Robert Smith’s cure for The Cure is to retire at 70
Few artists have been more linked to finality than The Cure's Robert Smith. For 45 years, his macabre music has made the pangs of being a human destined to die a little more tolerable—even if we can no longer take cold comfort in the idea of an afterlife. On the cusp of the release of The Cure's first album in 16 years, Songs Of A Lost World, Smith tells The Times of London that the end is coming for him as well. And, no longer believing that this time is forever, Smith says it's coming sooner than we think.
"I don't feel my age at all, but I'm aware of it, and when you get older, that fear becomes more real. Death becomes more every day," he said. "I am a different person to the last record, and I wanted to put that across. It can be trite. People could say, 'Oh, we're all going to die — surprise me!' But I try to find some emotional connection to that idea."
The real surprise? Smith is going to retire in five years. The band turns 50 in 2028; in 2029, Smith turns 70, "and that's it, that really is it. If I make it that far, that's it."
Smith, who does some irreparable brand damage by coming off so lovely in the interview (not to mention publicly announcing that he doesn't read by candlelight), reiterated that he's "led a very privileged life" and doesn't "believe how lucky" he's been. Not only is he "still doing what I always wanted," but he's also "still upright" because there were "points where I didn't think I would hit 30, 40, 50. My mind doesn't function with the same acuity it once had." Smith says there are benefits to this. "I'm much more relaxed and easier to get on with[…]People smile at me more than they used to."
Though his mind does not function with the same "acuity" as in his Disintegration days, Smith speaks the truth regarding ticket prices. Smith was "shocked by how much profit is made," joining the ranks of Eddie Vedder and Fugazi to become one of the few successful people in music history to think, "We don't need to make all this money." Smith has been fighting exorbitant ticket prices for years, negotiating with ticket companies to partially refund fans' money over the company's dynamic pricing "scam."
"My fights with the label have all been about how we can price things lower. The only reason you'd charge more for a gig is if you were worried that it was the last time you would be able to sell a T-shirt," he said. "If you had the self-belief that you're still going to be here in a year's time, you'd want the show to be great, so people come back. You don't want to charge as much as the market will let you. If people save on the tickets, they buy beer or merch. There is goodwill; they will come back next time. It is a self-fulfilling good vibe, and I don't understand why more people don't do it."
It's a shame that Robert Smith is retiring in five years because we could use a few more people who think like him.
Songs Of A Lost World hits stores on November 1.