Siouxsie Sioux and Budgie, formerly of Siouxsie & the Banshees released their first EP Wild Things as The Creatures in 1981, introducing a much more primitive and drum-driven Banshees sound. The title track was a reworking of a hit by The Troggs. Songs such as "So Unreal" and "Mad Eyed Screamer" drew inspiration from the novel The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin.
In 1983, between the release of the Banshees album A Kiss In The Dreamhouse and their live album Nocturne, The Creatures recorded and released their first full length album Feast. The band decided to determine where to record the album by randomly placing a pin on a map of the world. The result was Hawaii, which led to the featuring of The Lamalani Hula Academy Hawaiian Chanters on some tracks. The song title "Inoa 'Ole" is Hawaiian for "No Name". "Ice House" was inspired by an obscure television play. "Dancing on Glass" is based on an Indian musical (sounds of broken glass created by Siouxsie and Budgie dancing on broken mirrors with tough shoes on). The singles "Miss the Girl" and "Right Now" (originally by Mel Torme) were also released around this time.
After numerous Banshees projects (the albums Nocturne, Hyaena, Tinderbox, Through the Looking Glass and Peepshow), The Creatures decided to record their next album Boomerang in a stone barn in Jerez, Andalucia, Spain. The album featured a wide range of musicians to help give it an immensely exotic feel.
Budgie explains the song "Manchild" here: "It's a story based in Colombia before the drugs cartel, it's about a small child caught up in a feud, this vendetta between his village and another rival village. In a minor way it is all about drug trafficking, but ends with the stronger village wiping out the whole male population of the other village until there was just one boy left called Nelsito. It was understood that he would live till he was at least 18 before he was assassinated, but he was shot on the way to school."
And his comments on "Willow": "It's kind of about how my mother died as it was a black area and I hadn't realised what had happened until I saw my brother. He told me what went on with the family and I never really knew until a year afterwards, and I wrote it down directly after that".
"Fruitman" was in fact a local they encoutered during recording. "Simoom" means "dry wind" in Arabic and was written about the Salman Rushdie affair.
A year after Siouxsie & the Banshees disbanded in 1996, the long-time out-of-print Wild Things EP and Feast album were re-released through the compilation A Bestiary Of The Creatures along with all B-side tracks from the era, which pleased fans greatly.
Early in 1999, The Creatures released their first studio album in just under a decade Anima Animus (which means "The Man Inside The Woman, The Woman Inside The Man"). Its cold and hard electronica sound was a slight departure from Boomerang 's very organic atmosphere, and pleased as many as it upset. Exclusive fan club live albums Zulu and Sequins In The Sun were released around this time and quickly went out of print, as did singles "Sad Cunt", "2nd Floor", "Exterminating Angel", "Say" (a tribute to The Associates lead singer Billy Mackenzie who committed suicide in early 1997), "Prettiest Thing" (which has a similar theme to that of the album title) as well as a special single of live material.
The song "Another Planet" was discovered on the soundtrack to the movie Lost In Space and was then radically reworked. "Don't Go To Sleep Without Me" was included on the soundtrack to The Blair Witch Project. The Creatures collaborated with Marc Almond on the song "Threat Of Love", available on his album Open All Night.
Late 1999 saw the remix album Hybrids which featured remixes of tracks from Anima Animus and the Eraser Cut EP, reworked by Howie B, Paul Thomas, John Roome, Doug Hart & Paul Freegood, Ollie Brown & Sam Britton, The Black Dog, Tony Justice & Danny Endemic, The Beloved, Jonn Jo Key, Tom Stephan and A1 People. "Take Mine" and "Murdering Mouth" were released in June and September 2000. A compilation of unreleased Anima Animus-era tracks was released as U.S Retrace 2000 to happy fans. Rocket Ship and Red Wrapping Paper were released to fan club members in 2001.
Siouxsie and Budgie returned with the full-length album Hai! in 2003. Recording began less than 24 hours after the Banshees had completed their reunion tour the Seven Year Itch, when Budgie got to fulfill a lifelong ambition to work with Leonard Eto, the basis of the album being a spontaneous drum duet between the two. The cover photo is called "The Shinto Bride" by Kimiko Yoshida. It was re-released over the next years in special forms. An album of the instrumentals was also made available.
"Attack Of the Super Vixens" (inspired by Russ Meyer's film Super Vixens) was released during the tour for the album, and the song was eventually included in Hai! re-releases. Also in 2003, Siouxsie was a guest vocalist on the Basement Jaxx track "Cish Cash" (vocals recorded without any meetings).
In 2005, Siouxsie Sioux released a "solo" DVD entitled Dreamshow which was a massive fan-pleaser, featuring many songs spanning her time in both Siouxsie and the Banshees and in The Creatures. She wore a multitude of intricate and beautiful japanese-inspired costumes and was backed up by an orchestra as well as Budgie and Hai! collaborator Leonard Eto. It also included more obscure album tracks and songs not usually played live such as Banshees classics "Obsession", "Shooting Sun", "The Rapture", "Not Forgotten". It also included a special bonus performance at the 100 Club, where the Banshees played their first ever gig.
Siouxsie has signed a new deal with Universal and will release a new album on the brand new imprint, W14, in 2007. Siouxsie is now busy writing new material for the new record and will go into the studio later this year to begin recording. 'I am really excited about making new music. I have various collaborators in mind and am itching to get back in the studio'. Referring to an infamous spray-painting campaign to get the Banshees signed to a major label, Siouxsie added 'At least I didn't have to get someone spray-painting my name on the front of the Universal building !'
The new venture sees her reunited with John Williams, who was the Polydor A & R man who worked with her on Siouxsie and the Banshee's 1988 'Peepshow' album and on The Creatures 1989 album 'Boomerang'.
