The Creatures

Singer Siouxsie Sioux and drummer Budgie created the Creatures in 1981 while rehearsing for Banshees' Juju album. During one session, they discovered by accident that the combination of just voice and drums suited the track "But Not Them". A studio session was organized with the aim of recording five songs. This project was released in the form of an EP titled Wild Things. The title track was a reworking of a hit by the Troggs; the other numbers were Creatures compositions. The EP reached No. 24 in the UK Singles Chart and the pair performed "Mad-Eyed Screamer" on Top of the Pops.

In 1983, the Creatures released their first full-length album, Feast. The band decided where to record the album by randomly placing a pin on a map of the world. The result was Hawaii, which led to the Lamalani Hula Academy Hawaiian Chanters being featured on some tracks. Musically, the album was steeped in exotica and tropical backdrops.[1] During the week of its release, the band were on the front cover of both Melody Maker and NME.[6][7] Melody Maker described Feast as "an album of filtered brilliance, fertile, sensual and erotic",[8] while NME said, "The humours of Sioux's frosty larynx are nakedly outlined against skins of sometimes fabulous quality".[9] The album reached No. 17 in the UK Albums Chart. 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, a song that was initially performed by Mel Tormé. The Creatures revamped it by adding a brass section, and it became their most successful single, reaching the top 15.

The Creatures came back six years later. Siouxsie and Budgie went to a stone barn in Jerez, Andalucia, Spain to record Boomerang. Brass arrangements were used on some tracks and Anton Corbijn took colour pictures for the sleeve. The record was critically acclaimed[10] and widely regarded as Siouxsie and Budgie's crowning achievement as the Creatures. NME wrote: "It's a rich and unsettling landscape of exotica".[11] One of the bluesier songs on Boomerang, "Killing Time", was later covered live by Jeff Buckley.[12][13] In the US, "Standing There" was popular on alternative radio stations, reaching No. 4 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart,[14] staying in the top 10 for 14 weeks.[15]

When Siouxsie and the Banshees ended in 1996, the Creatures had already begun composing new material. At the same time, the long-out-of-print Wild Things EP and Feast album were remastered and re-released through the compilation A Bestiary Of.

In February 1998, former Velvet Underground member John Cale, then organizing the "With a Little Help from My Friends" festival at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, contacted the Creatures for a collaboration. The concert, shown on Dutch national television, featured an unreleased Creatures song, "Murdering Mouth", composed for the event and sung in duet with Cale.[16] That night, the Creatures also premiered a live orchestra version of "I Was Me" with Cale on viola.[17] In May, Siouxsie and Budgie appeared on British Television show "Later With Jools Holland" with two musicians to perform live two other songs "Disconnected" and "Prettiest Thing" from their forthcoming album.[18]

During that period, Siouxsie and Budgie created their own label, Sioux Records, and became an independent act. A stand-alone single, "Sad Cunt", was offered to attendees of two warm-up concerts in London in May prior to the North American tour.[19] From June to August, the pair toured the USA as a double bill with Cale, playing yet unreleased material: Siouxsie and Cale also sang several songs together each night.[20] An EP, Eraser Cut (an anagram of "Creatures"), then came out; Time Out described the songs as "short, sharp, percussive and infectiously atmospheric".[21] In October, they promoted the single "2nd Floor" with a video shot in black and white.

Early in 1999, the Creatures released Anima Animus, their first studio album in just under a decade. Its urban sound was an important departure from Boomerang's organic atmosphere. The Times wrote about Anima Animus: "It's entrancing, hypnotic and inventive",[22] and peer PJ Harvey later selected it in her 10 favourite albums released in 1999.[23] Other singles from the album were "Say" (dedicated to Billy Mackenzie) and "Prettiest Thing". The song "Another Planet" was included on the soundtrack to the film Lost in Space in a version radically reworked by Juno Reactor. Live albums Zulu (recorded in London in 1998) and Sequins in the Sun (recorded at the Glastonbury festival in 1999) were released on limited editions via the Creatures website.

In June, the Creatures appeared on Marc Almond's Open All Night; Siouxsie duetted with Almond and Budgie added percussion on the track "Threat of Love". In late 1999, the remix album Hybrids was issued, featuring remixes by other acts including the Beloved.

In 2000, a compilation of unreleased Anima Animus-era tracks was released as U.S. Retrace. It featured the B-side "All She Could Ask For", which was the opening number for all their concerts during that period. Three one-track CDs - "Murdering Mouth" (live), "Rocket Ship" and "Red Wrapping Paper" - were distributed to fan club members.

Siouxsie and Budgie returned with a full-length album, Hái!, in 2003. The drum sessions were recorded in Japan less than 24 hours after the Banshees had completed their Seven Year Itch reunion tour. Budgie first worked with the Japanese taiko drummer Leonard Eto (previously of the Kodo Drummers): their spontaneous drum duet formed the basis of the album. The rest of the sessions were done in France over a period of several months. The single "Godzilla!" was described as "spookily brilliant" by NME,[24] and reviews were favourable for Hái!.[25][26] The opening track "Say Yes" was used during the trailer for the 2004 season of The Sopranos.[27]

That same year, Siouxsie was asked to be the guest vocalist and lyricist on the Basement Jaxx's track "Cish Cash". It was included on their album Kish Kash, which won Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 47th Grammy Awards.[28]

In 2004, Siouxsie toured for the first time billed as a solo act, but with Budgie still as drummer and musical arranger. The setlists combined Banshees and Creatures songs. A live DVD called Dreamshow documented the last London concert of September 2004 performed with the Millennia Ensemble. Released in August 2005, this DVD reached No. 1 in the UK music DVD chart.[29]

Dreamshow was the last release by the pair, as Siouxsie announced publicly during a 2007 interview with The Sunday Times that she and Budgie had divorced.[30] Siouxsie celebrated her 50th birthday in May 2007, and released a solo album, Mantaray, in October 2007, to critical acclaim.[31]

In 2020, Sub Pop put back online on the shop of their website, the very last mint vinyl copies of the double A-side single "Take Mine" / "Sad Cunt", pressed by the Sub pop label in 2000 for North America.[32]

Main article: The Creatures discography

Studio albums

• Feast (1983)
• Boomerang (1989)
• Anima Animus (1999)
• Hái! (2003)

• Budgie. The Creatures Biography. The Creatures.com April 2000
• Paytress, Mark. Siouxsie & the Banshees: The Authorised Biography. Sanctuary, 2003. ISBN 1-86074-375-7

• The Creatures + Siouxsie Official Website