Fréquence Mutine radio, Brest, France, 05 July 1989


- I'd like to ask you several questions about Pornography, Faith, Seventeen Seconds and so on. How do you explain the difference between the Faith album and your earlier LPs ?

Robert : On the first one, with "Three Imaginary Boys" and "Boys Don't Cry", when Michael was playing bass in the group, it was very much a pop group. We decided in 1976 that we'd be a pop group. And by the time we made "Boys Don't Cry", which in 1979, we had spent three years singing pops songs and I just wanted to change really. I'd known Simon for a long time and just asked him if he still wanted to play with Michael, because Michael preferred pop music. It's very difficult understanding why we do anything 'cause I never know. Looking back, it's really easy to pretend that I knew what I was doing but usually things just happened. I never know why.


- You wrote a song for Mary, which is called "M". If today you decided to write another song for her, what would it be like ?

Robert : I did. It's called "Lovesong".


- In my opinion, "M" is one of your best songs. Do you feel the same ?


Robert : I used to like it. I'm not really sure about it now. We've tried to play it twice on this tour but it doesn't really work. I don't know, I think it's a good song for three instruments to play. There's not enough in it for five people to play. It sounds very weird, I think.


- You've been described as an existentialist, like Albert Camus for instance, since you released "Killing An Arab". What do you think of that ?

Robert : What does it mean to be an existentialist ? I enjoy Camus' writings as well as Sartre's, Nietzsche's or Schopenhauer's, but I don't subscribe to the philosophy of existentialism at all. The one thing that attracts me about it is the notion of the absurd, particularly in Camus, or the nausea of living in Sartre, you know the fact that you need to find some reason for living. I agree with that side of their philosophy. But the notion of existentialism is too contrived really, and the whole of their philosophy is too contrived as well. I mean it's a very peculiar way to live when you know in advance that you're not gonna find any answers to your questions. People thought it was very unusual to hear a song like "Killing An Arab", and I suppose it was.


- And what do you think of the scandal in the US or in England for that song ?

Robert : Completely stupid ! I can understand for America since they are fucking stupid anyway. In England, it happened because people didn't expect that kind of song. When we used to play it on stage, around that time, I just used to sing "Killing An Englishman", or wherever we were I'd sang according to the particular "race". We played a benefit concert in America two years ago for Israeli, Palestinian and American children, and I sang "Killing An Arab". I think that caused the scandal. The whole thing is really ridiculous.


- How do you explain the evolution of your music from the "trilogy" to Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me or The Head On the Door ? How do you think the audience that was fond of the first part of your career has reacted ?

Robert : I don't know. When we make a record or when I play music in The Cure, I never think of anyone else. I don't worry about the others. And particularly after Pornography, when we released "Let's Go To Bed" and all that stuff, we got lots of letters saying "I hate you", or "You've sacrified The Cure". But I can't see that way. I have to do what I want to do. I don't expect anyone to like anything of what we do. It doesn't shock me if people say, "I don't like that". I don't think you should like it and if you don't like it, that's fine, like something else! I think it's patronizing if I expect my audience to like one particular style of music. So if they do it to me, it's patronizing as well. I mean I prefer "Faith" to "Let's Go To Bed". But if I'm drunk or I want to dance, I'd prefer to listen to "Let's Go To Bed". So it's just a question of the way you are, how you feel, it's just a question of mood. The one thing about the group from the beginning to end, the one constant thing, is that we do what we want. Some people don't like parts of what we've done, but I don't care. I do what I want to do.


- I think you knew Joy Division and Ian Curtis. So what do you think when journalists say that you're the new Ian Curtis ?

Robert : That's stupid really. I mean, I really like Joy Division and it's still my favorite group and always will be. "The Eternal" and "Decades" are actually the best songs ever written, but I'm nothing like Ian Curtis at all. He was really unhappy about things I really enjoy... and I don't think he had that and that's what he missed. If you haven't got something you can really enjoy, then there's nothing else. People wanted me to be a new Ian Curtis because people like the idea of someone else pushing himself down until he dies. Then they look for someone else. But Ian Curtis didn't die for anyone but himself.


- How can you describe yourself as an artist and as a man ?

Robert : Fat, tired... (laughs). That's too difficult, I don't know. I just enjoy what I want to do.


- I've been told that you keep thinking about philosophy, the meaning of life, and so on. Is it true ?

Robert : I mean, there's no difference in me as an artist or as a man as you said. Whatever I'm doing, when I'm on stage or when I'm eating, it's strange how people are struck by the fact that we're actually very normal in the sense that we don't really change that much. I'm angry about things sometimes, about what's happening to me, or around me, but I don't show it. I feel very, very frustrated that I don't do enough, but I'm basically selfish and very lazy. I try to do things that help people in the most obvious way.


- What about your current activities ?

Robert : Well we've recorded an album. I'm just waiting for it, but it should be very stupid to bring it out now while The Cure are still touring. It's just there, waiting. It will be released one day, I suppose, when The Cure stop touring.


- Talking about your private life a little bit, I've heard that you married Mary...

Robert : Yes. Last year. It was a good day, but it doesn't make any difference. She's still my girlfriend or my wife.


- I've been told that you enjoy Charles Baudelaire. Is it true ?

Robert : Yes I do. Somebody gave me books written by him, and Rimbaud and Verlaine as well, about three years ago. Although many people imagined I had, I had actually not read any of these books before. I didn't really like Rimbaud's verses but some Baudelaire's were brilliant.


- I think you have many things to say because when I read your lyrics, I think they're like poems, aren't they ?

Robert : I prefer singing them. I would never try and write a book if I didn't think it would be better than someone else's book. Whereas with music, I think that sometimes what The Cure do is better than anyone else's music. I mean sometimes it is, sometimes isn't. At least, if you have the opportunity to be good, you have to know that you're gonna be good before you start. Otherwise it's self-indulgence.


- What do you think about the book Ten Imaginary Years ?

Robert : It's alright. But we couldn't really tell the truth. It was too shocking. My mum would never speak to me again. We had to leave out a number of things we'd done 'cause most of them were illegal. Concerning memories, digging out all the photographs was the saddest part of it all. For about three months I was really depressed, then it all went away.


- Do you regret the time when you began your career ?

Robert : Yes. I still think that my favourite album will always be Pornography, even if it was probably the worst period of my life. I like the idea of me having been involved in a record like that, but I wouldn't like to do it again. I would die. I like Disintegration as well. I even prefer it to any other album except Pornography. Faith is also one of my favourites.


- How can you explain the fact that The Cure are more popular in France than in England ?

Robert : It's not true at the moment. I think it was. I didn't understand this kind of backlash and I never will. Sometimes we're popular in a country and sometimes we're not. Seventeens Seconds, for instance, was very popular in New Zealand. And yet, they hated the next one. I don't know, it may be because we've done lots of interviews and TV shows in France, a lot more than anywhere else. In England, we're just not liked by the media.


- What would you say to a new group beginning its career today ?

Robert : Don't compromise. Do what you want to do. Never listen to anyone. Everyone else is wrong. You always have to believe that you're the one who's right.