Formation (1976–1977) Siouxsie Sioux and
Steven Severin met at a
Roxy Music concert in September 1975, at a time when
glam rock had faded and there was nothing new coming through with which they could identify. From February 1976, Siouxsie, Severin and some friends began to follow an unsigned band, the
Sex Pistols. Journalist
Caroline Coon dubbed them the "
Bromley Contingent", as most of them came from the
Bromley area of south-east London, a label Severin came to despise. "There was no such thing, it was just a bunch of people drawn together by the way they felt and they looked". They were all inspired by the Sex Pistols and their uncompromising attitude. When they learned that one of the bands scheduled to play the
100 Club Punk Festival, organised by Sex Pistols manager
Malcolm McLaren, was pulling out from the bill at the last minute, Siouxsie suggested that she and Severin play, even though they had no band name or additional members. Two days later, the pair appeared at the festival held in London on 20 September 1976. With two borrowed musicians at their side,
Marco Pirroni on guitar and
Sid Vicious on drums, their set consisted of a 20-minute improvisation based on "
The Lord's Prayer". The band intended to split up after the gig, but they were asked to play again. Over the next few months, Siouxsie and Severin recruited drummer
Kenny Morris and guitarist Peter Fenton. After playing several gigs in early 1977, they realised that Fenton did not fit in because he was "a real rock guitarist"; he was fired on stage in mid-May.
John McKay took his place in July. Their first live appearance on television took place in November on
Granada Television (based in
Manchester), on
Tony Wilson's TV show
So It Goes. In that month they also recorded their first
John Peel session for BBC radio, in which they premiered a new song, "Metal Postcard"; this introduced a "
motorik austerity" in the drum patterns, along with "space in the sound" and "serrated guitars". The band described their music as "cold, machine-like and passionate at the same time". When they appeared on the cover of
Sounds magazine,
Vivien Goldman wrote: "they sound like a 21st century industrial plant".
The Scream and Join Hands (1978–1979) The band sold out venues in London in early 1978, but still had problems getting the right recording contract that could give them "complete artistic control".
Polydor offered this guarantee and signed them in June. Their first single, "
Hong Kong Garden", featuring a
xylophone motif, reached the top 10 in the UK shortly after. An
NME review hailed it as "a bright, vivid narrative, something like snapshots from the window of a speeding Japanese train, power charged by the most original, intoxicating guitar playing I heard in a long, long time". The band released their debut album,
The Scream, in November 1978.
Nick Kent of
NME said of the record: "Certainly, the traditional three-piece sound has never been used in a more unorthodox fashion with such stunning results". The Banshees' second album,
Join Hands, was released in 1979. In
Melody Maker,
Jon Savage described "Poppy Day" as "a short, powerful evocation of the Great War graveyards", and
Record Mirror described the whole record as a dangerous work that "should be heard". The Banshees embarked on a major tour to promote the album. A few dates into the tour in September, Morris and McKay left an in-store signing after an argument and quit the band. In need of replacements to fulfil tour dates, the Banshees' manager called drummer
Budgie, formerly with
the Slits, and asked him to audition. Budgie was hired, but Siouxsie and Severin had no success auditioning guitarists.
Robert Smith of
the Cure offered his services in case they could not find a guitarist (his group were already the support band on the tour); having already seen too many "rock virtuosos", the band accepted his assistance. The tour resumed in September; after the last concert, Smith returned to the Cure.
Kaleidoscope, Juju and A Kiss in the Dreamhouse (1980–1982) Budgie became a permanent member, and the band entered the studios to record the single "
Happy House" with guitarist
John McGeoch, then still a member of
Magazine. Their third album,
Kaleidoscope, released in 1980, saw the Banshees exploring new musical territories with the use of other instruments like synthesizers, sitars and drum machines. The group initially had a concept of making each song sound completely different, without regard to whether or not the material could be performed live.
Melody Maker described the result as "a kaleidoscope of sound and imagery, new forms, and content, flashing before our eyes".
Kaleidoscope was a commercial success, peaking at number 5 on the UK albums chart. This line-up, featuring McGeoch on guitar, toured the United States for the first time in support of the album in November 1980. , Siouxsie, Steven Severin and
John McGeoch For
Juju (1981), the band took a different approach and practised the songs in concert first before recording them.
Juju, according to Severin, became an unintentional concept album that "drew on darker elements".
Sounds hailed it as "intriguing, intense, brooding and powerfully atmospheric". The album later peaked at number 7 on the UK albums chart and became one of their biggest sellers. McGeoch's guitar contributions on
Juju were later praised by
Johnny Marr of
the Smiths. During the 1981 accompanying tour, Siouxsie and Budgie became a couple. At the same time, they also began a drum-and-voice duo called
the Creatures, releasing their first
EP,
Wild Things. The Banshees followed in 1982 with the
psychedelic A Kiss in the Dreamhouse. The record, featuring strings on several numbers, was an intentional contrast to their previous work, with Severin later describing it as a "sexy album". The British press greeted it enthusiastically.
Richard Cook finished his
NME review with this sentence: "I promise...this music will take your breath away". At that time, McGeoch was struggling with alcohol problems, and was hospitalised on his return to a promotional trip from
Madrid. The band fired him shortly thereafter. Severin asked Robert Smith to take over guitarist duties again; Smith accepted and rejoined the group in November 1982.
Hyæna, Tinderbox and Through the Looking Glass (1983–1987) During 1983, the band members worked on several side projects; Siouxsie and Budgie composed the first Creatures album,
Feast, while Severin and Smith recorded as
the Glove. Smith then insisted on documenting his time with the Banshees, so the group released a
cover version of
the Beatles' "
Dear Prudence" in September 1983. It became their biggest UK hit, reaching number 3 on the
Singles Chart. They also released a live double album and video,
Nocturne, and completed their sixth studio album,
Hyæna. Shortly before its release in May 1984, Smith left the group, citing health issues due to an overloaded schedule, being in two bands at once. With ex-
Clock DVA guitarist
John Valentine Carruthers replacing Smith, the Banshees then reworked four numbers from their repertoire, augmented by a string section, for
The Thorn EP.
NME praised the project: "The power of a classical orchestra is the perfect foil for the band's grindingly insistent sounds". The new Banshees line-up spent much of 1985 working on a new record,
Tinderbox. The group finished the song "
Cities in Dust" before the album, so they rushed its release as a single prior to their longest tour of the UK.
Tinderbox was released in April 1986.
Sounds magazine said: "
Tinderbox is a refreshing slant on the Banshees' disturbing perspective and restores their vivid shades to pop's pale palette". Due to the length of time spent working on
Tinderbox, the group desired spontaneity and decided to record an album of cover songs,
Through the Looking Glass, in 1987.
Mojo magazine later praised their version of "
Strange Fruit". After the album's release, the band realised Carruthers was no longer fitting in and decided to work on new material as a trio.
Peepshow (1988–1990) Following a lengthy break, the band recruited multi-instrumentalist
Martin McCarrick and guitarist
Jon Klein. The quintet recorded
Peepshow in 1988, with non-traditional rock instrumentation including cello and
accordion.
Q magazine praised the album in its 5-star review: "
Peepshow takes place in some distorted fairground of the mind where weird and wonderful shapes loom". The first single, "
Peek-a-Boo", was seen by critics as a "brave move" with horns and dance elements. "Peek-a-Boo" was their first real breakthrough in the United States. After the tour, the band decided to take a break, with Siouxsie and Budgie recording as the Creatures and releasing their most critically acclaimed album,
Boomerang, while Severin and McCarrick worked on material together.
Superstition, The Rapture and break-up (1991–1999) In 1991, Siouxsie and the Banshees returned with the single "
Kiss Them for Me", mixing strings over a dance rhythm laced with
exotica. The group collaborated with the then unknown Indian
tabla player
Talvin Singh, who also sang during the bridge. The single received glowing reviews and later peaked at number 23 on the
Billboard Hot 100, allowing them to reach a new audience. A few weeks after its release, Polydor dropped the band from its roster and Klein was replaced on the band's last tour in 1995 by ex-
Psychedelic Furs guitarist
Knox Chandler. In April 1996, the Banshees disbanded after 20 years of working together. Siouxsie blamed the split on "the situation with Polydor" and "internal problems as well." She and Budgie announced that they would carry on recording as the Creatures. In 1999, they released the album
Anima Animus.
Post-disbandment (2000s–present) In 2002,
Universal Music kicked off the band's
remastered back catalogue by releasing
The Best of Siouxsie and the Banshees. In April, Siouxsie, Severin, Budgie and Chandler reunited briefly for the Seven Year Itch tour, which spawned
The Seven Year Itch live album and DVD. The day after their last concert in Tokyo, Japan, Siouxsie and Budgie stayed in town on their own and entered a recording studio as the Creatures. Their fourth and final studio album,
Hái!, came out in 2003. On 4 March 2004, McGeoch died in his sleep after an epileptic seizure, at the age of 48. Siouxsie and Budgie had talked about inviting him to guest with them on stage, before hearing the news. In November of the same year,
Downside Up, a
box set that collected all of the Banshees' B-sides and
The Thorn EP, was released.
The Times wrote in its review: "here is a group that never filled B-sides with inferior, throwaway tracks. Rather they saw them as an outlet for some of their most radical and challenging work". In 2006, the band's first four records were remastered and compiled with previously unreleased bonus tracks. Several recordings made for the John Peel radio show from 1978 to 1986 were also compiled on the CD
Voices on the Air: The Peel Sessions.
AllMusic described the first session as "a fiery statement of intent" and qualified the other performances as "excellent". Eleven years after the split of the Banshees, Siouxsie released her debut solo album
Mantaray in 2007. The second batch of the remasters, concerning the band's 1982–1986 era, was issued in April 2009. It included four other reissues (including
A Kiss in the Dreamhouse from 1982). Siouxsie and Severin curated a compilation CD called ''It's a Wonderfull Life
for the monthly magazine Mojo
, issued in September with Siouxsie on the front cover. On this CD, the pair honoured several composers of film and classical music that had inspired them. In 2015, after releasing another compilation called Spellbound: The Collection'', which included a selection of singles, album tracks and B-sides such as "
Tattoo" and "Hong Kong Garden" (Strings Intro version), the band reissued 1979's
Join Hands on vinyl for
Record Store Day, with different cover artwork. A vinyl reissue series on Polydor of all of the band's albums, remastered from the original ¼" tapes in 2018 by Miles Showell and cut at half speed at
Abbey Road Studios, began in August 2018. The eleven studio albums were reissued on black vinyl. It was released on black vinyl, and orange vinyl. In 2023
The Rapture was reissued on double colored vinyl. In October 2024
Through the Looking Glass including "
The Passenger", was reissued on crystal clear vinyl with new artwork featuring a mirror effect sleeve. In 2025,
All Souls was released on CD in a limited edition with an
obi strip. It was issued in the form of Japanese mini-LP replica in cardboard sleeve. In June and July, McKay and his new band featuring female singer Jen, will be on tour in the UK, playing the songs he recorded with the Banshees. They will be in
Portsmouth on 18 June,
London on 19 June,
Norwich on 20 June,{{cite web|url= https://www.seetickets.com/event/miki-berenyi-trio-john-mckay-s-reactor/norwich-arts-centre/3605976 ==Artistry==