The CREATURES were an eclectic musical act formed in 1981 as a side-project for "Siouxsie & the Banshees" members SIOUXSIE SIOUX (born Susan Janet Ballion on May 27, 1957 in Chislehurst, London, England) and BUDGIE (born Peter Edward Clarke on August 21, 1957, in St Helens, Lancashire). With the dissolution of Siouxsie & the Banshees in 1996, The Creatures graduated from an occasional side project to a full-time concern. They disbanded in 2005.
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WILD THINGS era (1981)
The singer Siouxsie and the drummer Budgie had the idea to create the Creatures while recording the Banshees 'Juju' album. During one session, they discovered by accident that the association of just the voice and the drums suited to the track "But Not Them". A recording session was organized in the aim to record five songs. This musical project was released under the form of a EP titled "WILD THINGS".
Musically, it introduced a much more primitive and drum-driven Banshee sound. The erotic sleeve art featuring Siouxsie and Budgie half naked under a shower were inspired by the pictures of Man Ray: the art work caused some controversy. Another shoot, inspired by the John Millais painting Ophelia, featured the singer naked under many flowers and shallow water. The title track was a reworking of a hit by The Troggs and the other numbers were Creatures compositions. "So Unreal" drew inspiration from the novel The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin and "Mad Eyed Screamer" from local characters met in Hyde Park, London.
FEAST era (1983)
Between the release of the Banshees albums 'A Kiss in the Dreamhouse' and their live album 'Nocturne', The Creatures recorded and released their first full length album "FEAST". The week of its release, the band was on the front cover of the NME and the Melody Maker. It was both a critical and commercial success, reaching number 17 in the UK Albums Chart.
To conceive it, 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: during the studio-session, sounds of broken glass were created by Siouxsie and Budgie dancing on broken mirrors with tough shoes on. The hit-single "Miss the Girl" took its inspiration from the book Crash by J. G. Ballard. Shortly after its exit from the charts, a follow-up "Right Now" was recorded: it was originally composed by Mel Tormé. The Creatures revamped it by adding a brass section: that became their most successful single, reaching the top fifteen.
BOOMERANG era (1989)
After a string of successful albums with the Banshees, The Creatures came back six years later. Siouxsie and Budgie went in a stone barn in Jerez, Andalucia, Spain to record "BOOMERANG". The record was critically acclaimed and widely regarded as Siouxsie and Budgie's crowning achievement as The Creatures.
One of the most languorous songs from Boomerang, "Killing Time", was covered live by Jeff Buckley a few years later. 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 encountered 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.
ANIMA ANIMUS era (1999 - 2002)
Early in 1999, The Creatures released their first studio album in just under a decade, "ANIMA ANIMUS". Its cold and hard electronica sound was a slight departure from Boomerang 's very organic atmosphere. It pleased to a strong core of people. Indeed, PJ Harvey selected Anima Animus in her ten favourite albums released in 1999. The Eraser Cut (an anagram of The Creatures) EP and the singles "2nd Floor", "Say" (dedicated to Billy Mackenzie) and "Prettiest Thing" accompanied the release of the album. Exclusive fan club live albums "Zulu" and "Sequins in the Sun" were also edited.
The song "Another Planet" was discovered on the soundtrack to the film 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 a string of artists including The Beloved. During the same period, a compilation of unreleased Anima Animus-era tracks was released as "U.S Retrace" in 2000 to happy fans. Three one-track CDs ('Murdering Mouth' (live), 'Rocket Ship' and 'Red Wrapping Paper') were released to fan club members.
HAI ! era (2003 - 2004)
Siouxsie and Budgie returned with a full-length album "HAI !" in 2003. Recording began less than 24 hours after the Banshees had completed their reunion tour 'Seven Year Itch'. 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 recorded in Japan, and songs include "Godzilla!" and "Imagoro" - Japanese for 'About This Time'. Critics' reviews were favourable. The single "Godzilla!" included the B side "Attack Of the Super Vixens", inspired by Russ Meyer's film Super Vixens.
That same year, Siouxsie pursued collaborations with other musicians. She was asked to be the guest vocalist on the Basement Jaxx's "Cish Cash": she wrote the lyrics and the electronic musicians composed the music for the track. This record was crowned at the 47th Grammy Awards.
DREAMSHOW (2005)
In mid-2005, Siouxsie Sioux released a solo DVD entitled "DREAMSHOW" which was a massive fan-pleaser, featuring many songs spanning her time in both 'the Banshees' and '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 obscure album tracks and songs not usually played live, such as Banshees classics "Obsession", "Shooting Sun", "The Rapture" and "Not Forgotten". It also included a special bonus performance at the 100 Club, where the Banshees played their first ever gig.
Siouxsie announced publicly during an interview with The Sunday Times in 2007 that she and Budgie had divorced. Their musical partnership has been discontinued for the foreseeable future, and thus "The Creatures" have been formally disbanded.
MANTARAY (2007)
Siouxsie celebrated her 51th birthday in May 2008, and released the first solo album of her career, "MANTARAY", to critical acclaim in October 2007.
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♦ the INFAMOUS ... the BILL GRUNDY show ♦ ♦ the BROMLEY CONTINGENT ♦
(above) Mad Eyed Screamer / Weathercade (below) (above) Right Now / Miss the Girl (below) (above) Standing There / Fury Eyes (below) (above) 2 nd Floor / Say (below)
(above) Into a Swan / Interview on BBC2's "Later..." (below)
(below) Here Comes That Day
