Any fan of rock n roll that has been listening for longer than five minutes will recognize the name Ian Astbury. Singer for The Cult, Astbury is easily one of the most powerful voices in rock history. What you might not know about Astbury is his complete dedication to the underground and the avant garde. It’s hard to picture the man who sang on Sonic Temple singing with a Japanese noise band but that’s exactly what’s happening with BXI.
BXI is a collaboration between Japanese noise/doom artists Boris and Ian Astbury. It’s not the singer’s first time working with outside artists either. From Trent Reznor to U.N.K.L.E. Astbury has worked tirelessly to spread his artistic wings as wide as possible. Interviewing him was an interesting endeavor in that it didn’t follow the normal Q&A format but became more of a conversation. I spoke to Astbury about the Boris album, underground music, what drives him as well as what all this might mean for The Cult.
CRAVEONLINE: How did the collaboration with Boris come about?
IAN ASTBURY: It was kind of a long time in the making, I’d say about two years. I saw Boris play about five years ago at the Knitting Factory in New York and seeing them perform was such a profound experience. I tried to get them to perform with The Cult, I kept emailing their manager, but our schedules never matched up Eventually being a big fan of Sunn O))) I got to meet up with Stephen (O’Malley) and Greg (Anderson) at a performance and they kind of made the introduction to Boris a lot quicker. The collaboration was something Boris instigated knowing I was a big fan of them and their music.
They sent me ten pieces of music and worked out when the best time for me to come out and do vocals. I had a long time to live with the music and become very familiar with it so I choose three pieces I liked and went to Tokyo to do vocals.
CRAVEONLINE: What was it about Boris that drove you to want to work with them?
IAN ASTBURY: I was just struck by the commitment of what they do and the totality of their music. There’s no sort of jocular joking around or high fiving or “rock n roll” (does it with a high voice) stuff, none of that. It’s all about business very serious, it’s fine art and Shakespearean in the scope. Very layered, very textured, the performances are incredibly committed. Every note they play, every sound the play is very serious.
CRAVEONLINE: I was curious where the connection between the singer for The Cult and a band like Boris might come from musically speaking.
IAN ASTBURY: Well you have to understand when I was a kid I was into Joy Division and Public Image so I’ve always had an interest in the avante guarde. The kind of persona I have the kind of voice I was born with, this barrel chested voice was what I would perform with. As I got older I wanted to try new things so I went off and made solo records, worked with Trent Reznor, U.N.K.L.E. The Doors so I was heading in that direction. Working with more serious artists.
Not to say that The Cult aren’t serious about what they do but The Cult very much revolves around Billy Duffy’s guitar, he’s the lead musician so I’m kind of restricted to that. It’s not as experimental, as I’d like it to be where as The Doors who I worked with have a history of experimentation and in many of ways they are the roots of a lot of experimental rock, psychedelic rock and tonality and texture and depth and invention. It’s just a desire to collaborate with other artists who are serious about what they do.
CRAVEONLINE: Do you see what Boris and bands in that realm do as the future of music?
IAN ASTBURY: The space has been held for so long by Radiohead, Nick Cave, PJ Harvey and we’ve looked to them as the upholders of music with integrity and drama and subtext. In guitar based music we haven’t really had that equivalent, there have been very few artists who have come along and captures people’s imaginations in that respect. I certainly think what Sunn O))) are doing is in that space and Boris is probably the master of it because they don’t limit themselves to one particular style. Hearing Wata (Boris) sing is just a different space. I love the way she sings (The Cult song) Rain. It’s so refreshing to hear that song interpreted in that way, it’s a completely different song.
CRAVEONLINE: Was the Japanese/English language barrier hard to work through in the studio?
IAN ASTBURY: No. Takeshi understands English and Wata understands a bit of English and Atsuo speaks good English. When you’re working in the studio though, there’s no language. So much can be done through body language and facial expressions that you don’t need spoken words. Music is an intuitive form and the more we talk about it the further we get from it. It’s an aural experience. I’d sit there and we’d listen and it would be a natural time to go in and put some vocals down.
I sat there with their manager if I had to express something to the band that was complicated but other than that it was all intuition. The session went very quickly, we went in cut three songs, Boris recorded Rain mixed and mastered the whole thing and did a photo session all in five days.
CRAVEONLINE: Wow.
IAN ASTBURY: Yeah, wow. (Laughs) But they’re on top of their game they know exactly what they want, Atsuo (Boris) knows exactly what he wants to hear coming out of the speakers. He speaks to his engineer and then magically this sound begins to unfold in front of you. I watched the way they worked and was like “Fuck that is amazing”. I remember hearing that Metallica were in the studio and took two weeks to get a bass drum sound. I remember recording records myself when you had ridiculous budgets and you spent time drunk and goofing around. I’d say to any band don’t go into the studio unless you have something to record.
Boris are going to release two albums plus BXI, they’re prolific and committed. I mean Atsuo came to pick me up from the airport in Boris’s van with all their equipment in it, which was amazing. On the way he was playing a lot of psych and drum stuff I’d never heard, stuff from the early seventies, kind of obscure Japanese and Western artists that I was not familiar with. He has an incredible knowledge of music and we got on so well. I love those people, I feel very close to them and I feel very honored to be on stage with them. Boris is very private, it’s a very tight circle so to be invited into it, I was very reverential.
CRAVEONLINE: It’s really pure artistry.
IAN ASTBURY: Well Wata has such presence, they all do but she has this incredible presence. You really feel like you’re in the studio with masters and it’s rare to be in a room with that kind of talent. Being around David Bowie a bit was like that. I mean one thing people don’t really know about me and The Cult is that I started out as a fan. I got asked to join a band because of the way I looked but I was a fan, I was in the audience. It was a love affair with music that got me into this I had no aspirations to be a singer.
I didn’t fantasize about being a singer I just loved music and figured yeah why not. I was fan and I’m still a fan. I always go to shows and buy music, that doesn’t stop it’s compulsive. To actually be recognized as a performer by Boris was great because they didn’t invite me in because of my name or my career they invited me in as an artist for my own talents. Initially when we started working Atsuo asked me to try this and try that and I nailed what he asked so eventually he just left me to it. That was one of the most incredible signs of respect I have ever received.
CRAVEONLINE: Boris seems like a band that would only work with people who have a respect for what’s going on.
IAN ASTBURY: Absolutely. This was a relationship two years in the making it didn’t happen over night. We’re in the business of making music and living a life that cultivates creativity. I don’t live a life sunning myself in Los Angeles or going out in New York that’s not my life. My life is consumed with films, books, going to shows, going to galleries, hanging out with friends who are creative. Traveling to India, Tibet, wherever. I’m forty-eight this year and I feel this incredible urge to start producing more work, whether it’s film or music.
CRAVEONLINE: What does this involvement in experimental music mean for the future of The Cult?
IAN ASTBURY: There’s new Cult stuff coming out in September but The Cult are like children I had a long time ago. Especially The Love album or Sonic Temple or Electric, those records are very dear to me, the legacy I’ll maintain. I don’t want to see it rot in a ditch somewhere I want to keep it alive and we’re becoming more prolific in terms of our writing. We’ve recently started working with Chris Goss and having him in the room has really pulled the band more towards where I see it going than the arena rock stuff, which was more of a goof or more semi-serious. It was of its time and a place to be and we just embraced it and held on for the ride. Then it became more introspective and self destructive and darker. Now it’s at a place where there’s a balance between that.
I think having the experience with the Doors helped me walk into a studio with Boris. It was a University education. Ray (Manzerek) is unforgiving as a task master and was in the day from everything I could tell being around those guys. Ray ran the ship in much the same way Atsuo is the driving force behind Boris. Not to say that Takeshi and Wata don’t contribute but Atsuo is really the visionary. He’s a funny fucker too.
CRAVEONLINE: Most of the true artists I’ve interviewed or known have had a great sense of humor. Without it music can get really pretentious.
IAN ASTBURY: I think when rock gets considered to be pretentious it’s okay. I think when it makes other people uncomfortable that those people conceive it was pretentious. I saw a great interview with David Bowie where an interviewer asked him about being labeled pretentious and Bowie said “I’ve always been pretentious darling, haven’t you noticed?” Fucking absolutely! It takes courage to reach in and make this kind of stuff. Great masters always have humor, the ones who take themselves seriously twenty-four seven are the ones to watch out for. The ones stroking themselves saying, “I’m an artist” are painful. Usually that kind of creativity is lackluster and miserable.
I wouldn’t say Sunn is miserable or Boris are miserable. Their music invokes nature, oceans and deserts and the profoundness of existence and really the big themes. It’s definitely not about high fiving and “Let’s Rock”. It shows a lot of confidence and self-knowledge to have humor and that’s one thing I’m glad about, as I get older. When I was a kid I was so full of energy and this desperation to connect with anyone. When you get older you realize you’re gonna do what you’re gonna do so just get on with it. This isn’t a career for me, this is my life.
For more on Ian Astbury, Boris or BXI check out
