As The Cult wrap up their Electric 13 tour dates this weekend, singer Ian Astbury is looking ahead to the prospect of releasing new material.
"We're playing around with the idea of putting new music out as capsules," Astbury tells Rolling Stone. "That means we'd release two new songs every three months grouped with a live recording of songs from our catalog plus visual elements. We'd do it in all formats: vinyl, digital downloads, CDs…Everything available. It'll be dropped for a limited time in a quick strike and then it's gone."
The only problem is that the group owes an album to UK indie label Cooking Vinyl.
"They aren't interested in the capsule idea," says Astbury with a sigh. "They want to put CDs on shelves. I'm like, 'What shelves?' Even the shelf space at Best Buy is shrinking; I was in Whole Foods the other day and they were selling vinyl…But I'm amazed at the resistance to my idea. We've even tried the self-funding route, but when you're pioneering something you constantly have to go around and educate people about what this is. This a fresh perspective. The old way just isn't working."
The Cult have previously issued a series of capsules, featuring a mix of audio and video.
In the meantime, Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy are busy writing songs together.
"Something is going to come out in 2014 or 2015," says the singer. "We haven't locked in a producer and right now we're going to let the music dictate where we go. We're not tied into breaking onto the Billboard Hot 100 and getting on television and all that stuff."
The Cult’s Electric 13 world tour coincided with the release of the 2-disc set, “Electric Peace.”
The collection pairs 1987’s “Electric” with the group’s abandoned "Peace" album, a project The Cult recorded as the follow-up to 1985’s “Love.” After recording the full album with producer Steve Brown, the group weren't happy with the final results, which seemed too polished.
The Cult then contacted producer Rick Rubin to remix the lead track, "Love Removal Machine", and Rubin agreed, but only on condition that the track was entirely re-recorded. Thrilled with the results of the Rubin sessions, the band abandoned the original "Peace" recordings and re-recorded the entire album in New York with him, resulting in “Electric.”
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