The Cure, photo by Debi Del Grande

At a night in which The Cure were recognized for their musical accomplishments over the last four decades, frontman Robert Smith had the band’s future on his mind.

Speaking to reporters following The Cure’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Smith divulged more details concerning the band’s highly-anticipated new album.



“Because it’s the anniversary of Disintegration, I was thinking about how we did that, and how we turned that into something, and what my mindset was,” Smith explained to Rolling Stone. “A key part of it was everyone being away from home, being away from everything they loved, and being in one place at the same time. So for the first time in 20 years, we went into a studio — we actually went into the studio where [Queen] did Bohemian Rhapsody, funnily enough. It’s a great studio in the middle of nowhere. We just played music for three weeks. And it’s great. I know everyone says that. But it really is fucking great.”

Smith described the band’s new music as “so dark” and “incredibly intense,” adding, “And I’ve waited ten years to do something that means something.” They’ve recorded 19 songs so far, with many of them spanning 10, 12 minutes in length.

“So I have no idea what to do now,” Smith remarked. The others are saying, ‘triple album!’ I’m saying, no let’s not. I’ll pick six or maybe eight songs and do like a single album. But I think I will delight our hardcore fans. And probably really, really infuriate everyone else. At my age, I’m still doom and gloom.”

Smith told Rolling Stone that he intends to finish the album before the band embarks on their European festival tour, though it’s unlikely they’ll play much of the new music live. “I’m not sure how much of it we’ll play this summer at festivals. It’s not really festival music.”

As for a release date? “I don’t know, October? Halloween! Come on!”

Smith also revealed that the band plans to mark the 30th anniversary of Disintegration with a series of shows in the US later this year. (The band previously announced Disintegration shows in Australia for May.)

“We’re holding home theaters in New York and Los Angeles,” he explained. “But I kind of feel like we should do it in a bigger venue. I’d like to a big show with it, really. It’s a bigger album. I think when we did the first three albums we did three nights at the Beacon in New York. It was much more punky. We were trying to recreate that vibe. But I think Disintegration is just big. So we need to do somewhere that’s just big. But probably about Christmas time we’ll come back.”

In the meantime, revisit Trent Reznor’s emotional and personal speech inducting The Cure into the Rock Hall, and watch the band’s emotional and personal speech.