According to drummer extraordinaire Budgie, when Siouxsie & The Banshees initially called it a day back in 1995, the issue was never truly resolved, so when the band got together for the real last rumble and a World Tour seven years on, it felt like the real full stop when they came offstage in Japan for the final time in August 2002.
Such events are bound to be emotional and cathartic for all concerned, and the obvious course of action would be to rest up and take stock. Not so Siouxsie and Budgie, though, who within 24 hours of that final gig had returned to the studio with one of their all-time heroes Leonard Eto from the famous Kodo drummers to begin work on what would become the fourth Creatures album "Hai!"
And indeed a spirit of restless adventure (mostly influenced by their Japanese surroundings) permeates the finished album; a mysterious, far-Eastern rhythmic trip with Budgie and Eto's massive drum tsunami to the fore and Siouxsie sounding more seductive than ever.
Admittedly, it helps if you're rhythmically inclined to appreciate this, but fear not: if the idea of percussive barrages conjures scary visions of Carl Palmer-style excess, then you'll be able to think again, as Budgie and Eto synchronise with an intuition bordering on the supernatural throughout the album and imbue the project with a memorable cinematic presence.
The dual drum melee is fiercely disciplined during opening tracks, the affirmative "Say Yes!" and frantic travelogue of "Around The World", though things get more intriguing when we reach "Seven Tears" and recent hit single "Godzilla" when Budgie brings out the marimbas, timbales and even tubular bells to create a dazzling sensurround.
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If anything, though, The Creatures are even more effective and predatory when they slow it down a little. "Imagoro" is positively shamanic in execution, with Siouxsie's drawled druidic chant starring and Budgie dragging bells and timbale in her wake, while on "Torniquet" the marimbas roll like steel drums, lonely piano chords are picked out and Siouxsie revels in the sexual tension the track creates.
The plot thickens further with the bodhran-style hand drumming and eerie stillness of "Further Nearer", the backwards masking and intense desolation of "City Island" and the finale provided by the Cathedral bells and potent Hokusai waves rippling throughout "Tantara!".
So, yes, "Hai!" (translated basically as 'yes' in Anglo-Japanese) is the dawning of a dramatic new day for Siouxsie and Budgie, who still sound as creepily relevant as ever here. The Banshees may be no more, but a potent new phoenix has risen from the ashes, resplendant with beautifully-realised Eastern promise. As Siouxsie so eloquently puts it: "No more maybe, no more could be, say yes!" Advice to heed, if you ask me.
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