The Cult’s Billy Duffy Checks In at South By Southwest

The Cult are preparing to release their new disc ‘Choice of Weapon’ on May 22 to the masses and the band stopped by this year’s South by Southwest festival to play a few shows and introduce their new music to fans new and old.

In an interview with Damien Fahey at the SXSW Chevrolet Sound Garage, Cult guitarist Billy Duffy talked about the creative process for the latest album as well as his thoughts on the sound. When asked how the new music sounded, Duffy explained, “There’s a lot of loud guitars on it. There’s a pop edge to it as well, it’s a little commercially. It’s very urban; the image on the sleeve is a Shamanistic thing that Ian’s doing. In some way I think that’s the essence of the record from a spiritual point of view. It’s like urban shamanism.”

Now nine albums in, Fahey asked Duffy what advice he would give to other musicians about sticking with it. Duffy was quick to say, “Passion has to override everything else, it’s important to keep the passion and think back to that first moment, whenever it was, that they decided to pick up an instrument. It ain’t easy to play the guitar.”

As far as their own creative flow, Duffy said his doesn’t have much rhyme or reason, it strikes when it strikes. “It’s a compulsion, it’s like an itch, I start itching and I need to scratch the itch, there’s no logical thing I can rationalize,” Duffy said.  “Ian really enjoys the creative process and I do in a funny sort of way, I’m a little more begrudging about it.” He continued talking about their collaborative writing process, expressing, “I like the challenge of having nothing and creating music. There’s no Ian songs, there’s no Billy songs, they’re just Cult songs and we’ve been like that since literally we got together in ’83.”

The Cult will be heading out on a summer tour in Europe in support of the new disc. Check out the full interview with Duffy below as well as a fan-filmed video of the band performing ‘She Sells Sanctuary’ at SXSW.

Watch Damien Fahey Interview Billy Duffy

Watch Fan-Filmed Footage of The Cult Performing ‘She Sells Sanctuary’ at SXSW