Best Magazine, London, Fiction Records Office, September 1987

Simon : Somebody called to ask us if we wanted to meet President François Mitterrand when we are in Paris in November.

Lol : That would be funny. I wonder what he expects from us. Maybe we saved the soul of the French youth ? It's probably for advertisement. You can never be fooled by politics motivations. Mitterrand is just like anybody else for me...

(pause for getting beers)

- All the songs on Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me are credited to the band and not just Robert Smith anymore... Did you rebel against him ?

Lol : No, not at all. Actually what happened is that we couldn't remember who wrote what. As making the album was a long process.

Simon : This double album is a collective work. We were in danger of losing our identity in the past. We could have become like Simple Minds or Simply Red, a band that disappears behind its singer. But Robert urged us to write songs. We allowed ourselves to write with different approaches. Take "Fight" for exemple, I don't think Robert could have written such a track alone and he wouldn't have included it on the album if he did. The band benefits from that and I think everybody can see it.

- You were always five in the band, now you're a 6-piece. Did you absolutely need another person ?

Lol : Yes, it was impossible to play the songs from Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me live without an extra keyboards player. We chose Roger O'Donnell because Boris knew him. Both were in the Thompson Twins. It was Roger or nobody. We didn't do auditions. We get along with him, he's got the same sense of humour as us.

- Just a thought, could you take a girl in the band ?

Simon (shocked) : A girl ? No ! It couldn't be. We're a bit like boy-scouts. Our humour is childish. She would think of us as annoying boys.

- Roger O'Donnell was touring with the Psychedelic Furs before. It must be quite a change for him to be with you now.

Simon : True. But he was also part of the Thompson Twins and they're very different from us too. But Roger went on tour with the Furs because he needed the money. If the Butler brothers could hear me, they'd be angry... Roger came with us because he likes what we do. I think. Unless he said the same thing to the Furs before.

Lol : He said we were the first band he was a full member of. Which is quite revealing.

- Roger is in Canada right now, why ?

Lol : He lives there. He's English but he lives in Canada. We went there in June to rehearse with him before the tour. The band really needed that, because we didn't have the opportunity to play the new songs since we recorded them. And also, we wanted to check that Roger knew all the songs.

- Talking about it, how was the American tour ?

Lol : It was a bit evenful, but it allowed Roger to practise. For the European tour he will be perfect. At the moment we taking a break. It's better not going on tour more than 6 weeks. Otherwise things get out of hand. We realized it was better to rest like this.

Simon : I'm not used to be tired anymore !

- Because of age ?

Simon : No, I'm not that old yet. It's just going on tour, without being "rock'n'roll", it's crazy. And after several weeks like this, you end up really exhausted. So we need that break before starting the European tour.

- What's different on stage this year ?

Lol : Our show is different from what we used to do. It's much more sophisticated now. I think it's more theatrical. It's more than just a rock concert.

- Theatrical, not like Bowie ?

Lol : No, nothing in common. We don't have dancers. But I think the people who are used in seeing the band will see we changed. It's more entertaining, we show a film directed by Porl Thompson and Andy Vella. Imagine the photos from the Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me cover being animated. It's a stage show, but I hope it's not seen as pretentious.

- Do you play all the songs from the new album on stage ?

Simon : All except "Icing Sugar" and "A Thousand Hours". It would be risky to play them live. We wouldn't be 100% confident. "Icing Sugar" was a fun song to record in the studio, because it's very messy. It's just a bass line with lots of things added on top of it. If we'd play that song on stage, it could be fine or it could be chaotic. So it's better to avoid that. And "A Thousand Hours" is the kind of songs we play during the soundchecks. Every time we think we should play it on the following night and every time we forget.

- Thanks to The Cure in Orange film, you could see yourselves on stage. What did you think of this ?

Simon : I never realized I looked so dumb on stage. The first time I saw the film I was shocked. I thought the others were good but not me. I think I changed my attitude since. I suppose it's the same as hearing a recording of your voice for the first time.

Lol : I also thought it was weird to see myself on stage.

- Does your stage crew include regulars ?

Simon : Yes. As we've been playing concerts for a long time. Everytime a roadie is good we try to hire him the next time. There's six of them in this case.

Lol : It's important. If a band doesn't respect them as much as its own music, failures happen. Without that mutual respect there's no show. It's the same with our lights technician. He's been working with us since the beginning. Usually for rock concerts, you use red lights, orange lights, lots of smoke and there you go. It's true there's smoke quite often during our shows, but nothing that explodes like during hard rock concerts. Our technician prefers optical tricks.

- What memory do you have of your last show in Bercy ?

Lol : I think it was one of our best shows. It wasn't because of the venue. But when you happen to play in such places, it's really the audience who makes a difference. And in France, people love us !

- To please his dear French audience, would Robert Smith sing in French one day ?

Lol : It's really difficult to sing in French. But once, Robert tried it. It was on Killing An Arab that we translated ourselves. But he never sang it on stage. That would be ridiculous. It's better Smith keeps singing in English.

- After Staring At The Sea was released, you said you were going to leave your record company. But you're still with Polydor. Why ?

Lol : We prefered to stay with people we knew, even if sometimes we think they're evil. When our contract with Polydor expired, we had interesting proposals, from Virgin for exemple. Then Polydor gave us more money and we thought it was good to stay with them.

- Tim Pope just finished his thirteen video with you. That was for Just Like Heaven. You didn't have to learn how to dance this time ?

Lol : No and we didn't wear costumes either like on the Why Can't I Be You video. We look quite ourselves. We're close to the edge of a cliff and I think we're supposed to fall in it at the end.

Simon : Making that video was something ! We left the studio at 7am when we arrived the previous day at the beginning of the afternoon. Needless to say we were exhausted. I wonder how Pope managed to make us look fine on the video because we were drinking beer the whole night.

(Interview was ending... Lol pushed Simon to say one last thing. Simon announced he got married with Carol, his girlfriend for 13 years...)

Simon : Robert and Mary were supposed to get married on the same day as us but Smith got afraid at the last minute. It looks like I was trapped by my best friend and my girlfriend. I'm supposed to have asked to marry her, one night I was drunk. I don't remember.

- Congratulations. Do you wish to have children ?

Simon : No, I already have a dog. In the best case, I'll take another one.



(Interview : Isabelle Karcher - Translated from French)