The new publication – which is out today (21 September) – is a memoir of the subculture, delving into goth music and culture.
Following on from his previous book Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys, The Cure co-founder Lol Tolhurst has shared a new publication which explores goth culture. The book focuses on post-punk music and the scene from the 1980s, covering influential artists, who offered “a place of refuge for the misfits of the 80s” and onwards, such as Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, Cocteau Twins and The Cure.
Goth: A History also draws on Tolhurst’s first-hand experience of the goth movement, featuring anecdotes from his time touring with The Cure – which he co-founded with Robert Smith – and his experiences as a solo artist living in LA. Within the book, Tolhurst also traces the origins of goth, looking at early literature and artwork that inspired the subculture, including T.S Eliot, Edgar Allan Poe, Sylvia Plath and Albert Camus.
Speaking on why now felt like the right time to release this book, Tolhurst tells Crack Magazine: “Books, like records, find you and dictate the time they should appear. After Cured, I knew I wanted to write more about my experiences and thought of the time I grew up and what it meant. Once I had the correct voice. It came at the appropriate hour.”
Goth: A History is out now via Quercus Books.