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The Cure Bassist Simon Gallup quits the band!

Simon Gallup

Simon Gallup, the bassist who played with the band “The Cure” is no more a part of the group. Gallup recently announced his departure from the band, citing “betrayal” as the reason behind his decision.

On the night of 14th August, the 40-year-old bassist Simon Gallup announced his decision of quitting the band on Facebook. “With a slightly heavy heart I am no longer a member of the Cure ! Good luck to them all,” wrote Gallup.

Although Simon didn’t disclose the reason in his post, but he later announced it while replying to a comment. A friend of Simon commented on his post asking him if he was ok, the bassist replied, “I’m okay Vicky… just got fed up of betrayal.

The story behind the betrayal is not known yet, but it comes as a surprise as in the interviews, every member of the band had praised Gallup. In fact, in 2018, while talking with The Irish Times, singer Robert Smith had said that the band “wouldn’t be called The Cure” if Gallup were to leave.

Again in 2019, Robert had said all the good thing about Gallup and their friendship in yet another interview with NME. Smith said at the time, “For me, the heart of the live band has always been Simon, and he’s always been my best friend… It’s weird that over the years and the decades he’s often been overlooked. He doesn’t do interviews, he isn’t really out there and he doesn’t play the role of a foil to me in public, and yet he’s absolutely vital to what we do.”

Talking about their strong bond and friendship, Robert told NME that he and Simon were without a doubt the most deadly combination in the band. “We’ve had some difficult periods over the years but we’ve managed to maintain a very strong friendship that grew out of that shared experience from when we were teens,” said Smith. “When you have friends like that, particularly for that long, it would take something really extraordinary for that friendship to break.”

None of the members of The Cure have commented on the topic yet. However, Roger O’Donnell, the longtime keyboardist for the band tweeted right after Gallup’s announcement, “A friend just told me they saw Lol in the Guitar Centre buying a bass???????” This tweet is being looked on as a nod to the former drummer/keyboardist of the Cure Lol Tolhurst.

Besides, this might not be the end of the run only for Simon Gallup. The entire band is highly likely to either retire or disband as Robert Smith recently told The Sunday Times that he believes that The Cure’s next album is going to be their last. “I can’t think we’ll ever do anything else… I definitely can’t do this again,” said Smith.

Moreover, this is not the first time that Gallup is leaving the band. The bassist had once said goodbye to The Cure back in 1982. Having said that, let’s look at Gallup’s run with the band.

Gallup was not the founding member of the band, but he is the second longest serving member of the band. He joined The Cure n 1979, replacing their former bassist Michael Dempsey. Other than bass guitar, the versatile musician Gallup also occasionally took charge of keyboards as well. The songs recorded by the band with Gallup on Keyboard include “At Night”, “A Forest”, “A Strange Day” and “Pornography.”

Other than that, Gallup has also tried his hands on bass pedals, acoustic guitar and even as lead vocal.

However, about years after joining The Cure, Gallup decided to leave the band during their Pornography Tour in 1982. At the time, Gallup stated a series of incidents, including the one time when he and Robert got involved in a fist fight. Nonetheless, the band came back together to finish the tour. But the differences again appeared when at one of their concerts, Gallup’s friend Biddles was on vocals started singing, “Smith is a wanker, Tolhurst is a wanker, only Simon is worth anything in the band! The Cure is dead!”

As a result, Gallup finally left the band, and formed another band “Fools Dance” with Biddles and Matthieu Hartley. Back then, talking about his decision to leave, Simon had told, “It’s just basically that Robert and I are both really arrogant bastards, and it got to such an extreme. I suppose you just can’t have two egocentrics in a band, and Robert was sort of ‘the main man’.”

Finally, keeping their differences apart, Robert invited Gallup back in the band in 1984, and since then, Gallup and Smith remained good pals, until now, when Gallup is again leaving the band.

On the other hand, upon hearing the news of Gallup’s departure from The Cure, unhappy fans shared their disappointment on social media. Writing on Twitter, one of the band and Gallup’s fans wrote, “Crossing my fingers that in the morning Simon Gallup will be back in the band and all will be right with the world :(“

Another fan tweeted, “It was just revealed on Simon Gallup’s Facebook that he’s leaving The Cure. This struck me hard. As far as The Cure are concerned, Simon is irreplaceable. He’s been such a huge influence on me. He was the reason I bought my first bass when I was in high school.”

The London based band The Penelopes also shared their disappointment stating, “This is impossible! Simon Gallup can’t leave @thecure”

“Really sad actually. This is like New Order losing Hooky. Gallup is a huge part of The Cure’s sound. I dont hear Fascination Street, Disintegration, This Twilight Garden, The Hanging Garden, The Figurehead, etc. ever sounding that way again. Depressing. #simongallup #thecure,” read another tweet by a sad fan.

 

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