[kj] OT: The Cult alumni

[Alexander Smith]

I know they're a bit of a polarizing band here on the Gathering  
(despite being old touring mates, i believe, of Killing Joke from back  
in the day), but I was recently motivated to do a bit of research. It  
seems the The Cult are touring the States yet again. I've seen them  
live more times than you can do a wavey goth arm dance at, but haven't  
felt motivated to keep doing so after the last couple of go-arounds.  
They're still pretty entertaining (and Billy Duffy remains both a  
great guitar player and once exceptionally nice gent). That said, I'm  
not sure there's much life in the outfit anymore.

In any case, I was wondering whatever happened to the band's original  
bass player, Jamie Stewart. Possibly more renowned for his feathered  
wideband of hair (circa DREAMTIME/LOVE) than for his sonic  
contributions, I'll always defend that Stewart had a fairly  
distinctive sound to his bass (primarily prior to LOVE and everything  
that came after it).

Stewart left the fold prior to the justifiably maligned CEREMONY album  
and never returned. Apart from reading a recipe of his in some rock  
mag for "dangerously spicy chick peas" and hearing from writer Kris  
Needs that he'd started a new band called Goat (which I never could  
verify), he seemed to drop entirely off the map. He never joined the  
Cult again for any of their umpteen resumptions of duty (I'd hoped  
he'd have made a cameo circa their LOVE LIVE tour, but alas nay).

So, I did a bit of Googling. Turns out our Jamie cut his hair, hocked  
his bass and is now a marketing manager for a computer software  
company. To wit:

Jamie has had a colorful career, spending the 80s playing bass and  
seeing the world with a successful rock band. After coming down to  
earth, he settled in Canada, spending 4 years as a music producer. In  
the mid-90s, he caught the computer bug and spent 2 years learning  
graphic information and user interface design. He joined Sytel in 1998  
and has worn a number of technical and design hats since then. The  
promotional instincts that he developed in the music industry are now  
being put to excellent use in his new role. In addition to his  
marketing responsibilities, Jamie is also the art and design guru for  
all Sytel’s products.


Check out the site here (complete with picture of the man, now looking  
like an extra from "Office Space"):

http://www.sytelco.com/people.htm

Quite a leap from "83rd Dream" to Sytel Co, but I guess the man's  
gotta eat.

Alex in NYC
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