Simon Gallup: has The Cure bassist left the band? What he said on Facebook - and has the band responded

Longtime bassist for The Cure Simon Gallup appears to have left the band after more than 40 years playing together.

Gallup took to Facebook to make the announcement - this is what you need to know.

What did Simon Gallup say?

Early on Sunday (15 August) morning, Gallup posted on his personal Facebook page: “With a slightly heavy heart I am no longer a member of The Cure! Good luck to them all….”

When asked by a commenter on his post about whether his exit was health-related, Gallup responded by writing: “I’m ok… just got fed up of betrayal.”

Gallup joined the band from 1979 to 1982 playing the bass and keyboard before taking a two year break. In 1984, he rejoined the band having left and stayed up until now.

He temporarily left the band after getting into an altercation with band leader and singer Robert Smith whilst on the Pornography tour in 1982.

Has the band responded?

The band hasn’t yet made an official statement about Gallup’s position in The Cure, however longtime keyboardist for the band Roger O’Donnell Tweeted after Gallup’s announcement: “A friend just told me they saw Lol in the Guitar Centre buying a bass???????”

The Tweet is in reference to the former drummer and keyboardist for the band Lol Tolhurst, who left The Cure in 1989.

In 2019, Smith spoke about his, at times difficult, relationship with Gallup in an interview with NME.

He said: “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 decades he’s often been overlooked. He doesn’t do interviews, he isn’t really out there and he doesn’t play the role of a foil to me in public, and yet he’s absolutely vital to what we do.

“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.”

Recently, Smith said that he thinks that the next The Cure album will be their last.

He admitted to struggling to write new songs in an interview with The Sunday Times, saying: “I must admit, I’ve struggled more with finishing the words to these new Cure recordings than at any other point.

“We recorded 20-odd songs and I wrote nothing. I mean, I wrote a lot, but at the end I looked at it and thought, “This is rubbish”.”

Who are The Cure?

The Cure are an English rock band who first formed back in 1978.

Some of the biggest songs from the band include hits like Friday I’m In Love, Just Like Heaven, Boys Don’t Cry, Fascination Street, A Forest and Pictures of You.

While the lineup for the band has changed over the years, the one consistent member is the band’s founder, guitarist, singer and songwriter Robert Smith.

The current members of the band includes Smith, O’Donnell, drummer Jason Cooper, guitarist Reeves Gabrels and until previously, Gallup.

Former members of the band included keyboardist and drummer Lol Tolhurst, bassist Michael Dempsey and guitarist Porl Thompson, among others.

In 2019, The Cure were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, alongside fellow inductees Def Leppard, Janet Jackson, Stevie Nicks, Radiohead, Roxy Music and The Zombies.

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