2013-03-30 Robert Smith Phone Interview, Brazil
Mar 30, 2013 23:18:26 GMT 1
wren, TemptationTwo, and 2 more like this
Post by Pipperoo on Mar 30, 2013 23:18:26 GMT 1
I found this. I used Google Translate. The original link is below so any native Portuguese speakers, ahem, assistance would be great. 
I am assuming that is the original language.
The Cure comes to Brazil for the third time for presentations with hits career
ADVERTISING
FINOTTI IVAN
DE SÃO PAULO
With 60 songs rehearsed, Englishman Robert Smith, 53, promises a show three hours for fans of The Cure Rio on Thursday, and São Paulo, on Saturday next.
Change the venue of The Cure and exchange tickets leave fans confused
And no unknown songs: the tour, which rolled to Europe last year is an overview of the 35 year career of the British band.
Not that he'll play the six tested dozens, but in his last appearance, six months ago, Ireland was 39, starting with "Plainsong," the grim "Disintegration" (1989), and ending with "Killing an Arab" , their first single, 1978.
"I can considerably change a set list made a few days ago," Smith said, explaining that the Cure is not a democracy, in an interview with Folha by phone.
Ruben Viegas
O vocalist of band "The Cure" Robert Smith
*
Sheet - You're in a good mood today, for this series of interviews with Brazilian newspapers?
Robert Smith - Yes It was a long time since I last did a series of interviews, so I'm a little out of shape and I'm trying to have fun with this.
Let's start the show then. How will the show in Brazil? You have a set list full of hits or you should play more new songs?
We just finished rehearsals and played some 60 songs. There are songs there from the beginning until today. Included, of course, the best known songs because imagine what people want to hear them. We rehearsed 60 songs, but we could play 100 songs and still not touch anything that people want to hear. I can look on the internet what people like to hear us play. I stop counting when it reaches 75, because everyone has a different favorite Cure song. We want to touch everything, but we have to leave something out. We hope people are happy that we will play almost all kinds of Cure songs of different periods. We will not touch the "Bloodflowers" (2000), but let's play the "Wild Mood Swings" (1996), the album "The Cure" (2004), the "4:13 Dream" (2008). Let's play the younger and older too. It's a good mix, actually, the best set list we've ever had.
And who decides the set list? It's all band together or just you? The Cure is a democracy?
The Cure is a democracy in many ways, but the creative side of the band is usually decided by me. I do not ignore what the other says. A set list that was made a few days ago, I can change it considerably.
"Boys Do not Cry" (1979) still plays in clubs in São Paulo today. It's a song that never stopped ringing. How do you feel about this song today?
One of the first I wrote, one of the most successful songs. I'm surprised his success lasted the time it is lasting. I do not feel the same person I was when I wrote. I can only remember that person.
In the early 1980s, you became guitarist of Siouxsie and the Banshees on tour. I was wondering why you did it. It was a job for money or you had artistic reasons for doing this?
I never got a penny to play with Siouxsie and the Banshees, they never paid me (laughs). Certainly I did not play with them for money. I had a friendship with Siouxsie Sioux at the time and they needed a guitarist. They were three months. And we did what we wanted to do. It was great.
Do you think watching Siouxsie onstage persona changed? She inspired you in some way?
In some ways yes. The first time I went on stage as their guitarist was in 1979 in the UK. I went up on stage with the Cure, which was the opening band, played with my band, I was off stage for 20 minutes and come back to play with Siouxsie and the Bashees. I watched what they did, they were ahead of us because before we started. They were much more aggressive on stage, more violent. And I did not want to be like that, it was not my nature. But I liked this performance difference.
It taught me a lot, I was a few years younger than them, so it was a good way to learn. But they may not have had a dramatic impact on the Cure. Probably helped me set my goal of what I would become. They had a very distinct idea of what they wanted to be. And I also. But our views were very different.
For nearly 10 years, you've done some shows showing the complete contents of three albums: "Pornography" (1982), "Disintegration" (1989) and "Bloodflowers" (2000). At the time, you said that these were the top three albums of the band. Do you still think that?
Well, it was 2002 and we played many shows. We made the album "Bloodflowers" and played around the world. We did not come to South America, but we were in different countries and played this record a lot. At the end of the tour, I thought the record was much better than what I thought at first. I thought the songs were good and I was very proud of him.
Already the "Pornography" is a kind of milestone in our career, which began the movement of the Cure. He was acclaimed by critics and audiences and marked the peak of our commercial curve. It's an album that has been seared into the collective consciousness.
So I guess if the "Bloodflowers" had been released in 1982 or 1989, would have the same impact. But, as already in the 2000s, did not have the same cultural impact. In 2001, I saw that some of the songs on this album were better than others. I wrote the songs on "Pornography" when he was 20-something, had just turned 21. In "Disintegration," I had 29 to 30 years. In Bloodflowers, I had from 39 to 40.
They were all very personal to me and I wanted to connect them somehow in a show. I wanted to touch them more and show the connection between them, which is not so obvious. But perhaps the heart of the Cure. If you want to know the other side of the Cure - not the pop side, not the videos or the next popular that most people know as "Lovecats" and "Boys Do not Cry" - if you really want to understand the Cure, you have to hear these three albums. They are the heart of the Cure. And I wanted them to be recorded. So we did this tour and the DVD was one of the best things we did, one of the best memories of the banda.
We should wait for some of the songs on these albums show in Brazil?
'll play many songs from "Disintegration", and a handful of "Pornography", but will not have any of the "Bloodflowers." It is the only album that will not touch anything. It is very difficult to put the songs from "Bloodflowers" in a set list that has upbeat songs, up. It's a very strange thing, and we've tried to include a couple, but they sound very different and simply do not work. They are very different.
Have you read the biography of Neil Young?
No. But I'll find him in two months.
In the book, we see that he likes old cars and electric train sets. Where you invest your time and money, Robert? Do you have any hobbies like reading comics or collect cars?
I used to read comics when I was young. And I always said. when I retire. I'll reread all my comics I read as a teenager to see if they have the same effect on me.
I do not know what to do! I live a pretty normal life when I'm not with the Cure. I have read a lot. I read over the last two years than I read in a decade. When I am very involved with the music world I feel that I do not read as much as I would like. I realized I had a huge stack of books waiting for me, 70 books I had not read. I keep buying books that interest me and do not read.
Last year, I went to places in England who had never set foot before. It's funny to think of it, I've been to so many places in the world, but there are places in England that I was not. I have traveled, then, quite within the country. And also outside. While we do not handle as before, the Cure is an active band. We last ten years, not only played in one. So, in the end, does not have as much free time as well.
You watched the film by Paolo Sorrentino "Here is My Place" with Sean Penn in the role of a rock singer? The look of it was inspired by her. What did you think?
I have not seen the movie. I knew him when he was being filmed. Sean Penn does not look like much to me. I do not know, I have not seen. I really can not comment, I have no idea. Obviously the story has nothing to do with me, nothing's character has to do with my life.
Anyway, the look was inspired by you. You saw the pictures of Sean Penn?
Yeah, I saw the pictures. That's what I'm saying, features Sean Penn does not look anything like mine. The fact that he wristband with spikes, a wig and lipstick does not make him look like Robert Smith. I have the most delicate features and it has very large and distinct features. But, yes, I'm flattered. But I have not seen the movie yet and I'll have to watch to comment.
When you came to Brazil for the first time in the mid-1980s, I was there and watched her show in Sao Paulo. I was a teenager. Back then, we did kind of a connection between the Cure and the Smiths. These two bands were very similar to us in some way because they symbolized the new British rock. But I never saw anything about the two bands working together, even if they were enemies in style "Britpop" as Blur and Oasis, for example. So I do not know if you were friends or what and if this perception that we Brazilians had made sense. Is there any connection between the Cure and The Smiths?
I never thought anything of it at the time. We had more connection with Echo and the Bunnymen, New Order and Siouxsie and the Banshees. These were the bands with whom we had to do. There was never any connection with the Smiths. The Morrissey was very hurt sometimes in the past and in the end, I shot back in the press, which sparked a brawl that lasted for about two years.
I just never connected with them. And this is not a criticism, just a fact: some people like and others do not derive. I am one of those who did not serve.
I heard the clip of "Lovecats" was made in a house that was for rent. You got the key in the estate to visit and recorded there. Is this true?
Yes We did not have enough money. We got the keys to 16h and talk to devolveríamos next morning, which indeed we did, at 7:15 am.
One thing I just read and would like to know if it's true: when you were a teenager, you went to school with a black velvet dress and grabbed four boys. Is this true?
Yeah, it's true. I did this because of a bet. A friend told me that I would not have courage and I did.
It was a dress of your mother?
Exactly. It was one of her evening dresses. I changed my clothes in the street and was walking to school. It was funny because we had a very large effect. Four boys were hitting me, and I was not good fighter.
How old were you?
I think about 12.
What did you learn from this?
I was going through a period of change and starting to find myself as a person in the world. I guess I was angry brute force. I thought we lived in a world crude, arbitrary, and resented it. I was trying to prove that there was room for different things. Obviously, it did not work. But I proved I could do something different. At the time, there were five people who were very understanding and helped me.
My mother eventually discovered why I returned the dress in a terrible state. I had to explain somehow. So, yeah, I guess I look back and see that if someone says that you would not do something and I would say, you can not go back. I do not know, I probably would do the same thing today.
Robert, thank you and hope you have a good show in Brazil.
I'm very excited. Even without you being a teenager, you should go and rediscover your youth again.
Robert Smith Interview Brazil Newspaper
I am assuming that is the original language. The Cure comes to Brazil for the third time for presentations with hits career
ADVERTISING
FINOTTI IVAN
DE SÃO PAULO
With 60 songs rehearsed, Englishman Robert Smith, 53, promises a show three hours for fans of The Cure Rio on Thursday, and São Paulo, on Saturday next.
Change the venue of The Cure and exchange tickets leave fans confused
And no unknown songs: the tour, which rolled to Europe last year is an overview of the 35 year career of the British band.
Not that he'll play the six tested dozens, but in his last appearance, six months ago, Ireland was 39, starting with "Plainsong," the grim "Disintegration" (1989), and ending with "Killing an Arab" , their first single, 1978.
"I can considerably change a set list made a few days ago," Smith said, explaining that the Cure is not a democracy, in an interview with Folha by phone.
Ruben Viegas
O vocalist of band "The Cure" Robert Smith
*
Sheet - You're in a good mood today, for this series of interviews with Brazilian newspapers?
Robert Smith - Yes It was a long time since I last did a series of interviews, so I'm a little out of shape and I'm trying to have fun with this.
Let's start the show then. How will the show in Brazil? You have a set list full of hits or you should play more new songs?
We just finished rehearsals and played some 60 songs. There are songs there from the beginning until today. Included, of course, the best known songs because imagine what people want to hear them. We rehearsed 60 songs, but we could play 100 songs and still not touch anything that people want to hear. I can look on the internet what people like to hear us play. I stop counting when it reaches 75, because everyone has a different favorite Cure song. We want to touch everything, but we have to leave something out. We hope people are happy that we will play almost all kinds of Cure songs of different periods. We will not touch the "Bloodflowers" (2000), but let's play the "Wild Mood Swings" (1996), the album "The Cure" (2004), the "4:13 Dream" (2008). Let's play the younger and older too. It's a good mix, actually, the best set list we've ever had.
And who decides the set list? It's all band together or just you? The Cure is a democracy?
The Cure is a democracy in many ways, but the creative side of the band is usually decided by me. I do not ignore what the other says. A set list that was made a few days ago, I can change it considerably.
"Boys Do not Cry" (1979) still plays in clubs in São Paulo today. It's a song that never stopped ringing. How do you feel about this song today?
One of the first I wrote, one of the most successful songs. I'm surprised his success lasted the time it is lasting. I do not feel the same person I was when I wrote. I can only remember that person.
In the early 1980s, you became guitarist of Siouxsie and the Banshees on tour. I was wondering why you did it. It was a job for money or you had artistic reasons for doing this?
I never got a penny to play with Siouxsie and the Banshees, they never paid me (laughs). Certainly I did not play with them for money. I had a friendship with Siouxsie Sioux at the time and they needed a guitarist. They were three months. And we did what we wanted to do. It was great.
Do you think watching Siouxsie onstage persona changed? She inspired you in some way?
In some ways yes. The first time I went on stage as their guitarist was in 1979 in the UK. I went up on stage with the Cure, which was the opening band, played with my band, I was off stage for 20 minutes and come back to play with Siouxsie and the Bashees. I watched what they did, they were ahead of us because before we started. They were much more aggressive on stage, more violent. And I did not want to be like that, it was not my nature. But I liked this performance difference.
It taught me a lot, I was a few years younger than them, so it was a good way to learn. But they may not have had a dramatic impact on the Cure. Probably helped me set my goal of what I would become. They had a very distinct idea of what they wanted to be. And I also. But our views were very different.
For nearly 10 years, you've done some shows showing the complete contents of three albums: "Pornography" (1982), "Disintegration" (1989) and "Bloodflowers" (2000). At the time, you said that these were the top three albums of the band. Do you still think that?
Well, it was 2002 and we played many shows. We made the album "Bloodflowers" and played around the world. We did not come to South America, but we were in different countries and played this record a lot. At the end of the tour, I thought the record was much better than what I thought at first. I thought the songs were good and I was very proud of him.
Already the "Pornography" is a kind of milestone in our career, which began the movement of the Cure. He was acclaimed by critics and audiences and marked the peak of our commercial curve. It's an album that has been seared into the collective consciousness.
So I guess if the "Bloodflowers" had been released in 1982 or 1989, would have the same impact. But, as already in the 2000s, did not have the same cultural impact. In 2001, I saw that some of the songs on this album were better than others. I wrote the songs on "Pornography" when he was 20-something, had just turned 21. In "Disintegration," I had 29 to 30 years. In Bloodflowers, I had from 39 to 40.
They were all very personal to me and I wanted to connect them somehow in a show. I wanted to touch them more and show the connection between them, which is not so obvious. But perhaps the heart of the Cure. If you want to know the other side of the Cure - not the pop side, not the videos or the next popular that most people know as "Lovecats" and "Boys Do not Cry" - if you really want to understand the Cure, you have to hear these three albums. They are the heart of the Cure. And I wanted them to be recorded. So we did this tour and the DVD was one of the best things we did, one of the best memories of the banda.
We should wait for some of the songs on these albums show in Brazil?
'll play many songs from "Disintegration", and a handful of "Pornography", but will not have any of the "Bloodflowers." It is the only album that will not touch anything. It is very difficult to put the songs from "Bloodflowers" in a set list that has upbeat songs, up. It's a very strange thing, and we've tried to include a couple, but they sound very different and simply do not work. They are very different.
Have you read the biography of Neil Young?
No. But I'll find him in two months.
In the book, we see that he likes old cars and electric train sets. Where you invest your time and money, Robert? Do you have any hobbies like reading comics or collect cars?
I used to read comics when I was young. And I always said. when I retire. I'll reread all my comics I read as a teenager to see if they have the same effect on me.
I do not know what to do! I live a pretty normal life when I'm not with the Cure. I have read a lot. I read over the last two years than I read in a decade. When I am very involved with the music world I feel that I do not read as much as I would like. I realized I had a huge stack of books waiting for me, 70 books I had not read. I keep buying books that interest me and do not read.
Last year, I went to places in England who had never set foot before. It's funny to think of it, I've been to so many places in the world, but there are places in England that I was not. I have traveled, then, quite within the country. And also outside. While we do not handle as before, the Cure is an active band. We last ten years, not only played in one. So, in the end, does not have as much free time as well.
You watched the film by Paolo Sorrentino "Here is My Place" with Sean Penn in the role of a rock singer? The look of it was inspired by her. What did you think?
I have not seen the movie. I knew him when he was being filmed. Sean Penn does not look like much to me. I do not know, I have not seen. I really can not comment, I have no idea. Obviously the story has nothing to do with me, nothing's character has to do with my life.
Anyway, the look was inspired by you. You saw the pictures of Sean Penn?
Yeah, I saw the pictures. That's what I'm saying, features Sean Penn does not look anything like mine. The fact that he wristband with spikes, a wig and lipstick does not make him look like Robert Smith. I have the most delicate features and it has very large and distinct features. But, yes, I'm flattered. But I have not seen the movie yet and I'll have to watch to comment.
When you came to Brazil for the first time in the mid-1980s, I was there and watched her show in Sao Paulo. I was a teenager. Back then, we did kind of a connection between the Cure and the Smiths. These two bands were very similar to us in some way because they symbolized the new British rock. But I never saw anything about the two bands working together, even if they were enemies in style "Britpop" as Blur and Oasis, for example. So I do not know if you were friends or what and if this perception that we Brazilians had made sense. Is there any connection between the Cure and The Smiths?
I never thought anything of it at the time. We had more connection with Echo and the Bunnymen, New Order and Siouxsie and the Banshees. These were the bands with whom we had to do. There was never any connection with the Smiths. The Morrissey was very hurt sometimes in the past and in the end, I shot back in the press, which sparked a brawl that lasted for about two years.
I just never connected with them. And this is not a criticism, just a fact: some people like and others do not derive. I am one of those who did not serve.
I heard the clip of "Lovecats" was made in a house that was for rent. You got the key in the estate to visit and recorded there. Is this true?
Yes We did not have enough money. We got the keys to 16h and talk to devolveríamos next morning, which indeed we did, at 7:15 am.
One thing I just read and would like to know if it's true: when you were a teenager, you went to school with a black velvet dress and grabbed four boys. Is this true?
Yeah, it's true. I did this because of a bet. A friend told me that I would not have courage and I did.
It was a dress of your mother?
Exactly. It was one of her evening dresses. I changed my clothes in the street and was walking to school. It was funny because we had a very large effect. Four boys were hitting me, and I was not good fighter.
How old were you?
I think about 12.
What did you learn from this?
I was going through a period of change and starting to find myself as a person in the world. I guess I was angry brute force. I thought we lived in a world crude, arbitrary, and resented it. I was trying to prove that there was room for different things. Obviously, it did not work. But I proved I could do something different. At the time, there were five people who were very understanding and helped me.
My mother eventually discovered why I returned the dress in a terrible state. I had to explain somehow. So, yeah, I guess I look back and see that if someone says that you would not do something and I would say, you can not go back. I do not know, I probably would do the same thing today.
Robert, thank you and hope you have a good show in Brazil.
I'm very excited. Even without you being a teenager, you should go and rediscover your youth again.
Robert Smith Interview Brazil Newspaper
