It’s been over a decade since The Cure released a new album but according to guitarist Reeves Gabrels, the band has spent the pandemic creating one to three albums’ worth of new music. The band, he recently told Ultimate Classic Rock, is “finishing up”, the new material, with Gabrels recording his parts in update New York, collaborating remotely with the rest of the group in England.
Gabrels, who joined The Cure in 2012, previously played guitar with David Bowie. A recent tweet from Gabrels detailed how he had met Cure frontman Robert Smith 25 years ago at Bowie’s 50th birthday concert, igniting a friendship that eventually led to him joining The Cure a decade later.
On creating three albums worth of new songs, Gabrels admits that the band has been “over-productive,” adding, “which is great, except it means you really can’t judge the songs until you get them close to finished. You kind of have to bring all that material up to the point where you can hear what they are.”
Since the release of 4:13 Dream in 2008, The Cure has released several live albums, compilations, and concert films, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Smith’s decision to finally release a follow-up to 4:13 Dream, was “primarily because of the Meltdown thing,” referring to 2019’s Meltdown Festival in London. For the event, Smith had personally enlisted 60 artists across his 10-night “Curætion.”
“Seeing all these new bands—I’ve listened to some of these bands and met so many of them that it’s kind of inspired me to do something new,” Smith said to Sirus XM Radio hosts Mark Goodman and Alan Light during an interview.
Forced lockdown during the global pandemic also proved fruitful, with Smith using the opportunity to sit with the material and work through obstacles in penning new lyrics, promising the “doom and gloom” of albums such as Seventeen Seconds, Faith, and Pornography.
Though no release date is set as of yet, according to official press releases and Smith himself, (who jokingly referenced Waiting for Godot), announced that The Cure “will be playing songs from the new album” during their upcoming 44-date European tour that begins in October.
Ticketing and info can be found here.
The Cure 2022 European Tourdates:
OCTOBER
06 – RIGA Arena
08 – HELSINKI Hartwall Arena
10 – STOCKHOLM Avicii Arena
12 – OSLO Spektrum
13 – GOTHENBURG Scandinavium
14 – COPENHAGEN Royal Arena
16 – HAMBURG Barclaycard Arena
17 – LEIPZIG Quarterback Immobilien Arena
18 – BERLIN Mercedes Benz Arena
20 – KRAKOW Tauron Arena
21 – LODZ Atlas Arena
23 – VIENNA Marx Halle
24 – PRAGUE O2 Arena
26 – BUDAPEST Arena
27 – ZAGREB Arena
29 – MUNICH Olympiahalle
31 – BOLOGNA Unipol Arena
NOVEMBER
01 – FIRENZE Mandela Forum
03 – PADOVA Kioene Arena
04 – MILAN Forum
06 – GENEVA Arena
07 – LYON Halle Tony Garnier
08 – MONTPELLIER Sud De France Arena
10 – BARCELONA Palau Sant Jordi
11 – MADRID WiZink Centre
13 – TOULOUSE Zenith
14 – BORDEAUX Arkea Arena
15 – NANTES Zenith
17 – FRANKFURT Festhalle
18 – STRASBOURG Zenith
19 – BASEL St Jakobshalle
21 – STUTTGART Hans-Martin-Schleyer-Halle
22 – KOLN Lanxess Arena
23 – ANTWERP Sportpaleis
25 – AMSTERDAM Ziggo Dome
27 – LIEVIN Stade
28 – PARIS Accor Arena
DECEMBER
01 – DUBLIN 3Arena
02 – BELFAST SSE Arena
04 – GLASGOW OVO Hydro
06 – LEEDS First Direct Arena
07 – BIRMINGHAM Utilita Arena
08 – CARDIFF Motorpoint Arena
11 – WEMBLEY SSE Arena
