The Cure

The Cure

The Complete Guide

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Contents

Articles

References

Article Licenses

1

Origins

Malice

Past members

See: Members

Malice were a short-lived British punk rock band from Crawley, Sussex, who performed together between January and December 1976. Members of the group later formed Easy Cure in 1977, who in turn became The Cure in 1978.

History

January to April 1976

Marc Ceccagno, Robert Smith, Michael Dempsey, and two other classmates at St. Wilfrid's Comprehensive School, "Graham" and "Graham's brother" (full names not documented by the group), began rehearsals together at St. Edward's Church Hall, Crawley on January 23, 1976.[2] They hired the hall every Thursday, initially playing cover versions of songs by David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix and Alex Harvey.[3] According to Robert Smith, the band had been formed "because Marc Ceccagno wanted to be a guitar hero".[4] Ceccagno, Smith and Dempsey had previously performed together while at Notre Dame Middle School in a short-lived band called The Obelisk, which gave one end-of-year performance for their classmates in April 1973.[5]

April to December 1976

In late April 1976, Graham and his brother left the group, and Lol Tolhurst (who had also performed with The Obelisk) convinced Michael Dempsey to teach him to play the drums.[6]

Marc Ceccagno left to form another band called Amulet, and was replaced by Porl Thompson, who was dating Robert's sister Janet at the time; Porl and Janet worked at L & H Cloake – then the only record store in Crawley. (Ceccagno's band Amulet also featured an L & H Cloake employee, keyboard player Kevin Cohen.)

Martin Creasy, another former employee of L & H Cloake, was recruited as the band's vocalist. By this time the group had begun writing original material under the name of Malice. This lineup played all three of Malice's only documented live shows during December 1976.[7] In January 1977, following Martin Creasy's departure, the band was renamed Easy Cure after a song written by drummer Laurence Tolhurst.

Concerts

•December 18, 1976 – Worth Abbey, Crawley (Malice played under a pseudonym, and devised an acoustic set for the performance)

•December 20, 1976 – St. Wilfrid's Comprehensive Catholic School Hall, Oakwood, Old Horsham Road, Crawley (Malice supported Marc Ceccagno's new band Amulet)

•December (date unrecorded), 1976 – Upjohn Pharmaceutical, Crawley

Members

•Robert Smith – guitar (January–December 1976)

•Michael Dempsey – bass guitar (January–December 1976)

References

[1]http://www.thecure.com/

[2]Ten Imaginary Years, by L. Barbarian, Steve Sutherland and Robert Smith (1988) Zomba Books ISBN 0-946391-87-4

[3]The Cure, A History in Spiral Scratch Magazine by Rachel Doran, April 1992

[4]In Ten Imaginary Years

[5]Apter, Jeff. (2006). Never Enough: The Story of the Cure, pg 26. Omnibus Press. ISBN 1-84449-827-1

[6]Barbarian, Sutherland, Smith (1988)

[7]While Ten Imaginary Years makes reference to Porl Thompson dating Janet Smith, working at the local record store, and replacing Ceccagno on guitar - as well as the fleeting appearance of a vocalist named only as Martin; more detailed information on Martin Creasy's involvement in Malice, and regarding the musical activities of other staff at L & H Cloake has subsequently appeared in the press releases and internet biographies issued from members of the duo T-30 Control. Martin Creasy of Malice and Kevin Cohen of Amulet have also submitted further biographical information regarding Malice and Easy Cure (1976 - 1978) to the archival fansite www.cure-concerts.de (http://www. cure-concerts.de/) ( 1976 concerts (http://www.cure-concerts.de/main/1976.php)).

Easy Cure

Easy Cure

Past members

Robert Smith

Michael Dempsey

Porl Thompson

Lol Tolhurst

Gary X

Peter O' Toole

Easy Cure were a British punk rock and post-punk band from Crawley, Sussex formed during the late 1970s by former members of Malice. Easy Cure went on to fame when, after several lineup changes, they became The Cure.

History

Robert Smith (guitar), Porl Thompson (lead guitar), Michael Dempsey (bass guitar) and Lol Tolhurst (drums) began performing together in a late line up of Malice in 1976, after Tolhurst and Thompson replaced Malice's original drummer and lead guitarist. When Malice's vocalist Martin Creasy quit the band, they took the new name Easy Cure in January 1977 from a song written by Tolhurst.[1]

During March 1977 Easy Cure hired and fired a vocalist known only as Gary X, who by April had been replaced by Peter O'Toole. This lineup gave their first live performance on 24 April at Saint Edward's Hall, Crawley, Sussex, England. On 5 May Easy Cure made the first of many regular live appearances at the Crawley pub then known as The Rocket. Within the same month, the band recorded a demo in Robert's parents' house, entered and won a talent contest and signed a recording contract with German record label Ariola-Hansa on 18 May.[2]

In September Peter O’Toole left the group to live on a Kibbutz in Israel, and Robert Smith assumed vocal duties in his place. He has remained the group's frontman (both as Easy Cure and The Cure) up to the present day (34 years in September 2011). The new fourpiece of Robert, Porl, Michael and Laurence recorded their first studio demo sessions as Easy Cure for Hansa at SAV Studios in London between October and November 1977.[3]

They continued to perform regularly around Crawley (including The Rocket, St. Edward's, and Queen's Square in particular) throughout 1977 and 1978. On 19 February 1978 they were joined at The Rocket for the first time by a support band from Horley called Lockjaw, featuring bassist Simon Gallup.[4] Hansa was dissatisfied with the group's demos and did not wish to release "Killing an Arab". The label suggested that the band attempt cover versions instead. They refused, and by March 1978 Easy Cure's contract with the label had been dissolved.[5]

Although the band never officially released anything as Easy Cure, bootlegs of their early demos have been in circulation for a number of years,[6] and in 2004 the Deluxe Edition of The Cure's 1979 album Three Imaginary Boys was released with a rarities bonus disc featuring a number of Easy Cure demo and live recordings from 1977 and 1978.

On 22 April 1978, Easy Cure played their last gig at the Montefiore Institute Hall (in the Three Bridges neighbourhood of Crawley)[7] before guitarist Porl Thompson was dropped from the lineup because his lead guitar style was at odds with Smith's growing preference for minimalist songwriting.[8] The new trio shortened their name to The Cure.

Members

•Robert Smith – guitar (January 1977–April 1978), vocals (September 1977–April 1978)

•Michael Dempsey – bass guitar (January 1977–April 1978)

•Porl Thompson – lead guitar (January 1977–April 1978)

•Laurence Tolhurst – drums (January 1977–April 1978)

•Gary X – vocals (March 1977)

•Peter O'Toole – vocals (April–September 1977)

Easy Cure members in The Cure

Further information: The Cure personnel

•Robert Smith has remained frontman for The Cure ever since.

•Porl Thompson has since rejoined The Cure twice; once in 1983 (until 1993) and more recently in 2005. He has remained closely involved with the band in various other capacities;. He and his design company Parched Art have produced much of The Cure's artwork over the years. He has played in several other bands with former members of The Cure (Cult Hero, The Glove, Shelleyan Orphan and Babacar), and he married Robert Smith's sister Janet.

•Michael Dempsey left The Cure in 1979, while Laurence Tolhurst left in 1989.

References

[1]See references for Malice

[2]Ten Imaginary Years, by L. Barbarian, Steve Sutherland and Robert Smith (1988) Zomba Books ISBN 0-946391-87-4

[3]A History of The Cure in Melody Maker Magazine by Steve Sutherland (1990)

[4]Anomolie Magazine between 1990 and 1992 featured an extensively researched and compiled list of known concert dates by Malice, Easy Cure and The Cure, compiled by Dominique Sureaud, Thierry Michaux, Dimitri Ramage. The same dates (and others) have since been archived online (http://www.cure-concerts.de). See also Barbarian, Sutherland, Smith (1988) and The Cure: A Visual Documentary, by Dave Thompson and Jo-Ann Greene (1988) Omnibus Press ISBN 0-7119-1387-0

[5]Sutherland (1990) and Barbarian, Sutherland, Smith (1988)

[6]For example: "Everyone familiar with bootlegs of a skinny 18-year-old Robert Smith and a band called the Easy Cure will recognize the sound" - Nitushe Abebe in The Cure: Three Imaginary Boys (Deluxe Edition) review, Pitchfork Media (http://www.pitchforkmedia.com) (14 December 2004); "almost from the start the band was sought out by hardcore fans and tapers, making them one of the most well-documented groups inside or outside the studio around (...) No less than five songs from the band's earliest punk days appear here, back when it was still the Easy Cure; though a couple are amusingly juvenile ("See the Children" is especially goofy), it's still a neat peek into where the band was coming from in the first place." - Ned Raggett reviews a bootleg compilation in Allmusic

[7]Anomolie, Sureaud, Michaux, Ramage (1990-'92)

[8]Sutherland (1990)