ON THEIR current 8424 tour, Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy celebrate 40 years since they retired their Death Cult moniker and embraced an unknown future. “I don’t think of it as a retrospective, or an anniversary, though,” Astbury tells MOJO. “I don’t need a cake. ‘8424’ is just a convenient moniker. I like how it looks like it could be a year in the future, like a date out of Blade Runner or something.”
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READ MORE: “I trust Ian as a human being…” Billy Duffy on the 40 year relationship at the heart of The Cult.
As far as Astbury is concerned, even at 62, the same fire burns within that produced the songs on transformative mid 80s breakthroughs Love and Electric. “I’ve never felt that sense of entitlement,” he insists. “I was always the most earnest person in the room. And I’m pushing for a future for this band where we can really, truly incubate and indulge in ideas, textures, sounds…”
The Cult’s current tour embraces the entirety of the group’s history, including more recent albums Choice Of Weapon (2012) and Under The Midnight Sun (2022), with a band including Robert Plant veteran Charlie Jones on bass. The singer concedes, however, that last year’s Death Cult dates, which concentrated entirely on songs from 1981-85, “was a reset. It was, Let’s go back to zero. When a performer is like that, on fire, it’s like a burning unicorn. It’s all your trauma, all your lived experience. When I step over that threshold, I don’t know what’s gonna happen.”
And these shows? “They’re like Death Cult on steroids.”
“It’s amazing that we survived…” Get the latest issue of MOJO for the full inside story of The Cult’s transformation from post-punk goth popinjays Death Cult to fringe jacketed monsters of rock conquering America. More info and to order a copy HERE.
Picture: Tim Cadiente