Cure's `big drink' on Orient Express

transcribed by Andrew J. Stoker <ajs6@leicester.ac.uk>

The Cure pop group ran up a bar bill of #1,500 to #2,000 in one night on the Orient Express, the High Court heard yesterday.

The exploit was revealed in a 60-page written statement by ex-Cure founder, Lol Tolhurst, who is locked in a court battle with the band's star performer Robert Smith and record company boss, Chris Parry.

A friend of Mr Smith's since the age of five [aah], Mr Tolhurst, who with Mr Smith was one of the original four members of the band when it started out in 1977, claims a deal signed in December 1986 gave Mr Smith and Mr Parry an unfair slice of the band's recording profits. Mr Tolhurst is seeking to set aside their agreement and asking for an account of what he is owed.

No figure has been put on his claim which covers as least two hit albums Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, and Disintegration, but it could run to millions.

Mr Tolhurst, of Newton Abott Devon, left The Cure in 1989, and now has his own successful [sic] band Presence. He claims he signed the deal which was to his "manifest didsadvantage" without receiving proper information or advice and relying on Mr Smith who had become the active and dominant member of the band.

Mr Smith, of Aldwick Bay, Bognor [aaarrgh, fat bob is from bognor - there goes his street cred :-], and Mr Parry, of London, say that from 1982 Mr Tolhurst's contribution to the band's activities declined until by 1988 it had become "minimal." They also blame his drinking for the situation. They say the new arrangements were fully explained to him and that because of his behaviour it was inappropriate for him to continue earning more than its other three members.

Mr Tolhursts's statement accuses other members of the group of waging a campaign of malicicous practical jokes, including putting a scorpion skin[!!] in his face flannel.

On May 22, 1986 the band and their wives and girl friends were travelling to Venice on the Orient Express and were being filmed for The Old Grey Whistle Test.

"As far as I recall the trip was quite pleasant," he says. "We all drank a lot on the train and our bar bill for one night was between #1,500 and #2,000."

His drinking made him become the butt of everyone's jokes and aggression, he said.

"I was drinking very heavily and was the butt of everyone's jokes and aggression. [is there an echo in here?] As a result of the continuous abuse and criticism, I became very ill and lost over a stone in weight. It is correct that when I became drunk, I sometimes became aggressive, largely stemmed by the frustrations which I felt.

"It was a vicious circle, I drank for confidence, but later, I lost my confidence because of the drink or the constant abuse and I became unable to perform. The other members of the band would constantly play practical jokes on me. [awww] As the days wore on these jokes became more and more malicious."

The hearing continues.