Recommendations of the Editorial team
In 2019, Perry Bamonte returns to The Cure to attend the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. Bamonte definitely deserved it. From 1990 to 2005, including their most commercially successful phase with the “Wish” album from 1992, he was a member of the band and was versatile as a keyboardist, guitarist and bassist.
Missing credits on “Songs of a Lost World”
From 2022, Bamonte went on a concert tour again with The Cure and joined the “Shows of a Lost World” world tour. Bamonte made Cure a sextet for the first time, with either three guitarists (him, Robert Smith and Reeves Gabrels) or two keyboardists (he and Roger O’Donnell).
However, he is not listed as a participant in the Cure comeback album “Songs of a Lost World”, even though the album was released in 2024, i.e. during his active time with Robert Smith and colleagues. The song credits include Smith, Gabrels, O’Donnell, Jason Cooper and Simon Gallup.
The official reason given for Perry Bamonte’s absence from the recordings is that the eight new pieces were written before his return to the stage in 2022. A strange reason. Although a number of the songs are a little older than 2022 (“Alone”, “I Can Never Say Goodbye”), at least Robert Smith worked on the record until a year before its release.
Roger O’Donnell and Simon Gallup said that during live performances of the new pieces, Smith repeatedly came up with ideas that he wanted to incorporate into the studio versions of “Songs of a Lost World”. Perry Bamonte could have definitely gone into the studio with him – if he had wanted to.
PR disaster for Christmas 2024
The Cure’s PR department is not entirely up to speed. “Songs of a Lost World” as well as the 2026 tour have long been advertised with an official press photo that only shows The Cure as a quintet (without Bamonte).
Robert Smith justifiably raged on Christmas Eve 2024 because the promo department sent out a digital Cure Christmas card whose stage photo was cut off left and right. Perry Bamonte and Roger O’Donnell were missing. “We’re a sextet,” Smith raged.