Siouxsie & the Banshees
Encyclopedia
Siouxsie and the Banshees were a British rock
band formed in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux
and bassist Steven Severin
. Initially associated with the English punk rock
scene, the band rapidly evolved to create "a form of post-punk
discord full of daring rhythmic and sonic experimentation". The Times
cited Siouxsie and the Banshees as "one of the most audacious and uncompromising musical adventurers of the post-punk era."
The group also became inspirational in the creation and development of the gothic rock
genre, and their music also combined elements of pop
and avant-garde
. The Banshees disbanded in 1996, with Siouxsie and drummer Budgie
continuing to record music as The Creatures
, a second band they had formed in the early 1980s. In 2004, Siouxsie began a solo career.
concert in September 1975, at a time when glam rock
had faded and there was nothing new coming through with which they could identify. From February 1976, Sioux, Severin, and some friends began to follow an unsigned band, the Sex Pistols
. Journalist Caroline Coon
dubbed them the "Bromley Contingent
", as most of them came from the Bromley
region of Kent, a label Severin came to despise. "There was no such thing, it was just a bunch of people drawn together by the way they felt and they looked." They were all inspired by the Sex Pistols – from watching them, they realized that anyone could do it. When they learned that one of the bands scheduled to play the 100 Club Punk Festival
, organized by Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren
, pulled out from the bill at the last minute, Sioux suggested that she and Severin play, even though they had no band name or additional members. Two days later, the pair appeared at the festival held in London on 20 September 1976. With two borrowed musicians at their side, Marco Pirroni
on guitars and John Simon Ritchie later known as Sid Vicious
on drums, their set consisted of a 20-minute improvisation based on "The Lord's Prayer".
While the band intended to split up after the gig, they were asked to play again. Two months later, Sioux and Severin recruited drummer Kenny Morris
and guitarist Pete Fenton. After playing several gigs in early 1977, the band realized that Fenton did not fit in because he was "a real rock guitarist". John McKay
finally took his seat in July.
", featuring a xylophone
motif, reached the Top Ten in the UK shortly after. In its review, the NME
hailed it as "a bright, vivid narrative, something like snapshots from the window of a speeding Japanese train, power charged by the most original, intoxicating guitar playing I heard in a long, long time."
The band released their debut album, The Scream
, in November 1978. Nick Kent
of NME said of the record: "the band sounds like some unique hybrid of the Velvet Underground
mated with much of the ingenuity of Tago Mago-era Can
, if any parallel can be drawn." At the end of the article, he added this remark: "Certainly, the traditional three-piece sound has never been used in a more unorthodox fashion with such stunning results."
The Banshees' second album, Join Hands
, was released in 1979 and included a version of "The Lord's Prayer". In Melody Maker
, Jon Savage
described "Poppy Day" as "a short, powerful evocation of the Great War graveyards" and Record Mirror
described the whole record as "a dangerous and volatile work". The Banshees embarked on a major tour to promote the album. A few dates into the tour in September, Morris, and McKay left an in-store signing after an argument and quit the band. In need of replacements to fulfil tour dates, the Banshees' manager called drummer Budgie
, formerly with The Slits
, and asked him to audition. Budgie was hired, but Sioux and Severin had no success auditioning guitarists. Robert Smith
of The Cure
offered his services in case they couldn't find a guitarist (his group were already the support band on the tour), so the band held him to it after seeing too many "rock virtuosos". The tour resumed in September and after the last concert, Smith returned to The Cure.
Drummer Budgie became a permanent member and the band entered the studios to record the single "Happy House
" with guitarist John McGeoch
, formerly of Magazine
. Their third album, Kaleidoscope, released in 1980, saw the Banshees exploring new musical territories with the use of other instruments like synthesizers, sitars, and drum machines. The group initially had a concept of making each song sound completely different, without regard to whether or not the material could be performed in concert. Melody Maker described the result as "a kaleidoscope of sound and imagery, new forms, and content, flashing before our eyes." Kaleidoscope was a commercial success, peaking at number 5 in the UK album chart. This lineup, featuring McGeoch on guitar, toured the United States for the first time in support of the album, playing their first shows in New York City in November 1980.
For Juju (1981), the band had a different approach and practised the songs in concert first before recording them. Juju, according to Severin, became an unintentional concept album that "drew on darker elements". Sounds
hailed it as "intriguing, intense, brooding and powerfully atmospheric." The album later peaked at number 7 in the UK album charts and became one of their biggest sellers. McGeoch's guitars contribution on Juju would be later named and praised by Johnny Marr
of The Smiths
.
During the 1981 accompanying tour, Sioux and Budgie secretly became a couple. At the same time, they also began a side project called The Creatures
, releasing their first EP, Wild Things
.
The Banshees followed in 1982 with A Kiss in the Dreamhouse
. The record, featuring strings on several numbers, was an intentional contrast to their previous work, with Severin later describing it as a "sexy album". The British press greeted it enthusiastically. Richard Cook in the NME finished his review with this sentence: "I promise. This music will take your breath away." At that time, McGeoch was struggling with alcohol problems, and was hospitalized on his return to a promotional trip from Madrid. The band fired him shortly thereafter. Severin asked Robert Smith to take over guitarist duties again; Smith accepted and rejoined the group in November 1982.
. Smith then insisted on documenting his time with the Banshees, so the group released a cover version
of The Beatles
' "Dear Prudence
" in September 1983; it became their biggest hit, reaching number 3 on the UK Singles Chart
. They also captured a live album, Nocturne, and completed their sixth studio album, Hyæna
. Shortly before its release in May 1984, Smith left the group, citing health issues due to an overloaded schedule, being in two bands at once.
Ex-Clock DVA
guitarist John Valentine Carruthers
replaced him. The Banshees then reworked four numbers of their repertoire with a section of strings for their The Thorn
EP
. The NME praised the project at its release: "The power of a classical orchestra is the perfect foil for the band's grindingly insistent sounds." The new Banshees lineup spent much of 1985 working on their new record, Tinderbox. The group finished the song "Cities in Dust
" before the album, so they rushed its release as a single prior to their longest tour of the UK. Tinderbox was finally released in April 1986. Sounds magazine noted: "Tinderbox is a refreshing slant on the Banshees' disturbing perspective and restores their vivid shades to pop's pale palette." Due to the length of time spent working on Tinderbox, the group desired spontaneity and decided to record an album of cover songs, Through the Looking Glass, in 1987. Mojo
magazine later praised their version of "Strange Fruit
". After the album's release, the band realized Carruthers was not fitting in anymore and decided to work on new material as a trio.
and the ex-Specimen
guitarist Jon Klein. The quintet recorded Peepshow
in 1988, with non-traditional rock instrumentation including cello and accordion
. Q
magazine praised the album in its five-star review: "Peepshow takes place in some distorted fairground of the mind where weird and wonderful shapes loom." The first single, "Peek-a-Boo
" was their first real breakthrough in the United States. After a tour to promote the album, the band decided to take a break, with Sioux and Budgie recording a new Creatures album, Boomerang
and Severin and McCarrick working on material together.
, who also sang during the bridge. The single received glowing reviews and later peaked in the Billboard Hot 100
at number 23, allowing them to reach a new audience. The album Superstition
followed shortly afterwards and the group toured the US as second headliners of the inaugural Lollapalooza
tour. The following year, the Banshees were asked to compose "Face to Face" as a single for the film Batman Returns
.
In 1993, The Banshees recorded new songs based on strings arrangements, but quickly stopped the sessions to play festivals abroad. On their return home, they hired former Velvet Underground member John Cale
to produce the rest of the record. At its release, 1995's The Rapture
was described by Melody Maker as "a fascinating, transcontinental journey through danger and exotica." A few weeks after its release, Polydor dropped the band from its roster and Klein was replaced on the band's last tour in 1995 by ex-Psychedelic Furs guitarist Knox Chandler. In April 1996, the band finally called it a day after 20 years spent together. Sioux and Budgie announced that they would carry on recording as The Creatures
. In 1999, they released the album Anima Animus
to critical acclaim.
inaugurated the band's remastered
back catalogue by releasing The Best of Siouxsie and the Banshees. In April, Sioux, Severin, Budgie, and Chandler reunited briefly for the Seven Year Itch tour, which spawned the Seven Year Itch
live album and DVD in 2003.
The year after, Downside Up
, a box-set that collected all of the band's B-sides and The Thorn
EP, was released. The Times
wrote in its review: "for here is a group that never filled B-sides with inferior, throwaway tracks. Rather they saw them as an outlet for some of their most radical and challenging work."
In 2006, the band's first four records were remastered and compiled with previously unreleased bonus tracks. Several recordings made for the John Peel
radio show from 1978 to 1986 were also put together on Voices on the Air: The Peel Sessions
. Allmusic described the first session as "a fiery statement of intent" and qualified the other performances as "excellent".
The second batch of remasters, concerning the 1982–1986 era, came out in April 2009. It included four other re-issues (including their highly-regarded A Kiss in the Dreamhouse from 1982). The At the BBC box set, containing a DVD with all of the band's UK live television performances and three CDs with in-concert recordings, was also released in June of the same year.
The Banshees had a strong impact on two main trip hop
acts. Tricky
covered the B-side "Tattoo" to open his second album, Nearly God: the original version of that song helped Tricky in the creation of his style. Another trip hop group, Massive Attack
, sampled "Metal Postcard
" for the song "Superpredators", recorded prior to their Mezzanine
album.
The group have been cited by their peers. Morrissey
said that "Siouxsie and the Banshees were excellent". "They were one of the great groups of the late 70s, early 80s". He also said in 1994, "If you study modern groups, those who gain press coverage and chart action, none of them are as good as Siouxsie and the Banshees at full pelt. That's not dusty nostalgia, that's fact." Another ex-member of The Smiths, Johnny Marr
, mentioned his liking for Banshees guitarist John McGeoch
and his composition on "Spellbound". Marr qualified it as "clever" with "really good picky thing going on which is very un-rock'n'roll." U2
cited Siouxsie and the Banshees as a major influence and selected "Christine" for a Mojo compilation. The Edge
was the presenter of an award given to Siouxsie at the Mojo ceremony in 2005. Guitarist Dave Navarro
of Jane's Addiction
once made a parallel between his band and the Banshees: "There are so many similar threads: melody, use of sound, attitude, sex-appeal. I always saw Jane's Addiction as the masculine Siouxsie & the Banshees." The Cure
leader Robert Smith
declared in 2003: "Siouxsie and The Banshees and Wire
were the two bands I really admired. They meant something." He also pinpointed what the 1979 Join Hands tour brought him musically. "On stage that first night with the Banshees, I was blown away by how powerful I felt playing that kind of music. It was so different to what we were doing with The Cure. Before that, I'd wanted us to be like The Buzzcocks or Elvis Costello, the punk Beatles. Being a Banshee really changed my attitude to what I was doing."
The Banshees have been hailed by other acts. Radiohead
cited John McGeoch
-era Siouxsie records when mentioning the recording of the song "There There
". Jeff Buckley
, who took inspiration in several female voices, covered "Killing Time" on various occasions. Red Hot Chili Peppers
performed "Christine
" in concert and their guitarist cited the Banshees in interviews. Garbage
singer Shirley Manson
wrote in the foreword to Paytress' Banshees biography, "I learned how to sing listening to The Scream and Kaleidoscope. Today, I can see and hear the Banshees' influence all over the place." Siouxsie has also been praised by various female singers including PJ Harvey
and Ana Matronic
of Scissor Sisters
.
The Banshees continue to influence younger musicians. Singer James Murphy was marked by certain Banshees albums during his childhood. His band LCD Soundsystem
covered "Slowdive
" as a B-side to the single "Disco Infiltrator
". The Beta Band
sampled "Painted Bird
" on their track "Liquid Bird" from the Heroes to Zeros
album. American group TV on the Radio
explained that they always tried to make a song that begins like "Kiss Them for Me" where all of a sudden, there's an "element of surprise" with "a giant drum coming in". Electronica
singer Santigold based one of her songs on the music of "Red Light". "'My Superman' is an interpolation of 'Red Light,'" she explained. Lo-fi
songwriter Jeremy Jay
covered "Lunar Camel" on his Airwalker EP and he cited the band amongst his main influences. Indie folk
group DeVotchKa
covered the ballad "The Last Beat of My Heart
" on the suggestion of Arcade Fire singer, Win Butler; it was released on the Curse Your Little Heart EP. In 2009, Gossip
also named the Banshees as one of their major influences.
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band formed in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux
Siouxsie Sioux
Siouxsie Sioux is an English singer-songwriter. She is best known as the lead singer of the critically acclaimed rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees and of its splinter group The Creatures . The Banshees produced eleven studio albums and a string of hit singles including "Hong Kong Garden",...
and bassist Steven Severin
Steven Severin
Steven Severin , is an English musician, composer, bassist and co-founding member of Siouxsie and the Banshees....
. Initially associated with the English punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
scene, the band rapidly evolved to create "a form of post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
discord full of daring rhythmic and sonic experimentation". The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
cited Siouxsie and the Banshees as "one of the most audacious and uncompromising musical adventurers of the post-punk era."
The group also became inspirational in the creation and development of the gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
genre, and their music also combined elements of pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
. The Banshees disbanded in 1996, with Siouxsie and drummer Budgie
Budgie (drummer)
-External links:*...
continuing to record music as The Creatures
The Creatures
The Creatures were a musical act formed in 1981 as a side-project for Siouxsie and the Banshees members Siouxsie Sioux and Budgie. The Times described their music as "adventurous art rock built around Siouxsie's extraordinary voice and drummer Budgie's battery of percussion".With the dissolution of...
, a second band they had formed in the early 1980s. In 2004, Siouxsie began a solo career.
Formation (1976–1977)
Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin met at a Roxy MusicRoxy Music
Roxy Music was a British art rock band formed in 1971 by Bryan Ferry, who became the group's lead vocalist and chief songwriter, and bassist Graham Simpson. The other members are Phil Manzanera , Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson . Former members include Brian Eno , and Eddie Jobson...
concert in September 1975, at a time when glam rock
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
had faded and there was nothing new coming through with which they could identify. From February 1976, Sioux, Severin, and some friends began to follow an unsigned band, the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
. Journalist Caroline Coon
Caroline Coon
Caroline Coon is an English artist, journalist and political activist. Her artwork, which often explores sexual themes from a feminist standpoint , has been exhibited at many major London galleries, including the Saatchi Gallery and the Tate.Coon was born to a family of Kent landowners and had...
dubbed them the "Bromley Contingent
Bromley Contingent
The Bromley Contingent is a label invented by journalist Caroline Coon about a group of followers and fans of the Sex Pistols. They owed their name to Bromley, a suburb of London, in the county of Kent, where some of them lived. They helped popularize the fashion of the early UK punk movement...
", as most of them came from the Bromley
Bromley
Bromley is a large suburban town in south east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Bromley. It was historically a market town, and prior to 1963 was in the county of Kent and formed the administrative centre of the Municipal Borough of Bromley...
region of Kent, a label Severin came to despise. "There was no such thing, it was just a bunch of people drawn together by the way they felt and they looked." They were all inspired by the Sex Pistols – from watching them, they realized that anyone could do it. When they learned that one of the bands scheduled to play the 100 Club Punk Festival
100 Club Punk Festival
The 100 Club Punk Special was a two-day event held at the 100 Club—a typically jazz-oriented venue in Oxford Street, London, England—on 20 and 21 September 1976. The gig showcased eight punk rock bands, most of which were unsigned...
, organized by Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...
, pulled out from the bill at the last minute, Sioux suggested that she and Severin play, even though they had no band name or additional members. Two days later, the pair appeared at the festival held in London on 20 September 1976. With two borrowed musicians at their side, Marco Pirroni
Marco Pirroni
Marco Francesco Andrea Pirroni is an English guitarist, songwriter and record producer...
on guitars and John Simon Ritchie later known as Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious was an English musician best known as the bassist of the influential punk rock group Sex Pistols...
on drums, their set consisted of a 20-minute improvisation based on "The Lord's Prayer".
While the band intended to split up after the gig, they were asked to play again. Two months later, Sioux and Severin recruited drummer Kenny Morris
Kenny Morris (musician)
Kenny Morris was the first studio drummer of Siouxsie and the Banshees.He was a member of the band from January 1977 until September 1979. He played on the albums The Scream and Join Hands...
and guitarist Pete Fenton. After playing several gigs in early 1977, the band realized that Fenton did not fit in because he was "a real rock guitarist". John McKay
John McKay (musician)
John McKay was the first studio guitarist of Siouxsie and the Banshees.He was member of the band from July 1977 until September 1979. He played on the albums The Scream and Join Hands...
finally took his seat in July.
The Scream and Join Hands (1978–1979)
While the band sold out venues in London in early 1978, they still had problems getting the right recording contract that could give them "complete artistic control". Polydor finally offered this guarantee and signed them in June. Their first single, "Hong Kong GardenHong Kong Garden (song)
"Hong Kong Garden" is the debut single released by British band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was produced by their manager Nils Stevenson and sound-engineer Steve Lillywhite. Issued in the UK by Polydor Records in 1978, the single quickly hit number seven in the UK singles chart.The song is now...
", featuring a xylophone
Xylophone
The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets...
motif, reached the Top Ten in the UK shortly after. In its review, the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
hailed it as "a bright, vivid narrative, something like snapshots from the window of a speeding Japanese train, power charged by the most original, intoxicating guitar playing I heard in a long, long time."
The band released their debut album, The Scream
The Scream (album)
The Scream is the debut album by English post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released in November 1978 on Polydor Records. Even before this release, the band already had a strong reputation as a live act, as well as having a Top 10 UK single under their belt with "Hong Kong Garden"...
, in November 1978. Nick Kent
Nick Kent
Nick Kent is a British rock critic and musician.-Career:Along with writers including Paul Morley, Charles Shaar Murray and Danny Baker, Nick Kent is seen as one of the most important and influential UK music journalists of the 1970s. He wrote for the British music publication New Musical Express,...
of NME said of the record: "the band sounds like some unique hybrid of the Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
mated with much of the ingenuity of Tago Mago-era Can
Can (band)
Can was an experimental rock band formed in Cologne, West Germany in 1968. Later labeled as one of the first "krautrock" groups, they transcended mainstream influences and incorporated strong minimalist and world music elements into their often psychedelic music.Can constructed their music largely...
, if any parallel can be drawn." At the end of the article, he added this remark: "Certainly, the traditional three-piece sound has never been used in a more unorthodox fashion with such stunning results."
The Banshees' second album, Join Hands
Join Hands
Join Hands is the second studio album by English post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released by Polydor Records in the UK in September 1979. The final track is a studio recording of "The Lord's Prayer", the song that they are famous for playing in their debut live performance at the...
, was released in 1979 and included a version of "The Lord's Prayer". In Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
, Jon Savage
Jon Savage
Jon Savage , real name Jonathon Sage, is a Cambridge-educated writer, broadcaster and music journalist, best known for his award winning history of the Sex Pistols and punk music, England's Dreaming, published in 1991.-Career:...
described "Poppy Day" as "a short, powerful evocation of the Great War graveyards" and Record Mirror
Record Mirror
Record Mirror was a British weekly pop music newspaper, founded by Isadore Green and featured, news articles, interviews, record charts, record reviews, concert reviews, letters from readers and photographs. The paper became respected by both mainstream pop music fans and serious record collectors...
described the whole record as "a dangerous and volatile work". The Banshees embarked on a major tour to promote the album. A few dates into the tour in September, Morris, and McKay left an in-store signing after an argument and quit the band. In need of replacements to fulfil tour dates, the Banshees' manager called drummer Budgie
Budgie (drummer)
-External links:*...
, formerly with The Slits
The Slits
The Slits were a British punk rock band. The quartet was formed in 1976 by members of the bands The Flowers of Romance and The Castrators. The members were Ari Up , who died of cancer in October 2010, and Palmolive , with Viv Albertine and Tessa Pollitt replacing founding members, Kate Korus and...
, and asked him to audition. Budgie was hired, but Sioux and Severin had no success auditioning guitarists. Robert Smith
Robert Smith (musician)
Robert James Smith is an English musician. He is the lead singer, guitar player and principal songwriter of the rock band The Cure, and its only constant member since its founding in 1976...
of The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
offered his services in case they couldn't find a guitarist (his group were already the support band on the tour), so the band held him to it after seeing too many "rock virtuosos". The tour resumed in September and after the last concert, Smith returned to The Cure.
Kaleidoscope, Juju, and A Kiss in the Dreamhouse (1980–1982)
Happy House
"Happy House" is a song recorded by British rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. The song was written by Banshees members Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin and it was released as the first single from the band's third album Kaleidoscope....
" with guitarist John McGeoch
John McGeoch
John Alexander McGeoch, , was a Scottish guitarist who played with a number of bands of the post-punk era, including Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Visage and Public Image Ltd....
, formerly of Magazine
Magazine (band)
Magazine are an English post-punk group active from 1977 to 1981, then reformed in 2009. Their debut single, "Shot by Both Sides", is now acknowledged as a classic and their debut album, Real Life, is still widely admired as one of the greatest albums of all time...
. Their third album, Kaleidoscope, released in 1980, saw the Banshees exploring new musical territories with the use of other instruments like synthesizers, sitars, and drum machines. The group initially had a concept of making each song sound completely different, without regard to whether or not the material could be performed in concert. Melody Maker described the result as "a kaleidoscope of sound and imagery, new forms, and content, flashing before our eyes." Kaleidoscope was a commercial success, peaking at number 5 in the UK album chart. This lineup, featuring McGeoch on guitar, toured the United States for the first time in support of the album, playing their first shows in New York City in November 1980.
For Juju (1981), the band had a different approach and practised the songs in concert first before recording them. Juju, according to Severin, became an unintentional concept album that "drew on darker elements". Sounds
Sounds (magazine)
Sounds was a long-term British music paper, published weekly from 10 October 1970 – 6 April 1991. It was produced by Spotlight Publications , which was set up by Jack Hutton and Peter Wilkinson, who left "Melody Maker" to start their own company...
hailed it as "intriguing, intense, brooding and powerfully atmospheric." The album later peaked at number 7 in the UK album charts and became one of their biggest sellers. McGeoch's guitars contribution on Juju would be later named and praised by Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr is an English musician and songwriter. Marr rose to fame in the 1980s as the guitarist in The Smiths, with whom he formed a prolific songwriting partnership with Morrissey. Marr has been a member of Electronic, The The, and Modest Mouse...
of The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
.
During the 1981 accompanying tour, Sioux and Budgie secretly became a couple. At the same time, they also began a side project called The Creatures
The Creatures
The Creatures were a musical act formed in 1981 as a side-project for Siouxsie and the Banshees members Siouxsie Sioux and Budgie. The Times described their music as "adventurous art rock built around Siouxsie's extraordinary voice and drummer Budgie's battery of percussion".With the dissolution of...
, releasing their first EP, Wild Things
Wild Things (EP)
Wild Things is the first release by British duo The Creatures . It was presented as two 7" single records in a 'double-album' style card cover, and is sometimes referred to as an EP. It peaked in the UK singles charts at number 24 and the pair performed "Mad Eyed Screamer" on Top Of The Pops...
.
The Banshees followed in 1982 with A Kiss in the Dreamhouse
A Kiss in the Dreamhouse
A Kiss in the Dreamhouse is the fifth studio album by English post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees and was issued by Polydor Records in the UK in 1982. It was reissued, remastered, and expanded in 2009...
. The record, featuring strings on several numbers, was an intentional contrast to their previous work, with Severin later describing it as a "sexy album". The British press greeted it enthusiastically. Richard Cook in the NME finished his review with this sentence: "I promise. This music will take your breath away." At that time, McGeoch was struggling with alcohol problems, and was hospitalized on his return to a promotional trip from Madrid. The band fired him shortly thereafter. Severin asked Robert Smith to take over guitarist duties again; Smith accepted and rejoined the group in November 1982.
Hyæna, Tinderbox, and Through the Looking Glass (1983–1987)
During 1983, the band members worked on several side projects; Sioux and Budgie composed the first Creatures album, Feast, while Severin and Smith recorded as The GloveThe Glove
The Glove was a short-lived one-off alternative rock supergroup, formed in 1982 by The Cure's Robert Smith and Siouxsie and the Banshees' Steven Severin.-History:...
. Smith then insisted on documenting his time with the Banshees, so the group released a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' "Dear Prudence
Dear Prudence
"Dear Prudence" is a song written by John Lennon, and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released by The Beatles as the second track on their 1968 double-disc album entitled The Beatles, commonly known as The White Album.-Composition:...
" in September 1983; it became their biggest hit, reaching number 3 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. They also captured a live album, Nocturne, and completed their sixth studio album, Hyæna
Hyaena (album)
Hyæna is the sixth studio album by English post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released in 1984. It was re-issued, remastered, and expanded in 2009...
. Shortly before its release in May 1984, Smith left the group, citing health issues due to an overloaded schedule, being in two bands at once.
Ex-Clock DVA
Clock DVA
Clock DVA are an industrial music, post-punk and EBM group from Sheffield, England. The group was formed in 1978, with two members, Adolphus "Adi" Newton and Steven "Judd" Turner. Along with contemporaries Heaven 17, Clock DVA's name was inspired by the Russian-influenced Nadsat of Anthony Burgess'...
guitarist John Valentine Carruthers
John Valentine Carruthers
John Valentine Carruthers is an English musician, guitarist and composer. He played with Clock DVA in the early 80's and then became the guitarist of Siouxsie and the Banshees in May 1984 ....
replaced him. The Banshees then reworked four numbers of their repertoire with a section of strings for their The Thorn
The Thorn (EP)
The Thorn is an EP released by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1984, in between the albums Hyæna and Tinderbox. The release contains four tracks recorded with orchestral instrumentation. "Overground" originally appeared on the Banshees' debut album The Scream and "Placebo Effect" is...
EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
. The NME praised the project at its release: "The power of a classical orchestra is the perfect foil for the band's grindingly insistent sounds." The new Banshees lineup spent much of 1985 working on their new record, Tinderbox. The group finished the song "Cities in Dust
Cities in Dust
"Cities in Dust" is a song written and produced by British rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released as the first single from their seventh studio album Tinderbox in 1985...
" before the album, so they rushed its release as a single prior to their longest tour of the UK. Tinderbox was finally released in April 1986. Sounds magazine noted: "Tinderbox is a refreshing slant on the Banshees' disturbing perspective and restores their vivid shades to pop's pale palette." Due to the length of time spent working on Tinderbox, the group desired spontaneity and decided to record an album of cover songs, Through the Looking Glass, in 1987. Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
magazine later praised their version of "Strange Fruit
Strange Fruit
"Strange Fruit" is a song performed most famously by Billie Holiday, who released her first recording of it in 1939, the year she first sang it. Written by the teacher Abel Meeropol as a poem, it exposed American racism, particularly the lynching of African Americans. Such lynchings had occurred...
". After the album's release, the band realized Carruthers was not fitting in anymore and decided to work on new material as a trio.
Peepshow (1988–1990)
Following a lengthy break, the band recruited keyboard player Martin McCarrickMartin McCarrick
Martin McCarrick is an English cellist, keyboardist and guitarist.He is best known for his work Siouxsie and the Banshees from 1987 until 1995. He recorded with them three studio albums : Peepshow, Superstition and The Rapture...
and the ex-Specimen
Specimen (band)
Specimen are a British band formed in the 1980s. Their music has been described as spanning many different genres of music, including glam, goth, punk and post-punk, and the band is widely credited as one of the pioneers of the Gothic movement, both musically and stylistically.-Early days:The band...
guitarist Jon Klein. The quintet recorded Peepshow
Peepshow (album)
Peepshow is the ninth studio album by the English band Siouxsie and the Banshees and their first as a quintet. With the arrival of multi-instrumentalist Martin McCarrick, Peepshow was one of their most musically complex albums, including the singles "Peek-a-Boo" and "The Last Beat of My...
in 1988, with non-traditional rock instrumentation including cello and accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
. Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
magazine praised the album in its five-star review: "Peepshow takes place in some distorted fairground of the mind where weird and wonderful shapes loom." The first single, "Peek-a-Boo
Peek-a-Boo (song)
"Peek-a-Boo" is a song by English alternative rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released in 1988 as the first single from the band's ninth studio album Peepshow...
" was their first real breakthrough in the United States. After a tour to promote the album, the band decided to take a break, with Sioux and Budgie recording a new Creatures album, Boomerang
Boomerang (The Creatures album)
Boomerang is the second album to be released by British duo The Creatures aka singer Siouxsie Sioux and musician Budgie. The album was recorded in Andalusia, Spain. One of the bluesy songs of this album, "Killing Time", was covered live by Jeff Buckley a few years later.At its release, the album...
and Severin and McCarrick working on material together.
Superstition, The Rapture, and break-up (1991–1999)
In 1991, the Banshees returned with the single "Kiss Them for Me", mixing strings over a dance rhythm laced with exotica. The group collaborated with a yet-unknown Asian Tabla player Talvin SinghTalvin Singh
Talvin Singh Matharoo , is a producer and composer and tabla player, known for creating an innovative fusion of Indian classical music and drum and bass...
, who also sang during the bridge. The single received glowing reviews and later peaked in the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
at number 23, allowing them to reach a new audience. The album Superstition
Superstition (album)
Superstition is the tenth studio album by Siouxsie and the Banshees, released in 1991. The first single, "Kiss Them for Me" gave the band its first top-forty Billboard Hot 100 hit in the United States, peaking at number 23...
followed shortly afterwards and the group toured the US as second headliners of the inaugural Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. The music festival hosts more than 160,000 people over a...
tour. The following year, the Banshees were asked to compose "Face to Face" as a single for the film Batman Returns
Batman Returns
Batman Returns is a 1992 American superhero film directed by Tim Burton. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, it is the sequel to Burton's Batman , and features Michael Keaton reprising the title role, with Danny DeVito as the Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman.Burton originally did not...
.
In 1993, The Banshees recorded new songs based on strings arrangements, but quickly stopped the sessions to play festivals abroad. On their return home, they hired former Velvet Underground member John Cale
John Cale
John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
to produce the rest of the record. At its release, 1995's The Rapture
The Rapture (album)
The Rapture is the eleventh and final studio album by Siouxsie and the Banshees. The songs with cello arrangements, including the title track plus "Fall from Grace" and "Not Forgotten", were produced by the band on their own in 1993...
was described by Melody Maker as "a fascinating, transcontinental journey through danger and exotica." A few weeks after its release, Polydor dropped the band from its roster and Klein was replaced on the band's last tour in 1995 by ex-Psychedelic Furs guitarist Knox Chandler. In April 1996, the band finally called it a day after 20 years spent together. Sioux and Budgie announced that they would carry on recording as The Creatures
The Creatures
The Creatures were a musical act formed in 1981 as a side-project for Siouxsie and the Banshees members Siouxsie Sioux and Budgie. The Times described their music as "adventurous art rock built around Siouxsie's extraordinary voice and drummer Budgie's battery of percussion".With the dissolution of...
. In 1999, they released the album Anima Animus
Anima Animus
Anima Animus is the third album to be released by British duo The Creatures aka singer Siouxsie and musician Budgie. The title of the album was inspired by Carl Jung's concept of transgender, the woman inside the man, the man inside the woman. The album was released in 1999.PJ Harvey selected Anima...
to critical acclaim.
2000s–present
In 2002, Universal MusicUniversal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
inaugurated the band's remastered
Audio mastering
Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
back catalogue by releasing The Best of Siouxsie and the Banshees. In April, Sioux, Severin, Budgie, and Chandler reunited briefly for the Seven Year Itch tour, which spawned the Seven Year Itch
Seven Year Itch (album)
Years after the breakup of Siouxsie and the Banshees, the three core members plus final Banshees guitarist Knox Chandler reunited for an abbreviated tour of the US and the UK in 2002. The Seven Year Itch is a live album composed of performances recorded at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire on July...
live album and DVD in 2003.
The year after, Downside Up
Downside Up
Downside Up is a four-disc box set collecting B-sides and bonus material from the catalog of Siouxsie and the Banshees. Also included is The Thorn , originally released in 1984....
, a box-set that collected all of the band's B-sides and The Thorn
The Thorn (EP)
The Thorn is an EP released by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1984, in between the albums Hyæna and Tinderbox. The release contains four tracks recorded with orchestral instrumentation. "Overground" originally appeared on the Banshees' debut album The Scream and "Placebo Effect" is...
EP, was released. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
wrote in its review: "for here is a group that never filled B-sides with inferior, throwaway tracks. Rather they saw them as an outlet for some of their most radical and challenging work."
In 2006, the band's first four records were remastered and compiled with previously unreleased bonus tracks. Several recordings made for the John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
radio show from 1978 to 1986 were also put together on Voices on the Air: The Peel Sessions
Voices on the Air: The Peel Sessions
Voices on the Air: The Peel Sessions is an album released by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It is composed of recordings from the band during the years 1977-1979 and 1981-1986 on John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show The Peel Sessions....
. Allmusic described the first session as "a fiery statement of intent" and qualified the other performances as "excellent".
The second batch of remasters, concerning the 1982–1986 era, came out in April 2009. It included four other re-issues (including their highly-regarded A Kiss in the Dreamhouse from 1982). The At the BBC box set, containing a DVD with all of the band's UK live television performances and three CDs with in-concert recordings, was also released in June of the same year.
Legacy and influence
Siouxsie and the Banshees have inspired many musicians of different genres.The Banshees had a strong impact on two main trip hop
Trip hop
Trip hop is a music genre consisting of downtempo electronic music which originated in the early 1990s in England, especially Bristol. Deriving from "post"-acid house, the term was first used by the British music media and press as a way to describe the more experimental variant of breakbeat which...
acts. Tricky
Tricky
Tricky is an English musician and actor. As a producer and a musician, he is noted for a dark, rich and layered sound and a whispering sprechgesang lyrical style. Culturally, Tricky encourages an intertwining of societies, particularly in his musical fusion of rock and hip hop, high art and pop...
covered the B-side "Tattoo" to open his second album, Nearly God: the original version of that song helped Tricky in the creation of his style. Another trip hop group, Massive Attack
Massive Attack
Massive Attack are an English DJ and trip hop duo from Bristol, England consisting of Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. Working with co-producers, as well as various session musicians and guest vocalists, they make records and tour live. The duo are considered to be of the trip...
, sampled "Metal Postcard
The Scream (album)
The Scream is the debut album by English post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released in November 1978 on Polydor Records. Even before this release, the band already had a strong reputation as a live act, as well as having a Top 10 UK single under their belt with "Hong Kong Garden"...
" for the song "Superpredators", recorded prior to their Mezzanine
Mezzanine
Mezzanine may refer to:* Mezzanine , an intermediate floor between main floors of a building* Mezzanine, in technology, can refer to a thin sheet of plastic insulating different parts of circuitry from each other in cramped environments, such as laptop interiors* Mezzanine board, or daughterboard,...
album.
The group have been cited by their peers. Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
said that "Siouxsie and the Banshees were excellent". "They were one of the great groups of the late 70s, early 80s". He also said in 1994, "If you study modern groups, those who gain press coverage and chart action, none of them are as good as Siouxsie and the Banshees at full pelt. That's not dusty nostalgia, that's fact." Another ex-member of The Smiths, Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr is an English musician and songwriter. Marr rose to fame in the 1980s as the guitarist in The Smiths, with whom he formed a prolific songwriting partnership with Morrissey. Marr has been a member of Electronic, The The, and Modest Mouse...
, mentioned his liking for Banshees guitarist John McGeoch
John McGeoch
John Alexander McGeoch, , was a Scottish guitarist who played with a number of bands of the post-punk era, including Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Visage and Public Image Ltd....
and his composition on "Spellbound". Marr qualified it as "clever" with "really good picky thing going on which is very un-rock'n'roll." U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
cited Siouxsie and the Banshees as a major influence and selected "Christine" for a Mojo compilation. The Edge
The Edge
David Howell Evans , more widely known by his stage name The Edge , is a musician best known as the guitarist, backing vocalist, and keyboardist of the Irish rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record...
was the presenter of an award given to Siouxsie at the Mojo ceremony in 2005. Guitarist Dave Navarro
Dave Navarro
David Michael "Dave" Navarro is an American guitarist who plays in the alternative rock band Jane's Addiction and cover band Camp Freddy. He has also played with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Panic Channel, and many others.- Early life :...
of Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction is an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985. The band's original line-up featured Perry Farrell , Dave Navarro , Eric Avery and Stephen Perkins . After breaking up in 1991, Jane's Addiction briefly reunited in 1997 and again in 2001, both times...
once made a parallel between his band and the Banshees: "There are so many similar threads: melody, use of sound, attitude, sex-appeal. I always saw Jane's Addiction as the masculine Siouxsie & the Banshees." The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
leader Robert Smith
Robert Smith (musician)
Robert James Smith is an English musician. He is the lead singer, guitar player and principal songwriter of the rock band The Cure, and its only constant member since its founding in 1976...
declared in 2003: "Siouxsie and The Banshees and Wire
Wire (band)
Wire are an English rock band, formed in London in October 1976 by Colin Newman , Graham Lewis , Bruce Gilbert , and Robert Gotobed...
were the two bands I really admired. They meant something." He also pinpointed what the 1979 Join Hands tour brought him musically. "On stage that first night with the Banshees, I was blown away by how powerful I felt playing that kind of music. It was so different to what we were doing with The Cure. Before that, I'd wanted us to be like The Buzzcocks or Elvis Costello, the punk Beatles. Being a Banshee really changed my attitude to what I was doing."
The Banshees have been hailed by other acts. Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
cited John McGeoch
John McGeoch
John Alexander McGeoch, , was a Scottish guitarist who played with a number of bands of the post-punk era, including Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Visage and Public Image Ltd....
-era Siouxsie records when mentioning the recording of the song "There There
There there
"There there." is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, featured on their album Hail to the Thief and released prior to the album as its first single. "There There" reached number four in the UK Singles Chart and number one in Canada...
". Jeff Buckley
Jeff Buckley
Jeffrey Scott "Jeff" Buckley , raised as Scotty Moorhead, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was the son of Tim Buckley, also a musician...
, who took inspiration in several female voices, covered "Killing Time" on various occasions. Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...
performed "Christine
Christine (song)
"Christine" is a song recorded by British rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. The song was written by Banshees members Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin and it was released as the second single from the band's third album Kaleidoscope....
" in concert and their guitarist cited the Banshees in interviews. Garbage
Garbage (band)
Garbage are an alternative rock band formed in Madison, Wisconsin in 1994. The group consists of Scottish singer Shirley Manson and American musicians Duke Erikson , Steve Marker and Butch Vig . All four members are involved in songwriting and production...
singer Shirley Manson
Shirley Manson
Shirley Anne Manson is a Scottish recording artist and actress, best known internationally as the lead singer of the alternative rock band Garbage. For much of her international career Manson commuted between her home city of Edinburgh to the United States to record with Garbage but now lives and...
wrote in the foreword to Paytress' Banshees biography, "I learned how to sing listening to The Scream and Kaleidoscope. Today, I can see and hear the Banshees' influence all over the place." Siouxsie has also been praised by various female singers including PJ Harvey
PJ Harvey
Polly Jean Harvey is an English musician, singer-songwriter, composer and occasional artist. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments including piano, organ, bass, saxophone, and most recently, the autoharp.Harvey began her career in...
and Ana Matronic
Ana Matronic
Ana Matronic is the female lead singer for the Scissor Sisters.Her stage name is said to be due to "a deep and abiding love of robots"...
of Scissor Sisters
Scissor Sisters
Scissor Sisters are an American band "spawned by the scuzzy, gay nightlife scene of New York" who took their name from a sexual position between two women also known as tribadism...
.
The Banshees continue to influence younger musicians. Singer James Murphy was marked by certain Banshees albums during his childhood. His band LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem was a prominent American dance-punk band from New York City. It was fronted by American singer-songwriter and producer James Murphy, co-founder of record label DFA Records...
covered "Slowdive
Slowdive (song)
"Slowdive" is a song written, produced and recorded by British rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1982. It was released as the first single from the band's fifth album A Kiss in the Dreamhouse....
" as a B-side to the single "Disco Infiltrator
Disco Infiltrator
"Disco Infiltrator" is a song from the debut album by LCD Soundsystem, released as their sixth single on June 6, 2005. The single includes a cover of the Siouxsie and the Banshees' track "Slowdive," which was originally released on their 1982 album A Kiss in the Dreamhouse. The B-side was recorded...
". The Beta Band
The Beta Band
The Beta Band were a British musical group who received much critical acclaim and achieved cult status amongst avid followers of the underground and experimental music scene...
sampled "Painted Bird
A Kiss in the Dreamhouse
A Kiss in the Dreamhouse is the fifth studio album by English post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees and was issued by Polydor Records in the UK in 1982. It was reissued, remastered, and expanded in 2009...
" on their track "Liquid Bird" from the Heroes to Zeros
Heroes to Zeros
Heroes to Zeros is the third and final studio album by The Beta Band, released in 2004.The cover illustration was created by comic book writer and artist Kaare Andrews...
album. American group TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio is an American art rock band formed in 2001 in Brooklyn, New York, whose music spans numerous diverse genres, from post-punk to electro and free jazz to soul music....
explained that they always tried to make a song that begins like "Kiss Them for Me" where all of a sudden, there's an "element of surprise" with "a giant drum coming in". Electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
singer Santigold based one of her songs on the music of "Red Light". "'My Superman' is an interpolation of 'Red Light,'" she explained. Lo-fi
Lo-fi music
Lo-fi is lower quality of sound recordings than the usual standard for music. The qualities of lo-fi are usually achieved by either degrading the quality of the recorded audio, or using certain equipment. Recent uses of the phrase have led to it becoming a genre, although it still remains as an...
songwriter Jeremy Jay
Jeremy Jay
-History:Jay grew up in Los Angeles. His first release, the Airwalker EP appeared in 2007 courtesy of K Records. It included a cover of the Siouxsie and the Banshees song, "Lunar Camel." The EP was described by Pitchfork Media as "cryptic, compelling short" with "half-crooned, half-spoken vocals...
covered "Lunar Camel" on his Airwalker EP and he cited the band amongst his main influences. Indie folk
Indie folk
Indie folk is a music genre that arose in the 1990s from singer/songwriters in the indie rock community showing heavy influences from folk music scenes of the 50s, 60s and early 70s, country music, and indie rock. A few early artists included Lou Barlow, Beck, Jeff Buckley and Elliott Smith...
group DeVotchKa
DeVotchKa
DeVotchKa is a four-piece multi-instrumental and vocal ensemble. They take their name from the Russian word devochka , meaning "girl"...
covered the ballad "The Last Beat of My Heart
The Last Beat of My Heart
"The Last Beat of My Heart" is a song written, produced and recorded by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released in late 1988 as the third and final single from the band's ninth studio album Peepshow....
" on the suggestion of Arcade Fire singer, Win Butler; it was released on the Curse Your Little Heart EP. In 2009, Gossip
Gossip (band)
Gossip is a three-piece American indie rock band formed in 1999. The band consists of singer Beth Ditto, guitarist Brace Paine and drummer Hannah Blilie. After releasing several recordings, the band broke through with their 2006 studio album, Standing in the Way of Control . A follow-up, Music for...
also named the Banshees as one of their major influences.
Discography
- The ScreamThe Scream (album)The Scream is the debut album by English post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released in November 1978 on Polydor Records. Even before this release, the band already had a strong reputation as a live act, as well as having a Top 10 UK single under their belt with "Hong Kong Garden"...
(1978) - Join HandsJoin HandsJoin Hands is the second studio album by English post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released by Polydor Records in the UK in September 1979. The final track is a studio recording of "The Lord's Prayer", the song that they are famous for playing in their debut live performance at the...
(1979) - Kaleidoscope (1980)
- Juju (1981)
- A Kiss in the DreamhouseA Kiss in the DreamhouseA Kiss in the Dreamhouse is the fifth studio album by English post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees and was issued by Polydor Records in the UK in 1982. It was reissued, remastered, and expanded in 2009...
(1982) - Hyæna (1984)
- Tinderbox (1986)
- Through the Looking Glass (1987)
- PeepshowPeepshow (album)Peepshow is the ninth studio album by the English band Siouxsie and the Banshees and their first as a quintet. With the arrival of multi-instrumentalist Martin McCarrick, Peepshow was one of their most musically complex albums, including the singles "Peek-a-Boo" and "The Last Beat of My...
(1988) - SuperstitionSuperstition (album)Superstition is the tenth studio album by Siouxsie and the Banshees, released in 1991. The first single, "Kiss Them for Me" gave the band its first top-forty Billboard Hot 100 hit in the United States, peaking at number 23...
(1991) - The RaptureThe Rapture (album)The Rapture is the eleventh and final studio album by Siouxsie and the Banshees. The songs with cello arrangements, including the title track plus "Fall from Grace" and "Not Forgotten", were produced by the band on their own in 1993...
(1995)
External links
- Siouxsie's Sioux's official website
- The Banshees & Other Creatures – A comprehensive website with an array of information.
- Untiedundone – A site with several articles and interviews published about the band from 1977.