"Hi, I'm Sarah Beahan, the girl that was lucky enough to be involved in the recording of Love Will Tear Us Apart by The Cure. First off, I think I'd better explain how I won the competition. Triple J, an Australian radio station, had a "Triple J covers Livid" competition running on their Breakfast Show. To enter the competition you had to pick a song for either The Cure, The Dandy Warhols, or Sonic Animation to do a cover version of. I picked Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division because a) I love that song, and b) it would be perfect, seeing as Joy Division and The Cure were both very gloomy bands. It turned out that the Cure liked my choice in song, and they picked me as their competition winner.

I won an all expenses paid trip to Brisbane, Queensland, where I had tickets to the Livid Festival waiting and VIP passes. The Festival was really great, there were around 60 bands performing over the day, but I spent my whole day feeling extremely anxious about meeting The Cure later that night. It turned out I had nothing to worry about. They were all really nice people, especially Robert Smith. We did the recording in a little caravan in the backstage area of the Livid main stage. The Cure were all very professional about the whole thing; I found out later that they had been practising the song while on tour around Australia, they had played it at a few of their gigs and were using it as a soundcheck!

For the recording, I stood in the corner with my tambourine, with Jason the drummer on my right and Roger on my left. We did at least six takes before Robert was satisfied. They could see that I was really nervous about the whole thing, so they were constantly offering encouragement, most of all Robert. When the recording part was over, I got a chance to get autographs and a photo with Robert. I also talked to him for a while about the song and why he picked it. He said it really took him back. The Cure were supported on a gig by Joy Division in '79, and Robert Smith had always been in awe of Ian Curtis' talent. He always wanted try a cover of one of their songs, but was scared he wouldn't be able to do it justice. Well, I think Robert did a really good job of it, and can be proud of himself and the band. And as for myself, I'm just proud to have been a part of the recording of a song that fans of The Cure and of Joy Division can enjoy."

(Thanks Sarah, and congratulations!)