DECEMBER 1976

18th
Schoolmates (Robert Smith, Michael Dempsey, Lol Tolhurst) along with Porl Thompson -working in a record shop- found "Malice" current 1976. Their first live performance took place at Worth Abbey, Crawley (where Robert Smith would marry his long time girlfriend Mary Poole in 1988) and was all acoustic (bongos/guitars) and instrumental.

20th
Crawley, St Wilfrid School Hall
The next concert, two days later, took place at their own school (they had to pretend to be playing jazz) and was stopped when Lol started to sing Wild Thing. Robert admitted later that the initial audience reaction to these early shows was "horror". Three hundred people came, 200 left, and the others got up on stage! The repertoire from that memorable day mostly included cover versions : Wild Thing, Suffragette City, Foxy Lady, Jailbreak... (Porl draw the poster advertising the event.)


JANUARY 1977

The band changed their name to "Easy Cure" based on a song written by Lol at the time : "I don't need no Easy Cure". The line-up included Robert Smith on guitar, Porl Thompson on guitar, Michael Dempsey on bass, Lol Tolhurst on drums and Peter O'Toole on vocals.


MAY

05th
A telegram from Hansa Records arrived at Robert's adress asking the band to come and audition in London. A tape and a picture were sent on the previous month to the record company's talent contest.

06th
Crawley, The Rocket pub
First "real" show. The Rocket would become a regular venue for the band as it was one of the few places that let them play (along with the Lakeside restaurant).

13th
Easy Cure arrived to Morgan Studios in London to be filmed while performing two songs. They are offered a 5-year contract along with £1,000 by Hansa Records after the audition. The band signed 5 days later despite doubts on the record company's motives.


JULY

03rd
Crawley, Queen's Square
Free concert for peace. Robert's father filmed it. One of the songs played was "I wish I was your Mother" (available on the Staring At The Sea vhs). Robert sang Foxy Lady that day.


OCTOBER

10th
London, Sound and Vision Studios
Easy Cure (now a 4-piece band) recorded their first demos for Hansa. The songs were Meathook, Listen (to be titled Pillbox Tales later), I Just Need Myself, I Want To Be Old, See The Children Fear The Children. Peter O'Toole left on the previous month so Robert Smith took the part and became the band's singer.


NOVEMBER

15th
London, Sound and Vision Studios
Other demos recorded for Hansa : I'm Cold, Killing An Arab, I Saw Her Standing There, Little Girl, Rebel Rebel. Those last 3 tracks being cover versions. This early recording of Killing An Arab is quite surprising : slow and barely a guitar solo. The lyrics were inspired by The Stranger, a novel by Albert Camus.


DECEMBER

31th
Orphington, General Hospital
According to the legend, the band was beaten up by an hostile audience expecting to hear popular hits. Tie a Yellow Ribbon was played to calm the people there but failed to in the end.


GO TO 1978