Fact #171023
When:
Short story:
When The Cure play at The Palladium, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA, they are visited by Boris Williams of The Thompson Twins who will shortly replace Vince Ely as their full-time drummer.
Full article:
Robert Smith (The Cure) : Vince, who was our temporary drummer at the time, had prior commitments for a week, then he was going to re-join our tour.
Luckily, our bassist Phil Thornalley knew Boris Williams from the Thompson Twins who he’d produced. And Boris happened to be in Los Angeles at the end of a Thompson Twins tour. He was just staying on for a bit, so it was fortuitous. He came along to see us playing with Vince, and we asked him if he could fill in until Vince could come back.
But from the first second Boris sat down it was obvious that he was on a different planet to … I mean, Vince was a solid drummer but he’d be the first to admit that he couldn’t hold a candle to Boris.
As soon as Boris sat down and played a sound check, I was open-mouthed. I thought Andy Anderson was a great drummer but Boris was just far beyond Andy. I knew instantly that I wasn’t going to let Boris go. The Thompson Twins weren’t going to get him back. I’d never played with a drummer who was so effortless and, in a very short period of time, it changed my entire outlook on what The Cure could be. Boris was the root of that, and he was also a really funny bloke.
I suppose he’d seen – without being horrible to the Thompson Twins – rampant egos at work and he was sick of it. I think what he liked about us was that … I was slightly crazed but I didn’t believe in all the hype. I think he was pleasantly surprised to find I was more down to earth than he’d anticipated.
I liked the fact that he was a very well-read, very cultured man. He brought a real new dimension to the group, almost like growing up. There was a gravitas he brought with him.
He was always very quiet in the band, effortless to be around, prone to very infrequent outbursts but that meant that when he did have an outburst you paid attention because you knew something was wrong.
He was very grounded …. But there was also a very weird side to him. In certain respects he was a very weird individual.
Boris’s dad was a Yugoslavian count and they had to flee the country because his dad was on the losing side of one of the many Balkan conflicts. But we didn’t know any of this when he joined.
(Source : not known)
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Luckily, our bassist Phil Thornalley knew Boris Williams from the Thompson Twins who he’d produced. And Boris happened to be in Los Angeles at the end of a Thompson Twins tour. He was just staying on for a bit, so it was fortuitous. He came along to see us playing with Vince, and we asked him if he could fill in until Vince could come back.
But from the first second Boris sat down it was obvious that he was on a different planet to … I mean, Vince was a solid drummer but he’d be the first to admit that he couldn’t hold a candle to Boris.
As soon as Boris sat down and played a sound check, I was open-mouthed. I thought Andy Anderson was a great drummer but Boris was just far beyond Andy. I knew instantly that I wasn’t going to let Boris go. The Thompson Twins weren’t going to get him back. I’d never played with a drummer who was so effortless and, in a very short period of time, it changed my entire outlook on what The Cure could be. Boris was the root of that, and he was also a really funny bloke.
I suppose he’d seen – without being horrible to the Thompson Twins – rampant egos at work and he was sick of it. I think what he liked about us was that … I was slightly crazed but I didn’t believe in all the hype. I think he was pleasantly surprised to find I was more down to earth than he’d anticipated.
I liked the fact that he was a very well-read, very cultured man. He brought a real new dimension to the group, almost like growing up. There was a gravitas he brought with him.
He was always very quiet in the band, effortless to be around, prone to very infrequent outbursts but that meant that when he did have an outburst you paid attention because you knew something was wrong.
He was very grounded …. But there was also a very weird side to him. In certain respects he was a very weird individual.
Boris’s dad was a Yugoslavian count and they had to flee the country because his dad was on the losing side of one of the many Balkan conflicts. But we didn’t know any of this when he joined.
(Source : not known)