Though not one of my favourite Siouxsie & The Banshees singles – it was the lead single and closing track from 1982’s A Kiss In The Dreamhouse – “Slowdive” gets respect for not only being the namesake for one of my favourite bands ever1, but for producing this video which forces Budgie, Steven Severin, and John McGeoch into some absurd choreography.
While still disbanded, Siouxsie & The Banshees are preparing their first official release in some time this Friday in All Souls, a compilation which they describe as:
And which are potentially more interesting for having been half-speed remastered at Abbey Road Studios under Siouxsie Sioux’s personal supervision. So in theory a little more than a quickly thrown-together cash grab.
1Interestingly, the naming of Slowdive was not as simple as a straight “we named ourselves for the Siouxsie song”. In an interview with Penny Black Music in 2016, Nick Chaplin and Christian Savill recalled their landing on the name as follows:
PB: How did the name Slowdive come around? It is also the name of a single by Siouxsie and the Banshees.
Christian Savill, Nick Chaplin of Slowdive
CS: I can remember us thinking of names. It was at Neil and Rachel’s school’s youth club where we used to rehearse, but I can’t remember the names we had under consideration. I think it was Nick’s idea. I’ll blame Nick, especially as he’s been blaming me in rehearsals if a bass line doesn’t sound right.
NC: The legend has it that the name came from a dream that I had. And there is probably some truth in that. We had a most awful name before we became Slowdive, and we just knew that we needed something different. It seemed to fit. Rachel was always a fan of Siouxsie, so really it was meant to be.
Interview – Slowdive @ Penny Black Music
