The Dallas Morning News (4.30.99)

The Creatures' credo: Forget retro and do it alive

Teresa Gubbins

Surviving the era of late-'70s punk is an achievement on its own.

Siouxsie Sioux has done more than survive: She and her drummer-husband, Budgie, have fostered lifelong musical careers. They were the nucleus of Siouxsie and the Banshees, whose moody yet danceable music made them a club favorite and MTV icon until they disbanded in '95. Now they've revived their side project, the Creatures, releasing a new disc, Anima Animus, and touring with a stop at Deep Ellum Live on Saturday.

The Banshees basically got fed up with musical revisionism, Siouxsie says.

"There's so much repackaging of bands and music that's long past its sell-by date," she says. "This whole retro "look back at' thing, where you [recycle] certain elements from the '80s - it gives a distorted view of what was going on. And why do it when there's music from then that still sounds great?"

But after a year off, she and Budgie, who live in France, were getting "broody" to do the Creatures again.

"The basis of the Creatures is drums and voice," she says. "We use a lot of samples and loops, but we make our own samples, rather than using someone else's music. Live, it's a different animal again. We do play some loops, but we play them live, at least."

She laments the widespread use of prerecorded music.

"I tell you, it's so surprising the amount of live acts who use music that's on tape," she says. "I don't care what people do, but I do wonder what they get out of it.

"Me and Budgie tried that when the Creatures toured in '89. But we were using sequencers, so Budgie was at least able to trigger them with his bass drum pedal. But we felt it was way too inhibiting. After a point, we missed the interaction and the human element."

DETAILS: The Creatures perform Saturday at Deep Ellum Live, 2727 Canton. Doors opens at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $17.50 in advance, $20 day of the show. Call Ticketmaster, (214) 373-8000 or metro (972) 647-5700.

The Creatures

Deep Ellum Live, Saturday

Contributed by Jerry Burch.