Siouxsie Sioux
Susan Janet Dallion (born
May 27,
1957) in
Bromley,
England is better known by her stage name,
Siouxsie Sioux. Sioux is lead singer of both the influential
punk/
gothic rock band
Siouxsie & the Banshees and of splinter group,
The Creatures.
In the mid-1970's, Siouxsie Sioux was a member of the
Bromley Contingent; a group of bored, suburban teenagers devoted to the
Sex Pistols. Other members included
Billy Idol,
Soo Catwoman and fellow Banshees founder
Steven Severin.
She was the youngest of three children, born at Guy's Hospital in
South London. She attended Mottingham Secondary Modern School for Girls in
Kent. Her mother was a
bilingual secretary, her father a laboratory technician who milked serum from poisonous snakes.
When Sioux was 14, her father died from complications of
alcoholism. At age 15, she suffered
ulcerative colitis, an experience she described later as "surreal." Later she stated that "it completely de-romanticised the body for me."
While growing up, Sioux was often left to look after herself in an undisciplined atmosphere. Even before his death, her father's alcoholism kept him incapacitated, forcing her mother to work full time. Even the garden at their home north of
Petts Wood grew into a jungle, with high hedges and rambling roses, until the neighbours complained.
During her teens, she was a self-confessed loner and started getting into music like
David Bowie,
Lou Reed,
T Rex and
The Stooges and started visiting the local gay discos. She became very well known in the London punk scene for her outrageous
glam,
fetish and
bondage attire, which became staples of punk fashion.
Sioux's first gig was as an unrehearsed fill-in at the 100 Club's "Punk Rock Festival" - two nights in September 1976 - organised by
Malcolm McLaren.
In
1976 the Bromley Contingent followed the Sex Pistols to
France, where Siouxsie was punched by an
Arab for wearing a cupless bra, black vinyl stockings and a black armband with a
swastika on it. Sioux later said that the armband was intended as a campy joke and that she did not, at that time, appreciate the implications of wearing a swastika. "The
Nazis were not only
anti-Semitic but anti-anyone different, anti-anyone like me."
Grundy interview
One of Sioux's first public appearances was with the Sex Pistols on
Bill Grundy's television show. It was on that show that the Pistols garnered attention for releasing a stream of expletives at Grundy's provocation. In the course of Grundy's interview with the members of the Sex Pistols, he tried to flirt with her:
Grundy: "Are you worried, or are you just enjoying yourself?":Sioux: "Enjoying myself.":Grundy: "Are you?":Sioux: "Yeah.":Grundy: "Ah, that's what I thought you were doing.":Sioux: "I always wanted to meet you.":Grundy: "Did you really?":Sioux: "Yeah.":Grundy: "We'll meet afterwards, shall we?"
It was to this that Pistols guitarist
Steve Jones reacted by calling Grundy a "dirty bastard" and a "fuckin' rotter," and the interview went downhill from there.
Shortly after the Grundy interview, Sioux formed
Siouxsie and the Banshees with fellow Bromley Contigent members
Steven Severin on bass,
Marco Pirroni on guitar, and, for a brief time, future Sex Pistols bassist John Simon Ritchie, better known as
Sid Vicious. When Vicious joined The Sex Pistols he was replaced by Kenny Morris. Pirroni joined up with
Adam and the Ants and was replaced with Peter Fenton who in turn was replaced by John Mckay. The original lineup was in part conceived by Sex Pistols manager
Malcolm McLaren as a fill-in band at the
100 Club.
From their first album,
1978's
The Scream, to their breakup in
1996, Siouxsie and the Banshees were one of the most successful, groundbreaking
punk rock bands, and helped create the "
goth" style of music and dress; Sioux's trademark black eyeliner, bondage gear, and icy stage persona was a huge influence on later
Goth,
Deathrock and
Punk acts.
McKay and Morris left the band in the middle of a tour. The split involved an argument involving an autograph session in
Aberdeen a long-since defunct record shop called "The other record shop". As the tour was with
The Cure the ever obliging
Robert Smith stood in on guitar and was with both bands for a short while. McKay has not been heard from again in any significant way.
In
1981, she and
Budgie formed
The Creatures, who sporadically perform and record to this day.
More recent years
Sioux married Budgie in
1991. The following year, ostensibly "fed up with fans staring through the windows of their basement flat" in west
London, she and Budgie moved to
France. They now live in a converted farmhouse in a small village in south west France, where they have "a garden, cats and mountains of books." A few years ago, they set up their own label, Sioux Records, and they have recently finished building a studio in their house.
Sioux is the featured vocalist on the title track to
Basement Jaxx's 2003 album
Kish Kash.
In
1994, she recorded the song "The Lighthouse" on French producer
Hector Zazou's album
Chansons des mers froides (
Songs from the Cold Seas). The lyrics were taken from the poem "Flannan Isle" by English poet
Wilfred Gibson and the song included the incantations of a female
Nanai shaman recorded in
Siberia.
She won the Icon Award at the Mojo Honours in London in June
2005.
Sioux has started work on her first solo album, which is slated to be released in early or mid
2007. In 2005, she released a
DVD from her "Dreamshow" tour which went to the top of the UK Music DVD charts.
Siouxsie & the Banshees
The Scream 1978
Join Hands 1979
Kaleidoscope 1980
Juju 1981
Once Upon a Time: The Singles 1981
A Kiss in the Dreamhouse 1982
Nocturne (Live) 1983
Hyaena 1984
Tinderbox 1986
The Peel Sessions 1987
Through the Looking Glass 1987
Peepshow 1988
Superstition 1991
Twice Upon a Time: The Singles 1992
The Rapture 1995
The Best of Siouxsie & the Banshees 2002
Seven Year Itch (Live) 2003
Downside Up 2004
Film appearances of songs include
The Punk Rock Movie (
Don Letts, 1977);
Jubilee (
Derek Jarman, 1977);
Out of Bounds (
Richard Tuggle, 1986);
Showgirls (
Paul Verhoeven, 1995);
The Craft (
Andrew Fleming, 1996);
The Filth and the Fury (
Julien Temple, 2000);
24 Hour Party People (
Michael Winterbottom, 2002).
*
The Guardian Weekend,
January 14,
1995*
Transcript of the Bill Grundy interview*
The Banshees & Other Creatures The most complete and authoritative Siouxsie & The Banshees/The Creatures website on the net.
*
UntiedUndone, a Siouxsie Sioux fan site.
*
Siouxsie bio from The Guardian Weekend, January 14, 1995*
Vamp.org/Siouxsie, Lyrics as well as some articles and a lot of pictures.
*
Interview with Bizarre magazine*
Siouxsie interview at RememberTheEighties.com
