INTERVIEW BY MACKENZIE WILSON / FILMED BY ERIC NOWELS

Best known for fronting the Banshees for nearly 20 years, as well as issuing four albums under the Creatures moniker with her former musical partner, Budgie, the raven-haired priestess of punk, Siouxsie Sioux (known simply as Siouxsie these days) makes her solo album debut this week with Mantaray, out via the Decca label. Here, the jovial Ms. Sioux -- who was another heavy hitter in 1977, the year punk exploded -- chats about creating the cinematic 10-song set ("It all happened really quickly …I was just going to see what happened."), how producers Steve Evans (Robert Plant) and Charlie Jones (Goldfrapp) allowed her to dream it all up again ("They really said the lyrics and the vocal melodies were what was inspiring them."), and why after all these years she finally chose to create a solo album ("Save the best 'til last!"). That she does! 

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