American Football salutes the formative influence of Robert Smith and the Cure with a new cover of the band’s 1979 classic “Boys Don’t Cry,” recorded this summer in Nashville during a session for SiriusXMU. It’s only the second cover ever performed by the Mike Kinsella-led band’ in its 25-plus-year history, following a 2021 version of Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You” with vocalist Miya Folick.

Airing in full tonight (Oct. 7), the SiriusXMU session is also billed as American Football’s first-ever live acoustic performance and playfully tacks a brief portion of the intro to the band’s beloved “Never Meant” onto the beginning of “Boys Don’t Cry.” Drummer Steve Lamos also contributes a trumpet part.

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Beyond “Boys Don’t Cry,” the session includes “Wake Her Up” and “No Feeling” from American Football’s acclaimed 2026 Polyvinyl album LP4 plus “Uncomfortably Numb” from its predecessor, LP3.

In a lengthy conversation with SPIN prior to the release of LP4, both Mike Kinsella and his cousin Nate name-checked the Cure as a key source of inspiration both in the past and present. “We talk about the Cure all the time. They’re one of our favorite bands,” Nate Kinsella said. “How does that band put out Disintegration but also have ‘Friday, I’m in Love?’ They both can exist. Everyone can have a shitty day on the same day they have a great day. I think it’s true to the human condition that people contain their opposites, and I love it that Mike is exploring this.”

Mike Kinsella recalled seeing the Cure at Riot Fest in Chicago and being blown away by the experience. “I’ve seen the Cure twice in the past five years,” he said. “Each time, I’m like, that’s the best show I’ve ever seen. Somehow it doesn’t read old. It’s fresh. It’s heavy. It’s awesome every time. To be honest, if I hadn’t seen that, I would be way more self-conscious about being older dudes trying to keep a thing alive. More often than not, I’m totally aware that I’m in a reunion band. There’s this element of desperation or something. I don’t need to be on a stage. I will always keep writing music and stuff and I feel nothing but lucky that people care and I get to do it. Something about the Cure shows seemed current and relevant.”

American Football will wind down its 2026 roadwork in support of LP4 with four shows in South American in late November and early December and then eight shows up the east coast from Florida to the Dec. 20 finale in Buffalo, N.Y.

Asked recently about future plans for the band, which was inactive from 1999-2014 but has since released three new albums and toured the globe, Nate Kinsella told SPIN, “we’re going to have a more chill 2027, but the plan is to keep playing. There’s murmurings about new material, but we’ve got to put it on the calendar and plan it all out. It’s in the very early stages.”

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