Siouxsie Sioux
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Susan Janet Ballion (born May 27, 1957) in Bromley, London, better known by her stage name, Siouxsie Sioux (IPA: [sʉzi sʉ]), is the lead singer of both the influential punk/gothic rock band Siouxsie & the Banshees and of its splinter group The Creatures.
In the mid-1970s, 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, Jordan, and fellow Banshees founder, Steven Severin.
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[edit] Early life
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.
[edit] Professional career
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."
[edit] Grundy interview
One of Sioux's first public appearances was with the Sex Pistols on Bill Grundy's television show in December 1976 as part of the Bromley Contingent. 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 in reaction to this exchange that Pistols guitarist Steve Jones called Grundy a "dirty sod" and a "fuckin' rotter," leading to a media furor that was to have a major impact on the Pistols' subsequent career.
Sioux later had a falling out with Johnny Rotten and the two are no longer friends. In his autobiography No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs, John said the feud started when Siouxsie showed up at his house and excitedly told him she had just bought a new washing machine and suggested they have a "washing machine party". John thought this was ridiculous and called her a fake and a fraud. Apparently the two never talked again and whenever Sioux would walk by John's house he would lean out the window and yell, "How's the washer!?". Over the years John was very vocal of his dislike for Siouxsie and the Banshees as a band and claimed they were punk rip-off artists who use Stephen King imagery to appear scary, gothic, and gloomy even though they're upbeat people in real life.
[edit] With the Banshees
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 on drums. When Vicious joined The Sex Pistols he was replaced by Kenny Morris. Pirroni left to form Rema Rema, and later joined 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 at a long-since defunct record shop called "The Other Record Shop" (a major punk and new wave stockist). 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.
[edit] 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). Sioux and Zazou adapted an excerpt of the poem "Flannan Isle" by English poet Wilfred Wilson Gibson into lyrics. The song included the incantations of a female Nanai shaman recorded in Siberia, and musical performers included Budgie and Mark Isham.
She won the Icon Award at the Mojo Honours in London in June 2005.
The song Hong Kong Garden was featured in the film Marie Antoinette in 2006.
Sioux has started work on her first solo album, which is slated to be released in 2007. In 2005, she released a DVD from her "Dreamshow" tour which went to the top of the UK Music DVD charts.[citation needed]
[edit] Albums
[edit] 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); Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola, 2006); Monster House (Gil Kenan, 2006)
[edit] References
- The Guardian Weekend, January 14, 1995
- Transcript of the Bill Grundy interview
- Paytress, Mark (2003). Siouxsie and the Banshees: The Authorised Biography. Sanctuary Publishing. ISBN 1860743757.
[edit] External links
- 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
