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Robert Smith on this past year and lockdown:<\/p>\n
Robert Smith: \u201cI feel really sorry for the people who had plans this year, it\u2019s been a disaster. From my own perspective it\u2019s great that we got so much done last year. This year has just been – just not a year – it\u2019s just been completely weird [\u2026] Our whole idea for this year was really finishing off the album we started last year, me finishing off the solo album and also, finishing digitising decades of stuff in order to make this film with Tim Pope about the history of the band. So, it\u2019s actually benefited me because there have been no other distractions, so I\u2019ve actually got a lot of what I wanted to do, done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Damon Albarn on his Song Machine project<\/p>\n
Steve Lamacq: Just off air, Robert was asking you [Damon] did you know where you were going with this project when you started? And you said:<\/p>\n
Damon Albarn: \u201cNo, absolutely no idea. But isolation \u2013 I\u2019ve really got my head round it as a way of existing, and it has its pitfalls, like any other form of existence. But if you have a bit of self-discipline, you can be incredibly productive. So I hope everyone\u2019s been productive, because we\u2019re unlikely to get an opportunity like this again.\u201d<\/p>\n
On how the collaboration between Damon and Robert happened:<\/p>\n
Damon Albarn: \u201cWe did this tune with Robert completely by email. We sent him it and he said, \u2018Yeah, I like it\u2019 but – \u201d<\/p>\n
Robert Smith: \u201cWas I really that enthusiastic? I loved it! I thought it was excellent\u201d<\/p>\n
Damon Albarn: \u201cYou did say it was excellent, but you weren\u2019t specific about when you would actually do something. To be fair, you did keep us in the loop about where you were at, saying \u2018I\u2019ve done something but I think I can do better\u2019. And anyway, I was leaving the barn one night and I\u2019d definitely had too much to drink and I slipped and fell and hit my head on the stone wall of the barn door, and I woke up in the morning with this huge great bump \u2013 thankfully nothing else \u2013 and I sent an email at about six in the morning to Robert. And he answered it immediately and said, \u2018I\u2019m gonna finish it now.\u2019 I don\u2019t know, maybe it was my near death experience \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n
Robert: \u201cI felt ripples in the force and I thought, \u2018I better get this done.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Damon: \u201cThat\u2019s how I interpreted it, anyway. But then again, I am deluded.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert Smith on getting a lot of requests for guest appearances<\/p>\n
Robert Smith: \u201cThere have been a lot actually, a lot more than usual through the lockdown period. I suppose people are thinking, \u2018What can we do?\u2019 Generally speaking, I\u2019ve done a couple other collaborative things this year \u2013 nothing like this Gorillaz thing \u2013 but yeah, it just came out. I suppose I was in the middle of finishing off the big song at the end of The Cure album, which is 10 minutes of intense doom and gloom and this dropped out my inbox. I thought it\u2019s great I went outside and listened to it a few times, I also had a couple of drinks, lit a fire [\u2026] it had this sense of travel to it.<\/p>\n
Damon Albarn: \u201cAnd you especially liked my niece\u2019s trumpet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert Smith: That was the clincher.\u201d<\/p>\n
Damon Albarn: \u201cAll my family went down to this place in Devon. And there came a day when my nine-year-old niece\u2026 I was like, \u2018You play the trumpet, come on. Come into the studio and do something.\u2019 And she did that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert Smith: \u201cI must admit, in my first reply I think I said, \u2018Yeah it\u2019s great, particularly the trumpet.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Damon Albarn: \u201cExactly – I\u2019ve registered her for PPL so hopefully when she\u2019s older she\u2019ll understand. Or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Does Damon write a song and then think who\u2019d be best to guest on it?<\/p>\n
Damon Albarn: \u201cNo, no, no. What I gave Robert was something very vague. He completely and utterly made it what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert Smith [to Steve Lamacq]: \u201cYou were saying about Hungarian goth metal and stuff \u2013 it\u2019s amazing that most of the stuff I\u2019m asked to collaborate on is actually not anything like what The Cure does. I\u2019m not really sure what we\u2019re known for anymore, but it isn\u2019t a natural fit. And it\u2019s actually those things over the years that I\u2019ve found the most attractive to do, because it puts me outside of where I normally am. There\u2019s a great sense of relief in doing this Gorillaz thing, because I can muck about \u2013 it was a lot of fun.<\/p>\n
Any new solo music coming from Damon?<\/p>\n
Damon Albarn: \u201cI just keep my head down and get on with it. Very low expectations. I\u2019m just lucky to be here doing what I\u2019m doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n