Guitar owned by The Cure’s Robert Smith and designed by Gorillaz to be auctioned

A guitar owned by The Cure’s Robert Smith and designed by Gorillaz’ Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn is set to be auctioned off.

The Guild S-200 T-Bird guitar was first used by Smith at Gorillaz’ huge London show at The O2 last summer for NHS workers.

Now, on October 20, it will go under the hammer as part of the Bonhams Pop X Culture auction at New Bond Street in London, where it’s expected to raise between £5-7,000 for Brian Eno’s climate change charity EarthPercent.

Claire Tole-Moir of Bonhams said in a statement: “Both Robert Smith and Gorillaz are true innovators and pioneers of new music, and we are thrilled to be able to work with them by offering this unique customised guitar in aid of Brian Eno’s charity EarthPercent. To be able to own a one-of-a-kind guitar that is both a piece of art and a piece of music memorabilia is already a rare opportunity, but to be able to support EarthPercent’s ongoing campaign of tackling climate change at the same time, is very special and exciting for collectors and fans alike.”

EarthPercent added: “We are thrilled to offer this gorgeous, signed guitar so kindly donated by Gorillaz and Robert Smith to EarthPercent. The funds raised will be redistributed in full to environmental and climate justice organisations tackling the planetary emergency. Music can play a vital role in positive climate action and support like this, from such important artists (and their fans!), is a wonderful contribution to organisations doing the hard work on the frontline of this crisis.”

Elsewhere, The Cure kicked off their 2022 world tour in Latvia last week (October 6), debuting two new songs and welcoming guitarist and keyboardist Perry Bamonte back to the band.

Having long teased the band’s long-awaited “merciless” new record – after telling us that two new albums were on the way back at the last NME Awards back in 2020 – Smith revealed to NME earlier this year that one of them would be “real very soon” and would be called ‘Songs Of A Lost World’.

At the Latvian show, they played the songs ‘Alone’ and ‘Endsong’, both believed to be on the new record.

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