Fact #160093
When:
Short story:
The Passions play at The Marquee club, Soho, London, England, UK, Europe, supported by a band calling itself The Cult Heroes. In reality, the Cult Heroes are The Cure, augmented by guitarist Porl Thompson, two schoolgirls and Horley postman Frankie Bell.Full article:
Robert Smith (The Cure) : I was then going out and drinking on a Saturday with Simon (Gallup) and his lot in Horley, and I thought it would be great if Simon was in The Cure. It would be much more fun and really take off.
I was in the pub one night with Simon’s crowd and someone said that Frank Bell, this local Horley postman, had always felt he had the makings of stardom.
I knew him – he was one of the wrecking crew – and he used to wear a t-shirt saying ‘I’m A Cult Hero.’. So I thought, ‘Get him in the studio and write him a disco song.’ I wanted Simon there and I got in Porl, and Janet my sister as well, so it wouldn’t look like I was just replacing Michael with another bass player.
Michael Dempsey (bassist, The Cure) : I’d been on holiday and, when I came back, Simon had already learned the bassline. It didn’t bother me, actually, so I went down to the studio and played some synth with a wine bottle. I think that’s the moment when Robert came to see that Simon was more suited to the group. He felt more at ease with him. They had more in common.
Robert Smith : We recorded it with (Mike) Hedges at Morgan. Bill (nickname for Cure manager Chris Parry) didn’t object. There was no, ‘Is this a good career move?’ He thought it peculiar that Frank sang and not me though – he didn’t understand that particular part of it.
Lol Tolhurst (The Cure) : The atmosphere in the studio was very different to how it had been over the previous couple of months. Everybody was falling about – it was really good fun. Then we invited another ten or fifteen people from Horley and they all arrived about seven o’clock clutching their bags of goodies and we stayed overnight.
Chris Parry (manager, The Cure) : I think we picked the wrong side. Robert wanted Cult Hero but I Dig You is really the one the Americans went for.
Robert Smith : It did very little, except in Canada, where it sold about 35,000 copies. So there it worked. There Frank is a Cult Hero.
(Source : not known)
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I was in the pub one night with Simon’s crowd and someone said that Frank Bell, this local Horley postman, had always felt he had the makings of stardom.
I knew him – he was one of the wrecking crew – and he used to wear a t-shirt saying ‘I’m A Cult Hero.’. So I thought, ‘Get him in the studio and write him a disco song.’ I wanted Simon there and I got in Porl, and Janet my sister as well, so it wouldn’t look like I was just replacing Michael with another bass player.
Michael Dempsey (bassist, The Cure) : I’d been on holiday and, when I came back, Simon had already learned the bassline. It didn’t bother me, actually, so I went down to the studio and played some synth with a wine bottle. I think that’s the moment when Robert came to see that Simon was more suited to the group. He felt more at ease with him. They had more in common.
Robert Smith : We recorded it with (Mike) Hedges at Morgan. Bill (nickname for Cure manager Chris Parry) didn’t object. There was no, ‘Is this a good career move?’ He thought it peculiar that Frank sang and not me though – he didn’t understand that particular part of it.
Lol Tolhurst (The Cure) : The atmosphere in the studio was very different to how it had been over the previous couple of months. Everybody was falling about – it was really good fun. Then we invited another ten or fifteen people from Horley and they all arrived about seven o’clock clutching their bags of goodies and we stayed overnight.
Chris Parry (manager, The Cure) : I think we picked the wrong side. Robert wanted Cult Hero but I Dig You is really the one the Americans went for.
Robert Smith : It did very little, except in Canada, where it sold about 35,000 copies. So there it worked. There Frank is a Cult Hero.
(Source : not known)