Skin Deep

Formerly the striking frontwoman of Skunk Anansie, Skin has notched up a solo album and is scratching away at her second. The softly spoken singer invited uk-fusion backstage to talk about her new record deal, her ambitions and she took a swipe at Dubya too

Very good but I lost my voice last week. It’s all back now, feeling fit as a fiddle.

Tell us about your new album Fake Chemical State.

It’s my second solo album – not my first as many people think (because my first was so badly promoted). It’s a very dirty, rough garage sounding album and kinda the opposite of Fleshwounds, which had very dark and ,nasty lyrics. This is much louder and more aggressive, much more of an up album and lyrically a lot lighter. It’s kinda reflecting of how I’m feeling at the moment.

Fleshwounds seemed intimate and quite raw.

Yeah, it’s was very personal and very raw, whereas this one is nowhere near as intimate. It’s not that I want to repeat myself, it’s just that I’m in a different space. I recovered from the break-up of the band (Skunk Anansie) and the relationship that fell to pieces. I’m on a brand new label that actually likes me, which is always a bonus so I’m feeling very positive and very up and sociable.

Do you have a more creative freedom with V2 than you did with EMI?

Completely. With EMI everything came down to the opinion of a couple of people and their opinion was more important than mine. On V2 I made the album and licensed it to them. They heard it and that’s what they signed me on. Creatively I have total freedom. It was like that on Virgin with the band, it’s just when I moved over to EMI everything changed. A lot of that is my fault, because I tolerated it. I learned a harsh lesson.

I’m quite surprised by that. I thought you would have known what you wanted.

I was quite surprised myself. I had to go on a long mission of discovery. My sound was in Skunk Anansie but that’s a sound I had with three other people, so I had to discover what was my own personal sound, what would music be like if it did it on my own. I knew what kind of songs I wanted to do and what kind of vibe. On the last album, I had so many opinions it was difficult see the wood for the trees. I was discovering, I was learning. I also had a very strong producer in David Kosten, who had a very definite style, which is good ‘cos I love the album; I think it sounds amazing. It’s just this time I took the bull by the horns, ‘cos I knew exactly what I wanted to do and nobody was gonna get in my way.  And that’s because of the last album. If I hadn’t gone through those things, making mistakes, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to go through with this album.

Since going solo, does it feel like a rebirth or do you feel like you’re picking up where you left off?

It feels like a completely different vibe. It’s about embracing your past and being very confident and secure about it. Then realising where you are in the present and using all that information to design your future. I feel like I have a very solid grounding in Skunk Anansie, I learned so much and it gave me a solid base. It ended, so I had to move on. Did I want to move on? No, I wanted to stay in my band, but the band finished. If you don’t learn lessons, you don’t move on. It’s the same thing about war, if you don’t study what’s gone on before, you end up making the same mistakes like Alexander the Great did or something (laughs). Otherwise you end up repeating history. (George W) Bush doesn’t seem to have worked that one out at all.  

He’s trying to be like his dad.

Unfortunately I think he’s quite bright, which is the worst thing. I don’t think he’s stupid at all, but I think he’s quite ignorant and it’s a decision. You can’t be an American president and stupid, I think that’s a common misconception.  He’s actually very bright because he was able to rig the election. He got the right people in to do that. That’s an intelligent man sitting there ruining the world.

You don’t think he was put in that position by someone else?

That’s what everybody would like to think. It’s very easy for him to make silly cock-ups but he’s bright where it counts, on a very dark level, which is why he’s running the world. Nice people don’t get to run the world.

Have you always collaborated with Len Arran?

I’ve collaborated with Len musically.  We write songs and bring them together to make them better. It’s real team work, but he’s actually only written two songs on this new album. The rest was Paul Draper and myself.

Is there anyone you’d really like to work with?

There’s an Italian band called Marlene Kuntz who are like an Italian version of Sonic Youth. I wrote a song called ‘Take Me On’ for which they did all the music. That was good ‘cos that was something I really wanted to do and they’re great musicians. It actually fits perfectly with my album – you’d never realise it was a different band. Collaborations wise, I’ve got a few weird ones in the pipeline, but I can’t tell you who they are.

A hint?

Nope. They’re quite curvy bally. It’s like “Skins working with who??” I’m not someone who’s running to do collaborations. I mean, I like a lot of new bands and people are like, why don’t you do something with Bloc Party? No. Let them establish themselves, do your stuff and let people admire you.  The collaborations I’ve done are people I’ve know and have hung out with.

What do you like most about your job?

The inner peace it gives you when you do something you love and you get to do it every day. It gives you a certain amount of comfort, you can look at yourself in the mirror and be uncomfortable with other things, but you know you’re doing something you love. You wake up in the morning and feel good about yourself, instead of thinking, “I’ve gotta drag myself out of bed and sit next to THAT woman.” I know how that feels.

Where does the nickname Skin come from?

It’s short for ‘skinny’. When I was a kid, I was really, really skinny and it just stuck. I just shortened it to Skin for musical purposes. People think it’s short for Skinhead, but it’s not.

What happened to the hair?

I didn’t like it. I was in Thailand and I had an epiphany so I just cut it off. I feel different with no hair. Having hair irritates me; it’s just a pain in the arse. I love fashion and I love clothes, but I don’t like hair and make-up. Clothes make me happy.

What would you be doing if you weren’t a singer?

I’d be a photo journalist ‘cos I love photography and world events. And I love travelling. All that really interests me.

What are your future plans? Secret collaborations aside…

Couple of interesting movie things, bit of acting?

American movies, British movies?

English and Irish movies. Soundtrack stuff, DJ’ing, but mainly promotions for this album and lots of touring and festivals but first I’m gonna go to Thailand to relax.

What have you done that’s only kinky the first time?

What haven’t I done that was kinky the first time?  Hmm, take acid. First time was really funny but the second time was awful – never again. I’ve never touched the stuff since. I was very young though. 

---

Fleshwounds  Check For Live Dates

No part of this interview can be re-produced without the permission of uk-fusion.com.