Guitar International's Robert Cavuoto has issued a new interview with THE CULT guitarist Billy Duffy. During the interview, Billy discusses the new Choice Of Weapon album, an excerpt follows:

Q: I noticed on the song 'Life > Death' you had a real LED ZEPPELIN vibe, was that intentional?

A: "It’s probably one of those descending chord changes that have been typified with 'Stairway To Heaven'. I think it’s the same; it’s an A minor to F chord change. It’s a classic chord change. It just depends on your intention. The song just lent itself to an outro like that. We didn’t fight it, let’s put it that way. Myself, Ian (Astbury) and Chris Goss, who was the primary producer on the project, were certainly very aware of it. We were exploring, we were messing around a lot trying to get into the darker, more obscure Zeppelin. We did a song called 'Until the Light Takes Us' on the Capsules. That’s kind quite a Zeppelin-esque maybe 'Achilles Last Stand' kind of section."

Q: Yeah, very haunting stuff.

A: DUFF McKAGAN once said that to me too. 'Yeah, you go for those odd notes'. I guess I do go for those weird notes."

Q: That’s what I think makes your style truly unique, you can tell it’s The Cult and your playing from the first chord.

A: "We’re lucky that we found each other and we’re both still fans. Ian’s a massive fan of music. He turned me onto VAN HALEN. He played 'Drop Dead Legs' in the ‘80s and I was like, 'Check these drums out', right around the time we were doing Electric. I knew what Van Halen was. I remember we listened to that track in London, in his apartment in North London. I remember the day and he went, 'Check this out!'. It had that huge Zeppelin feel. That was a period where we were headed toward Sonic Temple. Electric was like a pit stop for us along the way. We really dove into our AC/DC influence. It was fun, but we were always hoping that The Cult would have a bit more dimension. We want to find that slight mysticism edge. Electric was just a drinking album and we were living it."

Q: Electric is one of my favorite rock CDs, that’s the one that turned me on to the band.

A: "It’s a great album for party people. We were just a rock and roll band doing all the things you’ve read about in books by MÖTLEY CRÜE, etc. Just doing it a little more privately."

Read the full interview at this location.

Choice Of Weapon - The Cult's first new album in five years - was released on May 21st internationally and on May 22nd in North America via Cooking Vinyl worldwide. The album was produced by Bob Rock (METALLICA), written by Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy, and recorded in New York City, Los Angeles, the California high desert, and the band's Witch Mountain studio between July and December 2011. The new release features founding members Astbury on vocals and Duffy on guitars, with drummer John Tempesta and bassist Chris Wyse.

Choice Of Weapon tracklist:

'Honey From A Knife'

'Elemental Light'

'The Wolf'

'Life > Death'

'For The Animals'

'Amnesia'

'Lucifer'

'Wilderness Now'

'A Pale Horse'

'This Night In The City Forever'

In addition to the ten songs listed above, The Choice Of Weapon deluxe edition features four bonus tracks:

'Every Man And Woman Is A Star'

'Embers'

'Until The Light Takes Us'

'Siberia'

Check out the new video for 'For The Animals' below:

The Cult are currently on the road in support of Choice Of Weapon. Dates include:

June

19 - Houston, TX - House of Blues
20 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues
22 - Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre
28 - Belgrade, Serbia - USCE Park (with Ozzy & Friends)
29 - Graz, Austria - Schwarzl Freizeit Zetrum (with GN'R)

July

1 - Bucharest, Romania - Rock the City Festival (with GN'R, Faith No More)
3 - Split, Croatia - Spaladium Arena (headline)
4 - Ljubljana, Slovenia - Kino Siska (headline)
7 - Zottegem, Belgium, Rock Zottegem Festival
8 - Weert, Netherlands - Bospop Festival
10 - Utrecht, Netherlands - Tivoli (headline)
13 - Pizzola Sul Brenta, Italy - Contarini Festival (headline)
14 - Rimini, Italy - Velvet Rock (headline)
15 - Milano, Italy - Carroponte (headline)
17 - Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz (headline)
18 - Madrid, Spain - La Riviera (headline)
19 - Porto, Portugal - Mares Vivas Festival (with Garbage)

September

11 - Newcastle, UK - Metro Radio Arena
12 - Sheffield, UK - Motorpoint Arena
14 - Manchester, UK - Arena
15 - Birmingham, UK - LG Arena
16 - London, UK - Wembley Arena