Skunk Anansie - Acoustic Show | Support: Karima Francis

Skunk Anansie - Acoustic Show
Supported by Karima Francis

in collaboration with Opus One
www.opus-one.ch

Théatre du Léman - Genève:
www.theatreduleman.com

Tickets:
www.ticketcorner.ch

In the days and weeks leading up to Skunk Anansie's first ever full acoustic live concert, vocalist Skin found herself experiencing an unfamiliar feeling: a gnawing sense of trepidation about what lay ahead.
"I was having something of a crisis of confidence," the front-woman admits. "A lot of singers don't like their voice as much as everybody else likes it, and for a little while, I was feeling insecure about just how scarily exposed my voice was going to be when all the noise that traditionally envelops our songs was stripped away. It was like, 'Okay, I know I can sing very loud, but can I sing very quietly?'"
That question is answered in the most emphatic terms by 'An Acoustic Skunk Anansie - Live In London', an exquisite rendering of a very special evening for the British rock band. Taped on April 15, 2013 at Belgravia's storied Cadogan Hall, home of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the recording sees the quartet serving up beautifully re-imagined versions of some of their best-loved songs before an enrapt audience of 900 fans. An intimate portrait of a band boldly toying with convention and their own illustrious history, it's a timely reminder that, even as Skunk Anansie approach their 20th anniversary as a band, the Londoners retain the power to provoke and surprise.
"As a band, we've kinda done everything at this point," guitarist Ace notes, "so you start to think about what you can offer that's fresh and different. We've never recorded a live rock album, but there are so many clips of our TV performances and festival appearances on YouTube now that we wondered if that concept is now redundant. But the idea of playing a full acoustic show was something completely new in the career of Skunk Anansie and something no-one had seen before. And doing something new is always exciting."
As with some of the best ideas, the notion of Skunk Anansie playing a full acoustic concert grew, says Skin, out of a series of happy accidents. In April 2012, while DJ-ing at an aftershow party at Zermatt Unplugged, Europe's only acoustic music festival, the singer was asked by the Swiss festival's organisers whether her band would ever consider playing the event. The conversation sparked off a discussion within the group which soon snowballed into a grander, more ambitious, plan.
"We realised that in order to play the show we'd have to completely re-work the songs," says Skin. "We've done lots of one song acoustic performances for radio over the years, but this was going to take more work than our one annual day of rehearsals! So then we decided upon doing two gigs, one at Zermatt festival and one in London. And once we'd agreed on that, Mark [Richardson, SA drummer] said 'Can I film it with a proper crew?' And so then we thought 'Well, if we're going to film it, we'll have to record it really well.' So suddenly you get to the point where it's this whole other thing! But the more we talked, the more the idea excited us, because it was a proper leap into the unknown."
"It was actually a massive challenge musically," Ace explains. "You have to go through the songs and see which ones will work acoustically - some of our best known songs really don't, because they're built around big riffs - and then you have to rearrange them: shortening sections and simplifying parts and rewriting the chords and reworking the strings, which we asked Wil Malone (Massive Attack, Depeche Mode) to do. Our band hates rehearsing, but we knew we had to really push ourselves this time to get something unique."
Originally, the concert was conceived as an invite-only event to be held at the world-famous Abbey Road Studios, but the band were adamant that the occasion should be made accessible to fans: all 900 tickets for the gig were duly snapped up within hours of going on sale. The result was an evening that neither the band, or those lucky enough to be in attendance will ever forget.
"It was really special," says Skin. "It showcased a whole new side to the band. When you strip everything back a lot of the beauty and vulnerability and menace of the songs shines through in totally new ways, the nuances of the writing really comes through. And people were really listening, really concentrating, instead of jumping up and down and stagediving as is the norm at our concerts. Even though most of the audience had probably seen us play before, at some points it must have been as if they were hearing the band for the very first time."
Drawing upon material from all five of Skunk Anansie's studio albums (plus the 'Smashes And Trashes' compilation, released in 2009 to celebrate the band's return from a nine year hiatus), 'An Acoustic Skunk Anansie - Live In London' is an astonishing document of the night. From bruised and beautiful set opener 'Brazen (Weep)' through to the funky, Zeppelin-esque stomp of 'Charlie Big Potato' which brought the evening to a euphoric climax, it's a unique snapshot of an iconic band performing at the peak of their powers. By turns haunting, vulnerable, confrontational and menacing, the band's takes of love and loss, recrimination and revenge are reframed in startling, stark new forms, distilled down to their purest essence. The late Nashville songwriter Harlan Howard once opined that all the best songwriting could be summarised as 'three chords and the truth': re-contextualised here in acoustic form, Skunk Anansie's open-hearted anthems have never sounded more powerful or affecting. As a bonus, the band - expanded for the evening with the addition of a string section, Skin's long-time songwriting foil Len Arran on guitar and Mark Richardson's wife Erika on backing vocals - also serve up a spine-tingling take on Paul Weller's 'You Do Something To Me' (a highlight of The Modfather's acclaimed 'Stanley Road' collection) which proves beautifully suited to Skin's honeyed vocals.
"We never really do covers, so we thought we'd try something special," says Skin. "I love Paul Weller, and when 'Stanley Road' came out I just played it to death, and this is one of my all-time favourite songs. A lot of my favourite songs I could never imagine singing in a million years, not because they're untouchable, but because they don't sound good with my voice, but this one just felt right. And I just really, really loved singing it. Again, it's something new and unexpected for us."
"The whole night was completely nerve-wracking," laughs Ace. "No-one gets filmed and recorded playing songs they've just written, which was effectively how it felt for us, so that's a terrifying idea. You walk offstage and think 'Was that okay?' because the perspective is different when you're sitting onstage and really concentrating on your own playing. But when we watched the DVD we realised that it really captured the vibe of the night. It was all so fresh that the performance had a real vitality and newness about it, and that energy and excitement is impossible to fake. Obviously we're proud of every album we've made, but I think this one is truly something special."
"As artists, it's important for us to keep moving forward," adds Skin, in a final reflection upon both the night and a future yet unwritten for her band. "We've effectively done three albums in four years, and for us it's all about 'What have you done for me lately?' That's what the music business seems to be about too. So we've stepped up and challenged ourselves and took a risk and hopefully delivered something really fresh. It's nice to have a new string to our bow. And, who knows, it might be interesting to explore this further..."




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