Ian Astbury
Amenophis IV
Ian Astbury
It is pitch black and the thunder of the crowd is deafening. The former
wolfchild takes to the front of the stage in a flurry of fake fur and black
leather. The lights go up, and you can sense his piercing green eyes
scanning the pulsing crowd from beneath his trademark black sunglasses.
Ian Astbury was born to Robert and Carol Astbury on May 14, 1962 in Heswall
Chesire,U.K. He grew up on merseyside before moving to Canada with his
family. They found times to be quite hard in the 70's due to the recession
that was going on.
Ian's childhood was a troublesome one. When he was younger, his father had a
near fatal car crash. His mother was sick and he was required to help rear
younger brother and sister. By the time he was 16, he had been to 12 schools
on 2 continents between England and Canada. Ian claims that he became quite
introverted, but admits to getting thrown out of class one day for having
blue food coloring in his hair. Probably the most shocking revealation about
his past and personal life was the fact that he was raped and abused by the
manager of the restaurant where he worked. He was forced to keep the job, as
he was working there to get money for his family as his mother was dying of
cancer.
Ian's father had an attempt at suicide. During the time after, Ian, his
brother and his sister went through some difficult times. Ian's mother died
of cancer on his 17th birthday. Not too long after, he joined army as an
escape from it all, but quit after just 28 days when reality set in. He had
a full scale nervous breakdown when he was only 18 years old. He left home
unemployed and returned to the U.K.
Once back in England, he did little but wander the streets of Bradford. For
a while while when he was homeless, Ian followed the band 'Crass' around on
tour.
Ian formed the Southern Death Cult in 1981 in Bradford. They did only 63
live shows, but their success was incredible. Ian needed this to feel that
he had somewhere that he belonged. Things were finally starting to come
together. Ian closed the door on his past when he joined the Southern Death
Cult, which was what he needed to do at the time to survive. Then the band
broke up.
Ian's musical influences include the Sex Pistols, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie,
MC5, the Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin and the Beastie Boys among many others.
His ambition and love of the music industry led him to form a new band which
was named Death Cult. The name was later shortened to simply The Cult. The
band members included, among others, the infamous Billy Duffy. Ian and Billy
endured almost instant success together, and they were even photographed and
put on the cover of a major British music publication before they had cut
their first single.
Ian took to his new found fame quite well. "The second time I went to the
States, I was 23, 24 and I was being tauted as the most handsome face in
English music since Mick Jagger. I was being photograhed for Vogue in
America and Italy." Throughout 1985 and the first half of 1986 The Cult
toured through Canada, USA, Britian, Europe and Japan. Ian was definatley
having fun, but he still had his problems.
"We were like a bunch of kids. There was loads going on. There was a lot of
'sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll'-tee hee hee-it was just kids having a
laugh...We just went out and got drunk and indulged in everything."
"There was the famous incident in Carlisle where I took an SS dagger and
smashed up a room. Pissed and shat in a bar in this hotel. Went into Les
Warner's (one-time Cult drummer) room and cut everything up with a knife.
Packed all my clothes away very neatly and woke up at one o'clock the next
afternoon on a train in King's Cross station. Didn't know where the fuck I
was. I was running away."
Alcohol was seeming to be playing a major part in Ian's life. He enjoyed
large success in The Cult's albums entitled 'Love'(1985) and
'Electric'(1987). On the 'Electric' tour in 1987, he went to in jail in
Vancouver, B.C. Ian claimed that the guards were hasseling his fans and he
intervened. On the same tour in San Antonio, he spent time in jail for
obscenity. After his 1987 tour he decided it was time to detox and the band
relocated to Los Angeles. At the end of 1987 Ian was given treatment for
nervous exhaustion.
The band considered a breakup for what Ian called "half a minute". With the
move to Los Angeles he and the band, especially Billy, really dried out and
pulled it together. Ian and Billy really wanted to stick together.
"We've been through some interesting times together. When we first met , I
gravitated towards Billy because he was the northerner in Theatre of Hate
(his former band)and he knew where everything was. If you wanted ciggies,
you went to Billy. We've been through a lot together."
Ian took some time to look back on his life and what he had been through in
recent years. "I'd become everything I used to hate. If I was seventeen
years old and I'd seen myself walking down the street at 27, I probably
would have crossed the street and spat on myself."
With the release of 'Sonic Temple' in 1989, came yet a new wave of success.
Ian was even considered for the part of the infamous Jim Morison in the
Oliver Stone movie entitled 'The Doors'. Things couldn't be better. The new
album was topping the charts and the great reviews, money and crazed fans
were bombarding Ian from all sides. It was all short lived. In March of
1989, Ian announced that he was back on the wagon, but a mere 8 months later
he was back at it and, according to a quite typically blunt Billy Duffy, he
was "at his most useless as a performer".
Ian kept right on going. "We played in Detroit in one of them outdoor
amphitheatres and in about the seventeenth row, this kid had made this huge
sign that said 'Cult Suck' on it. This is on about the thirtieth day of the
tour and I just thought 'Fuck this'. I walked off the front of the stage and
pushed through the crowd and got hold of this kid by the throat, and I was
holding him with one hand by the throat and with the other hand taking the
sign off him. And his friends are taking off in different directions. And a
few Cult fans came over and kicked the shit out of these guys. It was like
open warfare."
Rolling stone magazine was quoted in an article as saying "So far, Sonic
Temple is the hard rock album of the year". Ian found himself hanging out
with and being photographed with the likes of Motley Crue and Steven Tyler
of Aerosmith. At the height of his success however, he found himself and
Billy on separate tour buses. Through all of the ups and downs Ian kept a
pretty level head about things at most times. Ian also claims that if he'd
been around in the 60's "I'd have hung with Warhol and the Velvets".
His career was partially marred at this time in his life by his turbulent
relationship with the very unstable Renee Beach, who happened to be the
inspiration for some of the bands hits including Fire Woman. "It's probably
the most turbulent relationship I've ever been in. It was very cat and dog.
We were just incompatible. It was all part of the chaos and confusion that
was adding to my own self-destruction." Another setback was his father's
death in 1989 from cancer as well. It was his father's illness that
triggered him to stop drinking yet again.
Critics accused the band of being wanna-be's from the 60's and 70's, but
they especially target Astbury's "melodramatic lyrics and delivery". Ian
brushes them off as being "a pain in the fucking ass". He said often that it
was Jamie's (bassist) sanity that held the band together. Ian and Billy both
found it hard when he left after Sonic Temple. The drummer on the current
album, Matt Sorum, also left, for a better offer to play with Guns N' Roses.
"It took the thing of Jamie leaving and Matt leaving while my father ws
dying to get me to take stock of my life." Ian put it all back together
again.
In the summer of 1990 Ian put together the event he called 'The Gathering of
the Tribes' in San Francisco, California. Many dubbed it as the forerunner
for the ever increasing popularity of the well known Lollapalooza. It ended
up costing Ian $30,000 in personal losses. He didn't mind it because he says
he did it because he wanted to give something back, as he felt out of touch
with himself.
The 1991 album, titled 'Ceremony' was not the success that Ian had hoped for
and he found himself spiraling downward in depression and alcohol once
again. In the period after Ceremony, he met his wife Heatherlin. They spent
a large amount of time together during which he "rediscovered" himself and
rekindled his dwindling friendship with Billy. Ian got married and had a son
in 1993. The majority of his time was spent with his family as well as
leisure time such as spending a few hours a week riding one of the two
horses he owns. He prides himself on keeping his CD collection stocked with
everything from grunge to techno.
With the latest album simply self-titled 'The Cult'(1994) the band, and Ian
have turned in a new direction. Ian looks back on the late 80's. "We were
burned out. We were drained. We found our lifestyle was becoming more
degenerate. We were caught in a whirlwind of cynicism." The new album
created quite a stir with some very mixed reviews. Ian's life was definately
more put together this time than at any other time in his turbulent past. "I
started hanging out more with Billy, and we became friends again. We got a
new manager who worked very closely with us and was a real Cult fanatic, and
we just rebuilt the band from there." Astbury has some positive thoughts on
the new album "This record was Cathartic" ... "It was just a release of
anger." He felt it was a real turning point in his life, being able to truly
express himself so much through his music at last.
Nothing but more success can be found if Ian can keep himself on the
path he is on now. His personal life is in order and he is an extremely
talented musician who is admired by many people around the globe. I leave
you with one last quote:
"Let the rhythm and music liberate your senses, free the concious mind from
bondage, and attain a higher state of being."
Heidi Bergen (1995) - ber...@nanaimo.ark.com
Credits and my thanks to: New Music Express, Melody Maker, Rolling Stone
Magazine, A&P Alternative Press Magazine, Spin Magazine, Pete Frame (Beggars
Banquet)
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http://www.coastnet.com./~jtaylor/members/astbury.html
--
"Time is a game that's played with money." - Charlie
Wolfgang Senges
Uh....
Myself I'm quite a big fan of The Cult (hey, O(+> comes first :) )
and I'm feeling very sad seeing them split.
But, please tell me, how does this fit in a O(+> newsgroup?
Wolf
Lesley_...@hotmail.com
Lesley Astbury