Interview - They are finally back after almost nine long years and if we can believe front woman Skin, this time it's for good. British rockers Skunk Anansie look back at their great career with a greatest hits album Smashes and Trashes, out now. More than reason enough to have an exclusive chat with great front woman Skin herself and catch up about the new album and being on the road again.

QS: Skunk Anansie disbanded in 2001. Why did it take so long to release a greatest hits?

Skin (S): It mainly took so long because all of us wanted to be involved in putting this album together. We weren't able to get everybody together at the same time and in the same place for quite a while because of our schedules and when we finally met up to talk about the greatest hits it was the first time in almost nine years that all of us got together.

I think that if we would have managed to get together in the same place and at the same time 4 years earlier, when the label started talking about a greatest hits for the first time, all of this would have happened earlier. But I suppose that's the way the cookie crumbles.

QS: Is this a comeback for good or is this just a one-off reunion?

S: Yeah, this is definitely for good.

QS: Where did the idea come from to release Smashes and Trashes now? Was it a record label decision or did the band decide?

S: The record company basically wanted us to do a greatest hits and had been bugging us for years. We were the ones that kept saying no. But then our manager kind of put us together and told us that this was the right thing to do. He told us that the record company was going to release a greatest hits anyway regardless of if we wanted to be involved or not. After that we basically took the idea away from the label and decided to do it ourselves. We felt that this was the right thing to do as we have all of the archive stuff and we wanted to control it. We wanted it to be something really cool.

QS: It is a greatest hits album but there is also some new stuff on the album. What can people expect from it?

S: All of the songs have been re-mastered so they are all the same great quality. We also used the original released single versions, not the album tracks, which was quite difficult and took quite a few months to track down because the record company lost them all.

For the deluxe limited edition we went all out. We made it really nice. Photographer Anton Corbijn made a book about Skunk Anansie with pictures he had taken, there is an amazing biography, there is a whole cd of remixes of our old and new stuff by lots of great people and on top of that we have a dvd of special performances that we really liked from over the years and from all over the world.

We just tried to make it really special. The deluxe edition is absolutely amazing. It's a bit expensive but we thought, it's our first greatest hits. We are not making any money from it because EMI is taking it all but we still wanted it to be really really good. Something that we can be very proud of and give to our families.

QS: And something that the fans will really love as well.

S: Yeah, we really did it for the fans because we are fans ourselves and we buy box sets ourselves so we thought of what we would expect if we would get a box set of a band. That is how we did it.

QS: One of he things people always said about Skunk Anansie and about you in particular was that you scared them. I am wondering, now that it's this long since Skunk Anansie released a new album, are you scared people won't remember you?

S: I tend not to be scared of anything. I am the woman with no fear. Whether or not people will remember you is way down at the bottom of my list of scary things that could happen. I wasn't really scared about that really. I was actually more scared about how much work it was going to be and will be and how fit I am. Whether the band still had it and if there was still chemistry. The things that scared me more had to do with us 4 and being in a band. 9 years later.

The response has been unbelievable so far. Much better than I expected it was going to be. I thought it was going to take a while to remind everyone about who we are but no. Straight away we have had an amazing response. And it has been really cool visiting other European countries like Switzerland, Italy, Holland, France and Germany. They still go crazy for Skunk Anansie.

The band's current single, Squander:



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QS: How does it feel to be back on the road with the guys?

S: It is really good fun. The thing that I forgot about the boys is that they are very, very funny. We call Cass the Sid James (British comedian) of rock because he just laughs non-stop and he really enjoys live. We are all quite humbled by the way the people have received us. We are all really enjoying ourselves. We are just trying to keep it all as stress free as possible because last time around it was very stressful.

QS: One of the gigs you will be playing will be at Brixton Academy (London) at the end of November. Are you looking forward to that one?

S: Yeah that is going to be absolutely killer. I am from Brixton so...

Most of the concerts are selling very quickly. I believe that this one sold out in about half a day. We were thinking of doing two gigs there but then we were like, that's just showing of isn't it. (Laughs)
And anyway we are back together for a long time so we don't need to do everything now. We can take our time and build it up. What's the rush?

Smashes and Trashes is available now!

Check here or here for more info.