THE CULT Frontman Doesn't Rule Out Possibility Of New Album

Wade Tatangelo of McClatchy Newspapers recently conducted an interview with THE CULT frontman Ian Astbury. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On the band's decision to go on hiatus in the mid-1990s:

"I just wasn't feeling it. After 12 years I was done, spent, burnt out, exhausted, at the end of my rope. I wasn't enjoying it. It became difficult."

On being slammed by critics who fawned over bands like SONIC YOUTH and NIRVANA in the 1990s:

"We got caught in the guillotine of the critic's pen. (Expletive) the critics, with all due respect. (Expletive) the critics."

On how the grunge movement affected the "super-predator performers":

"We lost a generation of super-predator performers like Robert Plant and David Bowie. It became incredibly unfashionable to be a rock star. ... It was all about political correctness."

On playing in THE DOORS OF THE 21ST CENTURY, the group that famously featured founding members Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek with Astbury taking over for Morrison (the group formed in 2002 and then, after legal problems, changed its name to RIDERS ON THE STORM):

"I was totally self-conscious. Who wouldn't be?"

On how the experience changed his approach to much of THE CULT's material:

"My psyche has been expanded. I think when I was younger, like a lot of performers looking for critical respect, I kind of crucified myself on stage for that reaction. I would do whatever it took to create a car crash on stage. But playing with Robby and Ray, I learned you're at your best when you're in control."

On the possibility of new THE CULT material surfacing soon:

"There's material. I've been writing like a dog since I was conceived."