Shakespear's Sister

Shakespear's Sister

28 October, 2009
by: Gina Louise

After a 13 year hiatus, Siobhan Fahey is finally re-launching her solo career. The former member of Bananarama has had her fair share of success, and of epic musical failures; but you can depend on the fact that at some point in your life you have caught yourself in a mirror dancing to 'Robert De Niro's Waiting' or crying into your hairbrush singing 'Stay'. There is no denying that when it comes to your classic catchy pop hooks, Fahey is up there with the best of them.

Shakespear's Sister have sold over 2.5 million albums and enjoyed an eight week stint at number.  After being dropped by her record label before her last album was released, Fahey decided that her songs were just too darned good to go unheard, so has launched her own label, SF Records, whereby she would have full artistic licence over what she released. The end product is a dirty mix of synths and reverby vocals that leave you wondering whatever happened to the innocent pop princess of the 80's.

Now Fahley is back with a re-vamped attitude that will leave fans of the now-dead denim-clad days of yore cowering behind their hair crimpers. I caught up with her to chat about what the future holds in store for Shakespear's Sister.


It's been a while since we have heard from Shakespear's Sister. What have you been up to?

I’ve been raising two sons, DJ'ing  and writing and recording this album. 

You have decided to go it alone again, do you prefer performing solo?

I don't really see a difference. For me both scenarios involve teamwork with people who get what I'm about. Ultimately it's all about a communicating your heart, soul, taste, experience and perspective to the audience.

You've worked with a lot of great people in your career, from Vivienne Westwood's son to Prince… who has been the best/worst?

I have worked with Vivienne Westwood's  son, Joe Corrie , on the Erreur  Fatale recordings, and I've supported Prince at Celtic Park, Glasgow. I'm usually just beavering away on my own work, but it's so much easier to waltz in and contribute to someone else's project.

You get all the fun of performance without having to deal with the logistics of releasing a record etc.

What prompted your decision to start your own record label?

I don't have a record contract or management at the moment and the music world is changing. Those big labels are no longer an option, but I found myself making a fantastic album and it needed to be released, so I had to bite the bullet and release it myself.

Organisation isn't my strongest suit though, so it's been a bit haphazard. I apologise to anyone who has got sick and tired of waiting for this album to come out.

You once said 'I have this massive love for the whole culture of pop music', yet your new releases are more underground electro. Are you enjoying experimenting with new sounds?

I think everything I write and record has a particular personality to it - glam synth driven rock with catchy pop hooks and wry lyrics. Albeit it interlaced with darker more introspective tracks...

The new  Shakespear's Sister album, 'Songs From The Red Room', has more of an analogue electro sound  than '3',which has got a more glam 'geezer' tip to it..but that’s probably because I was DJ'ing a lot of electro stuff - although a lot of it was classic late 70's early 80's electro. I wanted that sound so I got me a Korg and a Sh10 off e-bay and that set the sonic tone for the record.

Why did you choose to add a Linda Lamb cover to your new album?

My amazing DJ friend Pablo played me her version long before it was released but he didn't know what it was - he thought it was some old 80's electro demo that had never come out! I loved it and thought what a shame it was never out there, so why not cover it? Shortly after we recorded it her version came out, but I love my version too, so I wanted it on the album.
 
What can fans expect from the future of Shakespear's Sister?

I'm doing a gig at the Underbelly in Hoxton on 20th November which; if it goes well I hope will herald a return to proper touring. I'd love to do some festivals next year... I've missed performing.

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Gina Louise