HYAENA - TRIVIA
 
 
  Musicians:

Dear Prudence:

  • Inspiration/Influence/Band Comment:
    SEVERIN: "I think reviews that said it wasn’t particularly different to the Beatles’ version haven’t listened to the original to find out. It’s completely different. On the ‘White Album’, it’s a soft ballad, we’ve just made it sound like the Banshees." Source:  Melody Maker 01/10/83.
    SMITH: " ’Dear Prudence’ is not trying to open another door so we can eventually ingratiate ourselves a little bit more into the popular consciousness." Source:  Melody Maker 01/10/83.
    SIOUXSIE: "As we were recording it I could see it was turning out to be really commercial, so much so that I suggested putting it on the B-side instead." Source:  The Authorised Biography 2002.
    SIOUXSIE: "I think the sound of it sticks out like a sore thumb." Source:  Melody Maker 01/10/83.
    SEVERIN: "When we finished it, I suddenly thought ‘This’ll never get played in clubs because it hasn’t got the disco beat' ." Source:  Melody Maker 01/10/83.
  • Recorded Europa Film Recording Studios in Stockholm 07/83.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue One.
  • Record promo video on location in Venice 04/09/83.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue One.
  • Original by The Beatles - The White Album.
  • When it came to choosing a Beatles song to cover in 1983 Budgie's first choice was 'Glass Onion'.  Source:  The Authorised Biogrpahy.
  • The Beatles wrote this song about Prudence Farrow, sister of actress Mia Farrow.  Source:  Melody Maker 17/10/92.
  • First recording with Robert Smith on guitar.
  • Recorded in Stockholm between concerts.
  • Highest charting UK single.
  • Performed on Top Of The Pops 29/09/83.
  • Video aired on Top Of The Pops 13/10/83.
  • Performed on Top Of The Pops 29/12/83.
  • The sleeve features the photograph White Flower By Sakae Tamura.
  • Robert Smith's sister plays harpsichord on the track 'Dear Prudence'.  Source:  The Authorised Biography.
  • The video commenced filming in Venice on 04/09/83.
  • Live debut 10/09/83 Kolnoadan Club, Tel Aviv.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue One.

Tattoo:

  • Inspiration/Influence/Band Comment: 
    The film Tattoo.  Source:  Downside Up liner notes.
  • Covered by Tricky - Nearly God.
  • Live debut 30/09/83 Royal Albert Hall, London.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue One.

There's A Planet In My Kitchen:

  • Recorded whilst Siouxsie was in the studio kitchen.  Source:  Melody Maker 01/10/83.

Hyaena:

  • Al MacDowell, part of the 'Da Gama' design team responsible for the Banshees' sleeve artwork during 83/84 has since become a successful production designer on big Hollywood films.  Amongst his credits is 'Minority Report'.
  • For a short time while working on the, as yet untitled, album it was known tentatively as 'Diablo'.  Source:  The File, Phase Three, Issues Three & Four.
  • The first Banshees' album to chart in the US Billboard chart (No.157).
  • Steven Severin's least favourite Banshee album.
  • Draft artwork.
  • The original running order as reported in The File, Phase Three, Issue Two:-

Dazzle
Running Town
Pointing Bone
Take Me Back
Bring Me The Head Of The Preacherman
Swimming Horses
Belladonna
We Hunger
Blow The House Down

Dazzle:

  • Inspiration/Influence/Band Comment:  
    SIOUXSIE: "The sentiment behind it is of lying in the gutter but still looking up at the stars. I’d seen ‘Marathon Man’, and I was really intrigued by the guy swallowing diamonds to keep them, and then realising it was like swallowing glass - that they would pass through his system and tear him apart. So that’s the line - ‘Swallowing diamonds, cutting throats’. " Source:  Melody Maker 17/10/92.
    SIOUXSIE: "Quite a lot of this, and ‘Swimming Horses’, came from visiting Israel for the first time. ’The sea of fluid mercury’ in the lyric, is the Dead Sea." Source:  Melody Maker 17/10/92.
    MCCARRICK: "I'd been recording a Peel session with Marc Almond and it was all going horribly wrong. Marc was screaming, everyone else was screaming, and then there was this shout from down the corridor. It was Sioux and Budgie. She looked about 7ft tall and with the most piercing blue eyes - a terrifying vision in real life, like a big strutting cockatoo. Shortly afterwards, she sent a tape over to me, Anne and Gini. It was her playing a piano part which she wanted arranged for a big string section. That turned out to be the intro to 'Dazzle'." Source:  The Authorised Biography 2002.
  • Initial recording started in 06/83 at The Angel Studios but not completed until 03/84.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue Three And Four.
  • Siouxsie wrote the strings for the intro on a toy piano.  Source:  Melody Maker 17/10/92.
  • Photograph for sleeve by Brian Griffin.

We Hunger:

  • Inspiration/Influence/Band Comment: 
    SIOUXSIE: "I'd just bought a video machine, that was three years ago, and everybody I knew seemed to be, like, in a video nasty club. I mean, there was a lot of unreality, waking up to video images. A song like 'We Hunger' arose out of that environment. I wasn't really living with any subtlety then." Source:  NME 28/09/85.
  • Recorded at Angel Studios, 06/83.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue Three And Four.
  • Live debut 03/09/83 Open Air festival, Arbon.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue One.

Take Me Back:

  • Inspiration/Influence/Band Comment: 
    A theme first explored during Siouxsie's monologue for the Channel Four documentary 'Play At Home' and to all intents and purposes a companion piece. Siouxsie relates the story of girl who has grown tired of the city and leaves for the country to return 'home' to visit her mother and sister. When things in the country do not turn out as planned the girl reaches an epiphany that her real 'home' is back in the city and it is there that she longs to return.
  • BUDGIE: “Nothing had been written and nothing was happening. I had a go on the bass and the guitar, and Robert was playing around on piano. That’s how we worked out ‘Take Me Back’. It was the only way things moved forward.” Source:  The Authorised Biography 2002.
  • Recorded 11/83 at Powerplant Studios.  Guitar and final mix completed at Roundhouse Studios 11/83 and 03/84.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue Three And Four.
  • Live debut 10/04/85 St James Church, London.  Source: The File, Phase Four, Issue One and Two.

Belladonna:

  • Inspiration/Influence/Band Comment: 
    Belladonna, also known as Deadly Nightshade is a well known shrub with leaves and berries that are highly toxic. Legend has it that the name Belladonna is said to record an old superstition that at certain times it takes the form of an enchantress of exceeding loveliness, whom it is dangerous to look upon.
  • This song started life during the A Kiss In the Dreamhouse sessions but having proved unsatisfactory it was shelved until work started on the Hyaena album. Source:  The File Phase Three Issues Three & Four.

Swimming Horses:

  • Inspiration/Influence/Band Comment:  
    SIOUXSIE: "This is based on a programme I saw about a female version of Amnesty, called ‘Les Sentinelle’. "They rescue women who are trapped in certain religious climates in the Middle East, religions that view any kind of pre-marital sexual aspersion as punishable by death - either by the hand of the eldest brother in the family, or by public stoning. And there was this instance of a woman whose daughter had developed a tumour, and, of course, gossip abounded that she was pregnant. The doctor who removed the tumour allowed her to take it back to the village to prove that, no, it wasn’t a baby - but they wouldn’t believe her. The woman knew her daughter would have to be stoned to death so she poisoned her, out of kindness, to save her from a worse fate. So the song starts, ‘Kinder than with poison...’ I also used the imagery of, ‘He gives birth to swimming horses’, from the fact that male sea horses give birth to the children, so they’re the only species that have a maternal feel for the young. It was, I suppose, an abstract way of linking it all together without being sensationalist. I remember just being really moved by that programme, and wanting to get the sorrow out of me." Source:  Melody Maker 17/10/92.
  • Recorded: Started 06/83, completed 12/83 at The Angel Studios.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue Two.
  • Performed on Top Of The Pops 29/03/84.
  • Edited down from its original 6 minutes.  Source:  The File, Phase Three, Issue Two.
  • Live debut 22/03/84 Palais De Congrès, Lille, France.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue Two

Bring Me The Head Of The Preacherman:

  • Recorded 11/83 at Powerplant Studios.  Bass, guitar added and final mix completed at Roundhouse Studios 11/83 and 03/84.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue Four.
  • Live debut 22/03/84 Palais De Congrès, Lille, France.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue Three And Four.

Running Town:

  • Inspiration/Influence/Band Comment: 
    SIOUXSIE: "I wrote the song 'Running Town' about Sydney, a city I truly hate. Everyone is in a hurry and walks around grinding their teeth. Instead of making a 'I hate Australia' statement I tried to make it more general so that it can be applied by anyone to their hometown in the same way that when reading a book you can often apply it to your own situation. It's important to be allowed to use your imagination. In that respect it's a pity that reading books is not a more popular pastime." Source:  Dutch Interview 1984.
  • Initial recording began 06/83, final mix completed at Roundhouse Studios 11/83 and 03/84.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue Three And Four.
  • A song that in it's formative days was known as 'Dead & Barryed' because of a recording the band did of it with a James bond type intro.  Source:  The File, Phase Three, Issues Three & Four.
  • Live debut 30/09/83 Royal Albert Hall, London.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue One.

Pointing Bone:

  • Inspiration/Influence/Band Comment: 
    A type of Aboriginal magic, the pointing of the bone (sometimes called singing someone) was believed to cause death. People who had been 'pointed' often died, not as a result of the magic itself, but because of their belief that they would die i.e., death through superstition or imagination.
  • Recorded 07/83 at Europa Film Recording Studios in Stockholm.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue Three And Four.
  • Live debut 26/03/84 Palais d'Hiver, Lyon.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue One.

Blow The House Down:

  • Inspiration/Influence/Band Comment: 
    The line ‘Bishops Falling From The Windows’ takes its inspiration from the Luis Bunuel film ‘L'Age d'Or’
  • Initial recording began 06/83, final mix completed at Roundhouse Studios 11/83 and 03/84.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue Three And Four.
  • Live debut 01/10/83 Royal Albert Hall, London.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue One.

Let Go:

  • Inspiration/Influence/Band Comment: 
    The film '2001: A Space Odyssey.  Source:  Downside Up liner notes.
  • Recorded: 03-04/02/84 at The Garden Studios.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue Two.

The Humming Wires:

  • Recorded: 03-04/02/84 at The Garden Studios.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue Two.
  • Sampled on the song 'Total Control', Psychonauts - Songs For Creatures.

I Promise:

  • Recorded: 21-25/04/84 at The Garden Studios.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue Two.
  • The music box used for the intro was a present from a  fan.  Source:  Downside Up liner notes.

Throw Them To The Lions:

  • Recorded: 21-25/04/84 at The Garden Studios.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue Two.

Play At Home:

  • In 1984 The Banshees were asked to make a film for a Channel 4 series called  Play At Home, consisting of monologues, videos and live footage.

The Thorn:

  • Inspiration/Influence/Band Comment: 
    SIOUXSIE: "I thought it would be great to do something based around strings, rather than bringing them in at the last minute as we usually did. Strings work well with the Banshees. I've always loved the discordant tension that you often get with violins in orchestras." Source:  The Authorised Biography 2002.
    Initial recording with Robert Smith on guitar started 06/83.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue Two.
  • Rerecorded with John Carruthers on guitar 25/08/84 at studios in Bavaria.  Source: The File, Phase Three, Issue Three and Four.
  • Originally intended to be released as a 12" EP only, a decision was reached to release a 7" single, coupling 'Overground' with 'Placebo Effect', due to the extensive airplay 'Overground' was receiving.  Source:  The File, Phase Three, Issues Three & Four.
  • Originally intended to be released as the follow up to Dear Prudence, but delayed due to personal changes.  Source:  Melody Maker 01/10/83.

Overground (The Thorn):

  • Inspiration/Influence/Band Comment:
    SIOUXSIE: "On the tour after ’Dreamhouse’, we went out with a string section and we incorporated ‘Overground’ into the set. We got so many enquiries as to whether we would release it like that, we went ahead." Source:  Melody Maker 17/10/92.
    No promo video was filmed for the release of 'Overground'.

Red Over White (The Thorn):

  • Inspiration/Influence/Band Comment: 
    SIOUXSIE: "We did this EP with Hedges in Bavaria. We wanted a stream babbling through one song, 'Red Over White', so Hedges set everything up in a field beside a stream. I felt really stupid at first because there were these blood curdling screams I had to do. I got over it and really started enjoying myself, when I noticed the lights coming on in the farmhouses in the distance. They must have thought a sheep was being strangled or something. We didn't use it in the end. The EP broke in our new guitarist, John Carruthers, who did a good job." Source:  Record Hunter 12/92.

Robert Smith:

  • Siouxsie & Steven claim that Robert Smith's use of lipstick started when they were at a club, Robert asked to borrow Siouxsie's lipstick and returned shortly afterwards wearing it, Robert's thoughts on the matter are quite different, Robert: "No, I wore lipstick at school.  I copied my lipstick from my mum, not Siouxsie, although there are similarities between the two.  I've worn make up to varying degrees since I was 13, but I do wear less now than I used to.  I started wearing the smeared lipstick look when we were doing 'Pornography'".

Marc Almond:

  • "I first bumped into Siouxsie Sioux in the King’s Road Market, both of us browsing as sex goods and leather accoutrements at a specialist stall, and both of us enquiring about made to measure leather clothes. When Siouxsie & Budgie broke from the Banshees in the mid nineties to dedicate themselves to their Creatures project they emerged rejuvenated. We met up at the former house of artist Gustav Moreau in Paris in January 1999, full of enthusiasm for the future. It had taken until 1998 for us to work together".

Tim Pope: 

The Howling II: 

  • The band were asked to appear in the film 'The Howling II'.  Wisely they declined.