Jamie Stewart

James Alec Stewart (born 31 January 1964) is a retired British musician who was the bassist of the post-punk/hard rock band The Cult. He recorded on The Cult's first four albums, Dreamtime, Love, Electric and Sonic Temple.

From their beginning, Death Cult had a commitment to Beggars Banquet Records. In April 1983, Death Cult released an EP, Death Cult, on Beggars offshoot label Situation Two. In Sep 1983, Ray Mondo was replaced by Nigel Preston, Duffy's former bandmate in Theatre of Hate. At the time, Preston was playing with post-punk/goth band Sex Gang Children. A drummer swap was agreed between the bands, feeling that the playing styles of each drummer were better suited to the future direction of the other band. In October 1983, Death Cult released a single, "God's Zoo", with Preston on drums. The group changed their name to The Cult minutes before a live performance of the song "Spiritwalker" on the Channel 4 series The Tube. Stewart continued to play bass on all Cult recordings until 1990. He also played keyboards on several songs on the Sonic Temple album.

Following the recording of the band's third long-player, Electric, in 1987, the band felt that a second guitarist was needed on tour to reproduce the music of Electric. The role was filled by Stewart, having a familiarity with the songs and style, and being a former guitarist. For the tours, Kid Chaos (formerly of Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction) was recruited as bassist. Stewart continued to appear on bass in the first two promotional videos for Electric: "Love Removal Machine" and "Lil Devil". The five-piece line-up with Stewart on guitar was used for the 3rd video, Wild Flower. Stewart moved back to bass for the recording and touring of the Sonic Temple album. Keyboards for the recording were played by John Webster (Aerosmith, Tom Cochrane), and John Sinclair (Ozzy Osbourne, Uriah Heep) on tour.

In 1990, following the tour, Stewart left the band, citing the distance that had grown between Astbury and Duffy, and a wish to start a family, as the main reasons for departure.

Post-music career Stewart retired from the music industry in 1994 and moved back to the United Kingdom with his family. He now works in software and user interface design, and lives in Oxfordshire with his family.

Reunions with The Cult On 10 October 2009, on a tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of the release of the Love album, Stewart played bass again with his former bandmates on stage at London's Royal Albert Hall for two encores, Phoenix and She Sells Sanctuary. He was also joined onstage by the original drummer for one of the recordings, Mark Brzezicki (then formerly of Big Country).

Again, for the 25th anniversary of the release of the Electric album in 2013, Stewart made several other guest appearances: 26 October 2013 - Glasgow Barrowland - Love Removal Machine (on guitar), Horse Nation & Spiritwalker (on bass) 31 October 2013 - London Roundhouse - Love Removal Machine (guitar), Horse Nation & Spiritwalker (on bass) 1 November 2013 - London Roundhouse - Sun King & Horse Nation (on bass).

For the 40th anniversary of the release of the Death Cult EP (the band's first release), Stewart made two guest appearances:

14 November 2023 - Birmingham, O2 Institute - Resurrection Joe & Horse Nation (on bass) 21 November 2023 - London, Electric Brixton - Resurrection Joe & Horse Nation (on bass)

Discography Ritual 1981 - Songs for a Dead King (album) 1982 - "Mind Disease" (single) 1983 - Kangaroo Court (EP)

Death Cult 1983 - Death Cult (EP) 1983 - "Gods Zoo" (single)

The Cult 1984 - "Ressurection Joe" (single) 1984 - Dreamtime 1985 - Love 1987 - Electric 1989 - Sonic Temple

Masterstroke 1993 - Masterstroke (EP)