SIOUXSIE – "VOICES" Live (Mouth Of The Tyne Festival @ Tynemouth Priory and Castle, 07 July 2023)
- 10 months ago
On 14 April 1978, Siouxsie & The Banshees played live at Maxwell’s Club in Tynemouth of North Tyneside, North East England, UK. Quoting Severin and Siouxsie in regard to the b-side track of their first single 'Hong Kong Garden', titled 'Voices' (from the band’s biography, 2003)…
SEVERIN: "That night we stayed in a B&B in Tynemouth, near Newcastle. […] If you are not careful touring can be a pretty soul destroying experience. It is so easy to just live inside a bubble of hotel/bus/stage. I always tried to make myself get out of the hotel in the mornings and investigate the town. [….] So the next morning [note: on 15 April 1978] I walked out to the cliffs overlooking the North Sea, where I began the lyric for 'Voices'. I'd been reading Baudelaire’s 'Hashish, Wine And Opium', in which he talks about seeing sound and hearing colours […] I loved that idea […] and I'd recently seen one of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe adaptions, 'The Haunted Palace'. Siouxsie and I were really into Poe at the time and I wanted to try and recreate that 'suffocating' motif he used so often. This reappeared in 'Premature Burial', one of Siouxsie’s lyrics for JOIN HANDS album."
SIOUXSIE: "The song 'Voices' was the one thing we salvaged from the [aborted] Bruce Albertine session, and in a perfect world it would have been the A-side. 'Hong Kong Garden' was so commercial and light, but 'Voices' certainly wasn't. It was very much a spontaneous creation. We certainly never rehearsed it."
SEVERIN: "[…] Apparently, it was a jukebox favourite amongst publicans in Liverpool. Put on 'Voices' at drinking-up time and you'd instantly clear the bar!"
The live debut of 'Voices' by The Banshees was on 29 December 1982 at Hammersmith Odeon in London, UK.
On 07 July 2023, it was the first time that 'Voices' was performed live by Siouxsie as solo artist, also the first time it was performed live at Tynemouth (the place its lyric was inspired and written 45 years ago) and the first time that its A-side 'Hong Kong Garden' was also performed live at the same night!
The current live band: Siouxsie (vox), Chris Turtell (guitar), Joe Short (bass), Robert Brian (drums), Steve Evans (synths and 2nd guitar).
[Note: Original video courtesy of Shaun Simmons, thank you! Video re-edited by me.]
SEVERIN: "That night we stayed in a B&B in Tynemouth, near Newcastle. […] If you are not careful touring can be a pretty soul destroying experience. It is so easy to just live inside a bubble of hotel/bus/stage. I always tried to make myself get out of the hotel in the mornings and investigate the town. [….] So the next morning [note: on 15 April 1978] I walked out to the cliffs overlooking the North Sea, where I began the lyric for 'Voices'. I'd been reading Baudelaire’s 'Hashish, Wine And Opium', in which he talks about seeing sound and hearing colours […] I loved that idea […] and I'd recently seen one of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe adaptions, 'The Haunted Palace'. Siouxsie and I were really into Poe at the time and I wanted to try and recreate that 'suffocating' motif he used so often. This reappeared in 'Premature Burial', one of Siouxsie’s lyrics for JOIN HANDS album."
SIOUXSIE: "The song 'Voices' was the one thing we salvaged from the [aborted] Bruce Albertine session, and in a perfect world it would have been the A-side. 'Hong Kong Garden' was so commercial and light, but 'Voices' certainly wasn't. It was very much a spontaneous creation. We certainly never rehearsed it."
SEVERIN: "[…] Apparently, it was a jukebox favourite amongst publicans in Liverpool. Put on 'Voices' at drinking-up time and you'd instantly clear the bar!"
The live debut of 'Voices' by The Banshees was on 29 December 1982 at Hammersmith Odeon in London, UK.
On 07 July 2023, it was the first time that 'Voices' was performed live by Siouxsie as solo artist, also the first time it was performed live at Tynemouth (the place its lyric was inspired and written 45 years ago) and the first time that its A-side 'Hong Kong Garden' was also performed live at the same night!
The current live band: Siouxsie (vox), Chris Turtell (guitar), Joe Short (bass), Robert Brian (drums), Steve Evans (synths and 2nd guitar).
[Note: Original video courtesy of Shaun Simmons, thank you! Video re-edited by me.]