Interview in Maule, France - May 1987


Robert : We haven't been in the studio for two years, oh well, eighteen months 'til we made this last record. The singles album filled the gap after The Head On The Door which normally we would have been expected to consolidate our position : "come on boys, make another Head on the Door". So we just went and did very little last year. We just played the concerts in France, made a film, we went to America and made the album. We did quite a lot actually. But it was all very low-key, we weren't promoting anything last year so it was a welcomed break that sort of set us up for this year. The double album happened by accident really. It's just that we had too many songs. But even though they don't sound like each other, they all sort of work as a whole.

And also, it's to put the line... (a beer can falls over around Robert's feet)
Thanks very much (at Simon)... To put the line at people releasing double albums, towards the end, devoid of any ideas. Whereas with what we're doing... even the b-sides that will be released in the next couple of months are the type of songs which most people would like on their album.

(Simon gets up and kills a mosquito flying around -everyone laughs)

Robert : Murderer... Meat is murder (pointing at Lol)... There's a history of very bad double albums and we were almost put off at one point from doing a double album because of that. We realized we had as much time as we wanted to make a record. This is why we went to Miraval. If we'd been recorded in London, there would have been all that sort of like pressure to get things finished when at Miraval we had a few days holiday in between. In between times... I know it seems a bit funny coming to France where we're really popular to get away but there isn't really anywhere in England you've got that sort of weather and that sort of place. Anywhere that's like a country studio in England is really tacky.

Lol : It rains all the time.

Boris : And the people working there are usually pretty awful...

Robert : Yeah 'cause they have all the super groups go there until they're blazé about it... But Miraval was really nice. We had an engineer working there who was very young and very vibrant.


- Do you just want to continue on the fact that Cure is actually becoming a French band ?

Robert : Yeah, it's like... Huh. No, no, no. Pas du tout !

Boris : C'est pas vrai !

(interview break -time to recover from the laughs ?)


- It's actually the first time in four years that all the songs are signed by all of you.

Robert : Yeah. I've gone through my fascist phase (laughs). Because they are written by all of us. On the artwork it's got that I've written all the words which is true to a degree, most of the words, I'm responsible for. It's just easy to make like that and everyone's responsible for the music. On the Head On The Door, everyone was responsible for the songs but with an album like that... it's just me being selfish and bitter. If I tried to put my own name to all the songs, the others would probably walk out... I've been forced a democracy (high pitched voice).

Boris : So I'm wearing dresses. (?)


In Orange...

Robert : We chose Orange to end the concerts, because that was the best looking place. We only had like the one night. If it went wrong, it went wrong, so...

Boris : It did.

Robert : What you see is what you get basically. -It didn't (to Boris). Then Robert asks something about "duck impersonation" to Porl.


- Was it easy to find people to make a film like that ? Was it always going to be Tim Pope to do it ?

Robert : It had to be him really. If we just got a "real" film director that would have been very bland I think. That was supposed to be a Cure film about Cure and Pap knows us for so long...

Interlude with Robert making remarks to Lol who just yawned. Ending with Lol settling down on Boris' thighs and getting pet like a dog while everybody laughs.

Robert : We had to have Pap doing it because I don't think anyone else would really...

Lol : Understand ! (Everyone laughs again)

Robert : Noone else would have... he runs across the stage, he does very foolish things...

Robert : Pap was very distraught before he made the film of us in Orange, because he was making us too small, always put us in a small screen, making us look funny. But since the live film, we haven't really worried because it's like the most agressive thing that you're likely to see in a cinema this year so... Everything that you see on television, music videos, is cak. Our cak is funnier than most other people's but it's only because we will sit there and look at people being serious and laugh. So it's much better to look at someone being foolish and not laugh.


- Does success make life in the Cure more difficult ?

Robert : It has only made life better. Cause it would be stupid to complain. I keep saying, it's so easy not being successful. We just wouldn't do this if we didn't want to. If we'd go : "oh God we have to do it all the time, we're stuck in a field and it's my birthday party". That would be very stupid for me to say something like that.

Boris : Why did you say it then ?

Robert : Duh ?? Duh ??

Boris laughs


- Being successful in France and other places, should the Cure open the way for bands like Echo and the Bunnymen ?

Robert : It will do in South America. I don't know if it will here because it's still very tied up in an European way of thinking like radio, marketing and stuff. But certainly in South America, now that we've been there, we know that Echo and the Bunnymen are going there in a month's time.

Simon : Really ?

Robert : Yeah. You know, things will change there. But everywhere else we just seem to be an exception that's tolerated. We don't seem to be opening any door for anyone else.


- Do you explain your success in France because of the quality of the promotion of the record company ?

Lol : Or the quality of the people that listen to the music...

Robert : Creep !

Lol : Hi France ! (laughs)

Robert : A lot of it just depends of what we do at a given point. We've done TV programs in Germany and we've been very tired, very belligerent and more [grumpy] than we ever are normally. Whereas in France, we've appealed to something in the French mentality, probably because we're very distasteful drunk and flippant a lot of the time... Maybe because the music and the entertainment in France is fucking awful. It's not more awful than anywhere else, but it is awful.


Wearing dresses on a French TV program.


Robert : That was just to take the piss out of Indochine [French band] more than anything else. 'Cause we thought they tried to look like us. So we wanted to see if they'd be tempted to wear dresses and destroy their career before it even started.

Robert : We never really considered ourselves growing up with people like U2 or Simple Minds 'cause I despise them. We all despise them as much as we despise Lionel Richie or A-ha. The groups that have become that successful, more successful than us, have become like establishment groups. They don't live in the same world as us anyway. I mean U2 is just replacing who ever was replacing and the same with Simple Minds. There isn't really anything very new about them. That's a terrible thing to say 'cause probably a lot of people like U2 but it's our choice we don't like them. The Cocteau Twins are almost as old as us and they're good.

Simon : Older.

Robert : See, the group the Cure doesn't really like anyone. There's always someone who doesn't like who ever I say. We have a very diverse appreciation of our peers... we hate them all to a different degree (laughs)... Bastards.