Unlike other bands with U.S. album sales of 4 million plus, the Cult isn`t easily typecast. One minute it`s being compared to Led Zeppelin and AC/ DC, the next to the Doors.
If that weren`t confusing enough, the Cult has chosen `60s retrorocker Lenny Kravitz as its partner for a tour that stops Monday at Star Plaza in Merrillville, Ind.
”Nothing like this pairing would be suggested by the record labels-it`s far too cool,” says Cult singer Ian Astbury in a thick English accent. ”I`ve been a fan of Lenny`s music since he first evolved on the scene. I think a lot of people like us both, and we`re trying to make a point that there should be no discrimination between genres of music.”
Astbury finds Kravitz to be an ideal tour mate because neither act can be classified. ”We`re truly individuals and have our own identities, which is quite important to me.”
While most bands brag about not being categorized, Astbury said the Cult has suffered ”for not being classifiable or quantifiable in our music.”
As an example, he noted that on the same weekend a video by the Cult debuted on MTV`s hard-rock show ”Headbanger`s Ball” and on the alternative- music program ”120 Minutes.”
”No band has ever been featured on both before,” Astbury said. ”But think of all the people who would never see `Headbanger`s Ball` because they don`t like metal or think we are metal because of it.”
While Astbury certainly wouldn`t mind mainstream airplay on MTV and radio, he doesn`t expect it.
”If you use MTV as a guideline to what`s going on in the world, that`s very narrow,” he noted. ”I don`t think a band should even have to worry about making videos. It`s an advertisement. Anybody who thinks it`s a piece of art has their head out the window.”
Getting media exposure is also difficult for the Cult. ”The marketing procedure in the U.S. is very conservative, to say the least,” Astbury said. ”We`ve sold several million records, but no category of media feels we fit into its format. No radio station plays us.”
Astbury scoffs at the reclusive image that bands such as Nirvana promote- that they want to be left alone and don`t desire media attention.
”As soon as you become a professional musician and sign the record contract, you want to be a big deal,” he said. ”People who say they don`t are telling a big lie. People who want to play but don`t want recognition live in Tibet-they don`t sign record contracts.”
Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy, Britons both, formed the Cult in 1983 and have since released four albums, the latest called ”Ceremony.”
They left England shortly after uniting. ”We had the wisdom to tour different countries,” Astbury said. ”Bands come and go by the week in England because they are so pressured and there`s no new ideas there. London is one city stuck in its roots. New ideas come out of the U.S. constantly, like the house music that started in Chicago and became such a craze in Manchester.”
Astbury and Duffy also left England because it was hard to find other musicians to join the band. They have since worked with varying rhythm sections, the latest being Kimley Wolf on bass and drummer Michael Lee for the tour, neither of whom have played on any Cult albums.
After two months on the road in the U.S., Astbury said that the tour is going extremely well but that many critics had already written them off as a live band.
”It started when we first toured the U.S. and Guns N` Roses was our opening act,” Astbury said. ”They stole a lot of things from us, then when we came out and did them, people thought we stole it from them.”
The live image was further hurt by the band`s 1989 tour with Metallica, at a time when Astbury was overweight and suffering from alcoholism. ”That`s not my favorite time to talk about,” he said.
But past is past, and Astbury-and many fans-believe ”Ceremony” is the Cult`s best work.
”We`ve evolved. After all, it`s been eight years since we started,” he said. ”There`s some great songs on there. It`s too bad that none of them will ever get heard in America.”
