The Cult

[Pandemonium]

Guess at last night's Anaheim show Ian missed a offstage tambourine toss from a roadie and got clocked on the head.

[NYRexall]

That was one hell of a tambourine toss, from the looks of it. Maybe it was adrenaline that caused him to bleed like that

[Pandemonium]

I have that Weapon of Choice Itunes album. It's on my computer in Japan though, not with me now. I can upload it for you when I get back if you want. It's in 320kbps audio, I think

Hey thanks man, I'd appreciate that. I dunno if you're interested, but I have both the 5 disc 1984 - 1994 demos box set and the 7 disc "Rare Cult" box I could send your way in some fashion as well.

[NYRexall]

Hmm

I'm fairly certain I have the demos box set already; I'd have to check. That Rare Cult box set is sort of a holy grail item, isn't it? Near impossible to find and fetching a princely sum when available?

Cult guy I work with might have it already, which would save you the trouble of uploading it. I did not expect anything in return for a WOC upload. Hell, if there is any other rare Cult stuff you want, I can see if he has it. I know the guy's pretty much got everything of theirs.

Oddly enough, until I gave it to him, he didn't even know WOC existed

[NYRexall]

Just did a rudimentary Ebay search for Rare Cult box set. There is one for $199 OBO listed. That 5-disc demos box goes for $400!

[Pandemonium]

Just did a rudimentary Ebay search for Rare Cult box set. There is one for $199 OBO listed. That 5-disc demos box goes for $400!

Yeah, that Demos box is worth some decent coin. It's got a lot of meandering not-even-demo stuff on it though - a lot of boring tracks of the band just loosely jamming out ideas through the years that go nowhere. The Rare Cult box is much better.

BTW, here where Ian got that gash. At about the 3:50 mark in this clip, someone offstage is throwing tambourines to Ian after he gave the one he was using to someone up front in the audience. He keeps deflecting the tosses until he head butts the third one. Not too smart:

[MYXYLPLYX]

[intertwoven]

Downloaded the Rare Cult and Demo box sets off what.cd during a freeleach a year or so ago.. still going through them. Some good stuff on there.

Favorite Cult album is probably Sonic Temple, but I might be in the minority on that.

[NYRexall]

What do you guys think of Beyond Good and Evil?

I thought that one was pretty decent, despite being a bit overproduced at times. 'Rise' is probably one of my favorite Cult singles and I am glad to see they still play it live. It sounded massive when I saw them in '08.

Nico, Ashes and Ghosts, True Believers and the first track on the album are bangers, too.

[Pandemonium]

What do you guys think of Beyond Good and Evil?

I thought that one was pretty decent, despite being a bit overproduced at times. 'Rise' is probably one of my favorite Cult singles and I am glad to see they still play it live. It sounded massive when I saw them in '08.

Nico, Ashes and Ghosts, True Believers and the first track on the album are bangers, too.

Regarding Sonic Temple, I like about 1/2 of the songs off that one. Soldier Blue and Soul Asylum being up there. I really don't like Fire Woman - that's a beer/piss break song if they play it. There's a couple B-sides from the singles from that album that I really like - The River and Bleeding Heart Graffiti. Beyond Good And Evil I really liked when it first came out but for some reason it hasn't aged well for me however Rise and especially Take The Power are just massive tunes. The one album which is generally regarded as their weakest is "Ceremony" but even that one has a few gems such as "White" and "Heart Of Soul." The bland rock production sinks that one more than anything else.

They've had some mis-steps though, they did a cover of "Faith Healer" originally by The Alex Harvey Band that is just embarrassingly bad.

[Pandemonium]

So.... any dirt? From what I've seen and heard regarding the last two shows, Ian seems to be in a ... different place this go-round.

[NYRexall]

Pando, you wouldn't happen to have the unmastered version of Beyond Good and Evil that was leaked prior to the official album, would you?

Cult guy I work with has the 320kbps audio files of WOC I gave him on his portable hard drive here in the outback. But we can't be uploading/downloading stuff on our company laptops.

If you'd rather, I can burn it to a CD and mail it out to you. Shouldn't take more than a week to get to California from here; I can put it in our outgoing mail later this evening or tomorrow morning. PM me if you are interested..

[Pandemonium]

Pando, you wouldn't happen to have the unmastered version of Beyond Good and Evil that was leaked prior to the official album, would you?

Cult guy I work with has the 320kbps audio files of WOC I gave him on his portable hard drive here in the outback. But we can't be uploading/downloading stuff on our company laptops.

If you'd rather, I can burn it to a CD and mail it out to you. Shouldn't take more than a week to get to California from here; I can put it in our outgoing mail later this evening or tomorrow morning. PM me if you are interested..

I'll PM on the WOC disc.

Regarding the unmastered BGAE disc(s), no I don't have them, they're pretty much the holy grail for Cult fans. There's actually two that I know of, one is the demos called "Unmixed, Unmastered, Unsequenced" and another one is the early mixes of the final tracks called "Masterpiece." They are so rare, I've never even found these titles on any torrent site.

[Pandemonium]

OK, for some reason, PMs don't work. Users (any users) "can't be found."

[clickie]

Looks like the tamborine hit him so hard it turned him into the michael patton.

[blackcoffee]

Am seeing them tomorrow in Seattle. Saw the Choice of Weapon show last year, as well. Am looking forward to it.

[Pandemonium]

OK, for some reason, PMs don't work. Users (any users) "can't be found."

Thanks for the heads up Creep, the problem was with my browser. Once I re-installed Firefox, no problems.

[blackcoffee]

The show in Seattle last night was great. Ian's voice was clear and resonant and could be heard over the music unlike last year when I saw them on the Choice of Weapon tour. He also seemed to be having a good time. Highlights included a brief tribute to Andrew Wood before Aphrodisiac Jacket. At one point in another song they melded LA Woman and American Woman into the opening of a song I cannot now remember. It was far better than expected. And my wife who is not typically a fan of going to shows absolutely loved it, which is saying something.

[MYXYLPLYX]

So.... any dirt? From what I've seen and heard regarding the last two shows, Ian seems to be in a ... different place this go-round.

Not much terribly interesting... apparently the injury sustained the previous night was serious enough that there was a chance the SF show could have been canceled.

During the VIP sound check Ian came out with a hoodie pulled down and sunglasses on, slowly put on his in ears while half-assing the vocals. He slowly warmed up and by the third song was almost actually trying.

My kids came to join me for dinner before doors and Ian was nice to them, for whatever that's worth?


I actually bailed before they went on stage, but I heard later that he actually ragged on fans during the show, and oddly went off on Depeche Mode for some reason?

Overall, the reviews I heard were very lackluster, lacking energy and oddly whiny...

[Pandemonium]

I actually bailed before they went on stage, but I heard later that he actually ragged on fans during the show, and oddly went off on Depeche Mode for some reason?

Overall, the reviews I heard were very lackluster, lacking energy and oddly whiny...

Yeah, he doesn't appear to be in top for at the SF show. A lot of clips I've seen from this week, he spends a lot of time between songs going through a binder sitting on the floor to remember lyrics for what they're going to play next. Maybe learning the tunes before the tour or just getting a old CRT teleprompter might be a good idea.:

[NYRexall]

That's pretty embarrassing, when you can't remember the words to songs you wrote and are touring in support of. Ian doesn't seem like he really wants to be there at all.

Maybe he's upset that people would rather hear his old stuff than check out his new stuff?

[blackcoffee]

That's pretty embarrassing, when you can't remember the words to songs you wrote and are touring in support of. Ian doesn't seem like he really wants to be there at all.

Maybe he's upset that people would rather hear his old stuff than check out his new stuff?

I saw the folder he was carrying between sets. It didn't detract from the quality of the quality of the performance. I know that on occasion he lashes out at fans for not knowing new stuff, but this is a tour around Electric. He knows while people are there. He even joked at one point asking if we were enjoying the love album.

[NYRexall]

I know that on occasion he lashes out at fans for not knowing new stuff

Lol seriously? What a pansy.

He and Danzig should cut an album together.

[Pandemonium]

I know that on occasion he lashes out at fans for not knowing new stuff

Lol seriously? What a pansy.

He and Danzig should cut an album together.

Ian's a weird guy. Some of the stuff he's said in interviews over the years just floors me. The arguments and comments he made when he was doing The Doors thing were jaw-droppingly stupid.

That said, I had a chance to talk for a few minutes to him in a quiet, informal setting back in '96 when The Cult had split up (again) and he had started his own little solo band The Holy Barbarians. They were playing one of their first shows in this absolute shithole bar in Costa Mesa called The Lava Club which was a small warehouse tucked away in the business area of the city off 19th street that had been half-ass converted to a club. There was really no stage, just the band set up in a corner of the club on the dance floor opposite the bar so there was no boundries between the band and the audience - we basically just stood a few feet back from the band to give them room to do their thing.

The show had no publicity, I heard about it only by accident and there was maybe 100 people there. I got there way too early and I think there was maybe 3 other people in the place so bored, I saddled up to the bar and had a few drinks and was thumbing through BAM magazine when an almost unrecognizable Ian sat a few seats near me and had a drink and asked me if any "new cool bands are playing around here." We talked for just a few minutes before he had to leave, mostly about Iggy Pop and Jim Morrison and he seemed to be a pretty nice, down to earth guy. That show, someone shouted "what about The Cult" and Ian replied "The Cult is dead, they're boring and pretentious" and a song later, he was doing "Wild Flower" with his cover band, lol!

[NYRexall]

Ian's a weird guy. Some of the stuff he's said in interviews over the years just floors me. The arguments and comments he made when he was doing The Doors thing were jaw-droppingly stupid.

Do tell..