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The Cult

In June 1985, following his increasingly erratic behaviour, drummer Nigel Preston was fired from the band. Big Country's drummer Mark Brzezicki was picked to replace Preston. The Cult recorded their second album in July and August 1985, which became the Love album. The band's music and image shifted from its punk-oriented roots to 1970s psychedelia influences. Love was a successful independent record, selling 300,000 copies in the UK, 500,000 copies in Europe, 100,000 in Australia, and eventually over 1.5 million copies in North America. To date, the record has sold over two and a half million copies worldwide.

From mid-1985 to 1986, the band went on a worldwide tour with new drummer, Les Warner (who had previously played with Julian Lennon and Johnny Thunders). Two more official singles from the Love album followed; "Rain" (charting in the UK at #14) and "Revolution" (charting in the UK at #30). Neither of these singles charted in the US. Another single, "Nirvana", was issued only in Poland. The album version of "Rain", as well as the remix "(Here Comes the) Rain", were used in the Italian horror film Demoni 2.

Once back in England, the band booked themselves into the Manor Studios in Oxfordshire, with producer Steve Brown (who had produced Love), and recorded over a dozen new songs. The band were unhappy with the sound of their new album, Peace and they decided to go to New York so that producer Rick Rubin could remix the first single, "Love Removal Machine". The Peace album would later be released as part of the Rare Cult box set from Beggars Banquet.

Rubin agreed to work with the band, but only if they rerecorded the song. Rubin eventually talked them into rerecording the entire record. The Cult's record company, Beggars Banquet, was displeased with this, as two months and £250,000 had already been spent on the record. However, after hearing the New York recording, Beggars Banquet agreed to proceed. The first single was released in February 1987, and the new version appeared in April that same year as, Electric, an album which reached #4 and managed to sell even more than Love. A few tracks from the Peace album appeared on the single versions of "Love Removal Machine", and "Lil Devil".

The Cult toured with Kid Chaos (also known as "Haggis" and "The Kid") on bass, with Jamie Stewart on rhythm guitar. One more single, "Wild Flower" was also released later in summer 1987.

In the US, The Cult, now consisting of Ian Astbury, Billy Duffy, Jamie Stewart, Les Warner and Kid Chaos, were supported by the then unknown Guns N' Roses. The band also appeared at Roskilde Festival in Denmark in June 1987. When the world tour wound through Australia, the band wrecked £30,000 worth of equipment, and as a result they could not tour Japan, as no company would rent them new equipment. At the end of the tour the Electric album had gone platinum in Britain, and sold roughly 3 million copies worldwide, but the band was barely speaking to each other by then.

Haggis left the band at the end of the Electric tour to form The Four Horsemen for Rick Rubin's Def American label. Astbury and Duffy fired drummer Les Warner and their management team Grant/Edwards, and moved to Los Angeles with original bassist Jamie Stewart. Les Warner sued the band several times for his firing, as well as what he felt were unpaid royalties due to him for his performance on the Electric album, resulting in lengthy court battles. The Cult signed a new management deal and wrote 21 new songs for their next record.

For the next album, Jamie Stewart returned to playing bass, and John Webster was brought in to play keyboards. The band used Chris Taylor, to play drums during rehearsals and record the demos, then Kiss drummer, Eric Singer, performed during the second demo recording sessions. The Cult eventually recruited session-drummer Mickey Curry to fill the drumming role and Aerosmith sound engineer, Bob Rock, to produce.

Recorded in Vancouver, Canada in October, November and December of 1988, the Sonic Temple record gained multi-platinum status worldwide. The band went on tour in support of the new album and new single "Fire Woman" (UK#15) with yet another new drummer, Matt Sorum, and John Webster as keyboard player. The next single, "Edie (Ciao Baby)" (UK#25) has become a regular song at concerts for many, many years.

In Europe they toured with Aerosmith, and in the US, after releasing another single "Sun King" (UK#42), they spent 1989 touring in support of Metallica before heading out on their own headlining tour later that same year. A fourth single, "Sweet Soul Sister" (UK#38) was released in February of 1990, with the video have been filmed at Wembley Arena, London, on November 25, 1989. "Sweet Soul Sister" was partially written in Paris and was inspired by the Bohemian lifestyle of that city. Released as a single in February of 1990, the song was another hit in Britain, and reportedly reached number one on the rock charts in Brazil.

Immediately after playing a show in Atlanta, Georgia, in February 1990, the band's management told Ian that his father had just died of cancer. As a result, the remainder of the tour was cancelled after a final leg of shows were performed in April. After the tour ended in April 1990, the band was on the verge of splitting due to Jamie Stewart retiring and moving to Canada to be with his wife, and Matt Sorum leaving to join Guns N' Roses.

In 1990, Ian Astbury organized the A Gathering of the Tribes festival in Los Angeles and San Francisco with artists such as Soundgarden, Ice T, Indigo Girls, Queen Latifah, Iggy Pop, The Charlatans, The Cramps and Public Enemy appearing. This two day festival drew 40,000 people, and inspired Lollapalooza, which started in 1991.

Also in 1990, a ten CD box set was released in Britain, containing rare songs from The Cult's singles. The CDs in this box set were all issued as picture discs with transparent covers, housed in either a white box called "Singles Collection", or a black box called "E.P. Collection '84 - '90".

In 1991, director Oliver Stone, offered Ian Astbury the role of Jim Morrison in Stone's film The Doors. Astbury reportedly read the script and was not happy with the way Morrison was going to be represented in the film, and declined the role.

Ceremony (1991-1994)

In 1991, Astbury and Duffy were writing again for their next album. During the demo recordings, Todd Hoffman and James Kottak played bass and drums. During the actual album recording sessions, Mickey Curry was recruited again to play drums, with Charley Drayton on bass, and various other performers. Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy's working relationship had disintegrated by that time, with the two men reportedly rarely even in the studio together during recording.

The resulting album Ceremony was released to mixed responses. The album climbed US#34, but sales were not as impressive as the previous three records, only selling around one million copies worldwide. Only two official singles were released from the record: the explosive and Cult definitive "Wild Hearted Son" (UK #34, Canada #41) and "Heart of Soul" (UK #50), although "White" was released as a single only in Canada, "Sweet Salvation" was released as a single (as "Dulce Salvación") in Argentina in 1992, and the title track "Ceremony" was released in Spain.

In 1991 The Cult played a show at the Marquee Club in London, which was recorded and released in February of 1993, packaged with some vinyl UK copies of their first greatest hits release. Only a handful of CD copies of it were ever manufactured originally, however it was subsequently reissued on CD in 1999. An incomplete bootleg video of this show is also in circulation.

The Cult were sued by the mother of the Native American boy pictured on the cover of Ceremony, for alleged exploitation. This lawsuit delayed the Ceremony record's release in many countries including Korea and Thailand, which did not see the record's release until late 1992, and it was unreleased in Turkey until The Cult played several shows in Istanbul in June 1993.

A world tour followed with backing from future Thin Lizzy drummer Michael Lee and bassist Kinley Wolfe, and keyboardist John Sinclair returning one last time, and the Gathering of the Tribes moved to the UK. Here artists such as Pearl Jam performed. The warm-up gig to the show, in a small nightclub, was dedicated to the memory of Nigel Preston, who had died a few weeks earlier at the age of 31.

Following the release of the single "The Witch" (#9 in Australia) and the performance of a song for the 1992 Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie soundtrack entitled "Zap City", produced by Steve Brown and originally a B-side to "Lil' Devil", two volumes of remixes of "She Sells Sanctuary", called Sanctuary Mixes MCMXCIII, volumes one and two, and in support of "Pure Cult - For Rockers, Ravers, Lovers And Sinners", a greatest hits compilation which debuted at UK #1 on the British charts and later in Portugal, Astbury and Duffy fired the "backing band" and recruited Craig Adams (The Mission) and Scott Garrett for performances across Europe in 1993, with some shows featuring Mike Dimkitch on rhythm guitar.

The Cult (1994-1995)

With the same line-up still in place, the band released The Cult (also referred to as the "Black Sheep" record) in October 1994 produced by Bob Rock. Ian Astbury referred to the record as, "very personal, and very revealing" songs about his life, with the subject matter ranging from sexual abuse at the age of 15, to the death of Nigel Preston, to his directionless years spent in Glasgow in the late 1970s. But the record achieved little success, only reaching #69 in the US, and #21 in the UK. The record reportedly went to number one in Portugal also, but quickly dropped out of sight. The single "Coming Down (Drug Tongue)" was released with the band going on tour in support of the new album. Only one more single, "Star", was officially released with a live appearance on UK TV show The Word. "Star" began life in 1986 as "Tom Petty" before being dropped by the band during rehearsals. In 1993 the song was resurrected once again as "Starchild", and was finally completed for the record in 1994 as, just simply, "Star".

When the band began touring in winter 1994, they augmented the line up with James Stevenson on rhythm guitar. As with the Ceremony record several years earlier, no other official singles were released, but several other songs were released on a strictly limited basis: "Sacred Life" was released in Spain and the Netherlands, "Be Free" was issued in Canada and France, "Saints Are Down" was issued in Greece, but none of the songs gained much commercial success.

Hiatus (1995-1998)

During the 1995 tour of South America, despite the fact that several more new songs had already been recorded, the tour was cancelled after an appearance in Rio de Janeiro in March, and the band splitting-up citing unspecified problems on a recent South American tour.

In November 1996, a number of CD reissues were released; the band's American record company released High Octane Cult, a slightly updated greatest hit compilation released only in the US and Japan, The Southern Death Cult 15 song remastered CD, a ten song CD by Death Cult called Ghost Dance, consisting of the untitled four-song EP, the single "God's Zoo", and four unreleased songs from a radio broadcast, and a remastered repackaging of the Dreamtime album, containing only the ten original songs from the record in their original playing order and almost completely different but original artwork. Dreamtime Live at the Lyceum was also remastered and issued on video and for the first time on CD, with the one unreleased song from the concert, "Gimmick".

Throughout 1997 and 1998 Ian Astbury recorded a solo record, originally to be titled Natural Born Guerilla, later called "High Time Amplifier", ultimately the record remained unreleased until June 2000 when it was released under the name, Spirit\Light\Speed. Astbury played one solo concert in 1999, and later said he had intended to do a solo tour, however when The Cult reunited in 1999, Astbury dropped this idea.

Reunion (1999-2001)

In 1999, Astbury and Duffy reformed The Cult with Matt Sorum and ex-Porno for Pyros bassist Martyn LeNoble. Their first official concert was at the Tibetan Freedom Concert in June 1999, after having rehearsed at shows in the Los Angeles area. The band's 1999 'Cult Rising' reunion tour resulted in a sold out 30 date tour of the US, ending with 8 consecutive sold out nights at the LA House of Blues.

In 2000, the band toured South Africa and North and South America, and contributed the song "Painted On My Heart" to the soundtrack of the movie Gone In 60 Seconds. The song was featured prominently and the melody was fused into parts of the score. In June, Ian Astbury's long delayed solo record was finally released as Spirit/ Light/ Speed, but it failed to gain much success. In November 2000, another authorised greatest hits compilation was released, Pure Cult: The Singles, along with an accompanying DVD, which was later certified gold in Canada.

In November 2000, Beggars Banquet released 15000 copies of a six disc boxset (with a bonus seventh disc for the first 5000 copies) titled "Rare Cult". The boxset consists of album outtakes, demos, radio broadcasts, and album b sides. It is most notable for including the withdrawn "Peace" album in it's entirety.

In 2001, the band signed to Atlantic Records and recorded a new album, Beyond Good And Evil, originally being produced by Mick Jones of Foreigner, until Jones bowed out to tour with Foreigner. Astbury and Duffy co-wrote a song with Jones, an odd occurrence, as in the past, neither Astbury or Duffy would co-write their material. Bob Rock was the producer, Martyn LeNoble and Chris Wyse were bassists on the recording, and Mike Dimkitch played rhythm guitar on tour.

However Beyond Good And Evil was not the comeback record the band had hoped for. Despite reaching #37 in the US, #22 in Canada, and #25 in Spain, sales quickly dropped, only selling roughly 500,000 copies worldwide. The first single "Rise", reached #41 in the US, and #2 on the mainstream rock charts, but Atlantic Records quickly pulled the song from radio playlists. Ian Astbury would later describe the experience with Atlantic to be "soul destroying", after Atlantic tried to tamper with the lyrics, the record cover, and choice of singles from the record.

After the first single from the record, The Cult's working relationship with Atlantic was on paper only, with Atlantic pulling "Rise" from the radio stations playlists, and stopping all promotion of the record. The second single "Breathe" was only released as a radio station promo, and the final single "True Believers" was only on a compilation sampler disc released in January 2002 (after The Cult's tour had already ended). Despite "True Believers" receiving radio airplay in Australia, both singles went largely unnoticed, and both Astbury and Duffy walked away from the project. Martyn LeNoble rejoined the band for the initial dates in early 2001, and Billy Morrison filled in on bass for the majority of the 2001 tour.

The European tour of 2001 was cancelled, largely due to security concerns after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the band flew back to the US to tour again with Aerosmith. But the 11 week tour was considered by fans to be a disaster, as the band played only a brief rundown of their greatest hits. A few odd club shows in various cities allowed The Cult to perform an entire show. In October 2001, a show at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles was filmed for release on DVD. After that, with the tour ending in December 2001, the band took most of 2002 off, only emerging in October to play a brief series of dates in the US to promote the release of the DVD, with Scott Garrett and Craig Adams rejoining the band.

Second hiatus (2002-2004)

In late 2002, Ian Astbury declared the Cult to be "on ice" indefinitely, after performing a brief series of dates in October 2002 to promote the release of the Music Without Fear DVD. During this second hiatus, Astbury performed as a member of the Doors (later dubbed The Doors of the 21st Century, later still renamed D21c, and most recently known as Riders on the Storm) with two of the original members of that group). D21c was sued numerous times, both by Jim Morrison's family and by drummer John Densmore. Astbury also recorded another solo album, which as of 2007, remains unreleased.

At the same time, Billy Duffy was a member of, Dead Men Walking, and later, Cardboard Vampyres. Drummer Matt Sorum became a member of Velvet Revolver. In 2003, all of The Cult's records were issued on CD, with several bonus tracks being issued on the Russian, Belarusian, and Lithuanian versions. These eastern European releases had many printing mistakes on the jacket sleeves and lyric inserts. In October 2004, all of The Cult's records were again remastered and issued again on CD, this time in Japan in different cardboard foldout sleeves.

"She Sells Sanctuary" appeared in the 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, playing on rock station V-Rock.

Second reunion (2005-present)

In 2005, The Cult once again reunited for a world tour in 2006, making their first live appearance in three and a half years on February 2006, on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. The Cult's line up is currently: Ian Astbury (vocals), Billy Duffy (lead guitar), John Tempesta (drums and most know for playing drums for heavy metal bands like Testament and White Zombie), Mike Dimkitch (rhythm guitar), and Chris Wyse returning as bassist. Their first stage show was in March 2006 in San Francisco, California, at The Fillmore. The entire 19 date tour was recorded by Instant Live and sold immediately after each show.

In 2006, The Cult did an eight date tour in Canada in May, the show in Toronto being one of the largest headlining shows the band have played in well over a decade with a large crowd that surprised the band, as well as a number of European dates during the summer and a full scale 11 date UK tour in September. Meanwhile, Billy Duffy has also created Circus Diablo with Billy Morrison, Matt Sorum, Brett Scallions and Ricky Warwick. Photos, taken by Sherry Lee, from the date in Los Angeles can be found here http://www.disappearhere.net/cult.html

The Cult toured central and eastern Europe and played their first ever concerts in Bulgaria, Poland and Serbia. A UK tour followed as well as several more dates in the United States, followed by a South American tour set for early December 2006.

Ian Astbury claims that The Cult have written new material , however, so far the band has not played any new material during concerts. John Tempesta has confirmed on his website that in early 2007, The Cult will be recording a new record, to be released later in the year, followed by another world tour.

Ian Astbury announced on February 16, 2007 that he was leaving Riders on the Storm, The Doors reunion project, and returning exclusively to The Cult. He stated, "I have decided to move on and focus on my own music and legacy."

The Cult was featured on Stuffmagazine.com'slist of ultimate air guitar players.

On 21 March 2007, it was announced that The Cult will be touring Europe with The Who. The first confirmed tour date is in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in early June, with at least a dozen shows currently set to follow.

The Cult is playing a one off UK gig in London's West End at the CC Club in Leicester Square on June 7th 2007, along with nearly two dozen shows across continental Europe during summer of 2007. The tour also includes the first ever time the band will perform in Romania and Croatia.

On 29 May 2007, the band signed a deal with major metal label Roadrunner Records. Their 8th studio album has been officially titled Born into This. and is being produced by Martin "Youth" Glover. The Cult's appearance at Irving Plaza in New York City in early November 2006 was filmed and is also set to be released on DVD. Fontana North will issue The Cult's high definition DVD release, "The Cult New York City", in Canada on August 28th. There is currently no word yet on an international release date. During a performance in Zurich, Switzerland, the band performed a brand new song titled "I Assassin", from their forthcoming record. The band has recorded 13 new songs, one of which is titled "Diamonds", another is "Dirty Little Rockstar", for use on the record. Dirty Little Rockstar is the first single, released sometime in mid August 2007.

Discography

Studio albums

• Dreamtime (September 1984)
• Love (October 1985)
• Electric (April 1987)
• Sonic Temple (April 1989)
• Ceremony (September 1991)
• The Cult (October 1994)
• Beyond Good and Evil (June 2001)
• Born Into This (October 2007)

Live albums

• Dreamtime Live at the Lyceum (September 1984)
• Live At The Marquee (February 1993) (Double Album)

Compilation albums

• Death Cult (as Death Cult) (1988); reissued (1983 recordings; reissued on CD in 1988, and remastered and reissued again with bonus tracks in (1996) with new title Ghost Dance
• Pure Cult: For Rockers, Ravers, Lovers and Sinners (February 1993) (double album)
• High Octane Cult: Ultimate Collection, 1984-1995 (November 1996)
• Pure Cult: The Singles 1984 - 1995 (June 2000)
• The Best of Rare Cult (November 2000)

Box sets

• Singles Collection: 1984-1990 (August 1991) also known as "E.P. Collection 84 - 90" 10.000 copies only
• Rare Cult (November 2000) 15000 copies only
• Rare Cult: The Demos Sessions (July 2002) 3000 copies only

Singles

Year	Song	UK Singles Chart	US Hot 100	US Mainstream Rock	US Modern Rock	Album
1982	"Fatman" (as Southern Death Cult)	-	-	-	-	Southern Death Cult
1983	"Death Cult EP" (as Death Cult)	-	-	-	-	Non-album single
1983	"God's Zoo" (as Death Cult)	-	-	-	-	Non-album single
1984	"Spiritwalker"	77	-	-	-	Dreamtime
1984	"Go West (Crazy Spinning Circles)"	90	-	-	-	Dreamtime
1984	"Resurrection Joe"	74	-	-	-	Non-album single
1985	"She Sells Sanctuary"	15	-	-	-	Love
1985	"Rain"	17	-	-	-	Love
1985	"Revolution"	30	-	-	-	Love
1987	"Love Removal Machine"	18	-	15	-	Electric
1987	"Lil' Devil"	11	-	34	-	Electric
1987	"Wild Flower"	24	-	39	-	Electric
1989	"Fire Woman"	15	46	4	2	Sonic Temple
1989	"Edie (Ciao Baby)"	32	93	-	17	Sonic Temple
1989	"Sun King"	39	-	-	21	Sonic Temple
1990	"Sweet Soul Sister"	42	-	14	-	Sonic Temple
1991	"Wild-Hearted Son"	40	-	12	4	Ceremony
1992	"Heart Of Soul"	51	-	-	21	Ceremony
1993	"Sanctuary MCMXCIII"	15	-	-	-	Non-album single
1993	"The Witch"	-	-	-	-	Songs from the Cool World (Soundtrack)
1994	"Coming Down (Drug Tongue)"	50	-	13	26	The Cult
1994	"Star"	65	-	-	-	The Cult
1999	"Painted On My Heart"	-	-	26	-	Gone in Sixty Seconds (Soundtrack)
2001	"Rise"	86	-	3	19	Beyond Good and Evil
2001	"Breathe"	-	-	-	-	Beyond Good and Evil
2002	"True Believers"	-	-	-	-	Beyond Good and Evil
2007	"Dirty Little Rockstar"	-	-	-	-	Born Into This

Videography

• Dreamtime: Live At The Lyceum (VHS only) filmed at The Lyceum, London, on 20 May 1984.
• Electric-Love videos from the Love and Electric albums (VHS Only)
• Sonic-Ceremony videos from the Sonic Temple and Ceremony albums (VHS Only)
• Pure Cult: For Lovers, Ravers, Lovers and Sinners (1993, VHS Only)
• Pure Cult: The Singles (2000)
• The Cult - Music Without Fear filmed live in Los Angeles on 4 October 2001.

Tribute albums

• Horse Nation: A Tribute to the Life, Music, and Spirit of The Cult - 1997 from Mudwax Records
• Fire Woman: A Tribute to The Cult - 2001 from Versailles Records

References

External links

• Official Cult Web Site
• A list of all 1001 Albums (Only 998 albums are listed here.)

v • d • e The Cult
Ian Astbury | Billy Duffy | John Tempesta | Mike Dimkitch | Chris Wyse
Former members: Les Warner | Ray Mondo | Nigel Preston | Jamie Stewart | Mark Brzezicki | Kid Chaos | John Webster | Chris Taylor | Eric Singer | Mickey Curry | Matt Sorum | Todd Hoffman | James Kottak | Charley Drayton | Michael Lee | Kinley Wolfe | John Sinclair | Craig Adams | Scott Garrett | Martyn LeNoble | Barry Jepson | Haq Quereshi | Billy Morrison
Discography
Albums: Dreamtime (1984) | Love (1985) | Electric (1987) | Sonic Temple (1989) | Ceremony (1991) | The Cult (1994) | Beyond Good and Evil (2001) | Born Into This (2007)
Live albums: Live at the Lyceum (1984) | Live At The Marquee (1993)
Compilation albums: Death Cult (1988) | Pure Cult: For Rockers, Ravers, Lovers and Sinners (1993) | High Octane Cult (1996) | Pure Cult: The Singles 1984 - 1995 (2000) | The Best of Rare Cult (2000)
Box sets: Singles Collection: 1984-1990 (1991) | Rare Cult (2000) | Rare Cult: The Demos Sessions (2002)
Related bands
Death Cult | Guns N' Roses | Holy Barbarians | Jane's Addiction | Porno for Pyros | Southern Death Cult | Theatre of Hate | Velvet Revolver