In a recently surfaced interview with Classic Rock from two years ago, The Cult’s Billy Duffy opened up about his bandmate Ian Astbury.
Duffy discussed his relationship with his bandmate and explained how the duo stays in touch when they are not working on Cult. He described their relationship as a ‘separated married couple’ and said:
“I would say we speak like a kind of separated married couple, we keep in touch, we’re not unfriendly, we get on. We have an OK business relationship, it’s difficult because we’re basically like two guys running in a three-legged race, we’re tied together and that’s just how it is and we need to navigate and work that out. If he wants to go left and I want to go right, we fall over. So we have to kind of navigate that but socially, we’re good.”
He then explained the different opinions they have:
“We probably will fall foul of, in terms of arguments and disagreements over business stuff, not financial luckily, we’ve never had any problems over money or anything like that, just creatively we’ll have differences of opinion maybe. I think it’s probably fair to say I’m a bit more conservative, as a guitar player, I like what I like. Ian, being the lead singer, is always out there reaching, and that dynamic and that tension between those two elements probably can be a good and a bad thing, but hopefully more good than bad.”
What Astbury Means To Duffy
Their relationship might not be a usual one, but Astbury means a lot to Duffy.
In another interview, Duffy talked about their ‘familial’ relationship and explained how they get along:
“He’s like family to me. We have a relationship that’s much more familial than anything else. I can’t even quantify it. We just have an understanding. There’s kind of, like, telepathy. When you start, you put everything you’ve got into creating this thing, and we were one of the very fortunate bands who actually made it, and are even more fortunate to still be making new music, touring and playing, and even more fortunate that we’re not really that overweight and we still have our own hair.”
The rocker concluded his words by saying that his bandmate is ‘edgy’ and ‘one of a dying breed’:
“The dynamic with me and Ian really hasn’t changed. We got together in 1983 because we had an idea that the two of us would make a good team, and throughout all the ups and downs and all the things that have happened, the classic combination of lead singer and guitar player, that formula works. It’s true today as it was 40 years ago. I think it’s good that your singer’s a little dangerous. I think it’s important. Ian’s a loose cannon, and that’s what makes it good. I like that fact. I think he’s edgy. He’s one of a dying breed.”