THE GLOVE
August 27, 1983 - Record Mirror (UK)
Interview
 

You've warmed to The Creatures, now meet The Glove - the next episode in that long-running saga of the fun - loving musical folk who make up Siouxsie And The Banshees.

Hot on the trail of Siouxsie and Budgie's success with The Creatures and the re-emergence of Robert Smith in his other guise as one half of The Cure, Smith joins with the remaining Banshee Steve Severin to don mean and moody black shades and form The Glove.

The first product of this alliance is a single 'Like An Animal' while an album is on it's way.  This means the inevitable round of interviews and promotion and, with Robert flying off to America with The Cure, Steve Severin has been landed with the task.  Unfortunately the quiet bassist doesn't greatly like interviews, or interviewers for that matter.  "I took an instant dislike to doing interviews - and journalists.  I only like doing them when there's something to say - something to talk about."

OK Steve, so how did The Glove start?
"It was just my friendship with Robert.  We'd had some ideas since he first came into the group during the 'Join Hands' tour in 1979, but we've only just been able to put them into practice."

With the appearance of The Glove and the separate work of The Creatures the question inevitably arises - is this the end of Siouxsie And The Banshees?
"Not at all," Steve answers.  "I think Siouxsie and I have both considered leaving the Banshees every other week but there's always some sort of crisis - always a reason for doing another record."

So why is there the need for The Glove at all?  What can it offer that the Banshees can't?
"As much as you can say within one context,"  he explains, "there's always things you can't possibly do.  It's just another way of working.  It's also exciting to work with Robert because we get on so well."

What sort of music has this happy little union created?  For a start, the single has received mixed reactions.  The instrumentation has a Cure/Banshees ring about it but the weak vocals turn it into something of a damp squib.  The other side though, has Smith's vocals bringing all the angst and emotion we are used to in a number that improves with every play.  Steve has experienced the same sort of reactions.
"Everybody I've played the new album to doesn't really understand it until they've heard it two or three times because it's so different," he says with a smile.

"I've never been able to categorize what Siouxsie And The Banshees have produced and this is the same.  I imagine people who don't like The Cure and the Banshees might like it - if they get to hear it, or want to hear it that is."

You get the impression that talking to journalists about his music would not rank in Steve Severin's top ten most stimulating experiences league.  He seems equally unimpressed by the prospect of any sort of commercial success for The Glove.
"I don't mind if the single isn't a hit really - but I'd quite like the album to be heard,"  he admits with the mildest enthusiasm.  This man certainly knows how to punish is product.

Eleanor Levy 27/08/83