The Rock'n'Roll Trot, The Buzzcocks' First Gig & Music In The '70s

As Billy Duffy says, The Cult play "pretty heavy, loud, high energy rock music". So did he invest, long ago, in some high quality musician's earplugs to protect his hearing? "Wha'?" Did you make sure long ago that you invested in some... "Wha'? Wha'?" Haha, okay, it's morning over here and we're a bit slow to catch on. "Got ya there," he chuckles. "I love that joke. It's funny every time. My ears are okay. I had 'em tested again, they're okay... I've never really worn ear protection, I certainly don't like wearing in-ears. But my ears are okay, I've been lucky."

It's the drums, and cymbals in particular, that Duffy deems the loudest. "Guitar amps and other things have volume controls, drums don't," he points out. "So, you know, if I'm nearer the drums - and usually if you see where guitar players are, their ears are right near the cymbals - that's a fairly dangerous zone for me. So I've kind of learnt the craft of keeping out of the way." 

Duffy reveals The Cult had an Australian tour "pencilled in" in May "and the timing didn't work out... and then we didn't go and we did somethin' else". Turns out we're the lucky ones, though, "because the band's had several months to get even tighter". "Doin' the shows with Guns N' Roses, on that kind of scale: the rock stadium scale - I mean, we've done stuff like that before; you know, we're not rookies. It takes you a minute to get used to the scale of it, as I always point out: ever seen rock bands on huge stages, they do their little rock run. 'Cause you can't walk across the stage, 'cause you won't get there in time." The set could be over by the time you get there. Duffy laughs, "Yeah, you've gotta do your little trot. It's kind of funny but, if you look at a lotta bands - Guns do it a lot - you know, people will skedaddle across the stage and stand in a place for a while, and then skedaddle back. And they do, like, a trot - rock'n'roll; it's pretty funny, really."

"It takes you a minute to get used to the scale of it, as I always point out: ever seen rock bands on huge stages, they do their little rock run. 'Cause you can't walk across the stage, 'cause you won't get there in time."

But doesn't Axl Rose usually do his trademark snake dance, almost galloping sideways? "I don't think he's quite snake-hippin' anymore, is Axl," Duffy counters. "I mean, the first gigs we did with them he was in the chair so he was just going backwards and forwards like Ironside... Well he had to, didn't he, 'cause he had a broken foot." 

When asked whether he gets a thrill looking out and watching as everyone recognises that gloriously distinctive She Sells Sanctuary riff at an arena gig, Duffy offers, "That show, you know, funnily enough... Sanctuary to that crowd; they more get, like, Electric and Sonic Temple, to be honest. I mean, people know... Sanctuary and there's certain gigs where... Sanctuary will be the most-known song. For example, we played a show recently in southern California where there was Violent Femmes, Garbage, The Cult and Jane's Addiction... Sanctuary went down very, very well there."

Given that songs can achieve varied chart positions in different territories, do The Cult look up those kind of stats and tweak their set lists accordingly? "No, no, no, I mean it's hard enough just kinda puttin' your trousers on the right way 'round," Duffy jokes. "I couldn't get into it that deep. I just don't wanna fall over the furniture... We wanna please ourselves, because I think if you trust in your own judgement - it's got us this far... I think you can't let your audience dictate to you what you do; you can't second-guess what they wanna hear."

He's called LA home since since 1988, but grew up in Manchester when some truly important bands were cutting their teeth. When asked to single out a couple of shows that really blew his mind, Duffy blows ours. "It sounds like it's a bit of a cliche, 'cause I did go to one that was the Buzzcocks, Slaughter & The Dogs and Sex Pistols, and that was a mind-blowing gig. That was an important one; the Buzzcocks' first-ever gig, ever, as a band and obviously the Pistols, you know, pre-Sid Vicious; it was 1976, that was mind-blowing also. And then when I was a little kid, my dad took me as a birthday treat to go and see Thin Lizzy and Slade, and that was quite mind-blowing." So how old was he then? "I was 12 when I saw that, I think. And 15 when I saw the Pistols. I saw The Who with Keith Moon, I saw - what else did I see that was amazing? Iggy Pop was good, I saw him on the Lust For Life tour. I mean, I've seen Iggy millions of times; we've played with him a load, he sang on one of our albums. I mean, he's on Sonic Temple. But back then I was such an Iggy Pop fan, you know, I used to queue up to buy tickets... When he used to cut himself and do the hot wax, and it was old Iggy, you know?

"I mean, amazing stuff. I missed Ziggy and I missed Alice Cooper's School's Out - I was too young for that - but I was kind of the next generation. I saw Queen play to 2000 people, that was mind-blowing. It was [at] Manchester Free Trade Hall... Unbelievably good, yeah, I couldn't believe any band could be that good. It was like, 'Wow!' And then punk happened. So it didn't really matter, 'cause the Pistols were just as good in a different way."

So punk made music seem like an accessible vocation for all, then. "Absolutely, absolutely. There was no way; I looked at Queen and went, 'How are they doing that? That's like witchcraft.' Then you saw the Pistols and they were brilliant, too. And I saw AC/DC in '77, the same time as I saw Queen, and that I could understand: meat and potatoes, good music with a backbeat, you know? So, yeah, I saw some great stuff. I was very fortunate in the '70s, you know, very fortunate."