For anyone who knows me personally, I am a long time fan of the music group “The Cure”. I’m also a member of CURECONNECTIONS: The Ultimate International Cure Forum. There is some exciting news on The Cure horizons with live shows being played at Vivid LIVE in Australia and Bestival in England. I thought it would be a good time to do a small homage of sorts to The Cure with the excitement surrounding the concerts, and who better to talk with than Ceho, the owner and creator of CURECONNECTIONS. Here is that conversation with one of the coolest guys from one of the greatest websites!
David: Thank you Ceho for being featured on the blog, first and foremost can you tell me about CURECONNECTIONS and how you started the forum?
Ceho: creator and owner of CURECONNECTIONS
Ceho: Well, it actually all started in 1998 with a small The Cure fan and trading site. I was one of the first to offer full shows for downloads and made some good Cure friends at that time, not knowing what was yet to come. In 2005 the internet had changed a lot and I felt the desire for more. More interactivity, more community. So I added a forum to my website and that was the initial start of CURECONNECTIONS which became its own independent project only some time later. I had the idea of offering a place where Cure fans from all over the world could come together. And I wanted that place to be friendly, familiar and first of all, respectful. Not like other forums where people were afraid to post at all because they got bashed in no time. Nowadays CURECONNECTIONS is not just a forum. It’s a fulltime job for me and a bunch of friends who do all that with me on a daily basis. It is really like a multi levelled platform for like minded people and even people who don’t even like The Cure. No prejudice, no politics, just good natured interaction. Oh and some great The Cure stuff too ;-). We do that “job” with a lot of passion and ambition to offer our members and guests the best Cure platform and community on the net. Actually even more, we call it “The Cure One Stop Shop” because a fan gets all the magic about the band in one place! And the greatest part is that this forum built real friendships and relationships. That’s our biggest advantage: we, the CURECONNECTIONS Crew are real friends and share the same vision. And this is what makes us different in successfully leading the website.
David: It is an exciting time for The Cure fans. The Cure will be playing Vivid Live Festival at the Sydney Opera House May 31-June1, 2011 and at Bestival September 2011. These shows are gaining a lot of attention. Why are they gaining such a response?
Ceho: Fans of The Cure are a special breed. They need constant “feeding” and given the absence of The Dark Companion to 4:13 or any major activity for two years, all news is key. The Cure shows, by nature, are always epic. 3 hours + shows are few and far between and to play two specials in such a comparatively small venue is huge news. The new shows give hope to the fans who almost died of thirst for news. The band is still existing, so there is hope for a new album and other releases or a real tour.
David: Can you talk a little about the Australian shows and why they are so important?
Vivid Live
Ceho: Firstly, there will be the first airing of certain tracks ever. Then you have to understand that these first albums were the ones that shaped the band’s direction. Add to that the certainty of hearing that “holy grail” of live performances in Faith and you have a real treat in store. To see Lol back after all these years and after all that happened (at least what we know of) is also going to be outstanding. Many fans know the band through music he was never involved in and many have also never seen or heard many of these songs played live. Same for Roger: who would have thought that he would ever be on stage with The Cure again? Just read the interview CURECONNECTIONS did with him, or his comments on Twitter over the years. A re-union, even a temporary one seemed impossible. This is truly a once in a lifetime experience, as was Trilogy. And to be honest, I am happy for our Australian members and friends that the shows will be performed in Sydney. That’s what I call poetic justice for Trilogy ;-). And the next extra special event might happen in South America….
David: What does CURECONNECTIONS have planned for the Sydney shows?
Ceho: Well, I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you ;-).We have members from all over the region (and one or two from thousands of km away) traveling there. We are about “Connections” as the name suggests and want to be able to share the whole experience with the rest of our community who may not be able to go, like myself or most people I know from Europe or the US. Already we have shared a “Preflections” edition for the “CURECONNECTIONS Signal To Noise” online music player and are constantly promoting the event and associated activities such as helping with ticket sales etc.
There are CURECONNECTIONS meet ups already planned, threads discussing what to wear and travel tips etc.
In this day and age of smartphones it’s pretty easy to send instant messages as events unfold and this is exactly what we’ll do.
From the pre-show meets through the performances and after show thoughts and parties (if there are any). We’ll be there and we’ll make sure as many people in the world can feel as if they played a part too.
That’s what we do. We connect people through The Cure.
David: As a Cure fan and someone who has a website/forum dedicated to The Cure what do you hope or expect to see from The Cure over the next couple of years?
Ceho: A tour would be good. Obviously releases of more “Deluxes” and certainly “The Cure in Orange” and “Play Out” as an official DVD would be the cherry on the cake, but the band have emerged as a behemoth in terms of performances.
But Robert Smith has always been a bit of a tease. Bits of news here and there. Rumours and gossip etc.
I do expect that Dark Album to pop up at some point not too far in the future and I really hope that they will take on a keyboard player full time again.
But going back to the live side, I would simply be bowled over to see a “Live Anthology” spanning their career. I think that would be a stunning addition to anyone’s collection.
Regarding the website and internet attitude of the band I wish for so much more. Many other bands are so good on interacting with their fans. Live videos from the studio or rehearsals are just one example. The Cure for sure could have a much better and fan orientated internet appearance. But as they are The Cure and do everything the way they want, we at CURECONNECTIONS jump in and do that job. And I think we do a good job ;-).
"Bob": my cartoon version of Robert Smith.
David: One last question, apart from the concerts this year, I know there are some petitions to induct The Cure into “The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”. There is no other band like The Cure, they are truly original. What’s your thoughts and expectations of that?
Ceho: It’s all a bit academic really. They made it this far without all the red carpets and hero worship. As just said, they are who they are. They sort of did it on their own terms and still don’t really conform to today’s view of pop music. Yet they have millions of very hard core fans.
Do they really need to be in any hall of fame? Compared to other bands that are already a member of that circle the answer clearly has to be yes! The NME thing a couple of years back was a good excuse for a couple of shows, but what does it really mean? MTV Icon… Brrr….
For sure, I’ll sign and promote petitions at CURECONNECTIONS. I think The Cure deserve all the recognition they can get. But not sure they need it really. They are a one-off and no amount of wax works dummies and trophies will ever change that.
Thanks Ceho for being featured on the blog, for your hard work and for the platform you have created to bring the fans of The Cure together. I’ve met a lot of great people through the forum. And for anyone interested in The Cure and other interesting topics go to:
