The Glove

Side projects by major figures have long circulated through music circles, launched for any number of motives ranging from a sudden creative impulse and personal indulgence to deliberate efforts at unsettling listeners grown too settled in their expectations. Now and then, though, such ventures deliver something lasting. The art-rock underground still savors recollections of 1983, when Nick Cave, Marc Almond, Lydia Lunch, and Foetus united briefly as the Immaculate Consumptives, while devotees of gothic sounds remain fixated on the Glove, the fleeting yet vividly realized collaboration between the Cure’s Robert Smith and Siouxsie and the Banshees’ Steven Severin.

Forming the Glove required little imaginative leap. The two musicians had known each other since their initial encounter in the late ’70s. The Cure’s debut British tour came about as opening act for the Banshees in late 1979; when the headlining guitarist vanished without warning six shows into the run, Smith immediately took over, performing two complete sets each evening.

Once the dates concluded, the Banshees installed a permanent replacement and Smith resumed work with the Cure. Yet after that band appeared to dissolve in June 1982, Smith’s immediate next step was cutting the Flexipop single “Lament” with Severin. When the Banshees again found themselves short a guitarist, Smith stepped forward once more.

Throughout the ensuing six months the Cure gradually resumed activity even as the Banshees maintained a relentless schedule; meanwhile Smith and Severin finally launched the project they had first discussed in 1981—the Glove, titled after a character in the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine movie. Completed by vocalist/dancer Jeanette Landray, the enterprise began with the modest aim of recording a single. Writing sessions quickly expanded, however, stretching from days into weeks and then months. Smith later recalled, “when we went into the studio, we ended up with 15 songs after three days. And we put them on a record. An odd record.”

Although the undertaking ultimately occupied nearly three months, Smith’s assessment proved accurate: the resulting album proved strange indeed. Banshees drummer Budgie noted that he and Siouxsie visited a handful of sessions and were astonished by the atmosphere, one evidently propelled by parties and various substances.

Release of Blue Sunshine in late summer 1983 nevertheless condemned the project to neglect. By then both the Banshees and the Cure were scoring their biggest singles to date—“Dear Prudence” and “The Lovecats,” respectively—while preparing fresh albums and appearing regularly on British television. The Glove was simply overshadowed.

Two singles passed without notice, and any prospect of touring or even isolated concerts evaporated. The trio did make limited television appearances, first in October when several Cure members joined the core lineup to perform the “Punish Me With Kisses” single, and again the following March when Channel 4’s Play at Home series invited the Banshees to create their own mock-documentary episode. The Glove contributed a suitably chaotic segment, after which the endeavor ended. Although reunion rumors have occasionally circulated, the band survives solely as a memory—an exceedingly odd memory.