'We Allow Ourselves to Be Vulnerable' - Ian Astbury Discusses the Evolution of the Cult, What Might Be Next

On Thursday (Sept. 25), Ian Astbury joined Loudwire Nights to discuss Paradise Now, the upcoming tour featuring the Cult and Death Cult.

Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

"It just kind of happened," Astbury admitted to host Chuck Armstrong about the tour. It's a significant run of dates as this is the first time Death Cult and the Cult will tour North America.

"In '23, Death Cult just came into the forefront of my thoughts. There [were] so many parallels between what was happening socio-politically when Death Cult was being born — and Southern Death Cult — and the world strangely, auspiciously, feels in a parallel moment."

For fans who may not be aware, Death Cult was the band that Astbury created out of Southern Death Cult with guitarist Billy Duffy. Not too long after, the band evolved into the Cult.

"I was picking up on a lot of frequencies," he shared about the similarities he sees in the world around him today and the world that Death Cult existed in.

"This feels like Death Cult to me. It was suggested that we do a Death Cult show, we did it in L.A. and it sold out immediately. We're like, 'Wow, that was interesting.'"

Astbury said that particular concert reignited a part of the Cult's DNA that they hadn't focused on for a long time.

"Once we start playing those songs, you really have to be in these songs — there's nowhere to hide," he said.

"It felt like we'd gone full circle. We're back at zero. And Death Cult just really, really felt appropriate."

How Vulnerability Continues to Shape the Cult

As Astbury discussed this, he opened up about the enduring legacy of not just Death Cult, but also the Cult, who officially formed in 1984 and released their debut, Dreamtime, the same year.

"One of the things about the Cult is we are vulnerable, we allow our vulnerability to come through," Astbury said.

"We try not to edit ourselves. I think there's a lot of fear, a lot of performers [are] afraid to be vulnerable because they don't want to be seen as being vulnerable. But I mean, we've been through [it], onstage, blood, sweat and tears."

He admitted that sometimes that can be uncomfortable for fans, especially at a Cult concert. But for him, the idea of being vulnerable is incredibly important and something that he's had to figure out over the years.

"That's been learned that it's okay to be human," he told the Loudwire Nights audience.

"No better than, no less than ... It's having empathy as well, having empathy for our fellow humans, other sentient beings. There's too much suffering, so I think of our shows as a ritual space, like cleansing or something that's uplifting. The intention is to turn up."

At that point in the conversation, Astbury offered a bit of advice that a teacher once shared with him that continues to be a guiding force for the Cult.

"He said, 'Burn the plan, do the thing,' which meant whatever you've got going on in your head — your ideas about this — forget it, be instinctive, respond to the moment," he explained.

"And that's how we approach live performances and probably everything."

Another reason Astbury gave for the longevity of the Cult and the reemergence of Death Cult was simply how he and Duffy grew up.

"We weren't like Disney kids," Astbury said with a smile.

"We were not Disney kids...seems to be quite a lot of Disney kids out there right now, we didn't do the Disney program. It was more like, what was Banksy's Disney park called? Dismaland. We grew up in those environments."

Seeing Black Sabbath Through Someone Else's Eyes

Discussing the legacy of the Cult led to Chuck and Astbury talking about the legacy of another band that has been the topic of many discussions this year, Black Sabbath. For Astbury, he's been outspoken about his love of Sabbath's Vol. 4 and even worked closely with Tony Iommi on his 2000 album, Iommi.

"Having the privilege of working with Tony and actually being presented with the cross, you know, that was probably one of the heaviest accolades I've ever received in my life," he said.

As for Vol. 4, he said that it will always be a personally important album.

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"I definitely discovered that on my own," Astbury shared.

"That was my own personal relationship with that record. But Greg Anderson from Sunn O))), he is a devotee of Iommi and Sabbath, and when I saw it through his eyes and through Sunn O))) and the tonality of what they were doing, the space they were filling, the frequency — what they put in the ether, something very primordial, primal, quantum. You cannot articulate it, this is coming from total intuition."

What Else Did the Cult's Ian Astbury Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• How training in mixed martial arts shapes him as an artist: "It's probably one of the few reasons I'm still here. I've been able to roll through some difficult situations ... It also taps into having a Buddhist practice. I wouldn't say I was devout, but I certainly have an awareness of Buddhist teachings and philosophy and I've been interested in that since I was in my teens. That's helped immensely."
• What the early shows of Death Cult were like: "I wish we could show the people that were going to listen to this interview what it was actually like. They were incredibly, some of them were incredibly violent and just like out of control. Especially Northern Britain — well, Southern as well — but when we're playing in the U.K., it was out of control, like full-scale brawls, everything being thrown, just out of control."
• What the future of new music looks like for the Cult: "I feel like we're kind of in this interesting moment...doing collaborations, trying different things out. You pretty much do whatever you want now. So who knows if it's going to be an album. Could be an immersive experience, could be a one-off show of a particular body of work. I don't know. We haven't really sat down and talked about what's next because what's next is these shows we're doing. This is Paradise Now. This tour is called Paradise Now, so Paradise Now may continue, or the last show might be Oct. 30 in Los Angeles at the Shrine and then maybe we'll move on ... I think that pisses people off, though, because they expect to see a cookie-cut version of what they perceive you to be, from a certain moment, period, whatever. And we don't do that. We never have ... Burn the plan, do the thing. Do what's right in front of you."

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Ian Astbury joined Loudwire Nights on Thursday, Sept. 25; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.