Under Her Skin - Interview

Glamour, March, 2006

Five years after the break-up of Skunk Anansie their former lead singer, Skin, is still hard at work pursuing her solo career. She talks to GLAMOUR about her new album, Fake Chemical State.

Is there a difference between the Skin from Skunk Anansie and now?

A huge difference! When you're in a band you can coast. Now that I'm solo I'm the dictator and contrl freak, but I also hav to make sure everything happens the way it's supposed to

You recorded with Gordon Raphael [The Strokes]. What did he bring to your sound?

Freshness, life nd ease. It's the first time I had fun making an album. We recorded it quickly (in 37 days) and it was easy to do

So what's up with your album title?

We live in a very money-driven society and we're not allowed to lose any time through sickness. We're all taking something for something: we're all living in a fake chemical state

What's your favourite track on the album?

It changes, but at the moment it's a track called Purple – a quirky, beautiful piece of music. It's an almost '80strack... but in a good way

What music should we be downloading?

Interpol and Bloc Party. And look out for The Noisettes; I'm interested in them and a band called Antony and the Johnsons

And people who download illegally?

If they don't pay, we can't afford to make music in the first place. And if a musician can't make a living off her music, she's just gonna starve

Why did Skunk Anansie tour SA in 1997?

We knew a lot of performers were sketchy about going to SA because it had been off the radar for such a long time. We knew that if we went to SA a lot of bands would follow. And that's exactly what happened

Will you be back in SA as a solo artist?

Definitely, yes! It's just a matter of doing the promotion I need to do in Europe and then South Africa will be next on my list

If you could perform a gig for anyone in the world, wo would it be?

I would have to say a young bunch of kids from Soweto or something – people who wouldn't get to see me perform normally. I think South Africa is one of my favourite places in the world!

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