Learned how to groove through trial and error. You played a Fender Precision for some years, didn’t you? Uncool though that may appear, it actually sounded really good, certainly for live stuff.” Later I graduated to a Music Man Stingray, which was cool, with a nice sound, and someone gave me a Tokai Hard Puncher when we were in Japan. Image and character were important in a band like the Cult, so playing a no-name bass wouldn’t have worked. “It was partly because the bass player in Billy’s old band, Theatre Of Hate, had used one, and therefore the 4001 was a known quantity we knew what it could do. Why that bass? The Cult’s style wasn’t obviously suitable for a Ricky. (Image credit: Jeff Kravitz / Getty) Precision and picking I hacked through a few songs and they offered me the gig, so I bought a Rickenbacker 4001. It was one of those no-name copies with black nylon strings. I went to my local music shop in Harrow and asked if I could borrow a bass for an audition. Ritual’s drummer got poached by Ian and Billy, who were looking to form a band, and he recommended me as a bass player - even though I’d barely played bass, other than a bit of faffing about. We released a couple of independent singles around 1981. “I was in a post-punk sort of goth band called Ritual when I was 16, in north London. There’s a part where Visconti stops in mid-song and goes for a fag. I was influenced by Tony Visconti on David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World album, because his bass playing is extraordinary. When you’re trying to assemble music sonically, you figure out what a bass player is supposed to do. I only really learned how to be a bass player after I left the Cult and became a producer. “I started as a guitarist, and I never really considered myself a bass player, just a member of a band. Now a stalwart in the software industry, Stewart has spent the last quarter-century out of the public eye, but thanks to the gift of social media, we requested an interview and duly took him to the pub… Their fourth album from this golden era, 1989’s Sonic Temple, didn’t get the same treatment, but with its 30th anniversary coming next year, who knows? While it should be pointed out that Astbury and Duffy have continued to tour and record fine music with new line-ups since then, their most recent career high points have come when two of their albums - Love (1984) and Electric (1987) - were celebrated with 25th anniversary tours in the last decade. When you’re trying to assemble music sonically, you figure out what a bass player is supposed to do Not long after his departure, grunge arrived and the Cult’s brand of Led Zeppelin and AC/DC-influenced hard rock was rendered obsolete virtually overnight. Pommie is not affiliated with, associated with, or endorsed by the Pomodoro Technique® or Francesco Cirillo.Stewart, who was with the band from its formation as Death Cult in 1983 and left in 1990, was on board for the quartet’s most celebrated period, recording four landmark albums and touring with huge bands such as Metallica and Guns N’ Roses. The Pomodoro Technique® is a registered trademark by Francesco Cirillo.
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