#13: She Sells Sanctuary by the Cult

City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: March 1986
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ “also getting airplay”
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “She Sells Sanctuary”
Lyrics: “She Sells Sanctuary”

The Cult is a band formed in Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK, in 1983. The band was fronted by Ian Astbury, who was born in Heswall, Cheshire, UK, in 1962. He lived in Hamilton (ON) from 1973 to 1979. In 1981, Astbury formed Southern Death Cult, a punk band. In 1983, Astbury formed Death Cult. He was joined on guitar by William “Billy” Duffy, who was born in 1961 in Manchester, UK. On bass guitar was Jamie Stewart, who was born in Middlesex, UK, in 1964. Before joining Death Cult, Stewart was part of a gothic-post-punk band called Ritual. Before appearing in January 1984 on a Channel 4 variety show called The Tube, Astbury changed the band’s name again to The Cult. They released their debut album, Dreamtime, in 1984, including a new drummer named Nigel Preston (born Birmingham, 1963). Several singles from Dreamtime cracked the Top 100 of the UK Singles chart.

In 1985, The Cult released their second album, Love. From the album came the single “She Sells Sanctuary”.

“She Sells Sanctuary” is a song about a woman whose “sparkle in your eyes, keeps me alive.” The singer rephrases this to sing “the fire in your eyes keeps me alive.” There are others whose heads turn when they see this woman, which makes the singer’s “back burn.” Outside the sexual attraction for this woman who sells sanctuary (her body). Ian Astbury told a reporter, “What’s the song about? Sex. Plain and simple, it’s about sex. I’ve had sex and I’m very proud of that fact.” The sexual relationship is a buttress against a “world that drags me down.”

Billy Duffy discussed how his quasi-psychedelic guitar intro came about: “I found a violin bow, and I started to play the guitar with the bow like Jimmy Page. I did it to amuse Astbury, who was in the control room, and in order to make it sound weirder, I just hit every pedal I had on the pedal board. Then once I stopped banging the strings and doing all that, I played the middle section of the song, which was kind of a pick thing with all the BOSS pedals on, and that sound just leaped out. The producer went, ‘Hold it, hold it, that’s great!’ And we decided to start the song with that mystical sound. If I hadn’t found that violin bow laying around, we wouldn’t have gone there.”

“She Sells Sanctuary” peaked at #2 in Hamilton (ON), and #5 in Toronto, Calgary, and Ottawa, and #10 in Edmonton (AB). Internationally, “She Sells Sanctuary” peaked at #11 on the RPM Top 100 singles chart in Canada, #15 in the UK, and #27 in Ireland. The song was re-issued in 1993 with a new re-mix where it climbed to #9 in New Zealand. While “She Sells Sanctuary” was charting in Hamilton, the band performed at Hamilton Place Theatre on March 9, 1986.

“She Sells Sanctuary” is featured in the 1992 film, With Honors and in the 2004 film, Layer Cake. A second single from Love, “Rain”, peaked at #17 in both Ireland and the UK.

Drummer Nigel Preston’s bandmates believed him to be unreliable due to his use of drugs, which led to his firing from the band in June 1985. After the Cult, Preston worked with Nile Rodgers in New York. He also played in the band DeLuca. In 1990, he joined Irish rock band the Babu Snakes. However, after he joined that band he was sent to prison for armed robbery. Preston died of a drug overdose on April 1, 1992, at age 28.

In 1987, The Cult released Electric. The lead single, “Love Removal Machine”, was a #18 hit in the UK, and cracked the Top 3o in both the Netherlands and New Zealand. A second single from the album, “Lil’ Devil”, rose to #11 in the UK and #13 in Ireland. While a third single release from Electric, “Wild Flower”, peaked at #5 in New Zealand, and #16 in Ireland.

In 1989, The Cult released “Fire Woman” from their Sonic Temple album. The single topped the pop charts in New Zealand, peaked at #7 in Ireland, #15 in the UK, and  the Top 30 in Australia and Canada. Subsequent singles, “Edie (Ciao Baby)” and “Sun King”, both made the Top 20 in New Zealand and the Top 30 in Ireland.

In 1990, Jamie Stewart left the band to start a family. In 1993 he released a solo EP titled Masterstroke. Stewart subsequently retired from the music industry in 1994, and moved back to the United Kingdom with his family. He works in software and user interface design, and lives in Oxfordshire with his family.

In 1991, “Wild Hearted Son” climbed to #4 in Finland, and #13 in both Ireland and New Zealand. The song came from the album Ceremony. In 1994, the band released The Cult. 

The band broke up in 1994 and reunited in 1998. In 2001, The Cult released their album, Beyond Good and Evil. The band went on a hiatus again from 2002 to 2006. In 2007, the band released Born into This. This was followed by their ninth studio album, Choice of Weapon, in 2012. And in 2014 they released Hidden City. And in 2022, The Cult released Under the Midnight Sun.

Since 2006, John Tempesta had been the drummer for The Cult. Since 2020 Charlie Jones has provided backing vocals and bass guitar. While Mike Mangan has been on keyboards and backing vocals. Aside from the current lineup, over the years the band has had fourteen former members.

According to Setlist.fm, The Cult has performed 129 concerts to the fall of 2022 in Canada. Their first appearance in Canada was on July 24, 1984, in Montreal at Club Soda.

July 26, 2024
Ray McGinnis

References:
Graham Rockingham, “Ian Astbury of The Cult and Hamilton,” Hamilton Spectator, June 10, 2023.
Henry Yates, “5 Minutes Alone – Billy Duffy,” Music Radar, August 16, 2016.
“The Cult’s Jamie Stewart: “The job of a bass player is not to be front and centre; it’s to play your part in the bigger sonic picture,” Music Radar, August 23, 2018.
“Nigel Preston,” Findagrave.com.
“The Cult – concert dates – Canada,” setlist.fm.

CKOC 1150-AM Hamilton (ON) Top Ten | March 19, 1986