{"id":468527,"date":"2025-10-02T13:28:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T13:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/468527\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T13:28:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T13:28:16","slug":"the-cures-roger-odonnell-on-beating-cancer-new-solo-album-projections-and-whats-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/468527\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cure&#8217;s Roger O&#8217;Donnell on beating cancer, new solo album &#8216;Projections&#8217;, and what&#8217;s next"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/roger-o-donnell\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Roger O\u2019Donnell<\/a> has spoken to NME about his new solo album \u2018Projections\u2019 \u2013 made in the wake of his battle with cancer and returning to record with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/the-cure\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Cure<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"post-content-read-more\">\n<li><strong>READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/the-cure-interview-robert-smith-big-read-exclusive-interview-glastonbury-40th-anniversary-2019-glastonbury-mad-cool\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Robert Smith on the cover: The past, present and future of The Cure<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Arriving on O\u2019Donnell\u2019s 70th birthday on Friday October 29, \u2018Projections\u2019 marks the keyboardist and composer\u2019s eighth solo album, in the latest of his life of writing scores and other projects away from the limelight of The Cure. The artist explained how this record leans more into his tastes and influences in minimal electronica.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did two electronic records in the early 2000s, and I always felt that it wasn\u2019t a completed episode,\u201d O\u2019Donnell told NME. \u201cTwo is no good, you have to have three of something. I always felt that there was always another electronic album in there. The first two I recorded entirely using a Moog Voyager, and for this one I gave myself a little bit more space.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI introduced quite a few more different instruments, but it\u2019s like finishing that era.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3896270\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/roger_o_donnel_2025_2000_2.jpg\" alt=\"Roger O'Donnell, 2025. Credit: Mimi Sheytanova\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1270\"  \/>Roger O\u2019Donnell, 2025. Credit: Mimi Sheytanova<\/p>\n<p>The album also comes after O\u2019Donnell last year <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/the-cures-roger-odonnell-reveals-he-was-diagnosed-with-cancer-3789512\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">shared with fans that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of lymphoma<\/a>. However, he is happy to reveal that he\u2019s now beaten cancer \u2013 enabling him to return to the creative life with gusto.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter having gone through all the health stuff in 2023-2024, I was determined not to make a record that made a meal out of being ill,\u201d he admitted, \u201cbut it was a time for reflection, looking back, looking forward and really restating where I am now as a musician and musically.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel it really accomplished that. The album has got tinges of everything in it. I can hear influences from everything that I\u2019ve ever been influenced by. I\u2019m very happy with this record, and people seem to like it as well \u2013 which is strange!\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DPBk7jNiBh9\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\">\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Stripped back but warm, \u2018Projections\u2019 comes loaded with the feel of a wintry embrace \u2013 something O\u2019Donnell was keen to capture while recording.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a winter record,\u201d he said. \u201cI never go in the studio in the summer. I just like being outside. The summer is always a non-productive time for me, whereas the winter is very evocative, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Donnell \u2013 who has been a part of The Cure since 1987 \u2013 said that he was very much looking forward to hitting the road with the band in 2026 on their recently announced run of festivals including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/the-cure-lewis-capaldi-calvin-harris-lead-stacked-isle-of-wight-festival-2026-line-up-3895778\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Isle Of Wight<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/primavera-sound-barcelona-2026-line-up-revealed-3895061\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Primavera Sound in Spain<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/the-cure-and-amyl-the-sniffers-lead-first-names-for-oya-festival-2026-3896410\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Norway\u2019s \u00d8ya, <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/the-cure-announce-first-gig-of-2026-at-rock-en-seine-does-this-mean-the-new-album-is-coming-3892871\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rock En Seine in France<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/the-cure-have-announced-another-huge-festival-for-summer-2026-headlining-nova-rock-with-bring-me-the-horizon-iron-maiden-and-more-buy-tickets-3894565\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Austria\u2019s Nova Rock<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/the-cure-announced-as-first-headliner-for-polands-opener-2026-3896469\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Open\u2019er in Poland<\/a>, as well as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/the-cure-announce-huge-summer-2026-uk-and-ireland-headline-shows-buy-tickets-3896283\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a run of massive outdoor UK and Ireland shows<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Check out our full interview below, where O\u2019Donnell told us about his battle with lymphoma, his hopes of inspiring others with the disease, the design of his new solo project, returning to touring with Robert Smith and co, and the chances of the follow-up of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/reviews\/album\/the-cure-songs-of-a-lost-world-review-lyrics-3801637\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u2018Songs Of A Lost World<\/a>\u2018 emerging in the coming months.<\/p>\n<p><strong>NME: Hello Roger. What can you tell us about the mood of \u2018Projections\u2019 when first approaching it?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Roger O\u2019Donnell:<\/strong> \u201cIt was very much reflecting on what I\u2019d been through. I\u2019d had lymphoma and it was a pretty devastating period. It was just nice to be alive, for one thing! And nice to make music again. During the treatment I was so emotional the whole time that I couldn\u2019t touch an instrument \u2013 I would just burst into tears. It was just a nice feeling to be back in the studio and to be able to take a breath and think, \u2018OK, I\u2019ve been there, this is where I am and where I\u2019m going\u2019. This record really summed all of that up and felt very natural.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>How are you now?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m fine, thank you! I\u2019m 100 per cent fighting fit. I\u2019m a year out of treatment, I\u2019ve had a couple of blood tests and everything is normal. My haematologist, who was a real rockstar, he said that normally they don\u2019t use the word \u2018cure\u2019 in that sort of world, but then he said: \u2018I\u2019m going to say we can cure you\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Having been through that, what have you learned that you\u2019d like to share with others?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst of all, if you\u2019ve got any kind of symptoms then go see a doctor. Don\u2019t put it off. I put it off. I felt something at the start of 2023, then we did a whole American tour. I was trying to suppress what I thought it might be, then at the end of the tour I finally gave in and went to see a doctor who told me I had nothing to worry about! Then I went and got a scan on my own and all hell broke loose. For god\u2019s sake: don\u2019t be embarrassed and don\u2019t be scared. They can fix most things these days. The thing they can\u2019t do is wind back time. They can\u2019t go back to a place where they might have been able to do you some good if you\u2019d gone earlier.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlso, put your faith in modern medicine. It\u2019s an incredible thing. I had some drugs that were like science fiction. They were these things that latch onto cells, break the cells open, and then fire drugs in at a cellular level. It\u2019s just mind-warping what they can do, and it keeps getting better. I\u2019ve been doing some fundraising for <a href=\"https:\/\/lymphoma.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lymphoma Org<\/a> and they\u2019re on the cutting edge. They\u2019re very close to a cure. We did a fundraiser last week and I have to thank everyone that called in and pledged money because they raised thousands. It\u2019s nice to know that people care about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Did the idea of returning to music give you strength through recovery?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe amazing thing for me was that after just over a year of being diagnosed, I was back on stage with the lads <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/the-cure-troxy-london-songs-of-a-lost-world-seventeen-seconds-setlist-footage-photos-pedro-pascal-3808927\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">playing at The Troxy<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/the-cure-bbc-radio-theatre-london-setlist-photos-watch-3808336\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a couple of things at the BBC<\/a>. That was very strange \u2013 to be back. It gives other people hope.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I was in the midst of it all and I was reading that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/features\/music-interviews\/blink-182-mark-hoppus-interview-book-fahrenheit-182-3862767\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mark Hoppus from Blink-182 had the same thing<\/a>, I thought, \u2018Wait a minute, I\u2019m not on my own\u2019. Jeff Bridges had it too. That\u2019s why I decided to go public with it. It\u2019s a very personal thing and it\u2019s a big decision whether or not you want to make your health public. There are always idiots that are going to turn into something negative. The positives outweigh that. I hope that I did some good and made some people feel better about their diagnosis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3896273\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/the_cure_smith_o_donnell_2000.jpg\" alt=\"Roger O'Donnell and Robert Smith of The Cure at the Sasquatch! Music Festival (Photo by Mat Hayward\/FilmMagic)\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1270\"  \/>Roger O\u2019Donnell and Robert Smith of The Cure at the Sasquatch! Music Festival (Photo by Mat Hayward\/FilmMagic)<\/p>\n<p><strong>The diagnosis can seem like an overwhelming black cloud, but it doesn\u2019t have to mean the end\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo. Usually waiting for the diagnosis is the hardest thing. My partner and I were walking through the house like zombies until we finally got the diagnosis, then you feel like you can actually do something. You can get your head down, get on with the treatment and have an end in sight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>How does a diagnosis like that change your approach to your work? How does it colour the way you make music and look back upon what you\u2019ve done?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMusic has always been an emotional outlet for me. I live a very happy life, I\u2019m a pretty happy person, and the emotion comes out in the music. I was unable to play while I was going through it because my emotions were at number 11. To sit down at the piano, I would just burst into tears. It was a very difficult period for me emotionally and creatively. As soon as I was over it, it was like the floodgates opened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople ask if it changed me as a person. I think in some ways it did. It\u2019s like, what\u2019s your biggest fear: cancer or the mad axe murderer knocking at your door? You open the door and the mad axe murder is standing there, what do you do? You try and talk him out of it. It\u2019s the same with cancer, you just plough into the treatment. I was very involved with my haematologist and was doing my own research.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3808946\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/THE_CURE_TROXY_TOM_PALLANT_6.jpg\" alt=\"The Cure live at Troxy, London. Credit: Tom Pallant\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1270\"  \/>The Cure live at Troxy, London. Credit: Tom Pallant<\/p>\n<p><strong>Did you enjoy those few shows The Cure played last year all the more?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was kind of surreal. All of a sudden I was back into The Cure world, playing on stage to a global audience of thousands and thousands, and it was as if nothing had happened. I turned up at rehearsals and everything was normal. You don\u2019t want to be treated specially or like some kind of weirdo, I didn\u2019t want special treatment. Maybe a few more cups of tea made for me, but it was typical Cure world: get back in there and get on with it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was great to play those shows and realise that I could do it again. At the start of it I said, \u2018I\u2019m still really suffering from fatigue\u2019 and Robert said, \u2018Don\u2019t worry \u2013 we\u2019ll only play for two hours\u2019. Then by the end of rehearsals the set had gone up to three hours! I said, \u2018I\u2019m not sure if I can do this\u2019 and he was like, \u2018You can have a stool if you want. You might get the sympathy vote\u2019. It was fine and the adrenaline got me through it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Are you ready for a heady summer 2026?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, I\u2019m very ready and happy to be doing festivals. We\u2019ve got a few announced. I love playing festivals and it\u2019s always such a cool tour. It\u2019s not the intensity of normal Cure tour and it\u2019s usually much more of an upbeat show. You get to hang out with other bands, it\u2019s a nice vibe, it\u2019s through the summer, and we get to come home during the week so it\u2019s like a part-time job.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is it going to be a full-scale festival tour across all continents?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know. They\u2019re trickling the dates out one by one and I don\u2019t know what\u2019s coming next. I know as much as you do. It\u2019s more to do with when the festival tickets go on sale and when they want to announce. It\u2019s like a Christmas gift that keeps on giving.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2749466\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/TheCure_024_nme_awards_2020_2000.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1270\"  \/>O\u2019Donnell with The Cure at the NME Awards 2020. Credit: Dean Chalkley<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/the-cures-robert-smith-to-curate-teenage-cancer-trust-2025-gig-series-it-is-a-great-honour-3847449\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Robert is acting as curator for Teenage Cancer Trust in 2026<\/a>. Does that mean we can expect The Cure to be playing Royal Albert Hall?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought that it was likely, but I don\u2019t know. Maybe he thinks it wouldn\u2019t be right for the band to play there the first year [he\u2019s curating it]. We\u2019ve done it a few times, it\u2019s a cool gig and it\u2019s obviously a cause that\u2019s very close to my heart \u2013 a bit too close. We do a lot for those kinds of things. It\u2019s nice that Robert\u2019s been asked to curate that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Robert also said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/the-cure-have-another-new-album-thats-virtually-finished-and-another-to-come-3802243\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">he wanted the follow-up to \u2018Songs Of A Lost World<\/a>\u2019 to be finished before the tour. Is that still likely to be the case?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019d have to ask him about that. I didn\u2019t know that \u2018Songs Of A Lost World\u2019 was finished until he sent the songs to us to learn for the Troxy show! I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on. I know that Jason [Cooper] did a lot of drum tracks in about April, and there was talk of us getting together to play but I haven\u2019t heard much lately. I think Robert is in one of his very deep creative modes, because he\u2019s pretty quiet at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is it the case where you record your parts then leave Robert to tinker forever?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cYeah, well hopefully not another 18 years!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Are you hopeful we\u2019ll get in the coming year or so?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would think so. We were all very happily surprised by the success of \u2018Songs Of A Lost World\u2019. For it to do what it did after we had that much time away is fantastic. There\u2019s a bar that The Cure never drops below, so it\u2019s always going to be fantastic \u2013 it\u2019s just about whether it\u2019s going to be mega or not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Cure will be touring throughout 2026.<a href=\"https:\/\/ticketmaster-uk.tm7559.net\/c\/2862475\/431519\/7559?sharedid=NME&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ticketmaster.co.uk%2Fthe-cure-tickets%2Fartist%2F915776\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Visit here<\/a> for tickets and more information. Roger O\u2019Donnell releases \u2018Projections\u2019 on October 29.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roger O\u2019Donnell has spoken to NME about his new solo album \u2018Projections\u2019 \u2013 made in the wake of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468528,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[77,481,269,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-468527","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-indie","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115304813534040878","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}