“This crowd was rowdy, and we like people moving and dancing.” says Cults Lead singer, Madeline Follin. Although they have reached stardom, Cults still enjoy playing college shows. “College campuses can be really fun” Follin stated.
However, Cults did not always pull the crowds the way they do now. Go Outside, Cults second most popular song on Spotify, “was the first song I’d written in my entire life” says Brian Oblivion, the lead guitarist. “We put it on the internet and it was something that got out of our control very quickly.”
The lead singer, Madeline Follin and Guitarist, Brian Oblivion, originally posted “Go Outside” without names or pictures. Despite its current 1.6 million views on YouTube, the band did not include personal information because “we didn’t think that anybody would care.”
The Cults met in San Diego while lead guitarist, Brian Oblivion, was touring with Follin’s brother’s band. According to Oblivion, he wasn’t even performing with Follin’s brother, only “driving and helping carry stuff.”
Oblivion’s name is based of a movie character “whose dead but lives on through television and media.” Because the band was so obscure, Oblivion picked his name as a joke, based on their bands obscurity at the time of Go Outside’s release.
Both Follin and Oblivion grew up in San Francisco and moved to San Diego, and both “had a lot experience in new age philosophies.” Cults “were always something we were fascinated with” said Obvilion.
In fact, the Heaven’s Gate religious cult that resulted in 39 suicides happened a half a mile from Oblivion’s house.
Spring fest held three acts, beginning with student performer DJ Wazzza, followed by Cults, then ending with Big Gigantic. Shows like spring fest are a significant source of income for bands like Cults.
In terms of revenue the cash cow is “definitely not Youtube” according to Follin. Despite some concerns about Spotify’s treatment of indie artists, Brian Oblivion is a big fan. “I’m a big Spotify user, and I listen to so much more music now” says Oblivion.
His one qualm with Spotify is the inconvenient placement of their commercials. “If someone is listen to our album, and then its like “the Ford Focus”…it kind of sucks.”