dahl's diary 1997

1997

dahl's diary

"what me? the third earl of basildon... with my weputation?"

daryl's diary makes a starring comeback as he wraps up events...
the victories, the defeats (naaah!), the laughs and the tears of 1997...

the 'swing tour' of 96 had been long, interesting, difficult, enlightening, fun...
funny even... now for 1997...

jan 97 - robert goes to nyc to steal the show (according to my sources) at david bowie's 50th birthday celebrations, with perry as companion.... aside from this, jason goes to cuba, roger goes to iceland, perry goes from nyc to florida and robert goes from nyc to the lake district... simon stays at home... and they all find time to write a few songs(?)...

may 97 - spring is in full bloom and the dusty cure telephones start to ring again... the annual 'board meeting' is set; a sussex castle with rooms in turrets and peacocks in the grounds... tapes are played, beers are drunk and stories are swapped - and plans are made to record...

june 97 - a studio is booked near hastings in sussex... then a call comes from overseas - can we be in san francisco on (friday!) 13th june and los angeles on 14th june to headline the 'world famous weenie roasts'? yes we can; and yes we do!

july 97 - parkgate studios... 3 weeks recording 5 songs with mark saunders as co-producer... string players in on the first saturday and 'andrea and angela' to sing backing vocals the next... 'lime green, lime green'... there's one very catchy song that stands out at the moment...

aug 97 - robert makes his way to whitfield street studios in london's west end to work with mark plati, who he met at the bowie birthday show in jan... robert has drastically reworked the 'lazy groove' "lime green"; sped it up and renamed it "wrong number"... reeves gabrels comes in and plays, robert and mark mix the track and the result is... well you know the result! everyone is very excited about the single, and have a great couple of days making a video with tim pope (together again at last!)... meanwhile, jason is still (always!) flat hunting and perry is (always!) moving house... 29th aug the cure hijack xfm and play their favourite songs across the airwaves of london from early evening until the sun comes up...

sep 97 - robert has endless interviews in person and on the phone... 'galore' is mastered and artwork is decided upon...

oct 97 - rehearsals begin in south-east london, and much preparation is made for the release of 'galore' and the halloween trip to america to promote it's launch... robert has endless interviews in person and on the phone...

nov 97 - the band return from america, extremely tired but full of optimism... an excellent performance of "wrong number" on "tfifriday" (uk tv show) is extended into a 4-song off-air set including "fascination street" and "a forest"... the following week it's across london to "the jack docherty show" to perform 'the single' again... then it's back into rehearsals and work on some of the cure catalogue not often heard live... 28th nov and the cure fly to philadelphia to start the u.s. 'radio festivals' tour... robert has endless interviews in person and on the phone...

dec 97 - the cure arrive back from detroit on 14th dec having played some great shows and have a whole day off before going back to jack docherty's studio's on 16th to record "doing the unstuck" and "friday i'm in love" for his new years eve special... after the performance, robert does a quick interview with JD, then it's a quick visit to the pub for a christmas tipple (or two!) before driving across london for soundcheck at the shepherds bush empire for that night's show; a second show is played the following night, and the audience is a real 'united nations' collective - fans coming from france, germany, spain, italy, hungary and america (and horley!) to see the cure's only european shows of 1997... then christmas...

1997 list of events;

jan 31st jason's 30th birthday

may 28th demo listening session

june 6th-9th rehearsals

june 12th leave for san francisco

june 13th s.f. show