you extra nervous doing it this time round or more significant or will you phase all that out of your head and just go on and do your thing?
RS: I never get nervous. I’ve never been nervous, just a funny thing with me. I don’t know what’s the matter with me. That wires missing! But the rest of the band do get varying degrees almost paralysed with nerves as the show approaches. I’m always running around saying ‘come on, enjoy it, you won’t get it back!’.
JW: Do you get excited?
RS: Yes, it’s one of those things, when you walk out we’ll know what we’re doing but until that moment we just try and go through our routines and just remain focussed, as they say. It is difficult because you’ve got so much going on. Festivals particularly like Glastonbury, particularly English festivals, a lot of our families come and friends so it’s often upwards of 100 people milling about so it’s more difficult, in some ways, to stay focussed on the show, but yeah, it’ll be good, it’ll be good.
On the set list:
RS: Well, we’ve changed it a couple of times already. For festivals we have three set lists on the go and we modify each one so each one has a different beginning and end and then we change about the songs in the middle depending on what the day is, who’s playing before us, who’s playing after us, who’s playing the festival, what kind of crowd it’s going to be, what the weather’s like – all those kind of things, so it’s not really until about an hour before that I stand at the gates and say ‘this is the set list!’ and it gets printed up so no one really knows what we’re going to do until about an hour before the show. It also keeps everyone a little bit on their toes rather than thinking ‘we know what we’re going to play’. I kind of know what I would like to play but I present the three set lists and the band can decide which one we’re going to do.
JW: Will there be new material because there is a new album coming out which is incredibly dark?
RS: Yes, so rehearsing for the summer festivals we did spend a day running through new stuff and the end of it we just looked at each other and said none of this going to work in a festival setting. I’ve learnt something over the last few years – if you want to have a good festival show you have to engage the crowd, they have to be on your side. You want them to love you. It’s not necessarily the case when you’re playing your own shows, you kind of challenge people a bit more but Glastonbury they have no idea who’s on until it’s announced so people buy the tickets as an event. We’re just a small part of the event and so the show, whatever form it takes, it will be songs that people know. We played Hyde Park last year and it showed me that if you play the right songs in the right way you will get a crowd, however big it is to go along with you and that’s really what I want when we step out on stage. I want the crowd to be part of the show, not for us to stand there and say ‘Here’s ten minutes of doom and gloom, you’d better enjoy it.’ The new album, in a funny way, it’s not going to be that enjoyable. I know I shouldn’t say that… it’s something, it’s a piece, we’ve tried and it just won’t work. We’ve tried to squeeze a couple of songs in. I can imagine the crowd just staring back at us when we’re playing it.
JW: And you don’t want that do you?
RS: Not really no.
JW: And the new album, when will that be coming out?
RS: Well, I have to finish singing about four or five songs left and it has to get mixed so I’m still aiming for it to be an autumn release because I think it will be the right time of year – early November, mid November, when it’s got really miserable and people are prepared to sit down and listen to it.
JW: Brandon Flowers is the one person who is the most passionate about The Cure. Have you met him, have you done stuff together?
RS: Yeah I’ve met him a few times, yeah. The very first time I met him, he didn’t introduce himself, he just he thrust a bottle of very expensive tequila into my hands and ran off. I was like ‘Who was that?’. Since then I have had a conversation with him and he’s a lovely lovely man. They’re just masters at getting a crowd going.
