Zippy’s Coup

“We just had Lol Tolhurst, one of the founding members of the Cure, sit in with us,” says Zippy Twombly of the Cured, a local tribute group. The British drummer joined Twombly’s band onstage for a recent gig at L.A.’s Gibson Amphitheatre.

“I arranged it a few months earlier by contacting him on MySpace,” says Twombly. “I first apologized that we were ripping off his work by pretending to be his band. He assured me that he didn’t see it that way and said he was happy that someone was keeping the old songs alive.”

Twombly originally planned to keep Tolhurst’s guest spot a secret from his bandmates, in order to surprise them onstage, but then they wouldn’t have been able to practice in advance of the show.

“I’m glad we did,” says Twombly, “because we played the songs a little faster than the original versions, or ‘more spirited,’ as he put it.”

At the amphitheatre, “He walked onstage toward the end of our set and said ‘Hello’ to the audience, who went wild. He played four songs with us: ‘Boys Don’t Cry,’ ‘Killing an Arab,’ ‘Three Imaginary Boys,’ and ‘10:15 [Saturday Night].’ ”

Has Twombly ever met his Cure counterpart (Robert Smith)?

“No, but our former keyboard player knew a girl who washed his hands after he made his imprint in the concrete in front of the Guitar Center in Hollywood.”