The Cureheads

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The Cureheads
The cureheads.jpg
The Cureheads live at Glastonbudget 2018
Background information
Origin London, England
Genres New wave, post-punk
Years active1990–present
MembersGary Clarke
Jordan Cooper
Sean Flude
Philip Mayor
Vlad Ivanov
Website www.thecureheads.com

The Cureheads are the longest surviving and arguably the most prevalent tribute band dedicated to The Cure. The band plays the live music of and dresses as The Cure.

Contents

Background

The Cureheads were formed in 1990 by Gary Clarke, vocalist of The Hiram Key and then-lead singer of Nosferatu. The band played its first show in Stockholm in July 1990 at Frietzfronten in St. Eriksgatan 89, an underground bar owned by a Swedish political party. In the same year they appeared on ZTV (Swedish Music TV Channel) playing live from Stockholm Water Festival. They played their first large headline show at the WGT in 1995. Then known as Fat Bob & The Cureheads.

The Cureheads name is taken from the Irish slang term for anyone with that "1980's mop haired 'Gothic' look". [1] They were originally known as "Fat Bob & The Cureheads" until 2000. [2] When Ita Martin of Fiction Records suggested they should change the name as not to offend The Cure

Since 1990, The Cureheads has played venues including The Vic Theater in Chicago, [3] Camden Palace in London, The Temple Bar Music Centre in Dublin, CBGB in New York, and Razzmatazz in Barcelona. [4] In 2010 The Cureheads played to 10,000 people ın Chile at the Teatro Caupolicán in Santiago (the old national basketball stadium of Chile). The show was recorded for national television and covered by national TV news, as The Cure had never played in Chile up until after that point despite having a huge fanbase there. [5] The band has toured in the UK, the US, continental Europe, and South America, playing festivals, including opening for Echo and The Bunnymen and The Pretenders at Guilfest, BKK Live in Bilbao (opening for Depeche Mode), The Isle of Wight Festival (2016,2017 & 2021), Glastonbudget (2017 & 2019), Glastonbarry 2022 and Roskilde Festival in Denmark, [6] The band state that they strive to re-create the experience of seeing a mid to late 1980s concert by The Cure, capturing not only the sound, but also the wardrobe, attitude and staging using lighting and various background video and computer images. [2]

In 2007, The Cureheads were given as a wedding gift by Charlie Simpson of Busted to the bass player of his new band Fightstar. The band played a 1-hour set and were joined onstage by Charlie Simpson for a performance of The Cure’s "Inbetween Days". The band claim that Charlie fell off the stage and passed out during the last verse.

In 2012, The Cureheads played in Paraguay and Argentina ahead of The Cure playing there in 2013. [7]

Current and past line-ups are pulled together from various Gothic rock bands such as Nosferatu, Killing Miranda and The Essence, and Andy Anderson (an original drummer from The Cure) joined The Cureheads from August 2012. Ron Howe, original Sax player on the Head on The Door album by the cure often guests with The Cureheads [8] Andy Anderson left The Cureheads after he failed to appear at the airport on the morning of their South American tour in November 2012. The Cureheads claim that they haven't heard from Anderson since. [2] Their set-list consists of songs from the full recorded history of The Cure. The Cureheads regularly appear onstage with Ron Howe (the saxophonist from The Cure's Head on The Door Album).

Since 2018, The Cureheads have been opening their shows with an extensive set of songs, tributing Siouxsie and the Banshees fronted by Ceri Gregory (vocalist with Elesium & actress featured in Torchwood & London’s West End) This "double headline tribute show has been touring as "The Story of Goth" [9]

2022 Record Collector Magazine publish an interview with Gary Clarke in a special edition focussing entirely on The Cure. The interview focuses on the history of The Cureheads & their experiences of the last 32 years.

Members

Previous members

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Cure</span> English rock band

The Cure are an English rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith has remained the only constant member. The band's debut album, Three Imaginary Boys (1979), along with several early singles, placed the band in the post-punk and new wave movements that had sprung up in the United Kingdom. Beginning with their second album, Seventeen Seconds (1980), the band adopted a new, increasingly dark and tormented style, which, together with Smith's stage look, had a strong influence on the emerging genre of gothic rock as well as the subculture that eventually formed around the genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Smith (musician)</span> English musician

Robert James Smith is an English musician. He is best known as the lead singer, guitarist, primary songwriter, and only continuous member of the rock band the Cure, which he co-founded in 1978. He was also the lead guitarist for the band Siouxsie and the Banshees from 1982 to 1984, and was part of the short-lived group the Glove in 1983.

<i>Seventeen Seconds</i> 1980 studio album by the Cure

Seventeen Seconds is the second studio album by English rock band the Cure, released on 18 April 1980 by Fiction Records. The album marked the first time frontman Robert Smith co-produced with Mike Hedges. After the departure of original bassist Michael Dempsey, Simon Gallup became an official member along with keyboardist Matthieu Hartley. The single "A Forest" was the band's first entry in the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart.

<i>Faith</i> (The Cure album) 1981 studio album by The Cure

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<i>Japanese Whispers</i> 1983 compilation album by The Cure

Japanese Whispers is the third compilation album by British group The Cure. It was released in late 1983 by Fiction Records.

<i>The Top</i> (album) 1984 studio album by The Cure

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<i>The Head on the Door</i> 1985 studio album by The Cure

The Head on the Door is the 6th studio album by English rock band The Cure. It was released on 26 August 1985 by Fiction Records. Preceded by the single "In Between Days" which had reached No. 15 on the UK Singles Chart, The Head on the Door was described by Melody Maker as "a collection of pop songs". With its variety of styles, it allowed the group to reach a wider audience in both Europe and North America. In the United Kingdom it became their most successful album to date, entering the albums chart at No. 7 on 7 September.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Glove</span> Band

The Glove was a 1983 English musical collaboration and recording project by the Cure's Robert Smith and Siouxsie and the Banshees' Steven Severin. They released one studio album, Blue Sunshine, in 1983 as part of Severin's solo deal with Polydor. The latter came up with the band name, the album title and the blue/yellow sleeve concept, as Smith had to leave the project before completion due to prior commitments with the Cure.

<i>Concert: The Cure Live</i> 1984 live album by The Cure

Concert: The Cure Live is the first live album by English rock band the Cure. It was recorded in 1984 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London and in Oxford during The Top tour. The cassette tape edition featured, on the B-side, a twin album of anomalies, titled Curiosity : Cure Anomalies 1977–1984.

<i>The Cure in Orange</i> 1987 video by The Cure

The Cure in Orange is a concert film by British rock group The Cure. It was shot on 35mm film at the Théâtre antique d'Orange in the French countryside, on 8, 9, and 10 August 1986. Band members Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Porl Thompson, Boris Williams (Drums), and Lol Tolhurst (Keyboards) make their way through 23 songs, under the direction of Tim Pope.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Forest</span> 1980 song by The Cure

"A Forest" is a song by the English rock band The Cure. Co-produced by Mike Hedges and the band's Robert Smith, it was released as a single from the band's second album Seventeen Seconds on 28 March 1980. It was their debut entry on the UK Singles Chart, reaching number 31. The accompanying music video was first shown on BBC's Top of the Pops programme on 24 April 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Gallup</span> Musical artist

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Nosferatu are an English second wave gothic rock band. As of 2022, the members are Damien DeVille and Tim Vic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Hanging Garden (song)</span> 1982 single by The Cure

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<i>The Cure: Trilogy</i> 2003 double live album video by The Cure directed by Nick Wickham

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<i>Blue Sunshine</i> (album) 1983 studio album by The Glove

Blue Sunshine is the only studio album by the British supergroup the Glove, released in 1983 by Wonderland Records/Polydor. This album mainly served as a diversion for Robert Smith and Steven Severin when both of them were under heavy stress in their respective bands the Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Since Smith was prohibited from singing in another band by his record company, he and Severin recruited Zoo dancer Jeanette Landray to sing on the majority of the tracks; Smith contractually could only sing on two songs, "Mr. Alphabet Says" and "Perfect Murder". Other musicians involved in this project were drummer Andy Anderson, multi-instrumentalist Martin McCarrick, and string players Ginny Hewes and Anne Stephenson.

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References

  1. McClelland, Niamh. "This 80s footage of Irish teens explaining the difference Goths and Cureheads is amazing". Dailyedge.ie. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 "Biog". Thecureheads.com. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  3. "Apple - GarageBand - Learn about Flex Time and other new features". Archived from the original on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
  4. "Razzmatazz sala 1 - Bares Barcelona - Atiza". Atiza.com. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  5. "Chilevisión - te Ve de Verdad - the Cureheads Show". www.chilevision.cl. Archived from the original on 21 July 2009. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  6. "Guildford Festival Line up 2002". www.ticketbankonline.com. Archived from the original on 8 June 2002. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  7. "Chain Of Flowers: Andy Anderson joins The Cureheads". Craigparker.blogspot.com. 22 September 2012.
  8. [ dead link ]
  9. "%blogTitle(events)% | St Mary in the Castle". Stmaryinthecastle.co.uk. Retrieved 12 June 2020.