The fusion of Astbury’s distinct vocal style with Black’s electronic landscapes creates a sound that’s both fresh and familiar, challenging the boundaries of genre. Guitars and modular synths weave through the track, building a complex soundscape that pays homage to the roots of both artists while pushing forward into new territories. The collaboration not only showcases their individual strengths but also highlights the potential of cross-genre partnerships in creating innovative music.

Black shares a story about recording the track, highlighting the serendipity and spontaneity that often accompanies creative endeavors.

“Astbury and I agreed that it would be cool to collaborate and since I was already going to LA for a gig,” says Black. “I found a studio. I honestly didn’t know if he would show up, or if some imposter was using his account. Ian showed up. I watched on the studio security cameras as a black SUV pulled up. Ian rolled in with a bag full of notebooks, art books, pens, and stories. We talked for hours. Somehow with only 20 minutes left in our session, he went to the booth and nailed the vocal in 1 take. This was the first time I recorded with a vocalist as they were writing the vocals in my presence,”

Listen below:

Dirge Out marks the second release from the upcoming sophomore album, ‘Infinite Darkness‘, which will see its global release on May 3rd, 2024 via Artoffact Records. Black says it was Astbury who pushed him to get to it. “I was on the bullet train from Osaka to Tokyo when he texted me “you should call your record Infinite Darkness.” How could I refuse?” Black comments.

Produced over the span of five years, the album features incredible talent, including ACTORS, Louisahhh, Michele Lamy, Front Line Assembly, and more!

Pre-order Infinite Darkness here.

Bryan Black, also known as Black Asteroid, kick-started his music career as a sound designer and keyboard technician for Prince at Paisley Park Studios in Minneapolis. Diving into his own creative endeavours, Black produced music under the aliases Haloblack and Motor, catching the attention of Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore. This led to a collaboration that produced the top 40 hit Man Made Machine and tours with Depeche Mode. Black Asteroid emerged on the scene with the debut single Engine 1 in 2011, showcasing a distinctive industrial techno sound that gained rapid popularity and secured him spots in prestigious clubs and festivals globally.

His debut album Thrust, released in 2017, featured a mix of crossover singles with contributions from artists like Zola Jesus and Cold Cave, highlighting Black’s penchant for integrating song structures and vocals into techno. Following this, 2023 saw Black exploring experimental sounds in the EPs Acid Flesh and New Flesh.

Follow Black Asteroid:

• Website
• Soundcloud
• Instagram

The post The Cult’s Ian Astbury Collaborates with Black Asteroid on Haunting Electronic Music Track “Dirge Out” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

That show was incredible. But in late October of 2023, when I saw The Cult as Death Cult, it was one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen and undeniably one of the most Goth evenings I’ve spent in Los Angeles, or ever for that matter.

By happenstance, the date also coincided with the 40th anniversary of the Death Cult single “God’s Zoo.” The concert was held at the beautiful theatre at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles, where they also show classic films, with the marquee fittingly showcasing a screening of The Bride of Frankenstein.

Cold Cave, darlings of the current Darkwave and Goth revival of the 21st century, who had been touring with The Cult, were a great way to start this special evening.

Following the stage being cleansed with sage, The Death Cult set began with “83rd Dream”. This was followed by “Christians,” “Gods Zoo,” “Brothers Grimm,” and “Ghost Dance”. They then performed “Butterflies,” which was particularly symbolic of the evening as a butterfly was featured on the artwork for this special series of 40th anniversary Death Cult shows.

The set continued with “A Flower in the Desert,” “Ressurrection Joe,” “The Phoenix,” “Horse Nation,” “Go West (Crazy Spinning Circles),” and “Dreamtime.” Finally, they finished up the main part of the set with “Spiritwalker” and “Rain.”

In a break between songs, Ian Astbury paid tribute to original Death Cult members, bassist Jamie Stewart and drummer Nigel Preston. Stewart has since retired from music, and Preston passed away in 1992.

On stage, Astbury was wearing a jacket with the “Death Cult” logo emblazoned on it, and red streaks of paint on his face. And during the Southern Death Cult song “Moya,” he let his magnificent mane of hair down before the band ended the show with a performance of The Cult’s popular track “She Sells Sanctuary.”

This intimate concert was up there for me with seeing Bauhaus in 1998 and Siouxsie and the Banshees in 2002. But unlike seeing those two legendary bands live, there was a specialness and rarity to the setlist. And a reverence for the songs, many of which had not been played in decades.  Songs that hold deep meaning, sincerity, and authenticity.

And while Siouxsie may have adopted the name Sioux because she “hate’s cowboys,” many of Death Cult’s songs exude deep compassion for the indigenous tribes Ian Astbury grew up with near the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, Canada — a place where he moved when he was 11 years old.

Southern Death Cult:

Ian Astbury’s journey before forming Southern Death Cult was as eclectic as it was influential. After returning to the UK, he spent time in Scotland, then moved to Liverpool—a stone’s throw from his birthplace, Heswall. There, Astbury immersed himself in Liverpool’s thriving post-punk scene. His next venture took him to Belfast, where he lived in a squat fellow among punks. Eventually, he returned to England, taking a job as a stagehand in Bradford, Yorkshire.

It was in Bradford where the seeds of the Southern Death Cult were sown. The band had its precursors in Violation, formed in June 1979 with Haq Nawaz Qureshi on drums, Barry Jepson playing bass, guitarist Michael Isles, and Mick Brady as the vocalist. Violation made a mark, supporting The Clash in Bradford on January 29, 1980. But following Brady’s departure, and after a brief stint with Gary O’Connell as the frontman and a demo tape in the bag, the group disbanded when Isles and O’Connell exited.

Undeterred, Qureshi and Jepson pressed on. They recruited David ‘Buzz’ Burroughs for guitar and, significantly, brought in Astbury as the lead singer. With this lineup, they rebranded to Southern Death Cult. The band’s musical output was brief but impactful, releasing a single featuring “Moya” and “Fatman” in 1982. Despite their short-lived existence, their music lived on through a compilation album released post-split in 1983, which included their single, live performances, and BBC session tracks. Southern Death Cult also graced the BBC’s “The Tube” with a memorable performance on January 21, 1983, delivering renditions of “False Faces,” “Fatman,” and “Faith.”

In a recent interview, guitarist Billy Duffy recounted to Louder Sound that his first brush with Ian Astbury was under the bucolic backdrop of Keele University’s woodlands. It was during the heyday of Theatre Of Hate, Duffy’s then outfit, which found the Southern Death Cult as their opening act amidst a  tour bolstered by their  single “Westworld.” Duffy, in a vignette straight out of a film, paints Astbury as a phantasmagoric figure, evoking the rugged romanticism of Daniel Day-Lewis’s Hawkeye sprinting through the forest in “The Last of the Mohicans.”

Perched on the balcony with Theatre of Hate bassist Stan Stammers, Duffy witnessed the energy of Astbury’s performance. It was a moment of revelation, the kind that could only be articulated in the vernacular of the stunned and the struck: a reverent “Fucking hell,” as the future of rock unveiled itself in Astbury’s unbridled vocal fervor. Duffy and Stammers knew they were witnessing something seismic.

From the ashes of Southern Death Cult, Astbury would form Death Cult with Billy Duffy, whose lineup also included bassist Jamie Stewart and drummer Raymond Taylor Smith (later known as Ray Mondo), both from the post-punk band Ritual. Raymondo would leave the band, and Theatre of Hate and Sex Gang Children’s Nigel Preston would join, and remain with the band until the release of The Cult’s 1985 album Love.

After the release of an EP, and “The God’s Zoo” single, Death Cult would return to perform on The Tube on January 13th of 1984, with presenter Jools Holland introducing this performance as being the first show with the band’s shortened name, The Cult.

Days before the show at the Ace Theatre, I spoke with Ian Astbury about his history in Liverpool, the post-punk scene, Bowie, and being “the other.” We also spoke about the term “positive punk” and, despite his disassociation from the Goth label, his thoughts and musings on the subject reveal a mind as intricate and expansive as the famed Library of Trinity College:

Did you meet Billy Duffy before the tour opening for Bauhaus?

“I met him just before that when he was playing with Theatre Of Hate,  which was our first Southern Death Cult…first real show. I mean, something like Chelsea at the Marquee in London. And then we went out from that to do a couple more shows around the Leeds and Bradford area, and then we were given the opportunity to play with Theatre of Hate.

And then that led to a Bauhaus tour.

It was pretty much…and then we were opening for the Clash and playing…I believe we played a festival with New Order [Futurama Festival], and things happened very quickly.”

Did you hang out at Eric’s in Liverpool before you started Southern Death Cult?

“Yeah,  I went to Eric’s, but I didn’t go to Eric’s actually till near the end of Eric’s. I was living in Scotland, so I moved back to the Merseyside area. It would have been, I guess…1980, perhaps? So I was at Eric’s for the last month of Eric’s. I was there the night that it got closed down by the Police. The Psychedelic Furs were playing. They came in with dogs. They had their nightsticks out. They were beating people and running through the club. I guess they thought it was some kind of drug den, and they’d had nothing better to do than pick on a lot of punk kids. 

So, that club got closed down. It was part of the Cavern Complex on Matthew Street. I did see some great shows there. I remember seeing The Cramps, which was incredible, with Brian Gregory.

We used to go there often,  pretty much seven times a week to Eric’s. It was a great club. I saw Nightmares On Wax there, Pete Burns’ band before Dead Or Alive.

And a band called Pink Military who were an excellent band. I never knew what happened to them. They made a couple of albums. They were an excellent band, but everybody in the crowd was pretty much either in a band or around a band. It was a very vibrant scene.”

I spoke to Wayne Hussey about the scene at Eric’s. He told me a lot of stories, too, that it seemed like a post-punk mecca with just so much stuff happening there.

“Oh, absolutely.

There were clubs like that throughout the country, you know, you travel around the UK with several clubs in Manchester, Leeds, I think Huddersfield, there’s a club there. Definitely London. Even in the Bradford, Leeds area, these clubs that we go to would play new wave, post-punk, punk, and disco. It used to have what you call a ‘Bowie Roxy Night,’ in which one night they would be playing music with that kind of feel of Roxy Music, David Bowie, post-glam. And we used to go hang out there. 

A lot of it was due to the fact that it was very dangerous going outside. If you wanted to go to a pub, it was very difficult. There was a lot of prejudice toward punk kids. There was quite a bit of violence to navigate.”

Was it just very conservative back then?

“There was definitely a division between kids who were into music and people [whose lifestyles were defined by mainstream society] who didn’t get it; they didn’t understand us, and we definitely weren’t part of them. It was subcultures highly identified by the way you look and by collective ideas, a lot of the same kind of music. 

It was a very difficult time as well because there was high unemployment. Thatcher’s Britain. It was pretty oppressive. It was quite bleak. Then, of course, we didn’t have social media. We didn’t have cell phones. We read books and newspapers and got our information from John Peel or NME or word of mouth, going to record stores, like Pete Burns, who used to work in Probe Records in Liverpool. I used to go in there, and they had an incredible collection… a very well-curated record store…you know, a lot of indie labels, and so you’d go in there and speak to whoever behind the counter. If they would suggest something, you’d listen to it and discover bands that you wouldn’t really hear about unless you were paying attention. Because the mainstream TV in Britain, BBC, was Top 40, but they did have Old Grey Whistle Test, which was a pretty cool show. We ended up playing on it. The Cult did. There were a lot of very iconic performances on The Old Grey Whistle Test: they had everything from Captain Beefheart to Patti Smith. So we watched that occasionally, but most of the time, we were out, not sitting at home watching TV.

We were out, we were out in clubs, some clubs we went to were pretty friendly towards us in a post…I mean, we didn’t identify as post-punk because that was more of a media tag. 

Nobody went around and said, “We are post-punk.” Nobody said that. Nobody went around and said that we are positive punk, you know.”

I’ve articles from when Southern Death Cult came out, and up until Death Cult, they were calling the band “positive punk” in the NME, which I think is a term that doesn’t exist anymore. 

“Well, it was of its moment. I think that the word reflects the fact that we weren’t absolute nihilists. That we were a little bit more idealistic and optimistic and colorful and were kind of embracing a very difficult time and making the best of it, and expressing ourselves through music, clothes, and photography; we were expressing ourselves in that way.

There was a sense of optimism around it, even though a lot of it was rooted in rock and roll culture, and punk rock culture, and new wave culture, and avant culture in New York. In Warhol’s New York. And Detroit, a lot of that had roots in America. I mean, obviously, things like The New York Dolls are very important. So were the Stooges; everybody listened to that. The Doors were very important in a kind of Romanticist…cinematic Romanticists…We were aware of that music – we had that music, and listened to that music. Well, I certainly did. Anyway, I know Wayne Hussey did. Wayne was in a band with Pete Burns for a minute. I think he was in Nightmares On Wax.”

I believe it was Dead Or Alive. Wayne had this guitar-triggered SH-101 synth sequence that was on the song “Misty Circles,” which Echo and the Bunnymen borrowed for their single “Never Stop.”

“Everybody was being influenced by everybody. From Can to Joy Division to Pil, by the time Bauhaus came along,  they were influenced by those kinds of groups, you know, they were definitely influenced by Bowie. David Bowie was very important. I think connecting everything, connect all the dots. You could probably run everything through Bowie.”

I would agree.

“We all grew up with Bowie. We all had his records when we were very young. Bought my first David Bowie single when I was ten. Life On Mars, and that was otherworldly. So, from that point, I WAS IN. I got thrown out of school for putting food colouring in my hair at about ten years of age, 11. Probably more like 11, I put some blue colour in my hair, and they sent me home.”

I always thought that the term Goth goes back to the 60s with the Doors and Nico more so than post-punk music. 

“Oh, it goes way back further than that! Now, think about Aubrey Beardsley. Think about the romantic poets. Shelley; Byron. The literature at the time. Bram Stoker. To me, it’s really romanticizing the shadow, which is something that artists…there’s always been an adversarial element in art, culture, religion, you know, the shadows of that which cannot be explained, shall we say.

And that was obviously for humans trying to existentially work out what was the meaning of life. You find yourself in the shadow at some point, and then you have a collective group who think a certain way that everything is one way, but it’s far more complex and nuanced. And I feel that as the rise of the novel and plays and operas, start to condense some of these ideas, and of course, Nietzsche comes along, and then the whole thing’s blown wide open.

I even think that, like Paganini, the Italian violin virtuoso. He used to come out of a coffin. The Catholic Church put him in jail in Genoa because they were terrified of him. He was disrupting. He was an agent of chaos. 

Everything’s interconnected. It comes from a very organic source. But certainly, when humans suppress the shadow, it will come out in different ways. And it has definitely been romanticized over the centuries. Yes. Even Shakespeare, in some ways, like Macbeth! Which talks about sex and murder and the darker side of human nature, avarice… control, domination, all of that. 

So these are kind of archetypal themes. Just because somebody wrote in 1983 in Sounds or whatever it was and says, ‘Here’s Andi Sex Gang and his gothic hordes.’  And then that term just got widely used throughout the media. And you have to understand that with the media pretty much every single show was out there was being reviewed by somebody, and they had to put out their papers every week. So, they were mapping information for a weekly publishing cycle. Everything was accelerated. And in that acceleration process with identifying certain waves of music, it was much easier to put a label on it. And, of course, there’s a lot of cynicism with a lot of editorial content. 

There were they were taking the piss on a lot of people, but I think in many ways, the term goth…was usually used as a put-down by those that knew better, the ones that formulated their opinions based upon very limited life experience.

It was just an easy way to compartmentalize a genre, while in actual fact, it was incredibly diverse. You know, you could go see The Gun Club one night or see The Birthday Party another night. Iggy Pop would roll through town. Nico would play,  and then you could go see a reggae show.

Dance music. The 12-inch was evolving, pop, you know, some of the faces like Pete Burns, George O’Dowd, Marilyn, Blitz Club, London, all of that was finding its way into the culture and, you know, again, Bowie comes along with Ashes to Ashes…galvanizing a frequency!

And he continued all the way through to Blackstar.

I think in terms of more like what Rammellzee, the graffiti artist, was talking about in the early eighties, about Gothic Futurism, the idea that everything from the written word to architecture evolved in a certain dark age period, and that art and the written word, especially the Bible, was controlled by a certain group of evolved monks. They referred to the graffiti writers as monks. He talked about this Gothic futurism, where letters and form took on a much more intuitive way…a way of expressing the intimate human experience without sticking a label on it and banging it out, “Goth” and there it is. And there is there’s layers to it, and there’s a certain mystique to it, and he’s only just beginning to be appreciated now, 12 years after his death.

But Rammellzee was very important and then not only in, say, hip hop.

There are just so many crossover points and so many layers. It wasn’t like one size fits all, although you did have diehard Siouxsie fans and diehard Cure fans who emulated the way that Siouxsie and Robert dressed. And yeah, if you were in the crowd. You were, of course, inspired by them when you saw them.

I remember I bought Join Hands the day it came out. I didn’t get to see them play until the Juju tour because they dissolved for a minute. The Juju tour with John McGeoch. It was pretty outstanding…it was incredible. But the wonderful thing was you’d have so many incredible shows to go to, and it was of its time. It wasn’t that this was some sort of throwback.

They were making music in that moment, and we were present for it. And it is a testament to that period that it still resonates today.

I’d like to see what Balenciaga would be without some of those innovative individuals, etc. Givenchy, all of them. Throw off the playbook. The kids who were courageous enough to run in the shadows. Explore something outside of what you were taught in school with Judeo-Christian values. They were exploring things like Tibetan Book of the Dead.

We were ravenous for information. Because the society, the culture, certainly the working class ethic was that you worked hard, you played hard, and then you pick out your clock and then you’re, you know, you stay in your station working for in a factory, or you’re working in some sort of dead-end job. And then there’s this incredible music.

I think Control does a very good job…[the film about Ian Curtis of Joy Division by] Anton Corbijn. Control does a great job of reflecting the period in many ways. They got a lot of it right. And [Corbijn] was present; he was around all of that as well.

I love all these new books that come out by people who were nowhere near it, you know, And they do the Wikipedia research, and they miss so much, and they become the de facto expert on a genre for a time period.

It was as much about the environment that the music was coming out of. The industrial north of Britain. From the Industrial Revolution, all these factories were closing, and manufacturing had changed. And it was so you had this surplus workforce, and of course, football kept a lot of people together that have something singular that they could experience every week. But for the younger ones, it was definitely music.”

Where the Indigenous influences and inspirations found in the music of Southern Death Cult, and Death Cult came from:

“I grew up in Canada. I was exposed to indigenous culture from a very early age. I was 11 years old. I was an immigrant kid, and I was immediately labeled as “other.” And I was put with the other kids, and the other kids in my group were indigenous, native to the local reservation, Six Nations. I went there and was around indigenous kids.

I was around kids from all over the globe. They were coming to Canada, part of the workforce, in the early Seventies. So, I had a really diverse group of friends. One of my best friends was from Kingston, Jamaica, and another friend was from Ankara, Turkey. We were kind of an odd group of kids, but we all loved music and the fact that we were kind of “other” and on the outside of the collective group. I became fascinated by their culture. And then that evolved over the years.

I’ve never claimed to have any Indigenous blood…I’m of Celtic descent, but there are a lot of parallels between those people and Indigenous people because there was a diaspora of the Celts as well. The Roman Empire came in, and the British, as well, did a pretty good job [clearing] all the tribes up.”

Death Cult’s songs:

To fully appreciate The Cult’s UK Tour celebrating 40 years of Death Cult, we want to provide some context to some of the songs that they will be performing. Several songs reference tragic events that occurred at Wounded Knee, which pertains to two significant events in the history of the Native American Lakota people. Both events took place near Wounded Knee Creek, located in South Dakota.

The first, and perhaps the most infamous, was the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890. On December 29, 1890, the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry surrounded a band of Ghost Dancers under Chief Big Foot near Wounded Knee Creek and demanded they surrender their weapons. A shot was fired—its origin remains unclear—and the soldiers turned their artillery on the Lakota, killing as many as 300 men, women, and children in the ensuing chaos. This event marked one of the final chapters in the long and brutal campaign to suppress Native American tribes across the Plains and is remembered as a symbol of the tragic end of the Indian Wars.

The second event, known as the Wounded Knee Incident, occurred in 1973 when members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) and Oglala Lakota activists occupied the town of Wounded Knee in protest against the U.S. government’s failure to fulfill treaties with Native American people and what they saw as the corrupt tribal leadership of Richard Wilson. The 71-day siege resulted in deaths and injuries on both sides and ended with the government promising to re-examine Native American treaty rights.

Ghost Dance

Wovoka was a Paiute mystic who took the traditional Ghost Dance (practiced by various tribal belief systems) and rallied people to practice it, promising it would reunite the living and the dead. He promised this would bring the spirits to fight on their behalf and halt Western expansion. While the Ghost Dance itself was a longstanding tradition, this new context of using it to invoke the dead became a message of hope in triumphing over evil. While this was spreading, treaties with the US were being broken, and the Native people started invoking the Ghost Dance as a means to intimidate the US troops. Because the Ghost Dance usually happened before a battle, the US soldiers attempted to stop its performance and started picking out the instigators. Sitting Bull got singled out, then things escalated, and he was assassinated. Wounded Knee happened a week or two later. 

Horse Nation

The lyrics of “Horse Nation” by Death Cult are inspired by the book “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,” which is a historical account detailing the violent displacement and systemic oppression of Native American tribes by the United States government.

Moya

The lyrics of “Moya” by Southern Death Cult seem to critique the apathy and numbness of Americans and Western Consumerism, referred to as “the Coca-Cola nation,” a society blind to the atrocities committed by their government.

“Kasota” means to clear off in the Lakota language- a possible reference to the literal clearing of woodlands into prairie or plains, but also could be referencing the clearing off of people, comparing it to the bombing of Nagasaki and mass murder and genocide, particularly those against Indigenous peoples, as mentioned with the song’s line “Wounded Knee over again.”

Butterflies 

The song “Butterflies” references The Hopi Butterfly Dance, a traditional ceremonial dance performed by the Hopi people, particularly the youth, as a form of social celebration and expression of spirituality. Held in late summer and early fall within Hopi villages in northern Arizona, this two-day event occurs after the harvest and is particularly associated with giving thanks for the corn crop.​

The dance is deeply symbolic, with the butterfly representing transformation and renewal, akin to how butterflies pollinate flowers, which is vital for sustaining life. In Hopi mythology, the butterfly maiden kachina, known as Polik-mana, is associated with this dance. She represents the spirit being that brings life-giving rain, essential for the desert farming lifestyle of the Hopi.

The dancers, especially the maidens, wear elaborate headdresses called tablitas, which are adorned with symbols of corn, butterflies, and prayers. These elements highlight the dance’s purpose in paying homage to the natural world, the butterflies’ role in pollination, and the spiritual connection the Hopi maintain with their environment. The dance is a visual and spiritual expression of gratitude, as well as a prayer for rain, which is essential for their crops and, by extension, their way of life​.

Spirit Walker 

In essence, “Spiritwalker” encapsulates a journey beyond the physical world, seeking an extraordinary experience of spirituality and connection with the metaphysical aspects of existence.

The song is a prayer to nonconformity, to be one with the Spirit, to connect with higher realms. Indigenous tribes believe the Spiritwalker is a mystic, bridging the spirit and mortal worlds. This person is in charge of the spiritual well-being of their tribe.

Dreamtime

For The Cult, “Dreamtime” refers to their full-length debut album and its title track, which was released in 1984. The album incorporates Native American themes, and the song “Dreamtime” is inspired by Aboriginal mythology, expressing themes of longing for personal freedom, self-expression, and a connection to an inner world of dreams and imagination.

In Aboriginal Australian culture, “Dreamtime” or “The Dreaming” refers to a foundational mythological period of time that explains the creation of the world and its natural features by the Ancestral Spirits. It is a core component of their spiritual and philosophical worldview, encompassing the genesis of life, the establishment of natural patterns and cycles, and the origin of laws of existence. The Dreamtime represents both a historical time and a continuing spiritual reality, shaping the culture’s connection to the land, its people, and the universe at large.

The Cult Presents Death Cult Tour Dates 2023:

• November 6: Belfast, UK — Telegraph
• November 7: Dublin, IE — Olympia
• November 9: Sheffield, UK — Foundry
• November 10: Liverpool, UK — Guild of Students
• November 12: Glasgow, UK — Barrowland
• November 13: Nottingham, UK — Rock City
• November 14: Birmingham, UK — O2 Institute
• November 16: Bournemouth, UK — O2 Academy
• November 17: Norwich, UK — UEA
• November 18: Manchester, UK — Albert Hall
• November 20: London, UK — Brixton Electric
• November 21: London, UK — Brixton Electric

Connect with The Cult

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter

The post Running With Shadows — An Interview with Death Cult’s Ian Astbury appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

The evening will be centered around Death Cult and their eponymous 1983 EP, but the setlist will boast a musical odyssey that spans the three phases of the band, from Southern Death Cult to Death Cult, and The Cult’s first two albums: Dreamtime (1984) and Love (1985).

Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy, the architects of this musical movement, will follow the Los Angeles outing with a U.K. trek featuring the same remarkable celebration of The Cult’s origins. The U.K. and Ireland tour will include a dozen dates, a tribute to the band’s early years, and a reflection of their evolution from goth/post-punk roots into a more hard-rock sound.

Tickets for all dates are on-sale this Friday, August 18th, at 10 am local time. Check venues and ticket platforms for local pre-sale options.

Tickets for the Los Angeles Death Cult show are on sale here

Also, see The Cult’s website for more ticketing details.

Frontman Ian Astbury’s journey began with the Southern Death Cult in 1981, alongside Barry Jepson, David “Buzz” Burrows, and Haq Nawaz “Aky” Qureshi. The band released the single “Moya”/”Fatman” before parting ways. Their legacy was immortalized in a 1983 compilation by Beggars Banquet.

By 1983, Death Cult emerged from the ashes of Southern Death Cult and Theatre of Hate, with Astbury and guitarist Bill Duffy at the helm—a partnership that’s continued for over 40 years.

By June, they had penned ten tracks, four of which made it to their debut EP. Astbury’s admiration for Native American cultures shines through in tracks like “Ghost Dance” and “Horse Nation.” The former draws inspiration from the Ghost Dance movement and spiritual leader Wovoka, while the latter borrows heavily from the book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

The band released two 12-inch records that year, including the Death Cult EP. These releases are considered seminal classics for several generations of post-punk and gothic rock fans.

By 1984, Death Cult had evolved into The Cult. They made their debut with a shortened name with the release of 1984’s Dreamtime and have since released 11 albums in total, earning gold and platinum accolades in the U.S. and internationally.

Besides the Los Angeles concert at the Ace Hotel, the rest of The Cult’s upcoming U.S. gigs are set to be a different experience, with reps for the band indicating that there will be a more “traditional” setlist that spans their entire discography.

The Cult Presents Death Cult Tour Dates 2023:

• October 23: Los Angeles, CA — The Theatre at Ace Hotel *
• November 6: Belfast, UK — Telegraph
• November 7: Dublin, IE — Olympia
• November 9: Sheffield, UK — Foundry
• November 10: Liverpool, UK — Guild of Students
• November 12: Glasgow, UK — Barrowland
• November 13: Nottingham, UK — Rock City
• November 14: Birmingham, UK — O2 Institute
• November 16: Bournemouth, UK — O2 Academy
• November 17: Norwich, UK — UEA
• November 18: Manchester, UK — Albert Hall
• November 20: London, UK — Brixton Electric
• November 21: London, UK — Brixton Electric

The Cult Tour Dates 2023:

• October 5: Sacramento, CA — Aftershock Festival
• October 6: Reno, NV — Grand Sierra Resort & Casino – Grand Theatre *
• October 8: Eugene, OR — Hult Center for the Performing Arts – Soreng Theatre *
• October 11: Spokane, WA — Northern Quest Resort & Casino
• October 12: Boise, ID — Revolution Concert House *
• October 14: Shelton, WA — Little Creek Casino Resort – Skookum Event Center
• October 15: Portland, OR — Roseland Theatre *
• October 17: Saratoga, CA — The Mountain Winery
• October 19: San Diego, CA — Humphreys Concerts by the Bay *
• October 20: San Diego, CA — Humphreys Concerts by the Bay *
• October 21: Rancho Mirage, CA — Aqua Caliente Rancho Mirage – The Show
• October 26: Chandler, AZ — Gila River Hotels & Casino – The Showroom at Wild Horse Pass
• October 27: Las Vegas, NV — The Pearl *
• October 28: Las Vegas, NV — The Pearl *

* Cold Cave opens

Connect with The Cult

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter

The post The Cult to Resurrect Death Cult for 40th Anniversary With Los Angeles Concert and UK Tour appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Earlier that year, frontman Ian Astbury had formed a new band after the leaving Southern Death Cult, recruiting guitar hero Billy Duffy, who had just done a stint in Theatre of Hate. What resulted from this collaboration was short-lived, and formed the genesis of what would later become The Cult.

The Death Cult incarnation of the band is an important work in the annals of gothic rock and positive punk. Both the God’s Zoo single and the Brothers Grimm EP are collected along with the Debut EP on the Ghost Dance compilation.

The first track, “Brothers Grimm”, was originally written by Duffy and UK Decay vocalist Steve “Abbo” Abbott after both musicians had left their respective bands and just prior to Duffy joining Astbury to form Death Cult.

Two of the songs on the EP explored Astbury’s reverence and fascination with the Native American cultures previously delved into during his songwriting with Southern Death Cult. “Ghost Dance” was inspired by the Ghost Dance religious movement as well as the writings and teachings of spiritual leader Wovoka, whose name is mentioned in the lyrics (“Wovoka had a vision”…), while the lyrics to “Horse Nation” were taken nearly verbatim from the book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

The EP when re-released with its new artwork, title, and tracklist, was issued in the UK and US simultaneously marking the first time Death Cult material was to come out in North America.

In addition to the additional material from the 1988 compact disc release of the Deathcult EP, the 1997 Ghostdance CD version added a four-track David Jensen BBC Radio 1 session.

One of these BBC tracks, “A Flower in the Desert”, was a rewritten version of “Flowers in the Forest”, originally written and recorded by Southern Death Cult. This track had previously been released as the B-side to the 1984 “Spiritwalker” single, released shortly after the group changed its name to the Cult. “Too Young” was later rewritten as “Rider in the Snow”, appearing as such on the group’s debut album, Dreamtime. “With Love” was originally titled “The Waste of Love”, and only changed to “With Love” when it was recorded during the BBC radio session. The song was later rewritten and recorded as The Cult) during the “Go West (Crazy Spinning Circles)” recording sessions on 22 June 1984, under the working title of “Ship of Fools”. The track was then retitled “Sea and Sky” and released as the B-side of the “Go West (Crazy Spinning Circles)” single.

Listen to the track “Ghost Dance” below:

The post Death Cult’s 1983 Debut EP (Ghost Dance) appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Dreamtime was the first record from the band after shortening their name from “Death Cult”, which was, in turn, was a name that frontman Ian Astbury took from his previous band The Southern Death Cult, after recruiting guitarist Billy Duffy to join him with his new lineup.

The album’s title “Dreamtime” is inspired by the mythology of the Australian Aborigines, which ties into the other indigenous themes of Native American culture. Such examples are found in the lyrics to the song “Horse Nation”, which are taken almost verbatim from the book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, and “Butterflies”, which refers to the Hopi ceremonial butterfly dance.

There is also the strong theme of shamanism throughout, like in the album’s first single “Spiritwalker”, which is a reworking of an early Southern Death Cult song now referred to as “The War Song” which was performed live only once during that incarnation of the band.

The second single from Dreamtime is “Go West (Crazy Spinning Circles)”, which along with Spiritwalker, has no official music video, but does have a promotional appearance mimed for the German television program Musik Convoy.

Order Dreamtime through the Beggars Arkive here.

The post The Cult | Dreamtime appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

The Love album, with its unique blend of rock and gothic elements, stood out in the mid-1980s music scene. Its songs, replete with poetic lyricism, haunting guitar riffs, and powerful drum beats, gave the album its distinctive sound, setting it apart from other albums of its time. The significance of Love in The Cult’s discography cannot be overstated; it was a landmark in their musical journey and heralded the band’s evolution into rock icons.

Several standout tracks from the album received significant airplay and remain iconic to this day:

“She Sells Sanctuary” is a soaring and sensual song that encapsulates the essence of The Cult’s sound during this era, with its infectious guitar riff courtesy of Billy Duffy and Ian Astbury’s shaman-like presence and signature vocals.

“Rain,” another signature track, carries an atmospheric vibe reminiscent of stormy weather, echoing its title.

The ballad-like anthem “Revolution” further cements the band’s prowess, delivering a potent message with its evocative lyrics and rousing instrumentals.

The album’s Tracklist:

1. Nirvana
2. Big Neon Glitter
3. Love
4. Brother Wolf Sister Moon
5. Rain
6. Phoenix
7. Hollow Man
8. Revolution
9. She Sells Sanctuary
10. Black Angel

The post The Cult | Love appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

The record is still embedded in the whiskey soaked dive bar rock—solidifying a trilogy begun with 2007’s ‘Born Into This’.and continued with 2012’s ‘Choice Of Weapon’.

UK live dates should be announced shortly.

Album tracklist:

‘Dark Energy’
‘No Love Lost’
‘Dance The Night’
‘In Blood’
‘Birds Of Paradise’
‘Hinterland’
‘GOAT’
‘Deeply Ordered Chaos’
‘Avalanche Of Light’
‘Lillies’
‘Heathens’
‘Sound And Fury’

The post The Cult announce new album “Hidden City” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Two years later, following the release of the band’s platinum album Love, Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy sit down with MTV in this rare and raw footage—discussing Theatre of Hate, Southern Death Cult, their poorly promoted and poorly booked first US tour, and their dislike of the performance in the video for “Rain” (Implying that addition of the Anadin Brothers of Doctor and the Medics fame, was only to compensate for how stiff and lifeless The Cult looked in the video).

The post Watch a rare and charming interview with The Cult during their 1986 US Tour appeared first on Post-Punk.com.