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Siouxsie & the Banshees: The Authorised Biography
If Johnny Rotten was the father of punk, Siouxsie Sioux was its mother. Siouxsie and the Banshees is the authorized story of the band’s unsteady birth through its ascension to punk stardom to its split in 1996. Despite the official tag, no punches are pulled in discussions about the band's rancorous breakup, the years of in-fighting and arguments, and the reasons behind the recent reunion to launch the Best Of album. Interviews, photographs, and memorabilia from the group's personal collection are included.
288 pages, Paperback
First published September 10, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 16, 2022
‘Siouxsie & The Banshees - The Authorised Biography (Mark Paytress) 2003. Provides a blow by blow account of the seminal band from their explosive inception (opening for The Sex Pistols in 1976 at The 100 Club) through the usual bursts of creativity, success, critical acclaim, rifts, madness, sackings and drink and drug fuelled debauchery - to their end…going out with a whimper and little ceremony at Axion Beach Rock Festival in Belgium in 1995 (barring the brief reunion tour).
There’s also a brilliant foreword by long time Banshee fan Garbage’s Shirley Manson.
Obviously this authorised biography is one for the fans only (of which I am one) - nevertheless, it is a well pieced together band history, taken solely from interviews, eye witness accounts etc. from band members Siouxsie, Severin, Budgie et al…producers, managers, other musicians etc. Refreshingly, there is no narrative or extraneous analysis by the ‘author’ - purely the bands own words and those around them.
Inevitably there are the need listings at the end of the book, listing every concert played and every release ever produced.
For fans of SATB - definitely one not to be missed.
There’s also a brilliant foreword by long time Banshee fan Garbage’s Shirley Manson.
Obviously this authorised biography is one for the fans only (of which I am one) - nevertheless, it is a well pieced together band history, taken solely from interviews, eye witness accounts etc. from band members Siouxsie, Severin, Budgie et al…producers, managers, other musicians etc. Refreshingly, there is no narrative or extraneous analysis by the ‘author’ - purely the bands own words and those around them.
Inevitably there are the need listings at the end of the book, listing every concert played and every release ever produced.
For fans of SATB - definitely one not to be missed.
March 25, 2024
Biographies of musicians always have to walk a tightrope between covering the personal lives of the musicians on one hand, and their careers as artists on the other. The ideal way, in my estimation, would be showing how each of the two influence the other. If I have to prefer one of the two rather than the middle ground, I have to take the path focusing on the music so I'm surprised how much I enjoyed this one, which takes the middle ground but with a definite focus on the personal lives of not just Siouxsie Sioux but also her bandmates.
This book is structured around a series of interviews arranged in chronological orer. It starts out with rather disturbing accounts on Siouxsie's exceptionally traumatic childhood when everyone called her Susan Janet Ballion - which in part formed her outlook on life and also her philosophy as a songwriter. What I suppose will make or break this for most people will be her infamously trollish sense of humour, from dressing in Fascist and Soviet regalia on alternating days of the week over intentionally acting creepily towards strangers in order to scare off potential rapists to her eagerness to share embarrassing anecdotes about the private lives of musicians she had toured with and fellow scenesters in generally. While Siouxsie comes across as a somewhat difficult person to be around especially to people who aren't longtime acquaintances, as readily attested by the Banshees' high turnover rate of guitarists and the testimony of other bands she toured with, I find her interviews as entertaining as her musical output.
The book also contains plenty of interesting sociological information about S&TB and the context surrounding their place in music history. For example the amount of influence the Banshees took not just from 1960's psychedelia in general and the German "Kosmische Musik" scene, even before they moved away from their early noisy punky sound to a poppier and more overtly psychedelic style. Their inspiration from horror/science-fiction film soundtracks is also described in great detail, with a significant part of the group's musical outside-the-box-thinking coming from an attempt to adapt the avant-garde compositional techniques found there into the context of rock instrumentation. Then we have the accounts of Siouxsie feuding on a personal level with almost every foundational Oi! band in particular the Cockney Rejects whom she had to share a practice space with at some point, when I was surprised to know they even had been on each others' "cultural radars". The aforementioned shift in style on "A Kiss in the Dreamhouse" also turns out to have been motivated in a large part by the band's dislike of most musicians actively citing them as inspiration. Indeed, one gets the impression that Siouxsie and the Banshees always kind of felt like outsiders to the music scenes they were ostensibly categorised under. Quite a bit of time is also spent on the sideproject The Creatures, which I need to listen to more.
I've been informed elsewhere that Siouxsie has a reputation for exaggerating, embellishing or otherwise having a rather creative approach to the band's past in interviews - something that does not surprise me considering her aforementioned trollish (bansheeish?) sense of humour. As necessary as it might have been to keep a proverbial intellectual saltshaker handy, this book has nonetheless made a satisfying companion piece to my appreciation of yet another interesting music group.
This book is structured around a series of interviews arranged in chronological orer. It starts out with rather disturbing accounts on Siouxsie's exceptionally traumatic childhood when everyone called her Susan Janet Ballion - which in part formed her outlook on life and also her philosophy as a songwriter. What I suppose will make or break this for most people will be her infamously trollish sense of humour, from dressing in Fascist and Soviet regalia on alternating days of the week over intentionally acting creepily towards strangers in order to scare off potential rapists to her eagerness to share embarrassing anecdotes about the private lives of musicians she had toured with and fellow scenesters in generally. While Siouxsie comes across as a somewhat difficult person to be around especially to people who aren't longtime acquaintances, as readily attested by the Banshees' high turnover rate of guitarists and the testimony of other bands she toured with, I find her interviews as entertaining as her musical output.
The book also contains plenty of interesting sociological information about S&TB and the context surrounding their place in music history. For example the amount of influence the Banshees took not just from 1960's psychedelia in general and the German "Kosmische Musik" scene, even before they moved away from their early noisy punky sound to a poppier and more overtly psychedelic style. Their inspiration from horror/science-fiction film soundtracks is also described in great detail, with a significant part of the group's musical outside-the-box-thinking coming from an attempt to adapt the avant-garde compositional techniques found there into the context of rock instrumentation. Then we have the accounts of Siouxsie feuding on a personal level with almost every foundational Oi! band in particular the Cockney Rejects whom she had to share a practice space with at some point, when I was surprised to know they even had been on each others' "cultural radars". The aforementioned shift in style on "A Kiss in the Dreamhouse" also turns out to have been motivated in a large part by the band's dislike of most musicians actively citing them as inspiration. Indeed, one gets the impression that Siouxsie and the Banshees always kind of felt like outsiders to the music scenes they were ostensibly categorised under. Quite a bit of time is also spent on the sideproject The Creatures, which I need to listen to more.
I've been informed elsewhere that Siouxsie has a reputation for exaggerating, embellishing or otherwise having a rather creative approach to the band's past in interviews - something that does not surprise me considering her aforementioned trollish (bansheeish?) sense of humour. As necessary as it might have been to keep a proverbial intellectual saltshaker handy, this book has nonetheless made a satisfying companion piece to my appreciation of yet another interesting music group.
March 6, 2022
Interesting tidbits learned from this book:
Robert Smith was a Banshee
& they called him “fat Bob.”(page 163)
Being huge fans of the Beatles White Album, they were going to cover “Glass Onion” Smith didn’t know it so they did “Dear Prudence” instead.
Sid Vicious was their first drummer. Marco Pirroni (of Adam & the Ants) was the first of their ever rotating lineup of guitarists.
Steven Severin quote (page 69): “I walked into RAK Studios the day we started work on the Scream and there were dozens of reels of 2 inch tape stacked by the console window, they were recordings of Yes jam sessions that probably ended up as a quadruple album. My great regret is that I didn’t have the foresight to run a magnet down them and erase everything. I could’ve saved the world a lot of pain.”
Jon Klein (guitarist) : “I’d seen them on the Juju tour, a fabulous stage production that basically got hijacked by Big Country, who took it to America. That happened a lot. Depeche Mode had been school boys with synthesizers who turned up their collars before reinventing themselves with a darker Banshee vibe. And then there was that nice middle-class boy [Robert Smith] who makes an album with the Banshees then reappears with his own band [The Cure] reborn with smudged lipstick in big black hair! The Banshees were always a bit harder to penetrate..” (Page 167)
Robert Smith was a Banshee
& they called him “fat Bob.”(page 163)
Being huge fans of the Beatles White Album, they were going to cover “Glass Onion” Smith didn’t know it so they did “Dear Prudence” instead.
Sid Vicious was their first drummer. Marco Pirroni (of Adam & the Ants) was the first of their ever rotating lineup of guitarists.
Steven Severin quote (page 69): “I walked into RAK Studios the day we started work on the Scream and there were dozens of reels of 2 inch tape stacked by the console window, they were recordings of Yes jam sessions that probably ended up as a quadruple album. My great regret is that I didn’t have the foresight to run a magnet down them and erase everything. I could’ve saved the world a lot of pain.”
Jon Klein (guitarist) : “I’d seen them on the Juju tour, a fabulous stage production that basically got hijacked by Big Country, who took it to America. That happened a lot. Depeche Mode had been school boys with synthesizers who turned up their collars before reinventing themselves with a darker Banshee vibe. And then there was that nice middle-class boy [Robert Smith] who makes an album with the Banshees then reappears with his own band [The Cure] reborn with smudged lipstick in big black hair! The Banshees were always a bit harder to penetrate..” (Page 167)
February 16, 2011
A holiday read which I was glad I had with me. Enlighting insight into the London scene of the 1970's and the life and times of the woman who introduced a strong female somewhat gothic dimension to the male dominated UK punk scene. Unlike many others she is still around today and producing great music. The biography comes right up to 2002.
October 21, 2009
Immensely enjoyable. Siouxsie, The Banshees, and their inner circle in their own words. Like Brendan Mullen's rock bios Whores and Lexicon Devil, this is an oral history told entirely through interviews with those who lived through these strange times. Reading this book has changed the way I see The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Cure and The Banshees.
July 27, 2011
Ah Siouxsie , how i dreamed to as cold=as=ice like you when I was a teenager. This book is written in the 'oral history' style and as with most books about bands, there's not enough talk about the music itself. Still a great read and one hell of a Gen X icon.
October 25, 2020
Less a biography a more an oral history, Mark Paytress's book is a fascinating read, especially if you're well acquainted with the Banshees output. I laughed out loud about every ten minutes, although some of those laughs were in disbelief at yet another horrible situation some character or another had gotten themselves into.
I still await the definitive Siouxsie and the Banshees overview. This one really needed to be about three times longer, have tons more photos, and have some small narrative interludes to either fill in gaps between the interviews or make a bit more sense (using actual research) to make sense of the conflicting accounts.
Still, it's great to hear the band and their entourage tell their stories in their own voices, and relive decades of Banshee experiences from the perspectives of the protagonists.
I still await the definitive Siouxsie and the Banshees overview. This one really needed to be about three times longer, have tons more photos, and have some small narrative interludes to either fill in gaps between the interviews or make a bit more sense (using actual research) to make sense of the conflicting accounts.
Still, it's great to hear the band and their entourage tell their stories in their own voices, and relive decades of Banshee experiences from the perspectives of the protagonists.
October 9, 2023
I love Siouxsie, so to be perfectly honest, I would have given this five stars even if it was just a picture book with old photos of the band, but it's so much more than that. It really take you through the bands very long history together. If you even sort of like Siouxise, you'll love this book.
April 20, 2019
An honest bio by the 3 long term members of the banshees. They would have been a tough band to be in!
July 14, 2022
Why is this book so bloody expensive! I have googled everywhere and it is over $100! Why? I didn't know Siouxsie was so big in the US! Anyway good book too 🙂
February 16, 2015
Siouxsie Sioux is definitely up there with the top female icons of the late 70s/80s; her signature jet-black spiky hair, red lips, heavy kohl eye make-up was much copied by goths but she was the original. What's fantastic about this book is that Siouxsie and the rest of the band are refreshingly candid about the various bust-ups, recriminations and fall-outs during their 20-odd year history. They have no qualms about admitting that Robert Smith was their 'whipping boy' when he was a Banshee who they referred to as 'Fat Bob' (well I'm sure he's having the last laugh now). As music biography's go this zipped along at a nice speed which held my interest and made feel quite regretful that I've never seen the Banshees live. However I live in hope that Siouxsie will return to the stage soon.
May 18, 2016
Chronological documentation of the band, about which I knew little except that I liked their music, mostly through their own words. Lots of information from Siouxsie Sioux, Steve Severin and Budgie, demonstrating the chaos within the band and predilection for particular vices. Nothing much particularly memorable, but also nothing obviously deficient in this book. Recommended for fans of the music who want to add an extra dimension to their appreciation.
May 17, 2014
siouxsie's always been one of my idols, like many other girls of the black-hair dyeing persuasion, and the banshees were always one of my absolute favorites. this book is full of drama, arrogance and shit-talking as well as music, love, friendships, clashing personalities, and it made me laugh a lot. perfect.
October 6, 2009
The interview style of this book makes for a great, fast read. Instead of some author's interpretation you're simply reading about the history of the band from its members, their musical cohorts, former managers and friends. It's a great little time capsule for a band I still love today and it nourished the music geek in me big time.
July 2, 2016
Being a big big Banshee fan , I actually waited years for a book like this and ws not disappointed in the resulting book . Sanctioned by the group it does not hold back in the downs as well as the ups , especially when mentioning John Mcgeoch and his sad demise . I would have liked a large format style book too with pictures as an accompanying book , but that's just me .
August 10, 2008
Although I love SATB, this is a bit hard to follow. It is a collection of several members and peripheral figures who were close to the band. I would like to have had a but more cohesion, but it was nice to get more insight into the band and it's history.
October 23, 2024
A very good read though Siouxsie and Severin didn't exactly come out of it well. Siouxsie seemed to spend an awful lot of time talking about fighting. Anyone would think she was Joe Frazier or someone x
January 31, 2009
wonderful backgrounding for any siouxsie fan, real human insight, and further confirmation that today's rock and indie scene owes an enormous debt to the freaky lady from bromley
July 23, 2016
Love the music. Drop the attitude.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews