THE CULT: More 'Capsule' Details Revealed

Following THE CULT's recent successful European tour, which included sharing the stage with IGGY POP & THE STOOGES at Sonisphere (United Kingdom) and Pinkpop (Holland) festivals, the band will release the first of its recent recordings on September 14 on the newly formatted "capsule" collection (the capsule format being the vision of singer Ian Astbury).

Through a partnership with Aderra Media Technologies, THE CULT's capsule will consist of two new songs — "Every Man And Woman Is A Star" and "Siberia" — plus live recordings from the recent internationally sold-out "Love Live" tour, as well as the short film "A Prelude to Ruins" (directed by Ian Astbury and Rick Rogers). The capsule will be available in several formats, including MP3, CD/DVD (DualDisc) and 12-inch vinyl in limited quantities for a limited time. The first song, "Every Man and Woman Is A Star", was debuted at Sonisphere and released the same day as an iTunes exclusive. The latest recordings were guided by legendary producer Chris Goss (QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, MASTERS OF REALITY) and are described in a press release as "a mixture of violent guitars, emotive vocal performances with high melody and driving beats."

In an August 20, 2010 interview with the U.K.'s leading classic rock radio station Planet Rock, THE CULT guitarist Billy Duffy spoke about the "capsule" concept and how it differs from the way the band released new music in the past.

"Well, I think you'd have to have been living under a rock for a long time to not notice that the music business has somewhat changed," Duffy explained.

"It's a different way of getting music out there.

"People — not everybody, but a lot of people — are, really, now more comfortable downloading music and the fact that aren't any, really, many record shops or places to buy music in that format anymore is indicative that people's habits are changing with the Internet, and we just felt, as a band, that the idea...

"We did a new album in 2007 in a sort of traditional way — get a record deal with a company and make an album and take out a very bad loan from them and then go and promote it, and blah blah blah. This time we just thought we'd do it a little differently, and we did it on... New Wilderness is our own label. And Ian [Astbury, vocals] felt very strongly that he'd prefer to try and record two or three, four songs and get them out there while they're quite fresh than spending a lot of time trying to write a whole album. It was really Ian's general feeling, which I sort of agreed with; I think people's attention spans are shortening, and I think the idea was... He just wanted to capture the music quickly and get it out there. That was the theory; the practice is not always quite so as easy as putting that into practice. But the idea of the capsule, if you wanna be old-fashioned, you could call it an EP. So rather than doing albums...

"Other bands who operate on a grander scale two, three, four years recording a record, or they sail in from their Carribean hideaways, go on a tour that lasts 18 months, and everybody is really happy with that format. That doesn't really work for THE CULT anymore. So we're just trying to be a little more fluid.

"The people who are buying tangible, what you'd call hard products, like vinyl, they're collectors and they want stuff that has a little bit more depth and content, and that's why it'll be a multimedia package."

In 2009, Aderra recorded several live shows on THE CULT's U.S. and European tours, including a sold-out appearance at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The live recordings were released exclusively through a USB flash drive housed in a dog tag necklace.

The success of this initial project lead to this partnership to release the new capsule material on multiple formats.

THE CULT in 2008 parted ways with Roadrunner Records, the label that released the group's latest album, "Born into This". That CD sold 12,600 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 70 on The Billboard 200 chart. It was recorded in London with producer Youth (VERVE, PRIMAL SCREAM).

THE CULT's current touring lineup includes principals Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy alongside bassist Chris Wyse, drummer John Tempesta (ex-WHITE ZOMBIE, TESTAMENT, EXODUS, HELMET) and rhythm guitarist Mike Dimkich.