Cure Go Heavy on New Album

The Cure are recording their twelfth album in London with producer Ross Robinson, best-known for his work with new-metal bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit and Slipknot.

"We are trying to get a heavier sound than we've been associated with in the past," Smith says. "We convinced him that the doom and gloom of London is more conducive to making our music than sunny California."

Smith said it was Robinson's more subtle work on albums by Vex Red and At the Drive-In that got his attention. "The reason I've developed a relationship with Ross has to do with his love of music and his love for the Cure," Smith says. "Some of the stuff he's worked on I don't like, but some is genius sonically."

The Cure have written and demoed twenty-seven songs, which Smith plans to cut down to fourteen.

"The heavier sound we're going for is more to do with the tempos and dynamics and the space were leaving," he says."The more space you leave, the heavier you get. It's actually the antithesis of the new-metal assault, which is all about piling things on. It's going back to the Faith period, but making the sounds themselves a lot heavier and more savage."

The album should be wrapped by February and released in the summer, after which the Cure plan to tour the U.S.

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Song Stories

“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry | 1984

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.

More Song Stories entries »

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