Robert Smith was interviewed along with Damon Albarn by BBC Music 6 today to discuss the new Gorillaz song "Strange Timez" featuring Smith.
The collaboration was completed via email. Albarn had sent Smith a demo of "Strange Timez" and Smith liked it immediately; he enjoyed the song's "sense of travel" and particularly loved the trumpet parts which were played by Albarn's 9 year old niece. Albarn laughed when Smith was talking about the trumpet and said that the trumpet was "the clincher" for Smith. Albarn gave props to Smith for making the song great - he said that the demo he sent to Smith was "very vague" and Smith made it what it is.
The 10-minute joint interview with Albarn also included some Cure-oriented nuggets:
Smith called 2020 "not a year...it's just been completely weird" but that it was a productive year. He said the lockdown benefited him because there were no distractions and that allowed him to get "a lot of what I wanted to do done." He's spent his time finishing up the new Cure album, finishing up his solo album (!), and digitizing video for the Tim Pope-directed film about the history of The Cure. He did not elaborate on the solo album or film...it was just a brief mention of what he was busy working on.
Smith briefly mentioned the last song on the new Cure album and described it as a "big song" which is "ten minutes of like intense doom and gloom." The subject came up during the interview because he was talking about how he was in the middle of finishing up the song when he received an email from Damon Albarn in the middle of the night. The email was sent by a tipsy Albarn who had contacted Smith to find out when exactly he was going to finish up his part of their collaborative song "Strange Timez."
As for when to expect the new Cure album - it's the same deal as always - don't ask! Interviewer Steve Lamacq brought up the album release near the end of the interview telling Smith he wasn't going to bother asking when to expect the new Cure album. Smith laughed and admitted he didn't have a date and if asked he'd "just come up with an imaginary date."
Head here to listen to the full interview with Robert Smith and stream "Strange Timez" below.