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whatashame

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    if reunion, is Myles Kennedy out of work?

    in SLASH DISCUSSIONS

    Posted

    yea I know he does Alter Bridge. I have seen them live a few times.

    but what I wanted to ask for, rather than avoid hitting Myles' wiki page, was

    - has he or anyone from Alter Bridge or Conspirations commented anyting?

    i.e.

    "hey this is Alter Bridge, now that we don't share Myles we annouce all those ambitious plans"

    or

    "hi, this is Todd Kerns blog. I'm back to playn Sin City Sinners each tuesday night. Drop by, bring food"

    if reunion, do you expect an apology?

    in GUNS N' ROSES - DISCUSSION & NEWS

    Posted · Edited by whatashame

    what I meant to ask in this thread was

    do YOU expect to hear an official apology

    not if they kissed and made up behind closed doors

    Marc Canter wrote somewhere that he believes Axl won't play with Slash unless Slash publicly apologizes to Axl and admits to all the lies.

    Will this happen?

    and also, do people who put their trust in the GNR 2.0 - do they expect an apology that Axl disbanded the band?

    if reunion, do you expect an apology?

    in GUNS N' ROSES - DISCUSSION & NEWS

    Posted

    Axl doesnt often speak but when he does, he drops the bomb

    "Slash is cancer" / "will I play with him again? Not in this life time"

    etc

    and Slash being so rude towards Axl in the media in the years 1995 - 2007, especially around 95 and then when promoting the VR first record (which was a bigger GNR spin off the Axl's GNR 2.0, but Axl never complained about VR - and Slash, Duff n Matt quite the contraty, slamed Axl while doing the same thing but under the VR name).

    And now that the money is in the bag, if they reunite, they will get asked : home come you guys play together?

    to which they will either answer

    a) we have always loved each other

    or

    b) next question, please

    would you feel as ripped off as I ?

    I believed what Axl had to say during these GNR 2.0 years

    and now it's all gone, we will never learn the truth about the original break up, because now "they're friends again"

    for the next 30 shows or so

    NOW THAT MAKES NO SENSE = Chris Janson says he was sent, years ago, by publishing company, to write songs with IZZY AND DUFF for Velvet Revolver (?)

    in THE JUNGLE

    Posted · Edited by whatashame

    All Izzy ever did happened between 86-89, yet still based on chronicles from these long gone years, even in 2015 he enjoys the secret guru status, the da vinci of composers and the living breathing supremacy or rock n roll attitude

    all the while Axl is regarded lazy and uninspired.

    i'd say, Axl seems rather lazy these days, but fuckin compared to Izzy, Axl deserves no criticism.

    I will go as far as to say that had it not been for Axl's ongoing attitude, Izzy would be even more of a

    distant shadow memory than he already made himself to be.

    This guy is way more lucky than Adler to receive royalty checks for being played on the radio

    while not even granting anyone a single interview every 5 years

    "GN'R were the next Rolling Stones"

    in CIVIL WAR

    Posted

    The Stones < Axl

    bikoz

    1. Axl didnt sell out (yeah I know you can use the same arguments as I could to say he did sell out)

    2. The Stones ain't no nothing what they used to be, are remembered for and used to stand for (like, rebellion, for one)

    They got more ka-chiiing than the whole continent of Africa, yet they seek more representing nothing

    connected to the principals of Rock n Roll

    Axl, on the other hand...

    Official GNR Social Media Update / Discussion

    in GUNS N' ROSES - DISCUSSION & NEWS

    Posted

    so, on his own time line, or whatever it's called these days, Del James posted (shared? or whatever) a video of Slash's show

    so when you go to

    https://www.facebook.com/del.james.12?ref=pymk

    the first post, as of nov 12 2015, 9 pm london UK time,

    you see a video of Slash's show

    the video is from India, it seems to be recorded from the roof of the building or a helicopter and it shows the stage and a huuuuge audience attending the gig

    so it pimps Slash

    does it mean

    1. we love Slash and the reunion is happenin

    2. look people, Slash is successful, there aint no need for a reunion

    Sorum in The Cult 2001 diary

    in THE JUNGLE

    Posted

    Billy Morrison has this diary on his web page. It is the 2001 world tour diary when he played in the Cult. I will copy this here for all those who are interested. I do not post the link, but copy the content bikoz If anybody finds this post in 15 years from now on, the link won't work, and the information will stay here.

    It's like a book, really

    2001 – THE CULT WEEK ONE

    Beyond Good And Evil World Tour 2001

    Week One – Nashville, Memphis, Atlanta.

    Welcome to the first of many Cult tour diaries. For those of you reading this who might not know me, ( which is most probably all of you! ) my name is Billy Morrison, and I am the new bass guitar player for the band. I’m working with the others to give you guys an inside look at what its like to be on a tour like this. We will post a weekly update on the tour, tell you how its been, how the shows have gone, hopefully put up video footage and pics of stuff that happens to us, and generally try to keep you all informed of The Cult’s 2001 world tour and the progress it makes.

    Its been a hell of a first week for me. I’ve gone in at the proverbial deep end, playing to just under one hundred thousand people in one week, and I’ve gotta say its been very cool. The new tracks have been going across better than anyone had hoped and we’ve been doing a good selection from the back catalogue as well. We started the week by flying in from Los Angeles to Nashville, to do a rehearsal day before doing our first show at a small club in Nashville called EXIT/IN. The capacity was five hundred and by the time we hit the stage, the place was heaving with people. The show went really well, and we all felt pretty good about it afterwards. It did exactly what it was meant to do, which was to warm the band up for the following nights show in Memphis – a thirty thousand strong festival crowd, and a full on Cult set. After the gig, Billy and myself found a cool sushi bar and chilled out there for a while, before calling it a night and heading back to the hotel. We left Nashville in the morning, drove to Memphis, and arrived at the festival site to find the place looking a bit like a refugee camp – bodies lying everywhere, and very worrying food items being cooked inside portable “café’s”! We got driven to our stage, and by the time the intro tape rolled, it was dark and the lighting came alive. The crowd were great, and we played a full set, both old and new tracks, and everyone had a great night. The evening was topped by the news that our new single, “RISE” had been added to more radio stations that week than any other rock act in Atlantic Records history. Now that is HUGE!!

    Atlanta came next, and the biggest audience so far – fifty thousand people! The Midtown Music Festival. We played the same set as the night before, with Matt and Ian going crazy! Billy and I swapped stage sides and the whole thing became a true Rock and Roll show. It normally takes a few shows for a tour to hit its stride, but I think we started to find it in Atlanta. Back to Nashville, for the River Stages festival – another ten thousand people – and for the second night running, we got to watch Cheap Trick play before us. Those guys are genius, and it’s been a pleasure to share the stage with them. Our show was kinda weird – the audience was along a river bank, with our stage actually on the river, on a boat!! But it was a cool show, and we played well. It’s feeling like things are starting to become tight. After the gig, we hung out talking to the people who were waiting around, had a really nice Indian meal, and headed off to New Orleans – an overnight drive. Nothing really eventful happened, except that at about four o’clock in the morning, I woke up to the sound of what I thought was a nuclear attack, or maybe an Indie Car race, and realised that our lunatic bus driver, Chris, was washing the bus in a jet wash…..at four in the morning!! Matt got woken by the noise as well, but Chris is a lovely guy, and we ended up laughing about it and just going back to sleep.

    We are now in our hotel in New Orleans, a very cool place, as we stay here for three days, and play shows in Baton Rouge and New Orleans itself. More about that in next weeks diary. I’m going to go and enjoy the city and we’ll check in next week. Don’t forget – the album comes out on June 5th. Go buy it, listen to it, and then come to a show. The dates are all listed on this very site. Until next time……

    Peace

    Billy Morrison.

    2001 – THE CULT WEEK TWO Beyond Good And Evil World Tour 2001

    Week Two – Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Little Rock.

    I wake up in New Orleans, starving hungry, and Mike, Phil (one of our managers) and I wander off into the French Quarter to have coffee and ‘beniers”, a very scary hot doughnut type affair at the world famous Café Du Monde. The drama begins to follow us around already, as a waitress has a heart attack right there in the café while we are sitting having breakfast. She turns out to be ok after the paramedics arrive and look after her, and the three of us decide that we should go and check out Bourbon Street – the home of most of the strip joints and bars in the quarter. But as we walk up from the café, Phil gets accosted by a dubious looking woman, dressed in some kind of shiny gold robe, who wants to read his cards, and to my utter amazement…..he agrees!!! So we hang around while he gets told that ‘he’s going to travel’, ‘he doesn’t use all his creativity’, ‘love is in the air’ etc etc and finally, ‘Mystic Meg’ finishes her predictions and we are on our way.

    Late afternoon and we get on the busses to drive the hour and a half to Baton Rouge for the next show. It’s a club gig, about 900 people, and the soundcheck is good. By the time we get to the venue, everything has been sorted out, and it all sounds good already. The crew we have with us are definitely working hard to make it all right, and we are lucky to have them with us. Soundcheck, therefore, lasts ten minutes and I get off to go and eat as much as I can find, drink gallons of coffee and smoke a pack of cigarettes before onstage time. ( hey, everyone has their pre-show rituals!) The gig is a very hot and sweaty affair, and we experiment with the set, dropping In The Clouds and putting Firewoman second. It seems to work and an hour later, nine hundred people are leaving the club covered in sweat, and we are back on the bus. Another day at the office!!

    New Orleans show day is a very relaxed affair for the most part. Everyone gets to sleep late, have a nice lunch and wander around. Matt and myself go over to Trent Reznor’s studio complex to say hi and check out the building. Its an old funeral home that the NIN crew have converted into a nice studio/office/apartment complex, from where Trent can run his empire. He’s pleased to see us, and we hang out for a short while, leave some laminates for him and his staff to use at the show later, and get on back into town for the gig. The record label and the promoters for the House Of Blues are all at the show tonight, and we don’t disappoint them. Its one of the best shows so far. Matt and me get the rhythm section right in the pocket and Billy throws just about every guitar hero shape in the book. Ian is every inch the front man rock and roll star – all Jesus poses and wild tambourine shakes. The crowd loves it all.

    The following day is a day off, which I spend sleeping, and working on my laptop, replying to emails, editing video footage etc and in the evening, I go out for a very nice Italian meal down in the Quarter. It’s an overnight drive to Little Rock and I want to eat well before the long drive. The show at Little Rock is ok – it’s a long day sitting in a parking lot at the venue, waiting to go on, and by the time we do the show, everyone is so wound up, that we just pummel through the set. No dynamics tonight, boys and girls – just very loud, aggressive rock and roll. We get the show done, and get on our way to Dallas, and the 25,000 capacity Edgefest. We do press and interviews, meet and greets, shake lots of hands, and hit the stage on time, and ready to do some damage. It’s a good show, and Ian works the audience perfectly. By the time the encore of Love Removal Machine rolls around, most people are going crazy. Another day over with and the tour rolls onwards to Tulsa, Oaklahoma. See y’all next week, when Matt is threatening to write the diary.

    Peace

    Billy Morrison

    2001 – THE CULT WEEK THREE Beyond Good And Evil World Tour 2001

    Week Three – Tulsa, Wichita, Columbia, Omaha, Peoria

    As you will realise, you’ve still got me, Billy Morrison, writing the diary. Probably because I’m the only person who is insane enough to be up this early! Its seven o’clock in the morning, and we are driving towards Indianapolis, and as I couldn’t sleep yet again (clinical insomnia, I’m sure of it) I thought I would get this weeks diary done. It’s been a mad week – five shows that have pretty much all merged into one big Cult set. We started off in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the middle of a horse racing track, playing a radio festival with Orgy and Fuel. It was a very hot afternoon, and we began seeing people being carried off by the medics, looking like boiled lobsters and suffering from the heat. We hung out with the guys from Orgy and Fuel, both before the show and afterwards and the gig itself was fine – same set as in Dallas and everyone went crazy. After a few hours in a local after hours bar, we headed off for Wichita, Kansas and a club called Rita’s Little Uptown.

    LOUD is the word that comes to mind when I think of this show! The club was pretty small – probably 800 people, and we turned up with the same rig that we have been using at the festivals. The show felt very punk rock – driving through the set, but without The Saint (from the new album), we hammered everyone, including ourselves. But it felt really good, and I’m sure my hearing will return at some point this year! All good fun. Onwards towards Columbia and Omaha, – both shows were club gigs again, and both of them were loud, hot, sweaty affairs. I’ve got to admit that at this point, its all starting to roll into one big mess in my head. The constant procession of getting on the busses, checking into hotels, checking out of hotels and playing shows is starting to fry the few brain cells I have left!! It’s a lot of fun out here and I love playing the music. It just gets harder to remember what day it is, what town we’re in and where we are going next.

    Omaha, Nebraska was next, and I noticed six volleyball courts right outside the entrance as I got off the bus. Then, as I walked in to soundcheck, I saw the twenty four lane bowling alley! OK…. it seems like we are playing the leisure centre! But it’s a great little club and by the time we played, it was literally wall to wall with hot, sweaty people, buzzing with anticipation. It’s a fantastic gig – we played really well, just getting into the pocket and relaxing with each other. It’s the feeling that all bands push for and is not always there. But when it comes, it’s awesome. We played War, Nirvana and Love Removal Machine as encores and I came off the stage soaked with sweat. It felt like I had been swimming! We all spent a lot of time after the show, meeting all the people hanging around the busses, signing stuff and hanging out with everyone. I even found a small smoke shop in the old town that sold my brand of English cigarettes so I bought every pack they had, and ended the day a very happy man.

    Next up – Peoria and a great venue that was obviously an old movie theatre, complete with balcony, and a stage with wings. We had a few things to do during the day, like a photo shoot and some signings etc, but during the downtime, I broke out my new toy – a remote controlled racing car! This thing is insane……twenty five miles an hour and completely controllable. The parking lot of the venue turned into Laguna Seca Raceway and I killed time chasing any cars, people and dogs that showed up. The show was again another one that felt good and tight. Full set list again, and by the time Sanctuary came around, I couldn’t help smiling at all the hands in the air. The main incident for me was taking a fall when I left the stage in the pitch black, and hurting my lower back. As I’m writing this, I can feel how bruised it is, and will probably have to take it easy for a few days.

    That’s it for this week – lets see if I can get Matt to keep his promise next week. Until then…..

    Peace

    Billy Morrison

    2001 – THE CULT WEEK FOUR Beyond Good And Evil World Tour 2001

    Week Four – Columbus, Saratoga, Foxboro,Washington, Providence

    I’ve been elected by default to continue writing this diary, and you know, it actually helps keep me relatively sane out here. Being able to tell the difference between shows is a hard thing to do and by writing some sort of diary while touring, it helps me work it all out. My question to you all today is….. what makes a good chicken caesar salad?! Nothing to do with The Cult directly, but having eaten it now in twenty different hotels, and having had a different meal each time, I find it is a question that plagues me.

    Anyway, this was to be the week of the big shows. Columbus was a good theatre show – same set as we have been doing elsewhere, and from there, we drove to Saratoga Springs. What a beautiful town – cool little antique stores and schoolhouses, churches etc mixed in, all built in a kind of late nineteenth century style. We all went out shopping on the day off, and all found a very cool, cheap army surplus type store. Suddenly we were all wearing camouflage jackets and Carhartt jeans!! Not quite, but you get the idea! I drifted around the town all day, and went out for a meal with Billy, Matt, Rick and Carl (our managers) in the evening. The following morning was a show day and we drove down into the middle of what looked like a forest, and suddenly a clearing appeared, and this amphitheatre came into view. This was the venue – how bizarre. We were playing with Everlast ( very cool show ) and Live, and our set went down ok – I think we were all a bit tired, but we pulled it off and moved on to Foxboro Stadium in Boston.

    What a bill for a festival – Aerosmith, Black Crowes, Marilyn Manson and us!! And a nice stadium as well. It was a long day, arriving at eight in the morning and leaving at two the following morning, but the gig was great. It felt good to be on that stage, and most of the night was spent watching the other bands. Aerosmith, despite only doing five songs, were as cool as they have always been, and Manson sounded really good. I think every single person who went to that show left having had their moneys worth. Washington RFK Stadium, and my first thought is “this place is huge!!!”. We do a bunch of press during the day. Scott Ian from Anthrax interviews us for VH1, and we get ready to go onstage. The show itself looks awesome from where we are – everyone in the crowd is going crazy, crowd surfing, clapping their hands when Ian makes them and we come off stage hot, tired and happy. We played well, and we had a great audience. That’s all we need. We watch Incubus, who sound good today, and Green Day, who blew me away. That guy is a top performer, he can sing and the crowd went stupid, ripping up the turf covering and actually using it as surfboards. Guys were crowd surfing (literally) from the sound desk at the back of the stadium to the front row. If any of you people are reading this – YOU ARE INSANE – keep it up!!!!

    A whole bunch of autographs later and we leave the parking lot of the stadium on our way to Rhode Island, and another club show in Providence. We played to a sell out crowd and threw in “Take The Power” from the new album for the first time ever. It goes down well. It’s kinda hard to keep making the transition from theatre to club to stadium to theatre again. Everything changes from gig to gig and it’s difficult to get comfortable with the onstage sound and get continuity night after night. I think the next leg of the tour, with Monster Magnet and Stabbing Westward is going to tighten everything up even further and will take us up to the next level. The album drops next week and the vibe on the new single “Rise” has been great, so the tour will roll on, we will do more press, more shows, and keep on keeping on. Thank you to every single one of you who has come to a show – The Cult salute you. Next week – we invade Canada, and play a secret show in LA. Until then…

    Peace

    Billy Morrison

    2001 – THE CULT WEEK FIVE Beyond Good And Evil World Tour 2001

    Week Five – Canada and Los Angeles

    Let me tell you about Canada. Or at least my impression of Canada. It seems to be pretty cold there – at least, when we arrived it was raining, cold and everyone insisted on speaking French (not my main language!). But for The Cult, it’s a GREAT place to be. We were there for just a few days, but every bit of press, everyone we met, and both the shows were just so well received. It looks like we want to try and go back later in the year to do a dedicated tour of Canada. Montreal was just one of those gigs where everything went right. The audience were just completely up for it, and we played the whole set perfectly. Ian was very emotional when we walked back on for the encore – a great moment for us. We also did a live set for MusicPlus, the Canadian TV station in their studios. Despite being kinda weird, playing two songs and then sitting down and talking for a bit, then jumping up and playing a few more songs, then interview again, the show looked great. I saw a tape afterwards and those guys made the whole thing look really cool, and all the studio audience loved it. And Toronto was much the same. The show there was in a huge complex, that had two or three other clubs going on at the same time. I came out of the dressing room at one point, and these two guys were outside dressed like birds – you know, all multi coloured feathers and beaks strapped to their mouthes…….and they were on HUGE stilts!!! Now call me old fashioned, but the sight of two ten foot tall purple parrots standing around having a conversation is just a little bizarre!!! It turns out that they were the floorshow for the hardcore dance club next door. Thank God for good old, jeans and tee-shirt rock and roll!! I stayed on in Toronto for an extra day to sort out some stuff, while everyone else flew back to LA.

    When I was a kid, I used to look at all the rock stars and wanted to be just like them. The thing is, nobody explained to me that sometimes, I would have to get off a plane, and go to a radio station at 7.00am, to play songs on a breakfast show!!! Oh my God, we were all so tired at KROQ. It was great to be asked to do the Kevin and Bean show, and I think we pulled it off – Rise and Edie done on acoustic guitars – but it was so early!!! And when we left the station, there were people waiting for autographs!! I asked them what they were doing up so early, and they said “waiting for you guys”. Amazing! And later that day, at the in-store signing at Tower, I was even more amazed at the dedication of some of the fans. Kids had been sleeping in the parking lot of Tower, just to get to meet the band. Guys were getting Ian to sign their arms, and then going out to get the signature tattooed on!!! The line to get in was long, the police were in attendance and news crews from the networks were there too. The Cult is back, ladies and gentlemen!!

    The Whiskey show itself was just the best time. We absolutely filled the place, and from what I heard, getting through the front door was a triumph in itself! Los Angeles came out in force to welcome the band, and I know we were all very appreciative, and proceeded to play a really great set. The Whiskey was a very hot and sweaty place to be that night, but I think everyone who saw the show would tell you that it was worth every bead of sweat. So that was the end of the first leg of the Beyond Good And Evil world tour 2001. Apart from the Leno show (I can sum that up easily – stand around all day doing nothing, then try and perform totally cold, in front of a studio audience for three and a half minutes!!!) it’s all over for a few days. The next couple of months will be back around the country with Monster Magnet and Stabbing Westward. I promise that I will get words of wisdom from ALL the other members of the band, and as long as you guys wanna read this stuff, I will make sure that there is something to read. The new site is starting to look cool, I think, and we are maybe going to try getting some video clips from the tour up for you all to see. Thank you all for your words of kindness and we will see you at a show very soon.

    Peace

    Billy Morrison

    2001 – THE CULT WEEK SIX Beyond Good And Evil World Tour 2001

    Week Six – Reno, San Fransisco, Santa Barbara, and Sacremento

    Hmmm…..an interesting week, I think. Sunshine, concussions, rock stars and barbeques all played an integral part in this first week of our two month US jaunt with Monster Magnet and Stabbing Westwood. But let me start at the beginning…. We left LA at around midnight, and did an overnight drive to Reno, to start the next leg of the tour. I woke up the next morning to find the bus parked in yet another car park – this time next to the Reno Hilton. We had rooms, so of course I checked in, showered, drank ten cups of coffee and smoked thirty cigarettes to get a personality, and made straight for the pool. Matt and Billy D were already sunning themselves, a couple of the Stabbing guys were there, and we just lazed about, catching fierce desert sun for a few hours. Later on, I checked out both Stabbing and Monster Magnet sets, and although I’ve seen both bands before, I decide that it’s a great bill, and the tour is gonna ROCK!! They both do well, and leave the place warmed up nicely for The Cult. Our set is good – Take The Power gets added and feels cool. Its great to have a bunch of new Cult songs to play. And after eight days break, its good to be playing again.

    The next day is San Francisco – actually it’s the Shoreline Amphitheatre which is a little way out of town, and it’s a big radio show, with Staind, The Disturbed, Blink 182 and a bunch of other new bands. It’s nice to know that with this new album, The Cult are still a current band. We wonder how we are going to be received by all the kids out there, but we have a great show – any worries are unfounded, as we get all Punk Rock and train wreck through the set. Its good rock and roll and we go down really well. The sun is in our eyes the whole way through the set, and it makes finesse and technique almost impossible. So the raw energy of the band shows through, and everyone leaves the stage happy. We hang around the rest of the evening in the guest area, listening to the rest of the bands. I watch Staind from out front and think they’re alright. Bob Rock, the guy who produced Beyond Good And Evil is at the gig and hanging out with us. He’s a nice guy and it’s a pleasure to have him around. But I lose my favourite Gucci sunglasses so I’m pissed when the bus pulls out!!

    All I can hear is laughter – I’m in my bunk on the bus, and fast asleep, and suddenly I wake up and sit bolt upright (always a silly thing to do in a bunk compartment that is three feet high!!) to the sound of Matt, Billy and Tony, our assistant telling war stories in the front lounge and laughing…..loudly!!. This is confusing as I am ALWAYS the first to wake up. Stumbling out of bed, and into the lounge I see a fantastic view out of the bus window of the ocean, and the Marina as we pull into Santa Barbara, one of the most beautiful towns I’ve seen so far. What the guys are doing up at eight oclock, I don’t know!! But I don’t ask, I make my coffee, smoke my cigarettes and once we find the venue, I go for a shower and a look around. Its great – built on top of a hill, overlooking the town, the view is awesome, the sun is shining and catering have a barbeque going – it’s like being on holiday!! I chill out on the bus for most of the day, playing guitar and Playstation 2 (I’ve gotta get some decent games!) until my buddy Jason shows up from Santa Monica. Jason is friends with Monster Magnet, so I get introductions to the guys who all seem really nice people and we hang out until its time to go on. The gig is good, and the audience go crazy, until our encore. During the break in Love Removal Machine, we bring out Billy Gibbons from Z.Z.Top, to play guitar with us. What an honour – the guy is a genius! He’s a fan of the band and showed up earlier on to watch the show. So when he walks out onto the stage, Santa Barbara goes mad, and we finish the set with three guitarists!!! What a great end to a great day.

    The Sacramento show is my Nemesis. Anyone who has seen the band play knows that Ian does this ‘Rodger Daltrey, swing the mic around his head’ type thing, which looks great from front of house. Up onstage, I’m having a great gig, playing well, feeling good, and we are coming to the end of Peace Dog ( I think – I don’t remember much) and I’m by the drum riser, looking at Matt and getting into the song, when suddenly everything goes black, my face explodes with pain, and I fall into my cabinets, holding on and trying to stay conscious. I find out later that Ian has swung the mic as normal, but misjudged the distance and hit me in the face with it!!! I spit out some blood, shake my head and everything seems ok, and when Ian asks me if I’m alright, I say yes. Carry on with the show. OH MY GOD!! Two songs later, my head is spinning and I can’t look up, for fear of blacking out. Leaning against my cabs seems to be the way to get through the show, and as long as I don’t move, it’s not too bad. But I have to walk to the front to sing backing vocals, and every time I do this, the whole venue starts spinning and I feel like throwing up/fainting – I’m not sure which! Somehow, I get through the main set, and as I walk off, my legs turn to jelly and I collapse. Suddenly there’s a medic making me breath oxygen, and asking me stupid questions like ‘do you know where you are?’ and ‘what day is it?’ “Fucking hell, mate – I’m on tour. How the hell do I know?” is my reply!!! I do the encore, and get helped off to have medic man repeat his inane ramblings and nurse takes my temp, blood pressure etc and generally does nurse-like things (Very Nice!!) I fall asleep on the bus that night with the worlds biggest headache, and a jaw that feels very disconnected from the rest of the world!! I will watch him very closely from now on!! So while the jaw heals, the bruising goes down and my head stops spinning, I’m going to say take care people, and Ill catch up with evryone next week, for the ‘desert leg’ of the tour, including Phoenix and Vegas. I’m topping up the sun tan and recovering until then.

    Peace

    Billy Morrison

    2001 – THE CULT WEEK SEVEN Beyond Good And Evil World Tour 2001

    Week Seven – Phoenix, Las Vegas, Irvine and Salt Lake City

    As I do more shows with this band, meet more of the fans, and talk more and more about this website, I realise just how important it is to keep everything updated, to keep the diary current, and to let everyone know what’s going on. This is where the whole thing becomes a family. I’ve met people who have driven halfway across the States to see us play at a show, and who tell me that the site has made them feel part of a huge family. That is SO fucking cool!! When I was a kid, back in England, I used to travel all over Europe to see my favourite bands. I would spend every penny I had on tee-shirts, records, posters etc and I would spend every waking hour in school, hanging on until I could get in my friends car and we would be able to get out to somewhere to see those bands play. I thought that mentality had died, but I was wrong. Cult fans are insane, and I love them for it!! And every one of them that tells me they read this rubbish that I try to write makes me feel more a part of it all, just like it does them. Long Live The Cult!!

    The Desert…….OH MY GOD!! Its all about the heat….. the very ‘dry’ heat. Phoenix and the show at the Web Theatre was so hot, the guitars just would not stay in tune. I spent a lot of the pre-show time talking with the guys from Fender who very kindly provide me with the basses that I use. They came down to say hi, and we did a photo shoot with all my guitars. We talked about a “Chaos” bass, like the tee-shirt that I wear onstage sometimes. It will be very cool if that comes off. The actual performance was so hot, I must have lost ten pounds in sweat!! Take The Power (one of my favorites from the new record) has made it into the set properly now, and as far as I could tell, all the guys had a good show. The drive from Phoenix to Vegas was amazing – a desert sky full of stars like I’ve never seen before. I chilled out in the back lounge of the bus and fell asleep watching the sky. Altogether now…….”aaahhhh!!!!!”

    Ladies and gentlemen, ‘Welcome To Las Vegas’!! The town is just not real. Volcanoes, Pirate Ships….I mean, there’s even a mini Eiffel Tower in the bloody street! It’s all going on, all day and all night in Vegas. So we checked in to The Mandalay Bay hotel, and we all split up for the day, just relaxing and taking some well earned rest. I spent a few hours in the hotel spa, with eucalyptus steam rooms, hot and cold plunge pools, and mini blueberry muffins!! Very relaxing and very neccessary. Any one of you guys who owns a spa in Los Angeles, please contact me at Complimentary Towers, Freebie Avenue, NoCostVille!!! The gig was in the House Of Blues, right next to the hotel casino. Before we had to play, I was sitting at a machine with a friend, telling him how I don’t gamble because I work too hard to get the money I have. I stuck my hand in my pocket and found two quarters. So, I figured I should at least lose them in the slot machine in front of me….(when in Vegas etc). One pull on the machine and I win fifty bucks ……. I like this shit!!! I walk away and get my winnings changed up and suddenly feel a big surge of love for this casino!! The show is cool, but we struggle with the monitor system. We are so loud onstage that I think the system is unable to compete with the out front sound and our backline. We turn into a garage punk band again and power through the set. All good fun, but we all feel that the monitor problems need to be overcome in order for us to move to the next level.

    Nigel from the Quireboys has got married and has his whole wedding party on our guest list, so we have a ‘gathering’ in the Foundation Rooms at the top of the hotel – what a view of Vegas from the roof! We also change busses AGAIN after the party – it seems like we change our bus every two days! – so we don’t leave Vegas until five thirty in the morning. While we wait for our new driver to show up, a girl appears, sits on the sidewalk and bursts into tears. So I get off the bus to go and see if she is alright, or if we can help. It turns out that someone from Stabbing Westward (sorry about the previous weeks spelling, guys) has forgotten to put her on the guest list, and she has been wandering around the streets of Vegas for hours. We give her a drink and some money for a taxi, and send her back to her hotel. Note To Self – always remember to put the names on the list!!!

    The KROQ Weenie Roast at Irvine, was total, unadulterated PUNK ROCK. We were on at five o’clock in the afternoon, with the sun in our eyes, and a whole heap of bands ahead of us still to play. So we opened with Sanctuary, closed with Love Removal, and played nothing but new songs in between. Ian sang a fantastic show, running into the audience during the last song. But on the way back, he got into an ‘altercation’ with a cameraman, and started to drag cameras, monitors and anything else he can find, into the pit. The cameraman gets up onstage, I look over and see Tony, our assistant, heave the guy straight back off the stage and into the pit, so I run over to give Tony a hand in, er…..”calming the guy down”, Tony grabs me and gets me off the stage. Ian finishes trashing everything, the whole thing is straight out of 1977 and we have to hide certain people, while our management flex their damage limitation skills and put Operation Clean Up into effect. By the end of the day, apologies are made, no harm done, we watch Stone Temple Pilots, and then we leave. Day Over.

    Our flight to Salt Lake is quick and easy, and we arrive at the venue on time, to find a huge arena waiting for us. Now I’m just a poor little London boy and have no experience of Utah, Mormons or anything else, other than The Osmonds!! So I’m astounded at the amount of beautiful women walking around. The show is another monitor mess, so although we play well, and the audience goes absolutely mad, we come offstage knowing that things have to change up there. We are not The Clash, and we need certain things in order to give the Arena Rock Performance that you guys deserve. Other than that, the show is one of my favourites. Stage divers, a real moshpit, kids singing every word,– what more could a boy ask for!!! After we come off, I sign some autographs and meet a few diehards who refuse to leave until we have signed their stuff. I love these people. And we make our way towards Denver, and week three of this leg of our tour. Its hard work and gruelling, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I love this stuff more than anything. Thanks for making me feel welcome in this band.

    Peace

    Billy Morrison

    2001 – THE CULT TOUR WEEK EIGHT BEYONG GOOD AND EVIL WORLD TOUR 2001

    Week Eight –Salt Lake City, Denver, Kansas City, Chicago and Minneapolis

    Hello Cult People!! Matt Sorum here.

    As you might know, this is my first tour diary writing. I have been promising Billy Morrison I would write one since the beginning of the tour. In May I could never seem to get enough time. Billy gets up much earlier than me and is very energetic. I have been having difficulty sleeping on the bus, which usually gets me to bed around 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. and rising around 1:00 or 2:00 p.m., just in time for soundcheck, press and meet and greet. But since the beginning of this leg of the tour, I have been feeling more rested, as I have been more relaxed and settling into tour mode so to speak. After spending a fews days in my own bed in Hollywood, California around the Weenie Roast and San Diego gigs, I was ready for the bus again. I said goodbye to my black lab Drac, my german shepard Anya, my african parrot Myra and my six Koi fish Johhny, Gypsy, Edgar, Lilly, Spootie and Junior and headed off to the the airport in a van with Morrison, Dimkitch, Bone and Duffy. Salt Lake City was the Destination.

    __ Monday, June 25th. Quite a large gig in Salt Lake, a big arena called the E Center reminding me of touring arena’s on the Sonic Temple tour and the Guns days. What I remember the most was how bad those places sound, but with Bone on the soundboard I know it was rockin’ in the house. After getting a new drum kit for this tour I’ve been having some trouble getting a good sound on stage and I will remember this gig as being one of my worst even though the fans in Salt Lake are always great and I think it was a good gig overall.

    __ Tuesday, June 26th. After an o.k. nights’ sleep on the bus, I awoke in Denver. After rolling out of my bunk I made myself a bowl of Granola with a large glass of orange juice followed up by some multi-vitamins for energy. Very nice hotel in Denver called The Hotel Monaco. Went for a workout, 30 mins. on the treadmill and some sit-ups. Then after my workout, I met with the president of Earthlink, and he hooked me up with the Blackberry wireless E-mail unit which has been very handy on the bus, recieving and sending messages. Off to the gig at the Paramount. Tough gig for me again tonight, having a hard time hearing the monitors, But once again a great Cult crowd. Went home after the gig for some sleep which is very unusual for me. I usually like to go out and mingle and meet some new people. But instead went for the hotel with a great bed option.

    __ Wednesday, June 27th. Woke up on a day off in Denver, went for a meal with our assistant Tony to Chili’s. Had the healthy choice, chicken and veggies. Then went for a cruise to the prominade, bought a 64mb chip for my Canon digital camera, had some Starbucks ( a vente non-fat latte) with Bone and Tony, then back to the hotel to pack up for the late night drive to Kansas City.

    __ Thursday, June 28th. Woke up in Kansas City in front of the venue around 11:00a.m. Went inside and the caterer made me a beautiful egg white vegetable omelette (very nice) followed again by some multi-vitamins. Good soundcheck today where I discovered some of my monitor speakers were blown. After soundcheck some press and dinner. Best gig in weeks for me tonight, felt real good behind the drumkit. Great sound tonight!! Outside the gig, bought a cool belt off a fan, kind of a punk rock studded thing, good with jeans or black pants. $20 a bargain.

    ___ Friday, June 29th. Big drive to Chicago, 510 miles. Kind of a bumpy ride, arrived around 10:00a.m. Went into the hotel for some more rest. No soundcheck tonight at the House of Blues. Lots of guests for tonights show. Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins, and a friend of mine from Playboy with 12 friends!! Great gig tonight – felt totally at ease behind the kit. What a difference good sound makes. The band was rockin’. Ian was singing great, Morrison was pumpin’, Duffy was throwin’ shapes. It felt great!!!

    __ Saturday , June 30th. Early day today. Big radio show in Chicago for Q101 with five live songs from the studio with a live audience. Band sounded good for so early in the morning. We played “Rise”, “Breathe”, “Firewoman”, “Love Removal Machine” and “She sells Sanctuary”. Billy Corgan in attendance again as he was recording some acoustic stuff upstairs and we were so loud he had to stop. After signing autographs, we went to Billy Corgan’s studio to hang out a bit. Ian, Duffy, Morrison and myself. Had some chinese food and went off to the Congress theatre for another gig. Some of the best vocals I’ve ever heard from Ian tonight. The band was smokin’, full lights and sound, cool old theatre. After the gig, some sushi and friends on the bus.

    ___Sunday, July 1st. Woke up in Minneapolis in front of the Quest theatre. Lots of family coming tonight. My Dad, two brothers Mike and Dave Jr. after my father. My Dad raises horses in a little town about two hours north of Minneapolis. And my oldest brother Mike is a horse vet. My kid brother Davey has just turned 21 and assists my brother Mike. 14 guests altogether for me tonight. Good gig tonight, smaller place but very rockin’. Very relaxed gig. First gig for me with the new in-ear monitors where I can hear everything through small earpiece type things. Hung out with the family after the show at a place called the Lounge next door.

    I hope you enjoy my week’s report. Talk to ya soon!!!!!

    Matt Sorum

    2001 – THE CULT WEEK NINE BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL WORLD TOUR 2001

    Week Nine – Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia and New Orleans

    BOREDOM!! Three days in Milwaukee, and I am going insane with boredom. We are in town to play the Milwaukee Summerfest, and the actual show is amazing. But the routing has us hanging around the town for a day before the show and a day afterwards. Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing particularly bad about Milwaukee – it’s just that there is only so many Starbucks you can drink, only so many hours on the Playstation, only so many walks around the Mall you can take before you start to go mad!! We go down to the festival site the day before our show, to catch Slash’s Snakepit do their thing. He seems to be having fun, and Matt catches up with all the gossip pre-show. After their set, we say goodbye and head off to the funfair. Billy D, Tony and Bone all stay with feet firmly planted on Terra Firma, but the two kids of the band (namely Sorum and Myself) shell out fifteen bucks a piece to ride the most insane ride we can find. As we are spinning around like rag dolls, seventy feet in the air, in the rain, Matt starts asking me if I ever think of the crackhead junkie freaks who bolt these things together??!!! SHUT UP!!!!! One adrenaline rush later, and the evening is finished. We head back to the Hilton for an early night.

    Show day, and we have all day to kill, before leaving for the festival at 8.00pm. More walking, coffee and boredom, but eventually we hit the stage at 10.00pm and the place is crammed full of people. Thousands of people are there to see The Cult, and they scream and chant us through an hour and a half of Big Rock Show Cult. As Ian says…..”Radio C.U.L.T……where the hits keep coming”!!! It’s a great show – Ian dressed up in full leather in tribute to Jim Morrison (thirty year anniversary of his death today) and singing like a demon. At one point he disappears into the audience to break up a fight – and then he’s back on stage with us, as if nothing has happened. It’s a good night, and we finish the set covered in sweat, but happy.

    The next day………”Lets get a Starbucks for a change!!” We’re not leaving Milwaukee until midnight, so its another full day of hanging around, until we decide to take the busses back to the festival site, and we wait for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers to play. They have a full house, and play all the hits, and when it’s all over, we finally pull out for the overnight drive to Detroit. “Try not to get shot”, is the advice ringing in my ears as I leave the bus in the morning, to go for a wander around downtown Detroit. I take the advice to heart, and off I go to see what the town has to offer. Half an hour later, I’m back on the bus!! Now I understand what Iggy Pop was yelling about!!!

    So most of the day is spent hanging around on the bus, playing Playstation 2 games and watching TV. Eventually, showtime rolls around and as we sit in the dressing room before we go on, we start to get an idea that tonights show might be a bit good…….the crowd are chanting “Cult….Cult….Cult” and making loads of noise. The cheer that greets us as we hit the stage is deafening, and we launch straight into RISE. Its amazing!! Stage divers, the biggest moshpit we’ve seen on this tour, all the crowd singing all the words. It’s a fantastic show – hot and sweaty and loud, and by the time we finish the encore with LOVE REMOVAL, we are all shattered!! Smiles all around, as we leave the venue and get on the busses – a good feeling. The whole band sign autographs tonight – one guy waits four hours after the show tonight to get Billy Duffy’s signature, but his patience is rewarded, and as far as I know, everyone who wanted stuff signed that night went away happy. We fall into the bunks about 4.30am and the busses leave for Cleveland.

    I start the day like I always start the day………the search for the Non Fat Caramel Latte!!! I’m a Starbucks man, and the quest in every city for a Starbucks becomes more and more like Indiana Jones looking for the Temple of Doom every day!! Today, in Cleveland, it involves walking sixteen blocks, getting a pedal taxi ride from a mad Matt Sorum fan (would you believe it? – two thousand pedal taxi’s in Cleveland, and I get the Matt Sorum fan, who recognizes me from this months REVOLVER magazine and proceeds to tell me how much he loves Matt whilst trying to kill me in his search for a Starbucks for me!!!!) and a bizarre incident with a manhole cover!!! ENOUGH!!!! The excitement is killing me!! I get back to the safety of the bus and hide with my coffee and about six Camel Filters and wait for us to go to the venue. Tonights show is very cool – by the river downtown, with abandoned factories and heavy machinery all around the outdoor stage. As the sun goes down, the city’s “mini NYC skyline” lights up, the boats on the river start hanging around behind the stage to find out whats going on, and we walk onstage to do another show. The onstage sound is good tonight, and we play well. Sweet Soul Sister has everyone in the place with their hands in the air and I get a chill through me as I watch thousands of people clapping to the music. I love playing this stuff!!! The aftershow is very chilled – outside, with a few friends and guests, and eventually we pack up and head off to Philadelphia.

    Philly is another theatre show, and another amazing crowd reaction, much like Detroit. Its good to be up there and see people actually getting off on the music. I spend most of my time hanging with my friend from England, who is making a record out in NYC and has driven down to see the show. Afterwards, we stay in town and I get a good nights rest. The next day starts in true rock and roll style. The busses take us to the airport, straight onto the tarmac, and stop right next to our private Gulf Stream jet, which we have called Sanctuary Airlines flight 001!! We are flying across to New Orleans for a couple of days to play at the Endfest, with Papa Roach and Staind. I’ve gotta tell you, it’s the only way to travel. We checked out at noon, took off at 1.00pm, landed at 3.30pm and were onstage by 5.00pm. I was back at our hotel in New Orleans by 7.00pm!!! The actual show was stupidly hot!! Probably around one hundred degrees!! It was hard work, but we gave it everything we had, and went down well. Once we had all made it back to the hotel, and had a swim in the hotel pool, we went out in the Quarter for a “team” meal.

    The next day was a day off, from start to finish – no travelling, no press - so our sound guy, T-Bone had organised a few Harleys for me and Billy D. My bike was lent to me by Mr Lawrence Fishburne – you know……The Matrix and all that??? He was a cool guy, and my thanks goes out to him and our hotel manager, Sidney for letting us have the bikes. In the evening, we all went down to the House of Blues to see Lynrd Skynrd play and to eat again – (in New Orleans, that’s all you seem to do……stuff your face with food!!!) And that’s been our week – private jets, movie stars, pedal taxi rides and strip clubs!! Sometimes it’s just all too much!!!

    Peace

    Billy Morrison

    2001 – THE CULT WEEK TEN BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL WORLD TOUR 2001

    Week Ten – New York, Jersey Shoreline, Washington DC, Norfolk and Myrtle Beach.

    A normal Cult touring day consists of a lot of different elements. Ian and Billy D nearly always have two hours of phone interviews a day, Matt as well on a lot of occasions. I join in on the meet and greets which have become almost a daily thing as well. We all frequently have local TV or video stuff to fit in the day, as well as the bigger stuff like MTV and VH-1. So now that you get the picture, multiply all that by ten and you have NEW YORK CITY!! We wake up to the sound of car horns, pnuematic drills, shouting and general mayhem. Welcome to the Big Apple!! The car comes and whisks us all the way from Roseland on 52nd, downtown and to our hotel, The Tribeca Grand (very nice, by the way!!) We get told we have an hour and a half to unpack, work out, have a shower and meet back in the lobby……..”er….ok Boss!!”

    Then its back in the cars and over to KROQ, which is back up past the venue on 57th. Now Im sure a lot of you know about New York traffic, but for those who don’t, let me just say that you don’t drive ANYWHERE in a hurry in New York!! Gridlock and traffic jams everywhere. Tempers get frayed, and the only way to get through is to stay calm. And there we were, 20 minutes late for our live on air acoustic performance on KROQ!!! STAY CALM!! Our driver was very cool and got us there with minutes to spare, and we ran through RISE and SANCTUARY together in the studio a couple of times and then did the show. And by all accounts it sounded great. Back in the car, and back to Roseland for sound check and a VH-1 taping for Billy – a look around his guitars, amps etc. Lots of Spinal Tap references and technical questions! We sound check, and it sounds really good, so we get ready for the show. By the time we go onstage, Roseland is psyched for The Cult and we don’t let anyone down. The whole place is jumping by the time Sanctuary rolls around and the encore tops the whole night off nicely. Love Removal explodes and Ian is stage diving, not once but three times, and being carried aloft by the fans, and then we’re done. Anthrax, Gene Simmons from Kiss, Vinnie Jones (Lock Stock, and Snatch) all come by to congratulate us on a good show, and then its all over and we get changed and jump into the limo to go down to our party that’s being held by the label, in a posh club somewhere. Its all shaking hands and hanging out with the guests, and about three oclock in the morning, everyone calls it a night and the cars take us back to the hotel. Job done.

    The next day is a press day and most of the afternoon is spent at VH-1, doing various interviews for TV. The main one is a VH-1 Rock Show, with Scott Ian from Anthrax asking the questions. He’s a very cool guy and we have a laugh with him as we tape the show. Eventually, after many questions, sound bites, quotes, etc, they have what they want and we get the evening off in New York. I spend most of it hanging out in my room, playing my new Fender guitars which arrived today. Billy and Matt are out on the town somewhere, so I go down to the bar with Tony for a couple of drinks and then I’m done. Bedtime.

    Remember the song by Barry Manilow, called “Copacabana”…??? Well, we’re playing there today!! We pull up at the venue and none of us can believe it – the show today has been changed at the last minute, and the venue has been switched to a holiday type club, complete with two bars in the middle of the club covered in fake palm trees and coconuts!! Outside, in the waterfall, jacuzzi, swimmimg pool area, Pepsi are having a private party, and after a few failed attempts to get past the security (who are ridiculously dressed like some paramilitary organisation, complete with pants tucked into boots, and army caps!!!) I call them all Nazi’s, tell the organisers what I think of their corporate whoring, and go back on the bus. The club is just like a beachfront holiday bar, and when we go on, we are expecting the worst……but it is absolutely heaving with hardcore cult fans that proceed to go ballistic at every opportunity!! FIREWOMAN has the security completely outmanuvered as kids are coming over the top of the pit in hoards. It looks great from the stage, as the moshpit gets bigger and more hectic by the second. THIS is what we like to see!!! Tonight’s show was killer and the audience knew how to rock. Hopefully we will see more shows like this.

    Washington DC and the 9.30 club. Overnight from the Jersey gig and we check into the Ritz-Carlton for a couple of days. Nice hotel, and I take the opportunity to chill out, do the Starbucks hunt (successfully!!) and buy a new game for the P2. That machine is saving my sanity, I swear!! Billy D, Tony and myself take a cool walk in the evening around The White House, Lincon Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial – very poigniant, seeing all those names engraved onto the wall. The actual show is a sold out affair – the venue is probably a bit small for The Cult but the only suitable one available at the time, so the show is VERY hot and sweaty and the crowd are VERY noisy. I don’t play particularly well tonight, but Ian and Billy both have great shows. Billy D is throwing all the shapes and sounding amazing recently. It’s a pleasure to be onstage with these guys. But I’m a bit down on myself after the show, and go to bed with my head full of how to make it better up there for me. I decide to focus more and make a commitment to warm up for longer.

    We check out of the hotel in the morning, and drive to Norfolk, VA and our date with Buck Cherry. They are out doing their own shows, but have a day off today and are going to support us. Should be a big rock show tonight!! Most of the day is spent hanging out on the busses, and doing the meet and greet thing. Buck Cherry play and Matt, Billy and myself go and watch the guys. They play a lot of new material (my fave is the title track of the new album, Timebomb) and throw in the best of the first album. I enjoy their set, and they warm the crowd up nicely. We hit the stage at 10.30pm and Matt is playing his ass off, as is Mr Duffy. I look over at them and both are doing the whole Arena Rock thing and look amazing. Its hard to follow Ian, as he is running all over the place, singing great and throwing himself about. The show is a good one for everyone except me again. I’m suffering from a head thing – cant get my head focused – and I get really down on myself after the show. Can’t hang with anyone, and just want the day to end so that I can go to sleep.

    The next day is The House Of Blues in Myrtle Beach, and immediately I wake up I’m feeling a bit more positive. Billy D goes off to the beach, and Matt’s still asleep, so once I’ve got my emails taken care of, Tony and I go and visit the alligator farm which is right next door to the venue. I’m blown away!! 25ft Alligators, 35ft Anaconda’s, five “baby” Siberian tigers, who look like they must be 400lbs each and are only cubs!! They will grow to be twice that size, we are told. That’s why both pics this week are from there – it was my highlight of the week. Not many 30ft snakes where I come from!! It’s a great break from the everyday grind of the tour bus, and the day gets better when we jump in a car and go down to the sandy beach, to go swimming in the ocean. The water is nice and warm and the surf is getting up, so we spend an hour swimming, catching some sun, and relaxing PROPERLY!! Apart from a meet and greet, the whole day is very chilled and gets me in a much better headspace for the show. The actual venue is the biggest H.O.B. and looks great, and tonight is a much better show for me. I’m more focused, and spent a lot of time warming up before the show and that has a positive effect on my performance. After the show, we hang around signing stuff – there seems to be a lot of people tonight – and we all make an effort to sign everything that’s asked of us. Ian hangs out and signs stuff and we then start to light fireworks that he’s bought, and keep trying to blow shit up with the bangers, until the venue security come and put a stop to our terrorism!!!

    That’s it for this week, but I just want to leave you with a thought. Music is a spiritual thing, that comes from the heart, gets communicated by passion, and gets experienced by the soul. How, then, does it get mutated today, into the huge corporate entity that is the music business? How does an artist continue to create the works that mean so much to them, and avoid being turned into a lfeless, soulless machine? This is one of the reasons that I enjoy being in The Cult so much. Because although the band are signed to a major label, and experience the trappings that brings along, when it comes to standing on a stage and playing the songs that have meant so much to us all, this band somehow manage to do that every night from the heart. Sanctuary is sixteen years old this year, and every night when we play it, right next to brand new songs like Rise and War, it gets played with the same amount of heart, and sounds just as current. This, I believe, is why The Cult are still here. What do you guys think?? Till next week….

    Peace

    Billy Morrison

    2001 – THE CULT WEEK ELEVEN BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL WORLD TOUR 2001

    Week Eleven – Miami, Orlando and Atlanta

    The drive to Miami seems to take forever but actually takes about fifteen hours overnight, including stopping to have the bus completely serviced at eight in the morning. By the time we hit South Beach, its about four oclock in the afternoon and everyone is going stir crazy! Living on a submarine can take its toll on a guy, and after a drive like that, lets just say that MUCH coffee has been consumed, all conversation is exhausted, and we are all ready to hit the beach. Billy and myself take a walk along the beach, drinking in the sunshine and the fact that we have the evening off. I’ve gotta point out at this time, that Mr Duffy works out every day, goes running once in a while, doesn’t smoke anymore, and is generally a fit person. I, on the other hand…….am not!!! My daily workout includes my Camel Filters, Starbucks and taxi rides to the end of the block!!! So going for a “short walk” with Billy down the beach leaves me feeling like I’ve just run a marathon!! He goes off around town while I go back to the hotel and get an evening nap. Later, we meet with Matt, Bone and Tony and after eating a great meal, we hit a club.

    The next day is a show day at Pompano Beach, so we have most of the day chilling out on the beach before we leave for the gig. Miami is a great place to hang – a beautiful beach with the female form in abundance, in various stages of undress, strewn all over the place. The venue is about thirty miles north of South Beach at an amphitheatre and the weather was looking a little dodgy. The rain held off until about halfway through the set, and then it came down hard, soaking the already hot and sweaty audience. But I have to say that this show sticks in the mind for one particular fact – from the moment we hit the stage, the first three rows, which happened to be predominently female, became topless! Its not a new phenomenon at a Cult show……in fact it’s a regular occurance at some point during the show, that someone’s gonna “get em out for the boys”. But at Pompano, it was a beautiful thing!! Everyone decided to display their wares at the same time – very difficult to concentrate on playing when that happens!! But we did, and the show was great…..thanx for the inspiration, ladies. It was a hot one, too, and very humid. After the show, I decide to visit the chiropractor that’s at the venue……OH MY GOD!!! She also did acupuncture, and I ended up having fifteen needles in my face and head……in my nose, my cheeks, my forehead and my skull, as well as some in my chest and my shins. Pictures were taken, but not on a digital camera, so you’ll have to wait to see them, but lets just say…..”Pinhead from Hellraiser”. My thanks to Dr Sharon for adjusting my back, giving me a great deep massage, and sticking loads of needles in my head!!!

    Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, The Cult, Tigger………er…….Sorry??? Today, we play the House Of Blues in Disney World, Orlando and as you can imagine, requests for Mickey Mouse hats and asking what Minnie’s up to after work are all part of the day. The day starts with a big Instore signing at the Virgin Megastore opposite the venue…..loads of people to see us, say hi and get some stuff signed. After that, its dinner, and the food at H.O.B. is always very good. New York Strip and Calamari is the main choice and it doesn’t disappoint. Ian’s two sons, that are on the road with us for a bit, disappear into Disney Quest and have a great time. Must be very cool to be that young and to be out on the road – Its all about skateboards and, …. well, skateboards!! We get ready for the show, and hit the stage around ten. Its not a bad show, hot and sweaty as always, and Matt is feeling sick, but does a great job anyway. We play really well tonight, and I think that everybody comes offstage happy. After the show, we hang out and I go back over to the Megastore for a bit of Retail Therapy. Always space for a few more DVD’s in the collection! Florida has been a blast and thank you to everyone involved for making it fun. We move onwards for a couple of days in Atlanta – a show and a live radio session…..at nine oclock in the morning!!

    We stay at the Swissotel in Atlanta and its really nice and comfortable, so my first move is getting some much needed sleep. And once I’m rested, Tony and myself hit the Enormo-mall that’s right opposite the hotel. I’m really pleased to find a pair of Nike’s that I don’t have ( I collect a certain type of Nike ) and my retail fix for the day is bought. Starbucks have a store, right in the centre of the mall, so the day gets better by the second! And when we turn up at the venue later that night, we realise that we have totally sold the show out, and the side doors of the place have been opened to give the crowd some air and somewhere for the overspill to go. This is going to be a very good show. We have some journalists on the bus, doing an “on the road” feature, so we have various photos, interviews etc to do and the pre-gig boredom doesn’t happen tonight because we are kept pretty busy. And then its showtime. When the drop comes down at the start of Rise, the place looks incredible….absolutely packed from front to back, an

    listen to Sorum in "Hawk" 1985!

    in THE JUNGLE

    Posted

    well god damn, is this a great effin album or what?

    Sorum plays drums on this entire record

    let it open a can of whoop ass on you now, ir rocks!

    did you even know he played on this thing? shit, so much better than all this circus diablo or camp freddy bullshit

    and they have a singer!

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