curenews 19 - may 1998

dear all,

welcome to cure news 19...as you may already know janie has unfortunately 'retired'. but i'm proud to announce that i have taken over with running the international information service and cure news. i had previously been helping her with this service for the past six years, but sadly janie has decided that she can no longer continue to devote all her spare time to answering the many fan letters the band receive each week. she remains a huge cure fan, and both myself and the band wish her the best of luck in the future and thank her for all the support given in the past and now for some great news, the cure will kick off the summer with a number of concerts based around european festivals, here are the official - confirmed dates so far. ("look on the website for festival ticket info" and please check with the relevant festival organizers before traveling...)

saturday 18th july - beach rock, zeebrugge, belgium

sunday 19th july - forestglade, wiesen, austria

thursday 23rd july - festival of nimes, nimes, france

friday 24th july - loghi lombardi, como, italy

saturday 25th july - festival of fourvieres, lyon, france

sunday 26th july - taubertal open air festival, rothenberg, germany

friday 7th august - sudoest festival. odemira, portugal

saturday 8th august - riazor beach festival, la coruna, spain

friday 14th august - junge garde, dresden, germany

saturday 15th august - zillo festival, hildesheim, germany

friday 21st august - gampel festival, sierre, switzerland

saturday 22nd august - bizarre festival, cologne, germany

sunday 23rd august - sun festival 98, brno, czech republic

the x-files - soundtrack album is currently available on warner music compact disc / cassette catalogue number as follows - cd-7559622002 / tc - 7559622004. the cure have contributed new song, although the track will not appear on the films soundtrack. also, the depeche mode - tribute album entitled 'for the masses' is due for release early in august on 1500 records a division of a&m/polygram.

in this issue of cure news i have included the bands answers to your questions, robert's album thoughts and fans experiences

what's been happening.....

since the last issue of cure news the cure have been very busy promoting 'galore', mainly in the united states where they started off by rehearsing on the 25th and 26th october at sir studios l.a, for two small 'club' dates. one in l.a. (which featured guest appearances from wayne hussey and reeves gabrels) at the american legion hall on the 28th october and the other which took place on halloween, 31st october in new york at the irving plaza. the band also took in numerous media activities, including a radio performance on 'modern rock live' - playing - 'lovesong', an internet chat interview on the 28th october as well as a live performance of 'just like heaven' on jay leno's 'tonight show' on the 29th. the band also appeared at two in-store record signings at the 'virgin' in hollywood and 'tower records', greenwich village, new york. whilst in new york robert got the chance to be interviewed on news channel 'cnn'. mtv u.s.a for the 120 minutes show, mtv latino, k-rock radio which included an acoustic performance of 'friday i'm in love'. jason and perry also went to watch 'jane's addiction' live in concert.

after the short promotional trip, the cure returned home for a live lunchtime acoustic performance on xfm-104.9 radio on the 5th november. songs performed were:- 'lovesong', 'just like heaven', 'friday i'm in love' and 'catch'. after a day of rest the band played live on channel 4's - 'tfi friday' on the 7th november with- 'wrong number', 'fascination street', 'why can't i be you?' and 'a forest'. the following monday the band made a short trip across london to appear on channel 5's chat show 'the jack docherty show' where they performed 'wrong number' and 'just like heaven'. the audience was made up entirely of cure fans, with one exception who was there to meet the boxer frank bruno who was also on the show! i managed to obtain 40 pairs of tickets for u.k cure news readers at the very last moment. in all, the whole evening was a great success, with the cure meeting all the fan's in the pub for a drink after the show, resulting in the pub's manager crediting us all for the most 'drinking' money taken behind the bar ever! it was also the first time i had the chance to put names to faces after all the years of opening your envelopes. so, keep an eye on cure news for future special events, etc......

from the 20th to the 25th november, the band began rehearsals in london, for the forthcoming christmas radio festival shows. it was decided not just to play the regular singles and greatest hits, but try out some long unplayed live tracks like - 'the same deep water as you', 'torture', 'untitled' and 'cut'. the final day of rehearsals, it was also decided to finish off the tour in the christmas party mood at the intimate shepherds bush empire, london. so, hastily both roger and perry helped me to stuff envelopes to announce the concert to u.k. cure news readers. a second date was later added due to the successful sell out of the first night.

the american christmas radio shows began on the 29th november at the tower theatre, philadelphia, pa. taking in a total of 9 concerts in a very short and gruelling space of time. other acts who also performed alongside the cure were - 'the verve', 'sneaker pimps', 'love spit love', 'duran duran', 'sugar ray' and 'sarah mclachlan' to name but a few. along with a few cure friends i managed to make it to philadelphia and fairfax, where i experienced some of the best cure shows i'd seen in a long time.

returning home, the cure made a short trip back to the 'jack docherty show' on the afternoon of 6th december, for a behind closed doors appearance which was to be broadcast on his new year's eve special. the band performing 'doing the unstuck' and 'friday i'm in love'. after the t.v show the band arrived at the shepherds bush empire to play to a sell out crowd. i remember a great party atmosphere and although robert was suffering from a cold a brilliant night was had by all. part of concert was later broadcast on xfm - 104.9 on sunday 15th february. the second night at the shepherds bush empire took place on the 17th december. it was the 21st anniversary of robert's stage debut. a number of u.k fans had a special - top 20 guitar shaped cake made for this occasion, presenting it to bemused cure sound engineer and security guards at the backstage door before the concert. it was a shame that we didn't get the chance to see robert's amusement upon opening the very large box containing the cake.

shortly after the successful london concerts i received a call from ita at fiction asking me if i would like the opportunity to manufacture and distribute the galore video in the u.k. at first i had no confidence but after sleeping on it decided to have a go anyway. i have since learnt a great deal about the video industry, marketing, etc and would like to thank fiction records for their support. i even managed to get advance copies for mail-order exclusively to u.k cure readers one month before it was released in the shops. the video debuted in the u.k charts at number 17 and has continued to sell over the last few months.

january saw robert being interviewed by the u.k football magazine '442' in which he talked about his love of football and his favourite team 'qpr'.....and an interview with u.s collectors magazine 'gold mine' later published in february.

earlier this year, robert appeared on the u.s comedy central cartoon 'south park' where he saved the day 'godzilla style' by doing battle with barbra streisand. the show subsequently received it's highest viewer ratings ever! sky one the satellite/cable tv channel have just launched the show in the u.k.

on the 17th february porl thompson's new band 'quietly torn' made their debut performance with a new band line-up, at the university of surrey, guildford, west of london. the band's line-is as follows:- porl thompson - guitars, martin jackson - vocals, tom rickman - double bass, nick mcleod - drums & percussion. the band are planning to record this summer and hope to be playing at various english festivals, the first being at the minack theatre, an open air venue near lands end, cornwall, england. which took place on friday 8th may. for further information write to: - quietly torn. po box 44, penzance, cornwall, tr19 7yl, england.

on the 20th february i also attended a cure evening arranged by fans in a pub at liverpool street station, london, roger also turned up kindly answering fans questions about touring and recording....

the 5th to 9th march, robert spent the weekend in a london studio recording a track entitled 'world in my eyes' for the forthcoming 'depeche mode' tribute album and a song for the new x-files soundtrack album, produced and engineered by paul corkett who mixed 'mint car'. then on the 12th to 15th march, roger and robert booked into 'outside studios' (where the band recorded disintegration) for a further weekend of mixing.

on the 14th march, roger and daryl attended the 'ilmc music convention' in london. where roger discussed many aspects of touring, fielding questions from promoters and agents from around the world.

the cure also featured in a one hour t.v documentary with promo video footage including a robert and tim pope interview on mtv europe, 12 midnight 5th may. this programme was originally shown last october in an edited form. also trip-hop act 'massive attack' have sampled the cure's '10:15 saturday night' on their recent album 'mezzanine' with a track entitled 'man next door'.

collectors corner

daren butler is currently working on a new book, the follow up to 'the cure on record' - isbn 0-7119-3867. it will be completely reworked and updated with some help from robert. there is no release date as yet, but if you find anything rare and cure related, please write to me with your discoveries and i will pass them onto daren to be included in his new book.

wild mood swings song book - music sales limited -isbn 0-7119-6065-8. available at internet music shop - www.musicsales.co.uk

mtv unplugged video vol.2 features the cure performing 'just like heaven' available on cic video- vhr4533

the galore video in the u.k is available through caroline/disc distribution - catalogue number - fixvd30.

a new unofficial 40 page black & white book has just been released entitled 'catch' by daniel patton- isbn - 0-9522068-1-1. however i would like to point out that this publication is poorly written and contains few photographs!

many of you have also been asking about boris williams and his band 'babacar'. the album will finally be release this summer, entitled 'babacar', whist vocalist 'caroline crawley' has been working with remixer/producer 'josh wink' for a forthcoming album. babacar have also contributed a track on the french only album - 'a tribute to antonio carlos jobim - writer of the song 'girl from ipanema' available on XIIIbis records - catalogue number 177192.

time for prizes.

robert has kindly donated 3 signed copies of the 'galore' on video, the band have signed a copy of 'galore' on vinyl and i have another signed ice hockey shirt from robert to give away. this issue i have decided not to run a competition, but would like you to simply contribute something towards the next issue of cure news. you can write a story or experience, send in photos you may have taken of the band, draw or paint a picture......anything at all i can use for the next issue. (send mail only. no e-mails please!) the 5 most original prizes win and will be published in the next issue of cure news........good luck!

i have a limited number of this issue (cure news 19 with 24 pages) available or if you wish to receive the next issue due in september/october 1998, please send the following:-

uk fans - send a large stamped addressed envelope, with at least 43 pence in postage.

overseas fans - send a large self addressed envelope, plus two international reply coupons (available from your post office)

to: chris. po box 211, hayes, middlesex, ub4 9nz. england

well, that's all for this time. i'll try to get the next issue together as quickly as possible. don't forget to keep checking out the official internet site at - www.thecure.com.

thank you to everyone who helped with this issue, the cure, ita, daryl, nick. and to: everyone at fiction. and for giving me the confidence and assistance - janie, ange, cindy, daren, lyse (photos), karen k, pete (photos) jean & marie (photos), vicki and all readers of cure news. don't forget it's your questions and contributions that make up the majority of cure news!

until the next time.....

love

chris

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