Ian Astbury en Tokyo
Foto: Jeremy Shutton-Hibbert (2010)
Foto: Jeremy Shutton-Hibbert (2010)
The past few years have been rough for Astbury. Laid low by an operation on his left hip and the suicide of a close friend, he also checked himself into a therapeutic retreat in Arizona to exorcise the lingering trauma of being sexually abused at 15 by a former employer. Afterwards the singer says, he felt reborn.
"I went though a very bad period about three years ago", he nods. "A lot of it was physical, my hip was deteriorating. I was in pain. Mortality was staring me in the face. And also being of a generation that I felt was shutting up shop. The culture was changing dramatacally and I wondered if there was a place for me." Astbury insists he is now back in good shape, and recently seetled back in LA with his new girldfriend, Aimee Nash of the psych-rockers the Black Ryder.
Meanwhile, the Cult have been through their own middle crisis, splitting and re-forming several times sinces the mid 1990s. Currently without a record label, Astbury and Duffy recently resorted to DIY tactics, self-releasing their Capsule EP series. Like many rockers of their vintage, the Cult are struggling for survival in a harsh new music-business landscape.
Between Cult duties, Astbury has proved a promiscuous collaborator with the reconstituted Doors, Trent Renzor, Slash, UNKLE and now Boris. But his volatile long-term alliance with Duffy remains his musical centre. Arriving in Britain nex month, their latest tour is subtitled "New Blood and Deeper Cuts", with new song promised.
And judging by his three-song performance in Tokyo, the singer is on grand form, his signature baritone boom soaring high above the ear-bleeding noise attack of Boris. Beyond the leather-trousered clowing, beyond the aches and pains of middle age, Astbury still believes in the voodoo power of rock n' roll. An absurdly romantic and old-fashioned notion, maybe, but some endangered species are worth preserving.
"I went though a very bad period about three years ago", he nods. "A lot of it was physical, my hip was deteriorating. I was in pain. Mortality was staring me in the face. And also being of a generation that I felt was shutting up shop. The culture was changing dramatacally and I wondered if there was a place for me." Astbury insists he is now back in good shape, and recently seetled back in LA with his new girldfriend, Aimee Nash of the psych-rockers the Black Ryder.
Meanwhile, the Cult have been through their own middle crisis, splitting and re-forming several times sinces the mid 1990s. Currently without a record label, Astbury and Duffy recently resorted to DIY tactics, self-releasing their Capsule EP series. Like many rockers of their vintage, the Cult are struggling for survival in a harsh new music-business landscape.
Between Cult duties, Astbury has proved a promiscuous collaborator with the reconstituted Doors, Trent Renzor, Slash, UNKLE and now Boris. But his volatile long-term alliance with Duffy remains his musical centre. Arriving in Britain nex month, their latest tour is subtitled "New Blood and Deeper Cuts", with new song promised.
And judging by his three-song performance in Tokyo, the singer is on grand form, his signature baritone boom soaring high above the ear-bleeding noise attack of Boris. Beyond the leather-trousered clowing, beyond the aches and pains of middle age, Astbury still believes in the voodoo power of rock n' roll. An absurdly romantic and old-fashioned notion, maybe, but some endangered species are worth preserving.
A Cult above the rest
The Times
17 de diciembre de 2010
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En la cuenta atrás de días que faltan para cumplir mis primeras cuatro décadas, (hoy faltan exactamente veinticuatro) resulta un verdadero aliciente leer este tipo de artículos aunque haya más de doce meses de retraso :) Más aún tratándose de uno de mis ídolos musicales.
Y sip, señoras y señores, niños y niñas y mascotas varias que les acompañan: el rock n' roll tiene el poder de revivirlo todo, de generar fuerza y renacer la pasión por vivir, por sentir. A veces creo que aquellos cuya vida no posee un soundtrack específico, que pasan por la vida sin ningún tema musical que los refuerce, son algo así como entes. Serán inteligentes, serán cuasi sabios, serán genios, serán importantes, pero carecen de esa pasión que da la música en todos y en cada uno de los momentos que vivimos, respiramos, sufrimos y celebramos.
El rock n' roll es pura energía.
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