|
By John
Earls
Siouxsie Sioux Wails Again
Punks? Goths? Siouxsie
and the Banshees have never fitted any label since their first hit
Hong Kong Garden in 1978 onto Dear Prudence and Peek-a-boo.
Seven years after their
last album, the Rapture, Siouxsie, Budgie, Severin and now new guitarist
Knox Chandler are back for a tour next month.
With a Best Of and a
biography to follow in September, Siouxsie Sioux laughs off iconic status
to say "Oh, I'm the black haired one..."
Why are the Banshees
reforming?
We ended because, to put
it mildly, me & Severin weren't getting on. But within the past year,
we'd been talking again as we've been hassling Universal to put our back
catalogue out properly.
We wanted to do a
biography, as it was something that was missing, and then Severin
mentioned an offer to play a US festival. I had to think long and hard
before doing it, but I'm glad I did, it's been great. Strong and
confident, and confidence giving.
The US reform focused on
early songs. It would have been watered down if we'd tried to condense our
entire career. We wanted to get back to The Scream - no loops, no tapes,
with the 4 people on stage making all the noise.
How did it feel to be back on stage with
Siouxsie and the Banshees?
Great! It's like when
we first started. We don't have a record deal, but we see our
influence everywhere. It's felt like we're giving the industry a big
middle finger.
How do you feel about the talk of
the silver jubilee of Punk?
The past is the past. And
I hated being called a punk, or any convenient label.
And the Queen's jubilee?
The original silver
jubilee wasn't that big a deal, despite The Pistol's single. I remember we
didn't feel like celebrating the Queen back then.
What about the Sex Pistols reforming?
The money must have run
out quick, that's all I can say.
Why have the Banshees lasted so
long?
It's ironic, as we only
formed to play the Punk Festival as an extreme version of the Warhol
principle. We only had one rehearsal, and that was to be shown how and
where to plug things in.
But I think we've kept
the essence of punk, which was to sweep things away. We were self taught
and cursed by bad luck. But, from that negativity, new things evolved.
Whenever a new musician joined, we had to adapt quickly and that brought
its own new chemistry.
The Banshees have had a lot of guitar players. Tell us
about the new one.
Knox Chandler? He was
found by Budgie in New York after John McGeoch left and things had ended.
We knew we'd found a good guitarist in Knox, but everything else in the
Banshees was screwed then.
Have all the bridges been mended in the band now that
you're back together?
A lot have been, yes, but
a few bits remain. It's been so inspiring. We need to remember to
accentuate the positive and don't mess with Mr Inbetween!
So if you were 18 now, would you still choose to be in a
band?
I don't know, as now it's
quite a normal, careerist job to have. And the industry as it is now would
probably never allow a band like the Banshees.
Maybe I'd open a
whorehouse for women, as female sexuality needs to be addressed. I hate
the industry even more now, no bands get nurtured anymore. Labels only
spend money promoting acts they know will be Top Ten. I find it offensive
spending £2 million on a video.
What's next - Creatures or
Banshees?
We were interrupted
making the current Creatures album, but we should have that finished by
the time of the shows here. There have been so many projects around the 4
of us, it'd be good to group them all together somehow next year.
I hope we're
the first gig for some 17 year old. Start with the best, I say.
The Banshees play Glasgow
Barrowland July 5th, Sheffield Uni 6th, Shepherds Bush Empire 9th &
10th. |