Laurence Hedges Journey’s End - Siouxsie and The Banshees 1987-1996

With Jon Klein and Martin McCarrick now full-blown members, Siouxsie and The Banshees embark on one of its most creative and ambitious odysseys, culminating in the multidimensional complexities of the 1988 album Peepshow . Both lyrically and musically, the Banshees continue to confound expectation with their progressively sophisticated and erudite artistry, yielding the groundbreaking single ‘Peek-A-Boo’ and propelling the Banshees to number one on the American Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. Live, the Banshees continue to be a breathtaking entity; the theatricality of their stage shows paralleling the grandiosity of their songs. However, the revolving door of personnel changes again threatens to derail the band, this time in the form of their (mis)management, until Tim Collins starts to unpick and stabilise the Banshees’ shambolic financial affairs. Amplifying the strained relations, the first major rupture between founder members Siouxsie and Steven Severin, while on tour, leads to the Banshees’ hiatus between the end of the Peepshow gigs in December 1988 and the release of ‘Kiss Them For Me’ in May 1991, reaching the Modern Rock Tracks number one slot for the second time; a noticeable divergence from their volatile chart fortunes in the UK. There is a resurgence of The Creatures’ activity, and the album Boomerang is released in 1989. At the same time, Severin composes the film score for director Nigel Wingrove’s Visions Of Ecstasy film. Invited to play the inaugural Lollapalooza tour in July and August 1991 alongside bands such as Nine Inch Nails, Jane’s Addiction and Butthole Surfers, the Banshees consolidate their growing popularity in the USA and go down a storm! Convening for two more studio albums, Superstition (1991) and The Rapture (1995), as well as the 1992 Twice Upon A Time: The Singles compilation album, the Banshees go to Hollywood, co-writing the song ‘Face To Face’ with composer Danny Efman for the 1992 Tim Burton-directed film Batman Returns . With tranches of time between activities becoming increasingly prolonged, it begs the question: have Siouxsie and The Banshees, a band that have stayed the course against often insurmountable odds since 1976, finally reached their journey’s end?