Danish industrial powerhouse Claus Larsen, aka Leæther Strip, and The Cure go back a long way.

A fan since the earliest days, Larsen was among the first acts to contribute to the 1997 tribute album 100 Tears (still available from Cleopatra Records on CD and purple spatter vinyl – https://cleorecs.com/products/100-tears-a-tribute-to-the-cure-purple-splatter-vinyl?_pos=2&_psq=The+Cure&_ss=e&_v=1.0)

“I’ve been a life long fan ever since their first single ‘Killing An Arab,” released in my teens, back when I was more into Punk and before I bought my first synth. Since then, no matter what they did and do, I love it, even the very poppy stuff. Robert Smith’s words have also always inspired me. He’s a master at creating inner pictures in my head. Not many lyrics have that effect on me.”

On February 7, 2025, Leæther Strip returns to Robert Smith and co with his own impeccable and hard-hitting full-length tribute to the band’s seminal 1982 album Pornography, reinventing all eight of the goth classic’s dense and dramatically dark tracks – plus two special bonus Cure covers for the CD and digital formats!

The first single from the album, “One Hundred Years,” is also the collection’s opening track – as it was on Pornography itself – and, like the Cure’s original, it firmly sets out the parameters which guided Leæther Strip

SINGLE: https://orcd.co/ls_onehundredyears

It certainly occupies a very special place in Larsen’s heart. “For me it’s an iconic album. One of those albums that will always be played. It’s darkness, it’s pain with a tiny bit of hope in the music just move me deeply.

“I chose to pay tribute to that album in my way. I wanted to make the light and hope in the songs a bit clearer and, as I love to dance, some good beats to it. Many would say ‘Don’t touch that album,’ but it’s all done as a heartfelt tribute to an album that saved my ass in many ways, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.  That album is for me the best ‘Goth’ album ever created.”

Recapturing the sheer intensity of the original album, but amplifying it through the forty-plus years that have elapsed since itsl release, Leæther Strip’s reinterpretation of Pornography arrives at a time when The Cure’s personal stock has seldom been higher – indeed, their latest album, Songs of a Lost World has been described as their very best new release since Pornography itself.

Leæther Strip now raise Pornography even higher, with an album that impacts just as dramatically, and drives just as determinedly as the original.  In fact, it’s hard to think of any single artist tribute to an individual album that so effortlessly recaptures, let alone elaborates upon, the mood of its model.

Track listing

1. One Hundred Years 
2. A Short Term Effect 
3. The Hanging Garden
4. Siamese Twins 
5. The Figurehead 
6. A Strange Day 
7. Cold 
8. Pornography 
9. A Forest (from 17 Seconds – bonus track)
10. Fascination Street (from Disintegration – bonus track)

DIGITAL: https://orcd.co/ls_tributetothecure
CD/VINYL: https://cleorecs.com/search?q=le%C3%A6ther+strip+a+tribute+to+the+cure

Claus Larsen a/k/a Leæther Strip is releasing two beautifully packaged vinyl compilations highlighting some of his best-loved singles and rarities. 

Drawn from the acclaimed ten CD The Zoth Ommog Years 1989-1999 box set, but focussing only on the earliest years, 1989-1991 (volume one) and 1992 (volume two), the two albums between them feature 21 tracks, beginning with his spectacular debut, the 1989 “Japanese Bodies” / “Battleground” 12-inch single.

This is followed by both sides of 1990’s Aspects of Aggression 12-inch, “Leæther Strip Part II (Re-Animated)”/“Fit For Flogging”; other cuts on volume one include all four tracks from the 1991 Object V EP, alongside cult favorite “Murder (Getting Away With It” in both its original mix and its pulse pounding remix.

Order at THIS LOCATION

If volume one focuses on Leæther Strip’s emergence and the early consolidation of his success, volume two is Larsen in excelsis.  The Yes I’m Limited EP, featuring newly worked “1992” versions of “Japanese Bodies” and first album stalwarts “Razor Blades” and “Touchdown Breakdown” offered an exquisite entré for the newcomers flocking to Leæther Strip’s side.

Side one of the album, meanwhile, is devoted in its entirety to another EP, Material, with its tantalizing glimpse of the Leæther Strip live experience, alongside the club sensations “Steal” and “The Nature of God,” and more!

Order at THIS LOCATION.

With several tracks making their first appearances on vinyl in decades, these two collections represent some of the most uncompromising, yet compulsive, industrial music of their era – one whose popularity and importance was so recently made apparent by the success of Leæther Strip’s 2024 Zoth Ommog tour.

Volume One Track List:
SIDE A

1. Japanese Bodies
2. Battleground
3. Leæther Strip Part II (Re-Animated)
4. Fit For Flogging
5. Murder / Getting Away With It (Original G.A.W.M. Version)

SIDE B

1. Antius
2. Nosecandy
3. Mohawk
4. Black Gold
5. G.A.W.M. (Remix)

Volume Two Track List
SIDE A

1. Steal!
2. The Nature Of God
3. Leæther Strip Part II (1988)
4. Die – Die – Die (Completely Dead Version)
5. Body Machine Body (Live)
6. Japanese Bodies (Live)

SIDE B

1. Japanese Bodies (1992 Version)
2. Razor Blades (1992 Version)
3. Touchdown Breakdown (1992 Version)
4. Jante’s Revenge
5. Antius (Psycho Strip Edit)