In the middle of a global pandemic, Cults released Host, their most organic-sounding record to date. In the meantime their song, “Always Forever” started making the band new fans in part because of people sharing their music on TikTok. I sat down with them on Friday afternoon after their excellent set at Shaky Knees to see what they’ve been up to since the album’s release and to talk about how their video for Always Forever finally saw the light of day.
Atlanta Music Guide – John McNicholas
With the release of your latest album, “Host” in 2020, were you able to get out and do anything to celebrate or was it like, releasing it into the ether and then just waiting to be able to go out and play?
Cults – Madeline
We released it and we did nothing that day. I remember, it came out and I’m sitting on this bench, and I was like, “Oh, my God.” I felt really sad. ‘Cuz normally we’ll play a show or something on that day.
AMG
At the very least, there’s a celebration of some sort.
Madeline
Yeah, totally. But I just sat on a bench.
AMG
Was it a cool bench at least?
Madeline
It was a cool bench. It was a bench on the water and I just sat there for eight hours straight and I just did nothing.
Cults – Ryan
I don’t even remember where I was?
Madeline
We saw each other later that night and RBG died later that night. So, I sat on the bench then RBG died. It was very anticlimactic but now we’re finally starting to play it out.
Ryan
That was the first time today that we played those songs in front of people.
AMG
That’s kind of what I was gonna ask. You probably started writing these, you know, X amount of months before they even came out.
Ryan
Oh, yeah.
AMG
So these songs are two years old “mentally,” right?
Madeline
Totally, yeah, we started writing the record in 2018, I think, and then we finished it in 2019.
AMG
It’s a really organic sounding record compared to your earlier stuff. Was that a result of what everybody was going through, or is that just how it came out? Was that a COVID by-product?
Ryan
We didn’t make it during COVID?
Madeline
We pushed it back. It was supposed to come out, I think in the Spring.
AMG
Sure, COVID is only going to be for a few months and then it would be over.
Madeline
Right. Then we pushed it back to September. So not COVID related. We just kind of went back to the basics.
Ryan
Yeah, we made it a point on this record, that every single thing was the real thing. You know? Our first record is almost completely made on the computer. Even the drums and the guitars, even our keyboards you know? And that was really fun but we’re like,”What if we tried to just do everything the way it really is?” It was a pain because we were driving upstate to get to big organs that we wanted to play and miking them up. “There’s this guy upstate, he’s got a thing we gotta use! It’s the one from this song, we got to go!”
We were just going around doing all this organic stuff and that really did make it fun. Yeah, it’s also fun to finish a song in three hours instead of like, three weeks, but it was fun to try.
AMG
When you were doing the record, was it essentially just both of you doing all the instruments?
Madeline
Yeah, well, we had a couple people come in. We had a viola player, a cello player and a trombonist. A “bone man.”
(Laughs)
Ryan
And some percussion players. We got to mix it up this time.
Madeline
We have a lot of friends that come in and play with us, but mostly it’s the two of us.
AMG
I saw you just re-released “Always Forever.”
Madeline
Yeah. People just kind of started discovering the song this past year.
AMG
It was TikTok, right?
Madeline
Yeah. On TikTok during the pandemic, and we had made a video for it. In 2013, and we never finished it.
AMG
So, the new video is the one that you originally started?
Madeline
We made it in 2013.
AMG
How do they stay young? What’s the secret?
(Laughs)
It’s a beautifully shot video. It’s got a little poltergeist vibe to it. It’s really cinematic and nice. What’s it like to go back 10 years on and say, well because this is popular now, this is a new thing we’re doing.
Ryan
Yeah, I mean, it just, it’s really flown by. I think that the reason we’ve been able to make it this long as a band is because we’re insane and we don’t really think about things that normal people think about, we just like, kind of go and make music and let go of the results and just focus on the the machinery of what we do. You know, I philosophize about our band very, very rarely. It’s just, oh, we have, you know, a tour coming up and we have 28 songs for the next record, and it’s like, you just do it, you know?
AMG
So sounds like y’all are constantly writing.
Madeline
Yeah, and when we’re not on tour we’re writing. So we’ve been writing a lot.
Ryan
It’s great now because Madeline’s gotten super slick with her recording setup, So we’ve both been writing songs separately and together during the pandemic season.
AMG
Sending files back and forth.
Ryan
Yeah, we live like four blocks away but during COVID, we kind of didn’t see each other, you know, so we would send stuff back and forth.
AMG
Are you in the city, in New York?
Ryan
Yeah
AMG
I imagine it was a weird place to be in a big city when COVID first started. Is any of that vibe influencing the new stuff?
Ryan
No, I mean, if you asked, I haven’t even told Madeline this, but if you asked me the vibe of the next record, I would say “East Village psychic.”
AMG
Alright. I can picture that. I sort of apologize, asking about the next record. Right?
Ryan
I find myself having to do the same thing, where I’m just like, oh, the record and I’m already thinking about both of them at the same time. I mean, we’re just really happy and proud of the record we made and we want to take it to the ball. You know what I mean? Like, go around and play it for people. And it’s gonna be great. And right now, I mean, the response I was hoping for was so much less than the response we got for Always Forever. To go out and play that song again, it’s going to be such a trip, because it’s like, astronomically taken off during the pandemic for some reason.
AMG
So, it was TikTok but you know what it was about?
Madeline – Cults 7:51
There was no, like, “that’s the reason!”
Ryan
I don’t know the reason.
AMG
It just just popped.
Madeline
People like laying in bed.
Ryan
Yeah, I tried to try to watch ’em and figure it out. And it’s, yeah, it’s just like part of their culture or something.
AMG
So the tour starts in February?
Ryan
Yes.
AMG
And where y’all going?
Madeline
Everywhere. We’re doing six weeks. We’re going everywhere. Except for New Orleans.
Ryan – Cults 8:27
If we’re not coming to your town. We will be nearby.
Madeline
New Orleans, it’s our favorite place, but we’re not coming.
Links
Always Forever video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqk7DocjQ3w
Website – https://www.cultscultscults.com
Tour Dates
CULTS US TOUR DATES
10/22-24/21 Atlanta, GA Oct 22-24 @ Shaky Knees Music Festival^
2/16/22 San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
2/17/22 San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
2/18/22 Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
2/19/22 Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy
2/20/22 Los Angeles, CA @ The Troubadour
2/23/22 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
2/25/22 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
2/26/22 Seattle, WA @ Vera Project
2/27/22 Boise, ID @ Neurolux
3/01/22 Denver, CO @ HQ
3/03/22 Austin, TX @ Antones
3/04/22 Houston, TX @ Secret Group
3/05/22 Dallas, TX @ DaDa
3/07/22 Orlando, FL @ Social
3/08/22 Miami, FL @ Gramps
3/10/22 Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade Purgatory
3/11/22 Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall
3/12/22 Nashville, TN @ Basement East
3/13/22 St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway
3/15/22 St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
3/16/22 Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
3/18/22 Detroit, MI @ El Club
3/19/22 Cleveland, OH @ Mahalls
3/20/22 Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
3/22/22 Washington, DC @ Union Stage
3/24/22 Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
3/25/22 Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere
3/26/22 Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
by John McNicholas
