Lol : Mainly because of the meaning of the word in the dictionnary. Obscene, it's how we see human nature, not as beautiful as people think it is.

- The album is more pessimistic than Faith.

Lol : Yes. More aggressive, more spontaneous with different sound engeenering as well. It took longer to make but it is more immediate.

- You played a very fast version of Charlotte Sometimes tonight.

Lol : Yes, but we already played it even faster ! It reflects the mood of the show, I think.

- Robert Smith is going to make an album with Steve Severin from the Banshees, do you have other projects yourself ?

Lol : We're friends with the Banshees since Morris and Mc Kay left during a tour in Scotland. It was a few years ago, Robert replaced the guitarist by learning all the Banshees material. Not only he would play with us but he played in the Banshees as well. Robert and Steve have that project planned for the autumn. Simon is going to compose for a ballet and I'm going to write a book.

- Are you going to produce Zerra I, your opening band ?

Lol : Robert will produce their first single. The singer is Irish and the guitarist comes from Germany.

- Are there bands that you particulary like at the moment ?

Lol : Oh yes ! New Order, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Jam.

- What is the last song that you played tonight ?

Lol : It's Three from our second album but rearranged. It finishes our set every night.

- Is it improvised ?

Lol : Yes, completely. During the soundchecks, we find basic ideas and we improve them later on stage. We have signals between ourselves to stop at the same time. There's one like that too on Splintered In Her Head...

- Richard Jobson from the Skids supported you in the UK. Why isn't it the case here ?

Lol : It's not the kind of venue that suits. He didn't sing, he was just reading poetry. I could see it happening at the Olympia (Paris) but not here.

- A French tour soon ?

Lol : In June.

- To promote the new LP ?

Lol : Yes... No, not really.

- Can you explain the make-up and the masks on the album cover ?

Lol : It doesn't really have a meaning. People said it was gloomy. It's true, it's a bit like in Siamese Twins. But actually it shows how civilized people are closer to animals than anything else they think about.

- On One Hundred Years, you play some keyboards ?

Lol : Yes, we use a Roland drum machine on tape. I quite like keyboards. Actually we exchange more often our instruments now.

- Did Simon write more songs this time ?

Lol : No, why ? We write the lyrics all together and the music mainly comes from Robert. Simon helped with the lyrics of One Hundred Years and I helped with those from Siamese Twins for exemple. We often work the three of us together to write the lyrics of a song. The album is faster than Faith, we recorded it soon after Christmas in the place you can see on the Figurehead's video.

- Charlotte Sometimes isn't on the record ?

Lol : No, we wanted to do a one-off single.

- How many videos ?

Lol : Primary, Charlotte Sometimes, A Forest, Figurehead and the last one Hanging Garden.

- Simon uses a Rickenbacker now...

Lol : Yes, it was a bit his old dream. While recording, we rented the best bass. It has lots of high and low frequencies, and not many medium ones.

- The Cure's logo changed.

Lol : Yes, but we never said it was going to be permanent.

- Is the new manager more strict ?

Lol : Yes a bit. But it's more organised now, like a big family with 12 brothers and 3 sisters. And to stay in shape, we exercise a little, this afternoon we played football...



( Photo : Philippe Hamon - Translated from French)
(Thank you to Eric Dochez)