The Cure bassist Simon Gallup quits the band after 40 years: ‘Done with the betrayal’
(Photo by Momento Mori) Simon Gallup (61) has stepped out of The Cure. On Facebook, he announces his departure after almost 40 years because he is “done with the betrayal”.
“With a slightly heavy heart I am no longer a member of the Cure ! Good luck to them all …”, the bassist writes. When a fan asks him in the comment if it’s about his health, Gallup says: “I am okay. I’m just done with the betrayal,” he writes.
The rest of the band, consisting of Robert Smith (62), Reeves Gabrels (65), Roger O’Donnell (65) and Jason Cooper (54), have not yet commented publicly on the announcement. Shortly after the announcement, Gallup deleted his Twitter account.
The second time in 42 years
Simon Jonathon Gallup was the bassist across two stints from 1979-1982 and 1984-2021. He was the longest-serving member of the band apart from lead vocalist/guitarist Robert Smith.
During the Pornography Tour in 1982, a series of incidents prompted Gallup to leave the Cure, including an incident on 27 May 1982 after a live performance at Hall Tivoli, Strasbourg, France when he got into a fist fight with Robert Smith at a nightclub in Strasbourg reportedly over a bar tab.
Gallup and the rest of the Cure returned to complete their ‘Fourteen Explicit Moments Tour’ in support of “Pornography”, concluding their 11 June 1982 live performance at Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, Belgium with an improvised song, “The Cure Is Dead”, with Gary Biddles singing abuse about Smith and Tolhurst. Smith, on drums, then threw his drumsticks at Biddles, and they stormed off stage. Tolhurst played bass guitar and Gallup played rhythm guitar during this last song.
This second incident, occurring weeks after the first notable incident, was more infamous and resulted in Gallup leaving the Cure to form the Cry (later renamed to Fools Dance) with Biddles and Matthieu Hartley.
In 1984, Smith asked Gallup to return to the Cure, an offer which he accepted. Since then, the two of them have remained on good terms. Gallup also served as best man at Smith’s wedding in 1988. All went well, until now it seems.
Since you’re here …
… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading Side-Line Magazine than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can - and we refuse to add annoying advertising. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
Side-Line’s independent journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we want to push the artists we like and who are equally fighting to survive.
If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps fund it, our future would be much more secure. For as little as 5 US$, you can support Side-Line Magazine – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.
The donations are safely powered by Paypal.
