Originally printed in "Hot Wacks Quarterly" Spring 1981 SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES INTERVIEW BY DAVE SMELTZER Siouxsie and The Banshees played Toronto's Music Hall, November 18/'80, to an avid and surprisingly varied audience. Not only did most of the city's punks, skins and trendies attend, but the suburbs sent a fair collection of curious new-wavers as well - all bouncing and swaying together to a powerful, revolving cadence that hints electronically at dark, hypnotic tribal rhythms, while never becoming vainly entangled in them. The band, as it stands now, features: Siouxsie Sioux - vocals, occasional guitar, Steve Severin- bass, John McGeoch - lead guitar, and Budgie - drums. HOT WACKS talked to John, Siouxsie and Steve after their debut Toronto show, but first we must back up a bit . . . In late '75 and early '76 Suzie (later changed to more 'interesting' spelling) and Steve (then Havoc or Two-Tone) were part of a fashionably exclusive clique of Sex Pistol's fans tagged the "Bromley Contingent", who followed the band from gig to gig - even journeying to France to see their first foreign performance. Almost a year after first meeting, Suzie and Steve threw a band together (named Banshees from the movie Cry Of The Banshee) for the 100 Club's punk festival (Sept. 20/'76). Planning on playing an extended version of Goldfinger, and with only one rehearsal, they borrowed the Pistols equipment (the Clash turned them down because of Suzie's swastika armband) and took the stage. Suzie, Steve, Sid Vicious (pre-Pistols, from Flowers of Romance) on drums and Marco Pironi (from the Models, later to Rema-Rema) on guitar played a half hour version of The Lords Prayer, spiced with bits from Knocking On Heavens Door and Twist And Shout, fully expecting to be shouted off stage quickly. The audience let them play though, amused and certainly curious about the entire spectacle. Over the next few months the Banshees attempted to coagulate; Pete Fenton joined on guitar when Marco returned to the Models, Ken Morris left Flowers Of Romance to take up drums with the fledgling band, ex-Malcolm McLaren assistant Nils Stevenson assumes the managerial helm, all while Siouxsie and Steve continue to work on their turbulent, driving yet still inexperienced sound. In July '77 John McKay replaces P. T. Fenton on guitar, the band becomes aggressively more articulate as they begin to see themselves as an insular unit. With his McLaren severance money, Nils promotes and sustains the band, getting them support spots with the Slits and headlining college gigs. A heavy touring schedule keeps Siouxsie and The Banshees in the public eye, though still without a recording contract, British DJ John Peel takes an interest in them and collaborates on studio sessions. The Banshees abrasive yet thick sound echoes some of their major influences (Bowie, Eno, Iggy, Velvets etc..) while gaining an individuality that sets them apart from most of their contemporaries. Siouxsie takes voice lessons from Johnny Rotten's teacher, but didn't think they did her any good. SIOUXSIE: "I think vocal training tends to make you sound a bit artificial. I'd rather sound like myself, I don't think lessons can help you sing any better." The aired John Peel sessions created some excitement, but minor misunderstandings with the rock press make the band look standoffish and glum. Siouxsie is rather unconcerned about it. SIOUXSIE: "I'm not bothered if we don't appeal to them (rock press), as long as we can get on - progress without anyone getting in our way." Before the Banshees signed to Polydor, in the summer of '78, a bootleg album of the John Peel sessions found its way onto the streets. The band were not pleased by the dubious honour of being booted before they had a legitimate release and took some legal action that eventually accomplished nothing. STEVE: "We object to bootlegs, but not because we want the material heard in one way, it's nothing to do with that. It's just that people who have no interest in the band are making a lot of money off people who are. The thing that annoyed us about that particular bootleg was the fact that it mainly consisted of two John Peel radio shows that were repeated five or six times over the year. Anybody could have taped them for their own enjoyment at home, but the fact that somebody had put them together on an album and made it a desirable item and were charging up to 9 pounds for them, we thought it was ridiculous!" JOHN: "It's never actually happened to me so I can't speak as strongly as Steve, but the most obvious comment would be that it's a shame the musicians just don't get any money from it. That's why it's wrong." Siouxsie is more terse in her opinion of bootleggers. SIOUXSIE: "They're just leeches, trying to make a quick buck." During the summer of '78 the Banshees were hot to be signed, Polydor did, and the single Hong Kong Garden was quickly released. The John McKay penned tune entered the top 30 a week after release (Aug. 28/'78) ending up, finally, at number seven. Being on a major label at that time gave the Banshees a chance to develop without being pressured by financial obligations, a compromise that many young bands must face. STEVE: "At the time we signed there were very few independent labels around. They've only sprung up in England over the last two years. It didn't seem like a choice then, it seemed as though we should work towards getting signed to a major on our own terms, and that was the way to do it. Maybe if we were starting off now we'd have a different outlook on it." The Scream, Siouxsie and The Banshees first album, was released October '78 and immediately gathered heavy critical accolades. Prolific local gigs and tours carried the band to tape front pages of the British music weeklies once more, while tension and division built inside its complex nucleus. Siouxsie is looked to as a figurehead as more women join or form bands, as more than just classy ornaments or background; but she sounds a reluctant leader SIOUXSIE: "I've been very disappointed with women in rock, it's still sexist because they don't have minds of their own. It's their own fault if they've been caught in a trap, but they've made it harder for other girls." The second album, Join Hands, was released in August of '78 to an eager crowd of fans who were to be somewhat surprised at the inclusion of a Banshee oldie, The Lords Prayer! On the second date of a tour to introduce the new album, Siouxsie and the Banshees split in a most abrupt fashion. After a dispute flared in Aberdeen during an afternoon autographing session, Siouxsie and Steve, with manager Nils, found themselves alone at the venue, with no guitarist or drummer. Back at their hotel the shocked trio found the rooms of John McKay and Kenny Morris empty, and the pair flown by train. Siouxsie and Steve carried on with Robert Smith, guitarist with support band the Cure and the currently available Budgie on drums. Budgie, who was in Big In Japan and worked on the Slit's Cut album stayed on after the truncated tour and officially joined the band. SIOUXSIE: "I'm blase about it - it's the past, two lives have been wasted, sob-sob (thick sarcasm). It's like they're dead really. The past isn't important." The tryouts for a new guitar player started; Magazine member John McGeoch worked on the new single Happy House with Siouxsie and Steve and found a fast rapport in style and background. JOHN: "One of the most important reasons which I often forget that I can tell people who ask me why I started working with the Banshees is because we connected so quickly, it was mutual." John left Magazine, but not exactly to become a Banshee; though he is an essential part of the band. Work with Visage, Gen X, Nick Tesco (Members) and plans for a solo album fill in where the Banshees leave off. Kaleidoscope, released January '80, is by far the most widely accessible Banshees album yet. Their dark rhythms are smoother and lighter, while still retaining a strength of integrity and purpose. SIOUXSIE: "The album's called Kaleidoscope .because of the nature of the situation we're in. It's all quite fragmented, but every fragment is strong, bright and positive, but it's nevertheless fragmented." Fragments may work on albums (ex-Pistol Steve Jones is a fragment on Kaleidoscope) but Steve Severin has seen enough of it in British audiences and local scenes. STEVE: "It's just the way it happens in England - it starts off in London and there's a scene there, then it was Manchester with the Buzzcocks and the Fall, then Leeds and Liverpool. And now they're trying to build a Glasgow scene. All those territories - it just leads to bigotry!" The Banshees audience has homogenized and broadened over the course of Kaleidoscope. They're not seen as a hard line punk band anymore, and they like it that way. SIOUXSIE: "We always wanted to tour (North America) years ago, we should have done it a long time ago. Things happened that didn't let us come; either money or promoters or little hiccups in the band. I wish more people had heard of us over here, I don't care if the hall is half full as long as it's a good audience." SIOUXSIE: "It's much more rewarding playing to a cross section of people, rather then a really heavy crass type of audience." In North America the band has still yet to gain more than token recognition, Join Hands was not released domestically and the tour that brought the band here is their first on this continent. Siouxsie and The Banshees have made a video for each single released so far, only three have been shown on Canadian television; Happy House, Christine and Playground Twist. All were high quality productions that brought their respective songs alive with avant-garde techniques and original directions, Siouxsie was featured in all three and carried them off brilliantly. Plans for any future work in video or film are vague, but the possibility of a movie or a film score was not left out. SIOUXSIE: "Some film music could be interesting. We're fussy, if we do anything like that, we're fussy about what it will be. I've had some offers, but nothing that appealed to me yet." STEVE: "We know what we don't want to do, we don't want to make a feature film about a boring rock group on the road - a Rude Boy or something." Siouxsie and The Banshees new single, Israel, was released in mid November to coincide with the Christmas season; but even a 30 voice choir and frequent use of sleigh bells still cannot disguise the distinctive Banshee Sound. SIOUXSIE: "I always wanted to do a Christmas song - so I wrote one!" The Banshees have survived a punk fad, a major split and the material success that their growing popularity has brought, but their heart (Siouxsie and Steve) hasn't changed from the slightly cynical, always unique, musical self-examination that started over five years ago at a Sex Pistols gig. SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES DISCOGRAPHY (N.B. All release dates are British) SINGLES HONG KONG GARDEN 1 VOICES - Aug. '78 THE STAIRCASE (MYSTERY)/ 20TH CENTURY BOY - March '79 PLAYGROUND TWIST / PULL TO BITS - June '79 MITTAGEISEN (METAL POSTCARD)/ LOVE IN A VOID - Sept. '79 HAPPY HOUSE / DROP DEAD - March '80 CHRISTENE / EVE WHITE-EVE BLACK - May '80 ISRAEL / RED OVER WHITE - Nov. Ô80 ALBUMS THE SCREAM - Oct. '78 JOIN HANDS - Aug. '79 KALEIDOSCOPE - July '80 BOOTLEGS Just the one from the John Peel radio shows, very good quality, all studio no live tracks. Side one -LOVE IN A VOID, METAL POSTCARD, SUBURBAN RELAPSE, MIRAGE, CARCASS, OVERGROUND. Side Two - HELTER SKELTER, HONG KONG GARDEN, MAKE UP TO BREAK UP, CARCASS, LOVE IN A VOID (TWO). All are different versions from the album and single cuts. The bootleg LOVE IN A VOID (Sioux Records) was re-issued in the U.S. as METAL SHADOW by impossible Recordworks (IMP-109) with a b&w deluxe cover and the extra song LOVE AND ROMANCE (actually done by the Slits, not Siouxsie).