Ex-members The Cure and Siouxsie & The Banshees collaborate on debut album ‘Los Angeles’ – Out now
Ex-members The Cure and Siouxsie & The Banshees collaborate on debut album 'Los Angeles' - Out now
Former The Cure member Lol Tolhurst, former Siouxsie & The Banshees drummer Budgie, and producer Jacknife Lee have teamed up to create their debut album, “Los Angeles.” This 13-track album is out now through PIAS.
The trio describes the record as “a hard-hitting and compulsively exploratory 55-minute electronic mindscrew, founded on unrivalled rhythmic expertise, fleshed out with an armoury of synths, guitars (Jacknife’s forte) and supplementary percussion, often overlaid with elite-class strings and brass, then universally twisted, manipulated and quite masterfully sculpted by Lee, with his super-producer’s hat on.”
Joining forces with these music veterans are such artists as LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie, U2’s The Edge, IDLES’ Mark Bowen, Lonnie Holley, Mary Lattimore, Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock, and Pan Amsterdam.
The debut single, “Los Angeles”, features James Murphy’s lead vocals. The single comes accompanied by a music video, directed by John Liwag.
The tracklist for the album is the following.
- This Is What It Is (To Be Free) (with Bobby Gillespie)
- Los Angeles (with James Murphy)
- Uh Oh (with Arrow de Wilde and Mark Bowen)
- Ghosted at Home (with Bobby Gillespie)
- Train With No Station (with The Edge)
- Bodies (with Lonnie Holley and Mary Lattimore)
- Everything and Nothing
- Travel Channel (with Pan Amsterdam)
- Country of the Blind (with Bobby Gillespie)
- The Past (Being Eaten)
- We Got To Move (with Isaac Brock)
- Noche Oscura (with The Edge)
- Skins (with James Murphy)
In related news, Lol Tolhurst, co-founder of The Cure, is to release a new book titled “Goth: A History” on September 23rd. The book is a historical account of the genre and culture of goth music, building upon his first memoir, “Cured”.
In it Tolhurst identifies key players in the establishment of the genre, referring to them as the “Architects of Darkness”. This group includes Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, and The Cure. He further discusses a group of bands he labels as the “Spiritual Alchemists”, which includes Depeche Mode and Cocteau Twins, indicating their role in extending the reach of goth culture. The book also tracks the genre’s expansion from England to New York, Los Angeles, and other locations.
Side-Line also covered The Cure’s ‘Paris’.
About Lol Tolhurst
Laurence “Lol” Tolhurst (born 3 February 1959) co-founded the Cure in 1976 alongside childhood friend Robert Smith, originally on drums, later switching to keyboards. He played on the band’s early albums, including “Three Imaginary Boys,” “Seventeen Seconds,” “Faith” and “Pornography,” and departed in 1989 following the recording of “Disintegration.” He rejoined the Cure for a 2011 reunion tour and was inducted with the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019, and published the memoir “Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys” in 2016.
After leaving the Cure, Tolhurst moved to Los Angeles and formed the band Presence with singer Gary Biddles in 1990, releasing the album “Inside” (1993). In 2002 he and wife Cindy Levinson formed the electronica act Levinhurst, releasing “Perfect Life” (2004) and “House by the Sea” (2007).
Tolhurst’s most recent studio work is “Los Angeles,” a collaborative album with Siouxsie and the Banshees drummer Budgie (Peter Edward Clarke) and producer Jacknife Lee, released via PIAS Recordings on 3 November 2023. The album features guest contributions from James Murphy, the Edge, Bobby Gillespie and Isaac Brock. “Los Angeles” is billed as the first collaborative album between Tolhurst and Budgie, the longtime Siouxsie and the Banshees drummer.
Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!
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