Roadrunner Records recently caught up with THE CULT frontman Ian Astbury to discuss the band's new album, Born Into This. The following is an excerpt from the interview:

Q: When you wrote this album, was there a spark?

Astbury: "The Cult has been on ice so there was no point going through the motions of touring and recording if there was nothing to say, and I really felt we had nothing to say for quite a while. We went away, shut the doors, and started writing with Trent Reznor, trying different areas of writing. Some songs came from our hiatus of three years. Different songs came at different times, we wrote while we travelled, so some songs were written in Paris, Tokyo and India."

Q: During The Cult being on ice, did you have in the back of your mind you would return to it and therefore would write specifically for it?

Astbury: "The Cult is The Cult because of Duffy and Astbury, we have such great chemistry, I'll create a song but Billy brings such great melodies which is great as a song to work with."

Q: You and Billy live in the US, but most songs on the album were recorded in the UK, which is something you haven't done for a while. Was it important for you to come here and work with Youth as a producer?

Astbury: "The whole intent of this record was to do something intuitive and just go with instinct and not just have some long drawn out process. We wanted to capture the energy. Billy and I both wrote a lot of songs, so after a sorting session we had 18 songs left, and it was time to hit the studio. Youth was high on our list of producers we wanted to work with and he was excited so this felt right. He was closer in age and experiences more on our level and he was fresh. We wanted to make a more artistic, driven record. We recorded the album in only 15 days. The Cult works best when being instinctive."

Q: Does it feel good to be back looking after your own legacy?

Astbury: "I'm in love with what we've just done, I think by anyone's standards it's a good record, I don't like to stand in the past. No point trying to recreate something, being present now is what it's all about, especially when you're being creative. There is more relevance in what's going on with the band now."

Go to this location for the complete interview.