EXCLUSIVE Later, at Pinkpop, The Cure begins with a series of performances by the British band almost all the major summer festivals in Europe sees headline. It is a remarkable fact for a band that since 1992 no longer scored in the charts. "You'll like him, I'm sure," said a mutual friend that the interview with Robert Smith of The Cure central figure, had settled. "And I'm guessing he'll like you too." And what was? Once the talk was the talk shows such as The Cure: long but good. Today part 1.



"Look! A crow is a penguin under the **** on stage! Oh no. I did not." It's the guy from The Cure. "
Robert Smith puts himself



Brussels, 1982

"That was actually the fault of our dad," says Robert Smith. Come. Smith: "Really. In a bar in Strasbourg ran out of hand so I just took the first plane home. For me it was over and out. But when I unexpectedly came home, wanted Dad not let me: You have a responsibility as an entertainer, he said. People have bought tickets, get right back on tour. So. " We talk about the actions of The Cure on Friday, June 11, 1982 in the AB. A ticket cost 320 francs. The Cure as a band with hits did not exist, and after the gig at the Ancienne Belgique is actually a small miracle that has ever come. 'Pornography' was released on 3 May of that year and was promoted with a tour that began two days later in the Netherlands via Belgium, Germany and France would end in Brussels. During the first passage - Grivegnée, Turnhout, Berchem, Deinze, Genk - there seemed nothing wrong. But the fact is that the atmosphere in the band quite wrong. Especially between Smith and Simon Gallup things did not, and that had much to do with what Robert now describes as "too many drugs and drink and so". On 27 May in Strasbourg, were the bassist and vocalist to blows with each other in a dispute over a rough drawing. Smith joined after scolding from his father come back to the tour company and worked conscientiously nine shows in France off (including two at the Olympia in Paris), but "something was broken", and in Brussels, just before the final concert of the tour, tensions detonated. Smith: "I remember in the dressing room I thought it would be done in an hour with The Cure. So I thought: but let us say goodbye in a memorable way. " So Robert Smith announced the encore backstage that he would play drums. Gallup then grabbed Smith and Lol Tolhurst played bass guitar. It seemed to make sense. To make things even worse came Cure roadie Gary Biddles, the drinking brother of Gallup, on stage to "Robert Smith is a cunt" in the micro menu. Smith threw his drumsticks as a reaction against the back of Gallup, screamed "**** off" and, well, that seemed the end of The Cure. Smith and Gallup, the next 18 months not a word to say to each other. Smith: "Oh yes. But thanks to again to rekindle. Cheers."

fruit juice toast with Smith. That was sometimes different. Rarely seen a band so could guzzle a tour manager told me once. The legend says that during the 10-week sessions for Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me in Chateau Miraval (in 2009 bought by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie) The Cure throughout the cellar of the 400-hectare domaine drank. Not that Smith's stuff has completely renounced, but: "There's a time and place for drinking." You were, frankly, not exactly the nicest guy to be sober interview earlier. Smith: "Mmmm. Okay. There was a time that the only way that I could by a day full of interviews consisted of wrestling that I needed to get two drinks at each call. Therefore, I have a lot of nonsense spoken. especially to journalists who do not speak English so well. But, hey as the years pass, you know ... A man is also more concerned ... and uh ... " Smith just seems to sink into his own world, does not get out of his words, but little precedent suddenly and says very seriously: "Yes, and I'm here with the car." Robert Smith appears in the year 2012 a great interviewee. Erudite, open, a bit playful and a bit naughty. Constantly used his hands to illustrate his words. He is on April 21, 53 but still has become something of a teenager I think. A bit of the Peter Pan of a generation that grew up with doom. He claims that he only gives interviews to friends a favor, that it "is not his thing anyway" and that he is not sorry that he increasingly recognized on the street.

It seems sincere. Smith's body language exudes from embarrassment, and he has an instinctive tendency to walls and corners to look as if he himself wants wegcamoufleren. There is also little political statement from Smith to drag, except: "call me moderate left". It should be clear: this man is no attention seeker. What about that, well, dramatic, fighting against gravity hair, the lipstick and still the same black outfit? Smith swears by his traditional look, imitated by an army of fans, even today. In the United Kingdom was "Goth Juice" not so long ago a fad, a sketch from a comedy born with hair gel as a sales pitch "The most powerful hairspray known to man. Made from the tears of Robert Smith." Smith: "Yes, that was a good one, I have them laugh. They have that stuff actually sold. It looked like monkey sperm. " But why dress, schminckt and gilt Robert Smith in 2012, still as in say 1984? Smith: "Well , Robert Smith why do not I think. The simple answer is: because I am here to feel good. " And what is the difficult answer? Smith: "That's a little Save on. Why you walk in the black by Why you put your hair up? " Because I think I'm not so thick uitzie and otherwise it has no face, my hair. And maybe a little bit because I was still modeling for a time when comedians like you so impressed. The latter would tell my wife. Smith: "That is good. Okay then, maybe it is a manifestation of a lifelong problem with authority. how it started, in any case because it is not allowed and tolerated in the school. A classic case of rebellion, but also, My Mary sees me so badly that we want soigneren. And then you end up somewhere along the way to a point that you want to keep it just because it's a habit. It's an Identifying process I've kept down the years. If I could change, what would be. What would people say when I get in a white tuxedo that festival stages would change? " He has gone mad. Smith: "Exactly!" It would be absolutely no sight with your hairstyle. Smith: "True. Look! A crow is a penguin under the **** on stage! Oh no. I did not." It's the guy from The Cure. " (Follows a discourse on the challenges of compulsive haargelgebruiker. For the record: Robert Smith is currently using a mix of L'Oreal Studio Line Indestructible Gel and Alberto VO5 Extreme Style Roughitup Putty. His favorite lipstick from MAC and the color is' ruby red. "The last I had my wife's questions. Really. Smith also does his own makeup, because" I really hate it When strangers touch my face.)

It's quite remarkable how Robert Smith wants to talk about his eccentric edges, and certainly not because he himself by those traits so interesting. Consider this: he is quite nearsighted, should really wear glasses or contact lenses, but does so only in the car. Why? Vanity? Smith: "Because it gives me a sense of privacy." Huh? You see nothing sharp that is further than a meter of your position and ... Smith: "The idea that I can not see people staring at me is, um, comfortable." So you see your audience even if you are on the stage. Smith: "I see the audience, but it is not sharp." I'm goth not sobering news for women who ever lonkten in the crosshairs of the doomsday panda, and the traditional Robert Smith look-alikes on the first row: it eludes the chief goth. But do not call him that in mind. Smith: "Not that I have anything against goths. But because it is not true. Only non-goths call us a goth band. There are 30 songs in our set damn where your average hard-goth goes from run away if he hears them. " Whether they are goths or not, you have special fans. Fanatical, loyal dog, around the world also. Total tickets sold on the black market for more than 2,000 euros for performances at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood last autumn, where The Cure for three nights in a row playing a set of 45 numbers each. Not bad for a band whose last real hit was in 1992. Smith: "Yes, but nobody would so much money to shell out for a ticket to see us, I thought that was bad, we had nevertheless made ​​every effort to black market counter. Recently, a guitar from me sold on ebay for a ridiculous amount. I then responded: do not, this is madness. " Tomorrow: the forthcoming festivals, why should we pay for music , Mrs. Robert Smith and the youth of today