THE CULT's BILLY DUFFY Says There Is No Rush For Band To Make New Studio Album

THE CULT guitarist Billy Duffy has told "Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon" in a new interview that the band is in no hurry to work on the follow-up to 2016's "Hidden City" album.

"It seems to take a lot longer than it did to amass material," Billy said (hear audio below). "You just almost have to let it line up. And we've definitely got plans to do it, because there's not like a big rush on it. 'Hidden City' did so well in a lot of ways that I don't wanna rush into just putting something out for the sake of it. It's always got to be quality now, not quantity. So I don't think the fans are gonna just vanish now; they've been with us this long. And I think that 'Hidden City' did so well — it set the platform and the kind of feeling, like, 'Well, we made a pretty strong album. Now we can go out and enjoy [playing material from our entire career live].'"

Duffy went on to say that he is "completely absorbed in playing" THE CULT's "Sonic Temple" album in its entirety on the band's current current North American tour in celebration of the LP's 30th anniversary.

"To me, it's just heaven, because I'm a '70s guy, and just to get to play this kind of… what, to me, was like my '70s rock album," he said. "No limitations — just make the best rock records you can make without worrying about, 'Is it cool? or 'Is it punk rock?' or 'Is it not punk?' and 'Can you do this?' and 'Because you did that, you shouldn't play this.' All that just went out the window, and we just really got into it. Ian [Astbury, vocals] describes it as cinematic, and I'd agree with that. For me, it was just trying to channel all '70s rock albums that made me wanna be a guitarist. Just not lose that kind of punk rock attitude that's in the DNA there; it's in the mix. In the same way it's in the mix of bands like GUNS N' ROSES and Billy Idol. It's in there. It doesn't mean you're gonna play punk rock, but it means it's in your DNA. I grew up with it, and seeing it and being at punk gigs in the '70s. So I experienced that, and it's part of the… like a palette — it's in there. It's a color I go to sometimes musically, and it's what helped form me, for better or for worse, so I've kind of accepted it now."

"Hidden City" was released in February 2016 via Cooking Vinyl. The follow-up to 2012's "Choice Of Weapon" was written by Astbury and Duffy and was produced by Bob Rock, who has previously worked with METALLICA and MÖTLEY CRÜE.