Interview with Robert - Part 2

KW: In an interview back in 1985, you said you couldn't imagine anything worse that growing old with the same audience. It used to be that you could spot a cure fan based on their looks alone, but nowadays the audience has become more mainstream. How do you feel now that your music is reaching a larger audience?

RS: (sniff) ummm..I think that we've sort of suffered in a strange way because there's always been a very highly visible but small percentage of our audience that, um, people equate as "cure" fans. And in fact, for a long time, the bulk of our audience, even the ones that come to concerts who are coming like the real fans, don't look like typical cure fans. I mean, I don't,I haven't really thought about it for a long time--so they're still there, but it, um, it surprised me actually coming to America this time seeing how old... .. it covers a huge age range; it is really weird--it's sort of like meeting people that I've known from the very first time I came here, some fifteen years ago. They're bringing their children, or their children are bringing them in some cases! It's like "come on along, Dad, you liked them when you were like fifteen years younger" and I think, crumbs, and I'm still doing it. In some ways it is sort of weird but, at the same time, there's enough youth in the audience that, um, it kind of makes me feel that we can't be missing the mark, you know, because generally youngsters know what's going on better than old people do (he sounds as if he smiling broadly here).

KW: Most noticeably with "Wish" and now again with "Wild Mood Swings", your music has been breaking away from your previous stereotype as "gloom and doom" rockers. How did that label affect you, and how hard was for you to break away from that stereotype?

RS: Er, I've never really felt encumbered by people calling us "gloom and doom" because I've always felt that anyone that's a fan of the group, or anyone that, like, knows our music knows that isn't what we are--they know there's much greater variety in what we do. And anyone that isn't aware of what we do, only hears the singles. So if they listen to Friday I'm in Love or Mint Car and someone says yeah, the cure they're 'gloom and doom', I always think it must be difficult to equate those two or to make sense of it.

It's kind of, it's like it's an old hangover from very early on in the 1980's when we went through a period of playing some pretty, sort of, dark music. I think the reason why it stuck is probably because of what I looked like and because of the fact that there is a certain amount of emotion in what we do, and people equate that kind of emotion with doom and gloom; it's like you not allowed to be, you know, upset or unhappy or actually just to expose yourself without being, like, doom and gloom. But, we're not--we never have been. For every song like, you know, Drowning Man or Figurehead there's always been a Boys Don't Cry... ....right from the very start there's always been that mixture. So, obviously there are ups and downs over the years which usually reflects how I feel, in the mood, but there's a huge (?) like tonight, we'll mix up songs and I don't if we'll do Friday's tonight, but we'll do Mint Car probably tonight, and, you know,putting that against something like plainsong, it's like a weird mix. I think there's a section in the media (??) that songs are very difficult to, um, accommodate a group that does both--that plays kind of idiot pop music and plays, like, emotional music. But it doesn't really worry me that much because people that like us, that's why they like us, 'cause it's that kind of bread of stuff (??).

END

Last Revised: Monday, 15-May-2006 14:59:53 CDT

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