It’s looking as though 2018 is shaping up to be a huge year for gothic-rock legends The Cure, with the band announcing they’re set to hit the studio to work on new music.
This year sees The Cure in the process of putting on a few festivities in honour of their 40th anniversary as a band, including a special 40th anniversary performance, which will see them joined by Interpol, Goldfrapp, Slowdive, Ride, and more.
However, it seems that Robert Smith’s involvement with the upcoming Meltdown Festival has kicked the band into gear once more, as he explained to BBC 6 (via Pitchfork).
As Robert Smith explained to BBC 6’s Shaun Keaveny, his involvement is curating the Meltdown Festival, which will feature Death Cab For Cutie, Frightened Rabbit, The Twilight Sad, Low, and more, resulted in him discovering a raft of new music which served as a “catalyst, because I’ve suddenly fallen in love with the idea of writing new songs.”
Smith also revealed that the upcoming concert will be a special experience which will see different “interpretations of Cure songs” with “different configurations of people on stage,” including solo appearances from Smith himself.
However, Robert Smith also revealed that he was inspired by the festival to return to the studio once more. “Funnily enough, doing this Meltdown thing has actually galvanized me and I’ve booked studio time for the band,” he revealed.
As it stands, it’s been ten years since The Cure’s last album, 2008’s 4:13 Dream, and all this talk of time and anniversaries left Smith wondering just how to commemorate the band’s big 40th anniversary. “What shall we do?” Smith questioned. “Go back to Crawley, where it all started? Play in the pub where we did our first show as The Cure? Or should we go mega, play a show in every capital city in the world?”
“It’s the 40th anniversary of the first album in 2019. I thought, if I don’t have something out new that year, that’s it for me. I don’t think The Cure will ever release another album.”
While there’s no concrete news as to whether The Cure will indeed release a new album, diehard fans will have the chance to pick up a new compilation by the band in just over a week, when Torn Down, a new companion to 1990’s Mixed Up remix album is released on vinyl alongside the original for Record Store Day.
Check out The Cure’s latest single, 2008’s ‘The Perfect Boy’:
