The Cult's Billy Duffy on Their New Album: 'You Don't Overdo It, Or You End Up With 'Chinese Democracy''

Posted on Jan 31st 2012 9:00AM by Carlos Ramirez Comments

Herfitz PR

On May 22, The Cult will be dropping 'Choice of Weapon,' the group's first studio album in five years. For the new collection, long-time Cult collaborator and producer Bob Rock (Metallica, Bon Jovi), who produced one of band's most successful albums, 1989's 'Sonic Temple,' put the finishing touches on the foundations that were laid by co-producer Chris Goss (Queens of the Stone Age).

"If I wasn't on tour with The Cult, I did a lot of gardening, and stayed at home being a happy househusband," guitarist Billy Duffy laughingly tells Noisecreep about the five years since The Cult's last album, 2007's 'Born Into This.'

Noisecreep was lucky enough to hear a few cuts off of 'Choice of Weapon' and it finds the veteran rockers mining from some of the same instrumental textures as the aforementioned 'Sonic Temple' album, and 2001's 'Between Good and Evil.' "We started the new record with Chris [Goss] and then we hit some scheduling conflicts with him. We also felt like we got really far with some of these songs, but we just couldn't get past the finishing line, so Ian [Astbury, vocals] thought Bob Rock might be able to get us to that point.

"I'm sure we could have done that with Chris as well, but for that moment in time, we needed that fresh perspective that Bob brought in. We've done four albums with Bob, so he knows how we tick, and how to get it done," says Duffy.

Herfitz PR

























'Choice of Weapon' was written by Duffy and Astbury, recorded in New York City, Los Angeles, the California high desert, and the band's Witch Mountain studio between July and December 2011. The band also features drummer John Tempesta (Testament, Helmet) and bassist Chris Wyse (Owl).

"What we do with The Cult is try and let the songs become who they are. It's like school children, you try and give them good guidance, but they're going to end up doing what they want to do. In the end, you have to just relinquish power. You want to capture a feel and document the era when you wrote them. You don't want to overdo it, or you end up with something like 'Chinese Democracy.' You know what I mean?"

The Cult is currently offering a free download of a new track called 'Lucifer' in the widget below:


The Cult's 'Choice of Weapon' will be out on May 22 via Cooking Vinyl.
Filed under: News, Interview

All the The Cult info you want to know

10 Charitable Rockers

Noisecreep

Getty Images (2) With Thanksgiving not too far away and then…

Killing Joke Singer Found 'Living a…

Spinner

Killing Joke Facebook Almost two weeks after reportedly going missing, which…

Killing Joke Singer Goes Missing

Noisecreep

Killing Joke Facebook Killing Joke's lead singer Jaz Coleman has reportedly…

See all The Cult »

Add a Comment

Sign in »
*0 / 3000 Character Maximum

Your Settings

{email}

Subscriptions

Weekly Newsletter

Noisecreep news in your mailbox. Top Articles, reviews, photos & more.

Realtime alerts

Daily alerts


Update
Cancel