COLLABORATIONS

PAST, PRESENT AND HOPEFUL

altered images

lydia lunch

marc almond

robert smith

the flowerpot men

merce cunningham dance foundation

catharine buchanan

tim benjamin

michael gira

ute lemper

jezebel

the tiger lillies

jarboe

altered images

"Stop me if you have heard this fairy tale before:- a young band from Scotland send an unsolicited demo to the Banshees office. Within a year they will support the Banshees around the UK, secure a John Peel session which in turn will lead to a major deal with Epic and a top five single. Well that's exactly how it happened. Midway through that tour in 1980 they approached me to produce. We bluffed our way through two singles "Dead Pop Stars" and "A day's wait" but the album was to be a baptism of fire. Epic gave me just 18 days to record and mix. At the end of the last day of the "Ju Ju" sessions I jumped into a roadie's van and sped off into the night. Next morning I awoke at Rockfield studios in Wales to begin "Happy Birthday". It was tough going and we all could have been a little more prepared but we did it nonetheless. The title track itself was barely written and I should take credit for suggesting the marimba intro and basically knocking the song into shape. The potential of "Happy Birthday" was obvious for everyone to hear and of course Epic suddenly found a bit more money to get the band to re-record the song with Martin Rushent. I felt betrayed at the time but more than that I was annoyed at myself for not seeing it coming. The success of the single did however make a success of the album but it was a sharp lesson in record company loyalty."

TOP

Lydia Lunch

"I first met Lydia in 1978 when she was in London playing with her band, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. We became close friends with them all. Sadly, Bradley and Gordon are no longer with us. Lydia's next band 13:13 opened for the Banshees on numerous occasions on our first major US tour in 1981. Later that year she came over to England for a set of European shows. In typical fashion she turned up on my doorstep having sacked her band at JFK. She asked me to help her put together a band to fulfill dates with the Birthday Party and The Cure. I was recovering from recording "Ju Ju" and 6 months of back to back touring so the idea of learning the new 13:13 album and putting a band together for her didn't appeal. Instead we decided to go into a studio and record an instrumental backing tape which we would then improvise over. The result was "The Agony is the Ecstasy" .

TOP

M^arc A^lmond

Somewhere towards the end of Soft Cell and the beginning of the Mambas I got to know Marc - he was a big fan of the Banshees. After the release of "Dreamhouse" - as Robert Smith and I were hatching our "Glove" plans - Marc approached me to write a song for his new album. Things were so hectic then, I think I stole some studio time that we were using to audition singers for "The Glove" to whack down a quick demo. The finished track (with Marc's lyrics) "Torment" became the lead single from the "Torment and Toreros" album."

TOP

The Glove

"The Infamous sessions....This is not the place to either dispel or reinforce the myths surrounding the goings on....etc. I'll save that for my memoirs. But there are a few FAQ's that should be put to bed:- The Glove was conceived before the Creatures NOT as a response. Yes. We did stay up most of the nights watching "video nasties". Dario Argento in particular. The album was part of my solo deal with Polydor and I came up with the name, the title and the blue/yellow sleeve concept (Robert had to leave the project before completion due to Cure commitments). This is Robert's take on it:- "Steve and I decided to make a record when I first joined the Banshees as some kind of 'art experiment'. Although we had a great time making it, it was completely debilitating and aged me about ten years. I think it was due to us bringing out the worst in each other -- the most excessive ideas. We spent 12 weeks in the studio but actually recorded for about five days. The rest of the time was spent having an endless party to which we invited a succession of people. It was like a station -- once they got really out of it, they'd be moved on and the next batch brought in. In between all this we'd record a piece of piano or drum. After that period with Steve, I was physically incapable of cleaning my teeth. The whole thing was unreal -- a dream -- and not something I'm likely to repeat in a hurry. Most of the time I'm a professional idiot. I really don't care about what other people think, which can be a bad thing". More questions answered @ FAQ

 TOP

THE FLOWERPOT MEN

"I have Les Mills to thank for turning me on to the Flowerpot Men. Les was the first Banshees fan. He made it to every gig. To this day I think it was he who sprayed "Sign the Banshees - Do it now!" on all the major record company walls. He became our first roadie then discovered The Pschyedelic Furs and went into management. He gave me a demo tape which impressed me enough to offer them the opening spot on our upcoming tour of the UK. Halfway through that tour (as with the Images) the band -Adam Peters and Ben Watkins - asked me to produce their first EP. "Jo's so mean to Josephine" has become a proto-techno classic, way ahead of its time - all of which means it probably sold 3 copies! The band mutated into "Sunsonic" and were signed then dropped by Polydor. Ben is now a core member of Juno Reactor whilst Adam continues to cavort around NYC with his extraordinary band "Family of God". They are both quite mad."

TOP

"In the spring of 1989 the Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation invited me to produce a 1 minute tape loop for a version of John Cage's "Rozart Mix" to celebrate his 80th. birthday. I made two samples from "Music for prepared piano" then let the "I ching" determine the structure. I thought Mr. Cage would appreciate that. His subsequent "Thank you" note is one of my most treasured possessions."

TOP

CATHARINE BUCHANAN

"Having just finished the VISIONS soundtrack and with The Creatures out on the road promoting BOOMERANG I knew I had some time before work would commence on SUPERSTITION. My publisher at Warner/Chappell suggested I meet a new Arista signing, Catharine Buchanan. She had already released one single "LOVE IS" which I thought pretty flaccid but I was encouraged to meet her regardless. It was like meeting the real "Holly Golightly". She gave me a tape of about 24 demos of such extraordinary variety and lyrical depth that I had to get involved. Immediately I signed on as producer. Once more I crossed swords with the A & R dept. over "direction". We recorded one song SHARP ANGEL* that I thought was absolutely unique. At the time I had a vision of combining a real string section with a very obvious electronic "bed" of echoes and reverbs. The company hated it but wanted to persevere. The more they pushed Catharine to be "another Lisa Stansfield", the more she rebelled and our collaborations got stranger. Arista finally lost patience. Catharine was dropped and subsequently left the music business in disgust. If I can get the various permissions, I would love to RE:lease these wonderful tapes. *Unbeknownst to me Catharine entered SHARP ANGEL into the ICA's "Question of Style" competition the following year. It won.

TOP

TIM BENJAMIN

1995 - Manchester Academy. I'm just coming down after finishing a show with the Banshees when one of the team hand me a packet. Inside is a manuscript. It is an orchestration of RAWHEAD AND BLOODYBONES from the album PEEPSHOW. Obviously I have to meet this nutter! So began a frustratingly unproductive but not unentertaining correspondence. We nearly did an opera for Granada TV and we almost did an installation for the Computer50 celebrations in Manchester. However, we do house plans for an operatic work (where I would supply the libretto and if the "Songs from the Silver Age" project (see the foot of this page) ever takes off, Tim will be on board.

TOP

MICHAEL GIRA

"For fifteen years Michael led quite simply my favourite live band SWANS. Murray Mitchell -one time Banshee roadie and co-conspirator on the Lydia tour- turned up at my apartment with Michael in tow on the eve of SWANS debut UK show. By morning -via a bottle of fine liquor- we were fast friends. I saw SWANS play at every possible opportunity usually sneaking in on my own. It was a religious experience. Nothing came close to the intense beauty of their sound. We've harbored ideas of a collaboration* (most recently Michael's Angels of Light project) for several years now. If we were not divided by the Atlantic ocean, it would have already happened".   *Somebody wrote in SWANS guestbook that we planned a band called "People-in-need". Brilliant!

TOP

"In 1988 I discovered the poems of Osip Mandelstam. The beauty and brutality of his imagery inspired me to write RHAPSODY for the Banshees' PEEPSHOW. Subsequently I delved deeper into his work and was drawn to his contemporaries Marina Tsvetayeva, Anna Ahkmatova and Boris Pasternak. This quartet are the core of what is now regarded as "the Silver age of Russian Poetry". Persecuted by Stalin's secret police many of the poems had to be learnt by heart to survive. I became obsessed with the idea of setting a selection of this verse to music. During the long gaps between work on what would become the Banshees' final album "The Rapture" I began my research. I started by hunting down all the various translations available then narrowed down the options into a short list of 16 poems. I knew that this was not something for the Banshees so I approached the German chanteuse, Ute Lemper with the idea of a joint album project. We met up in Madrid and discussed the poems and their possible musical settings. She was very enthusiastic about the concept but somehow our commitments never seemed to get in sync. She fell pregnant, the Banshees fell apart. I hope to rekindle her interest once the other projects mentioned in this site finally see the light of day. I'm clearing my backlog!".

TOP

TOP

At the instigation of the Holy Body Tattoo I found myself working with The Tiger Lillies. Asked to provide 4/5 songs as a centrepiece to the "CIRCA" project - we laid down 13 songs with myself in the producer's chair once more. It was such fun and so painless that Martyn Jacques immediately suggested that we develop a full 'Lillies' album. Entitled "Circus Songs" here is the track listing:- Over you * The Pallbearers Send in the Clowns Souvenirs Sleep with the fishes Freak Show Pretty Lisa* Danced all night Bearded Lady Cheapest Show* Circus Clown - to be available sometime in the autumn 2000 - *live versions. Martyn has also expressed a desire to work with Steven again this autumn. Possibly on a stage production.

TOP

JARBOE

"Although we had met on several occassions during the eighties; it was not until our respective bands folded that we began to exchange knowledge & ideas via email. We both began to build web sites and both turned our attention to the 'solo life' as the primary function. When Shakti suggested the use of the track "I put a spell on you" for the Dunes project I immediately thought of Jarboe. We had already discussed the possibility of collaborating from afar and this provided the perfect opportunity. Jarboe went into a studio in Atlanta, Georgia and sung the song to a piano backing. When I received the DAT tape I put two versions into the computer and edited and played along to produce the end RE:sult. Working this way is somewhat dissconnected but I think that just adds to the finished song. Jarboe was very pleased with the outcome and we are currently discussing a 'spoken word' EP collaboration."

TOP

 

MEMBER HOME