After 14 years, punk pioneers Siouxsie and the Banshees had finally settled into a routine: record, tour, rule the college and alternative radio charts and rake in the cash. They had become, much to their surprise, pop stars.
Here, after all, was a band that had emerged on the London punk scene in 1976 by playing an interminable version of ”The Lord`s Prayer.” Their mission: to rout the audience or get kicked off the stage.
But by 1988, the Banshees` crowd-baiting days were over. Their ”Peep Show” album became a hit, culminating two years of writing, recording and touring that left them in need of a break. So singer Siouxsie Sioux and percussionist Budgie, who headline Saturday at Cabaret Metro, decided to take a vacation in the Spanish countryside.
”We desperately needed to escape the studio routine, the London studio circuit,” Budgie said. ”With just the two of us we knew we could do it:
throw the gear in the car and go.”
Their fanciful two-person project, dubbed the Creatures, began in 1982 with the recording of an EP and later an album, ”Feast.”
”It was sort of a happy accident,” Budgie said. ”The rest of the band
(the Banshees) was taking a break in the studio, and Siouxsie and I just started working out some things for voice and percussion. When the band returned, they said, `Hey, that`s pretty good,` and didn`t think the tracks needed any extra instrumentation. That`s when we knew we were on to something.”
The increasing popularity of the Banshees-fueled by such hits as ”Cities in Dust” and covers of the Beatles ”Dear Prudence” and Iggy Pop`s ”The Passenger”-didn`t allow for a Creatures reunion until last May.
”It was sort of a mad idea, you know, `Let`s go to Spain, drive around and find some place to record,”` Budgie said. ”But we were drawn to Spain for a number of reasons . . . the Flamenco dance tradition, primarily, because it`s very percussive and the idea of story-telling is inherent in the culture. That`s what we wanted to do: tell stories set to a rhythm.”
The duo eventually settled in an 11th Century convent in rural Spain, owned by an ex-bullfighter.
”The conditions were extremely basic,” Budgie said. ”We were surrounded by all these sad, horrific trophies of bullfighters` conquests-bull`s heads-and Siouxsie and I being vegetarians, it gave us a lot to think about.” Besides that, ”our recording equipment didn`t take kindly to the bird droppings and dust being constantly kicked up in the room, but our music sort of soaked up the ambiance,” he said, with a chuckle.
The resulting album, ”Boomerang” (Geffen), contains numerous references to Spain and its culture. ”Fruitman” is a loving tribute to the village
”father figure,” Budgie said. ”He looks after not just his family, but the land itself. It`s a simple way of life, yet so in tune with everything.” Budgie`s love of hard-core blues also rubbed off on the mercurial Siouxsie.
”I always carry harmonicas, and I love stuff like John Lee Hooker, Canned Heat, the early Fleetwood Mac when they still had (guitarist) Peter Green,” he said. ”With the Banshees I couldn`t express a lot of those ideas because the writing is pretty much all Siouxsie and Steve (Severin). But the Creatures are much more personal, so I played for Siouxsie stuff like Canned Heat`s `On the Road Again,` and we sort of rediscovered the blues together.” Beyond Budgie`s endless array of rhythmic tricks, the Creatures` album is a delight for fans of Siouxsie`s voice, which once could have been categorized as a shriek. Now she swoops and soars like a bird of prey on ”Strolling Wolf” or croons seductively on the Spanish blues, ”Morinna.”
”The angry voice of youth can only last so long,” Budgie said.
That voice, and Budgie banging on all manner of percussion instruments, face the daunting task of having a whole stage to themselves at Metro Saturday.
”It`s about as basic a setup as you could want, but it still sounds pretty varied,” Budgie said. ”The beauty of this approach is that even if the roof falls in, we can still play.”
