Scottish Daily Record (2.12.99)
LITTLE SIOUXIE WAKES UP TO GARDENING; PREVIEW
John Dingwall
When Scary Spice was still teething, Siouxsie Sioux was the most frightening woman on the planet.
But these days, the original Girl Power icon prefers gardening in the Pyrenees to punk rock.
Siouxie potters around her garden feeding her cats, while husband Budgie - they married in 1993 - enjoys cycling.
The leading female of the Bromley Contingent - the nickname given to the like-minded individuals who spearheaded the punk rock movement in the 1970s - still wears black ... but the make-up is softer.
Some 20 years on, the woman who took punk from the suburbs of Kent into the nation's living rooms, is hanging up her safety-pins.
And yesterday's punks, now today's mums and dads, are planning to make it a nostalgia trip as Siouxsie returns to Scotland for a rare live show next week.
Now 41, Siouxsie and Budgie are back as The Creatures, the duo which originated as a side project to Siouxsie & The Banshees in the 1980s.
But Siouxsie isn't worried that her reputation as punk's High Priestess will be damaged by such revelations as cat care and gardening.
She said: "I'm aware of how people want to preserve a cartoon image of me, but I refuse to be inhibited by it.
"Knowing I could attract attention in those days was the thrill. I am shocked by the passage of time.
"You think of stuff that happened 15 or 20 years ago and it seems like last week."
Despite the mumsy image, Siouxsie adds: "I never wanted kids. Sometimes I think I would have liked to have had a daughter. But we have cats.
"One of the reasons we moved to France was to have more room for them."
The Creatures' third album, Anima Animus, is released next month and Scots can catch them playing their only Scottish date at Glasgow's Arches on February 18. But Banshees' hits are off the menu.
Budgie said: "We decided that The Banshees would go out with dignity. The last thing on our mind is a greatest hits package."
"Besides, we'd need about two hours to play all The Banshees top singles tracks."
Contributed by Jerry Burch.