The Cure Bassist Simon Gallup Announces Departure

Longtime bassist for legendary goth-rock band The Cure Simon Gallup has announced via Facebook his departure from the band. His Aug. 14 post simply read, “With a slightly heavy heart I am no longer a member of the Cure ! Good luck to them all … ” Gallup responded to a comment asking if the departure was for health reasons, saying, “Im ok […] just got fed up of betrayal.” He has also since deleted his Twitter account.

Gallup played with the group for almost 40 years, and was included in the lineup of the group that got inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. He joined shortly after the release of the band’s 19179 debut Three Imaginary Boys, playing on their “dark trilogy” of albums including 1980’s Seventeen Seconds, 1981’s Faith and 1982’s Pornography, before leaving the band due to disagreements with lead singer Robert Smith, only to rejoin in 1984 and remain in the band until now.

Smith told NME in 2019, “For me, the heart of the live band has always been Simon, and he’s always been my best friend. It’s weird that over the years and the decades he’s often been overlooked.” He continued, “We’ve had some difficult periods over the years but we’ve managed to maintain a very strong friendship that grew out of that shared experience from when we were teens. When you have friends like that, particularly for that long, it would take something really extraordinary for that friendship to break.”

The Cure have promised their follow-up to 2008’s 4:13 Dream for a while now, with Smith even confirming its completion in 2019. They haven’t commented publicly on Gallup’s departure. Revisit the band’s video for their Disintegration hit “Lovesong” below.