Robert Smith credits late brother for encouraging him to pursue The Cure full-time

17 December 2024, 09:54

The Cure - Songs Of A Lost World Track by Track | X-Posure Album Playback

The Cure frontman has recalled how his elder brother Richard defended his choice to continue with the band instead of attending university.

Robert Smith has recalled how his late brother Richard was largely responsible for his choice to be a musician full time rather than pursuing further education.

The Cure frontman sat down with Radio X's John Kennedy for an X-Posure track by track album playback of the band's 2024 album Songs From A Lost World and he recalled how his older sibling "took (his) side" when it came to not going to university.

"My brother gave me the idea that I could do whatever I wanted," revealed Smith. "It's like, you know, my dad was also very supportive, but far more traditional, you know,. He wanted me to finish my education and then be in a band, if that's what I still wanted to do. And I used to, you know, initially try to get him to see that that isn't how the world works. You can't come out the other end of university and then decide to be in a band. You do it, you know, or you don't do it."

The 65-year-old musician, who wrote I Can Never Say Goodbye on the album about his brother's passing added: "And my brother took my side and I think it was him actually cajoling my dad, because I think otherwise that would have been a problem, because they let me stay at home whilst I got it out of my system... But I never got it out of my system. I think that maybe, with hindsight, my dad thought that the sooner we fail, the sooner he gets me back to the idea of a formal education."

Watch to the full track by track above or catch up with the episode on Global Player, The official Radio X app.

Read more:

• The Cure's Robert Smith reveals the secret to preserving his voice
• REVIEW - The Cure's Songs Of A Lost World: a striking return for one of Britain's greatest bands

The expansive conversation also saw Robert Smith talk about his plans for the huge amount of material he has left over, plus a "companion album" to Songs Of A Lost World, which could be released by "next summer".

"There's 32 unreleased songs at the moment sitting in my house," he revealed. "There are another two eight track albums if we wanted. But I think that the next one will be probably 10 songs. I'm finishing the next one. I just can't decide on the running order. It's always which ones fit together best."

"We always had about 14, 15 songs left over from the 4:13 Dream sessions as well [from 2008]", the 65-year-old musician added. "So there's an awful lot of stuff that's unreleased and I never thought I'd bother revisiting it. But actually with the way this album has been received, I think maybe it's the right time for me just to go back over stuff and get it out there. Like, finish singing stuff and finish mixing it."

Sharing more details about the next record in particular, the Alone singer added: "The companion piece to Songs Of A Lost World, which will be out hopefully before next summer, is what I'm currently finishing. I just need to mix it. It's not as dark in some ways, although it actually has probably the saddest song of all of them on it."

He went on: "It has a couple of songs that we were playing live which didn't make it onto Songs Of A Lost World and it has some completely new stuff that no one's ever heard [...] There's three songs on it, which are slower than pretty much anything on this album. So I don't know, it may well end up being heavier than this one."

The Friday I'm In Love singer also discussed ageing and the secret to still being in fine voice throughout the years.

"I'm fortunate to have the genes that I have, because I have really not paid great attention to longevity in my own personal life," the Crawley musician admitted. "Up until about the age of 50. I mean, I was astonished that I got to 50 and then I started to think I'd probably like to get to 60. And so I started to moderate a bit. And then you turn 60. Really every year is a bit of a bonus for me. So I suppose as a consequence of that, my voice has held up probably a lot longer than I thought."

Although he thinks he's been quite lucky, the Alone singer revealed that quitting smoking at 40 was one of the most important decisions he made for his health and longevity as a frontman.

He recalled: "I gave up smoking. It was the most important thing I did, really. I turned 40 and I thought, I'm never smoking again. And I haven't. And I think that's really pretty much along with a few other things, that's the thing that's allowed me to continue doing what I do. But having said that, there are people who I know who are singers who do look after themselves, but then their voices go. It's just one of those things."

Though Smith accepts his voice will eventually "go" one day, the Boys Don't Cry singer recalled a crucial piece of advice his father gave him, which has held him in good stead until today.

"My voice will go at some point," added the icon. "But I said recently my dad would sing every day into his 90s. So he would say to me, just like, keep singing. He'd always say that to me. Just keep singing until people tell you to stop."

Robert Smith talks longevity and how he's preserved his voice

Read more:

• How many original members are still in The Cure?
• The Cure's Songs Of A Lost World: a striking return for one of Britain's greatest bands