Roxy Bourdillon meets Skunk Anansie’s lead singer to discuss her 25-year career as a queer rock star
Skin’s beautiful, bruising voice has been the soundtrack to so many heartbreaks in my life, it feels surreal to spend an hour in her company and not be helplessly weeping on the floor about my latest romantic mini-drama. As the frontwoman of alt-rock giants Skunk Anansie, and on her two blistering solo albums, Skin possesses an unrivalled onstage magnetism and an undeniable gift for conveying the bittersweet, agonising underbelly of love.
We meet in an east London member’s club, her effortlessly cool and fresh off her motorbike with her helmet tucked under one arm, me trying not to fangirl too hard. She tells me, “I’m much more interested in the grey area of relationships, the dark sides, the evilness that people can be. I think I’ve written one, maybe two happy songs in my whole career ‘cos it’s just not inspiring for me.”
Her music packs such an emotional punch, I wonder how much she draws on her own personal pain. “Everything that’s in my songs has happened to me or someone close to me. When I’m happy, I have a great time and I’m in it. But when I’m unhappy, that’s probably when most of the songs come out.”
Read the rest of this interview in the February issue of DIVA, available now at divadirect.info and the links below.
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