When the Cult was formed as the Southern Death Cult in Great Britain in 1983, the band members asked Ian Astbury if he'd like to join because they thought he looked cool.
"The band was rehearsing in a basement of the house I was living in," remembered Astbury during a phone call from his home in Los Angeles. "They liked my mohawk and had me stand in the corner with a microphone to see if I could sing."After a four-year hiatus, the Cult -- featuring core members Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy, along with bassist Martyn LeNoble and drummer Matt Sorum -- is again on tour. The band will stop at Kingsbury Hall on Tuesday, July 20. Show time is 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the Kingsbury Hall box office or by calling 355-ARTS (2787).
The first gig the Cult played was a TV documentary about the unemployed youth culture in England, Astbury said.
"We fit the criteria," he deadpanned. "But our goals were very different back then. There was a lot more idealism in the music scene. Bands wanted to make records, not money. Making records was our only aspiration."
It didn't take too long for the Cult to form a large following, Astbury said, citing David Bowie, T-Rex, Slade, Roxy Music, the Sex Pistols, Pink Floyd, the Beatles and Led Zeppelin as his major listening styles.
"People liked what we were doing," Astbury said. "And then we started to evolve, and they liked that, also."
From punk, the Cult dipped a little into the dark mystics of the so-called goth scene. "We actually were one of the first bands to use that phrase. We knew a theatrical performer who lived in a Victorian house. He wore a lot of lace and dark clothing. We called him the Gothic Goblin, and his followers were called the Gothic Horde. Well, a reporter got wind of those phrases and began using them in musical descriptions.
"But to tell you the truth, we didn't feel a part of the gothic scene. We just were there at that time."
Then the Cult was slotted in the metal scene because of the single "Fire Woman" from the 1989 album "Sonic Temple."
"Actually 'Sonic Temple' was supposed to be a metaphor for spirituality," said Astbury. "The album's title refers to a concert venue as becoming a sacred place. And the music was what was played as a ritual."
In 1995, the Cult cut its last concert tour short. Astbury was exhausted and needed a change. The singer visited such political hot spots as Nepal, Tibet and Cuba.
"This tour is actually a homage to our fans," Astbury said. "Instead of the band holing up in a studio to do an album, we decided to take the energy on the road."