NEW HAVEN - What's the difference between a box of pancake mix and the latest album by the power rock group The Cult?College Street Music Hall I'm still not completely sure, but that comparison was part of a deep and sometimes unwieldy interview/sermon that Cult co-founder and frontman Ian Astbury delivered ahead of the band's upcoming May 7 stop at New Haven's The Newtown Bee to give their respective takes on where the band is today, some 33 years after their bombastic but provocative debut and top-charting single "Spiritwalker."Hidden City, is more of a next chapter in their artistic development than it is the last installment in a so-called "trilogy" that may or may not have a connecting thematic arc that started with 2007's Born Into This and continued with Choice Of Weapon in 2012.Born Into This hit after he came off an electrifying tour fronting another band that happened to include two members of The Doors.Choice of Weapon represented his and Duffy's observations on the rise of a dystopian environment that incorporated ongoing wars in the Middle East, global economic crises, the crash of the music industry, and the rise of social media.Hidden City.The Newtown Bee: So I've seen Hidden City described as the final album of a trilogy. Does that infer there is some sort of unifying theme that connects these last three projects The Cult has produced?Ian Astbury: That depends on your point of view. I guess that depends on what your gauge of accuracy is...It's all subjective, right? It's really an observation that these three records were kind of born out of a moment for the band reconstituting after I performed with [Ray] Manzarek and [Robby] Krieger. The records are probably linked in a way - part of a strange journey for this band because many perceive this to be a major label band only, but we were licensed to major labels. But we were always with an independent label, as a matter of fact the largest independent label in the world, which is XL Recordings/Beggers Banquet. But when we reconstituted in 2006 it was a new beginning for the band, kind of a rebirth. And we revisited our original post-punk roots working with a producer by the name of (Orian) Youth who worked on the last Pink Floyd record and played in a band called Killing Joke. So we made a record in literally less than 30 days to make Born Into This. I remember it was one of the last tangible albums to be stocked on the shelves of the Virgin Records store on Union Square, and it actually became one of the last tangible releases on vinyl in the market as record stores were closing.The Bee: And supporting that project brought you back out on the road?Astbury: We began touring globally pretty much straight into the next album after that, Choice of Weapon - which is more of a dark night of the soul when you think of the rise of this dystopian environment with the extended wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, what was happening at home with the economy, how that was affecting peoples' spirits ... by this time the music industry had crashed completely, we saw the rise of social media. Navigating all these areas kind of sewed the seams of the record and how it affected us personally in our lives, and I feel we reflected that in our work. We never wanted to reflect the pastiche of our work, we wanted to move forward. With Choice of Weapon we brought in Chris Goss as a producer, who was a close friend of mine that I admire greatly as a producer and an artist for his work with Queens of the Stone Age and Masters of Reality and Unkle. That led to more touring and into Hidden City, which in many ways represents a cycle. Especially through to "Sound and Fury," the closing song on the record. The final lyric of the record is: "Awake once more and new," it's like a rebirth.The Bee: So there was no material from each previous writing process carried over and put on any of the subsequent albums - they each stand completely on their own?Astbury: Yeah, there's no carry over from any of the three records, and in thet time we released two EPs as well.The Bee: And yet, there was some sort of thematic arc that carried through all three albums?Astbury: First of all, there is a connective thread for you. It's our perspective. You know this is one of the hardest things about being an artist and doing interviews. It's really subjective. You have your sense of perspective, and how you cognitively label things - and actually labeling things is very restrictive in terms of how we view it. But we have to go through your filter between the reader and the interviewee, or me in this case. It's my perspective, and it's kind of up to you to interpret what I'm saying and articulate it back to your reader. So does it matter? You know, a box of pancake mix. It's a device to get into the conversation. We can sit here all day and talk about why it's a trilogy, but does a trilogy matter? That's not important.The Bee: Billy, having been in LA in 1984 when you guys broke, I noticed The Cult because the band stood out from the synth-driven New Wave and faux metal hair bands. Do you recall conversations with Ian, where you made a conscious decision to take The Cult in a decidedly different direction?Billy Duffy: Yes. We weren't like sitting there scheming about what we could do to make it. I think the simplest way to put it is we were both fans of punk rock, we enjoyed it for what it was, punk came and went and then there was this vacuum that spawned various musical hybrids like "Psycho-billy" - punky rock-abilly, and kind of militaristic stuff like The Clash. You know John, I don't know what everybody was angry about, but there seemed to be stuff like that going around. I mean, I was in Theatre of Hate, which was still kind of angst-ridden social commentary. And I guess Ian was kind of like that in Southern Death Cult, and we kind of just wanted to make it more about the music and less about a specific message. And we just wanted it to sort of organically develop, so we really resented the vice-like grip the media, the printed media in the UK had at the time, when they were dictating what was cool and what wasn't cool. So a lot of the early Cult was really a reaction, and a fight (against that). Ian left Southern Death Cult and they were supposed to be the new big thing, so it was a shock when he left at the time in the UK. His opinion was that the guys in the band didn't have the kind of personality blend that would last. So with us, there was a desire to do something long-lasting. So it wasn't strategic - wasn't sitting there saying 'I know we can make it if we become a rock band.'The Bee: Were your guitar influences from the punk genre of bands?Duffy: I learned rock guitar before punk a little bit, and had an understanding of it. That appealed to Ian because he was from Canada and lived in North America a bit, and was exposed to FM rock radio. And so we found some common ground. That was our story and that was the foundation of The Cult. It was a reaction against what was going on in the media, and its dominance in the UK. That was it. I mean the Love album was a bit of a (expletive)-you to them calling the album Love and taking on that whole psychedelic thing with Ian wearing flairs and us wearing paisley shirts. I bikered it up a bit, kind of did the manly side and Ian did the more feminine side. Basically that album was our (expletive)-you to being told what we can and can't do by the media, which had such a big grip at that point in England.The Bee: You and I are the same age, and we came up at the same time listening to music. How did you start playing?Duffy: Well my mum made me take piano lessons early on, and I didn't enjoy it but it did expose me to playing music. Luckily my high school still had music classes, and that's where I was exposed to string instruments. There was like this ridiculous mint green semi-acoustic bass in the corner, and that was my first thing, picking that up and starting to play it. And there was the exposure from my older brother around the house. From Bill Haley to Elvis to the Beatles and Stones. Probably one of the most important songs in my life was "Rock Around the Clock" as a young kid of 10 or 11.The Bee: That's so coincidental because at that time, the early '70s, the classic rock era was in full swing, but I was watching films like American Graffiti and listening to songs like "Rock Around the Clock," too.Duffy: That music spoke to me, and as children, you know? Listening back to it, it's kind of simplistic and it's beautiful in its simplicity. That's why '50s rock and roll can speak to so many people, even the young generation. That's what motivated me to pick up an instrument, really.The Bee: And from there you really defined the band with a trademark guitar sound that cut through all the rest of the music on radio. I mean, all you needed was about five or ten seconds of your songs to say, it's The Cult.Duffy: Well I had played a couple of kinds of guitars. And when I realized the punk thing was basically gone, I wanted to find my own sound. I ended up in that band Theatre of Hate, and the singer played a Gretsch. And I thought to myself, if I ever got one it would be the "White Falcon," because I had seen Neil Young playing one of those. And in fairness, at that time, the rock-abilly and psycho-billy movement was really big in London, and it was kind of being led by The Stray Cats. They blew it up in England before they ever caught on in America.The Bee: I know, "Rumble In Brighton," right?Duffy: I was around, I saw them, I hung out with Slim Jim (Phantom) back in 1980 and that was a big part of it, that rock-abilly energy. So all the dots got connected and I got that White Falcon, which by the way, was three times more expensive than any other guitar around at the time. So I bankrupted myself to get one, and it allowed me to create parameters around a sound that attracted Ian to me when he was in Sounthern Death Cult at gigs supporting Theatre of Hate. That's how we met in early '83 to do The Death Cult, which we eventually dropped because we figured The Death Cult probably wasn't a good handle for a long-term career. I think we were probably right on that (laughing).The Bee: What do you recall once you headed out of the UK scene and relocated to Los Angeles?Duffy: We knew LA had its own music scene and Death Cult was competing with other hard core acts like Killing Joke and Bauhaus. We were all coming over and it was like a thing, like a Gothic thing, but we were not going to be pigeonholed into having like bats and pictures of vampires around. That was just not what The Cult, or at that time Death Cult, was about. We even did a T-shirt with a picture of a skull with Mickey Mouse ears on it which was a big seller - we should do that one again. But it summed up what we were thinking about all that. It was about being a little funny, cartoony. It was about putting talcum powder in your hair and going on stage and being theatrical. So me and Ian were a little strategic, a little pragmatic about what we felt we needed to do. But always about let the music be organic, what we came up with. And we were always honest and true to what we'd write. We're still like that today.Astbury: To me what's important is the quality of the work, the fact that the band progresses, the fact that The Cult has always been slightly on the outside. We haven't caved into the pressure of compliance. We've certainly responded, we've certainly progressed. We challenge our selves and in the studio we put ourselves in very uncomfortable situations, and that's where you get the best work. In a society where everything is instantly gratuitous, it takes a minute to hang out with these songs to discover the layers within. Perhaps it's asking too much... to ask people to sit for that long. What was the last album you got and sit and listened to front to back?The Bee: The last David Gilmour album.Astbury: OK, Rattle That Lock. And you sat through the whole record?The Bee: Yes, maybe a couple of times.Astbury: What about Spotify, or Beats music services?The Bee: I don't listen to those.Astbury: How can you be a music journalist and not have streaming services?The Bee: I have iTunes and if I'm streaming music it's either on YouTube as audio or I use Google Play or stream on Amazon Prime.Astbury: Hey, good. Cool. So you do use streaming. I speak to a lot of journalists and most have kind of parked the car at one point. They make references that are like 30 years out of date, 20 years out of date, 10 years out of date. That's the mistake. Everybody assumes I have certain credentials because they've seen me or heard my music. But it's actually interesting to me, like, who am I actually talking to, because that really affects the quality of the conversation.The Bee: If I don't make a lot of contemporary references in my questions, I still try to be respectful and accurate. We probably got off on the wrong foot talking about the trilogy thing.Astbury: And it's also low hanging fruit, really. The Cult is way more broader than being tagged like that, but it's an easy tributary to go off on. It's not as important as the quality of the music and the quality of the performances. We've got a great band right now, we're in a very good moment. We did like 90 shows last year, put out an album and did all the promotion for it. We walked straight off stage in Adelade, Australia, on December third last year and went off in our separate directions, but stayed busy behind the scenes planning our next chapter. We haven't parked the car yet.The Bee: In terms of the show we'll see here in New Haven, have you mined deep into your catalog for some rare cuts to dust off?Astbury: Absolutely. We always freshen up the set, always change things around as much for the audience as for ourselves. We'll bring in songs we haven't done in awhile. We work off a list of about 30 songs.The Bee: Has playing some of these songs hundreds of times over the years given you cause to make any changes in the arrangements themselves?Astbury: Hmmm. Not any major structural things in terms of arrangements or interpretations. It probably has more to do with the way we play them. We play differently every night, it depends on where everyone's at.The Bee: In terms of what might be called your greatest hits....Astbury: (interrupting) These terms you're using, greatest hits...trilogies...these are so terrestrial. They belong in the 20th Century, you know (laughing). I never view it that way, we're not constantly objectifying ourselves. We live in this music, it's come from us, we created it. Every night we step into a different room with a different audience, a different atmosphere, a different environment. It's something you have to experience. There's no playbook. We're dealing with an emotional art form. We started as a performance-based band.Duffy: And we're still like that today. Cult fans know it's an honest endeavor. It's a real band, like a band should be. There are some good years and some bad years; you have some good gigs and some not so good gigs; we don't use machinery. What you see is what you get - and our audience is a vital component to every show. You go because it's an event, or you might as well just go see us on YouTube. If you don't participate, you know, I mean the louder you scream the faster we go. We love participating in their good night.The Bee: How was it during those periods when you weren't together? Did you feel like something was missing, or was it good to have that space?Duffy: There were some good periods where we weren't in contact, because we spent so much of the rest of our lives together. We're like family, really. We don't need to see each other all the time, but when we do meet up we click back into where we're at. I think we get on pretty good. There were never times where we had any open hostilities. There was just times when Ian didn't want to do The Cult. He couldn't figure out a way not to do it than just not doing it, you know? And I didn't like it, I didn't understand it, I didn't agree with it, but we have to work together. And Ian wasn't feeling it. So he did other stuff, and I did other stuff, and happily we've gotten to a place where we see each other's value to each other. Without sounding too sentimental, a larger element of what we do is giving back to the fans more than anything. I don't want that to sound patronizing, but I don't play "She Sells Sanctuary" for my benefit anymore. I don't mean that literally, but in general terms the ritual of the concert has a bit of familiarity, and a bit of "That's what we grew up with." Hopefully we can go to shows, and be good, and we can be with people our age. We don't have to give up, or suck. We're in our 50s, we aren't too overweight, we still have our hair. There is a God, right? I guess we're a real band, and you can't fake that for 35 years.Tickets for The Cult's all ages show May 7 at College Street Music Hall are available at the venue's website ($39.50-$49.50). Reserved seating is in the balcony only.Doors open at 7 pm and the opener goes on at 8 . For details visit collegestreetmusichall.com.

with opening support by VOWWS.

Astbury and Cult co-founder Billy Duffy both called in to

Fans and newcomers can expect to hear a range of material spanning The Cult's catalog including popular singles like "She Sells Sanctuary," "Love Removal Machine," "Rain," "Wild Hearted Son," and "Fire Woman."

Astbury and Duff will be joined on this tour by drummer John Tempesta, bass player Grant Fitzpatrick, and keyboardist/rhythm guitarist Damon Fox.

According to the bandmates and close friends, The Cult's latest project,

If one can put stock in The Cult's publicity advance, Astbury and Duffy intended for the Bob Rock-produced album to "encompass their acknowledgement of the global community within a metaphor for our spiritual lives, our intimate interior lives... one that spoke for those with voices who are not heard… those who live in outside of the public eye, within the 'Hidden City.'"

Not to get too heavy - but we are talking about a band that started out in 1983 as Death Cult - the name "Hidden City" stems from the Spanish phrase "La Ciudad Oculta," which is essentially a ghetto in Buenos Aires. There is unfathomable poverty in the hidden city, the release relates, a town the Argentine government turns a blind eye toward while highlighting the cosmopolitan and European flair of the more proper sections of the city.

The town serves as a receptacle to "hide" the evidence of the deep social inequalities present in Argentine society. So "Hidden city" became the perfect metaphor for revolt of the self and soul, and the framework for Cult's third record of three in nine years.

Astbury says the creative inspiration behind

After extensive touring behind that release, he said that 

And following more touring that culminated in a near-religious experience for fans attending The Cult's set at Coachella in 2014, Astbury and Duffy settled into developing

When the band first hit the West Coast, Duffy said The Cult, or Death Cult, was competing with other hard core acts like Killing Joke and Bauhaus, but he and Astbury were determined to find their own niche and the unique sound that has since become the group's trademark.

Astbury picked up the conversation, tentatively agreeing there seemed to be a thematic arc that connected The Cult's last three full album projects, but he seemed uncomfortable about them being labeled as a trilogy.

Check out The Cult performing "She Sells Sanctuary" at their incendiary April 11, 2014 Coachella appearance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeI92NeifaI

The Cult jams on "Sweet Soul Sister" in this January 2016 set:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3qdvMO_Ifc

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