The Cult- Electric/Sonic Temple- Billy Duffy

By the time The Cult’s  Sonic Temple  came out in April 1989 and went Top 10 on the Billboard Album Sales chart, I would have bet my last dollar that this British hard-rocking four piece, led by trippy leather-lunged singer Ian Astbury and ripping guitarist Billy Duffy, was going to be hugely popular into the next decade. After all, The Cult had just completed a trifecta of  terrific albums in just four years, and their million seller Sonic Temple introduced “Fire Woman”, her sibling “Sweet Soul Sister”, and yet another femme fatale from real life,”Edie (Ciao Baby)”, inspired by Andy Warhol heiress/model Edie Sedgwick.

Sonic Temple was the culmination of selective musical evolution, as it would turn out to be the last recording with original Cult bass player Jamie Stewart and the first with all-star drummer Mickey Curry and in-demand recording engineer Bob Rock as producer. This late 1987 interview with Cult lead guitarist/co-writer Billy Duffy reflects  the frustration, duplicated effort, and enormous expense the band incurred making the preceding album, Electric, as well as the subsequent increase in sales they found with the final results, pointing ahead to the platinum success with Sonic Temple. -Redbeard