Hold onto your leather jackets, goth-rock enthusiasts – DEATH CULT, the OG proto-version of THE CULT (same iconic duo: vocal mystic Ian Astbury and riff-lord Billy Duffy), just dropped two tiny club shows like it’s 1983 again. Mark your calendars: May 14 at San Francisco’s Regency Ballroom and May 16 at L.A.’s El Rey Theatre. Consider this your rare artifact alert – they’ve only played the U.S. once before, and Europe a few times. Maybe they’re warming up for their CRUEL WORLD festival slot on May 17? wink
TOUR DATES:
May 14 – San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom
May 16 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre
May 17 – Pasadena, CA @ Cruel World Festival
Quick history lesson (with ✨spice✨): SOUTHERN DEATH CULT started the whole thing in 1981, released a posthumous debut, then poof – rebranded as DEATH CULT in ’83. They cranked out two moody 12-inch EPs (later mashed into a CD for us millennials). Fun fact: Their sound was basically a Ouija board session between punk chaos and the psychedelic swagger THE CULT would later ride to fame. Goth kids still light candles to those records.
By 1984, they’d shed the “Death” like a snake skin and became THE CULT, dropping “Dreamtime” and eventually 11 albums of face-melting rock. Their latest? “Under The Midnight Sun” (2022), produced by Tom Dalgety – the first Brit behind the boards since their ’85 “Love” era. Dalgety’s resume? Oh, just PIXIES, GHOST, and ROYAL BLOOD. No big deal.
THE CULT’s secret sauce? The chaotic bromance of Astbury (spiritual poet) and Duffy</b (no-nonsense guitar warlock). They’re like yin and yang with Marshall stacks. Current lineup bonus: drummer John Tempesta, who’s pounded skins for WHITE ZOMBIE and literally every metal band you’ve ever heard of.
