More than 30 years on from their formation, Skunk Anansie are firing on all cylinders like never before. We join the London legends on the road to find out about the attitude behind their brilliant new record The Painful Truth, and how the band “get our flowers from the people every night…”
We all know the signs of a hot tour. The packed-out houses everywhere the band goes. The mosh-pit mayhem throughout each set. The fans queuing up for signatures on parts of their body, so they can have them tattooed as a permanent reminder of the event.
All of those indicators – and more – are present and correct as K! arrives in Brighton to witness the penultimate show of a tour that has been generating buzz from Bournemouth to Glasgow. But this band are not some fast-rising group of industry darlings. This band are 30-year veterans. This band are Skunk Anansie…
“You can feel the vibe,” chuckles bassist Cass Lewis as they assemble backstage at the Brighton Dome. “A big tell-tale sign is when your phone rings for guestlist from people who haven’t talked to you for 10 years! We’re getting called by all the movers and shakers…”
More to the point, Skunk Anansie seem re-energised, enthusing about seeing new, young fans crammed down the front at every gig, and fizzing with the in-jokes and intra-band banter that can only come from spending 30 years of highs, lows and in-betweens together.
The ginger shots and vitamins they consume during our interview must be working: as seventh album The Painful Truth – their first in nine years and best since reforming in 2009 – looms, it’s clear that, in stark contrast to some of the reformed groups out there going through the motions, Skunk Anansie are a band built to thrive in 2025.
“The best thing is, it all comes from the music,” adds singer Skin, who will later crowdsurf from the back of the venue to the front on the arms of the adoring army of Anansie admirers. “People like the new stuff and the old stuff is a bonus. I always had this strong belief: ‘If you do a great album, everything changes…’”
Indeed, the positivity around this month’s release is palpable. It’s produced by David Sitek of TV On The Radio, who helped them break down the trademark Skunk Anansie sound and build it back up into something new, boosted by some of the best songs they’ve ever written.
The record is all the more remarkable for its protracted gestation. They originally started recording pre-pandemic then, having been forced to abandon their 25th anniversary tour, tried to record remotely, until they realised the Skunk magic derives from the four of them all being in the same place at the same time.
They were one of the first bands back out on the road in Europe once restrictions lifted – with guitarist Martin ‘Ace’ Kent effectively managing things following the retirement of their long-time manager – and finally completed their 25LiveAt25 shows in late 2022 (“It ended up being more like 25LiveAt28,” laughs Skin).
The tour was hard work, but the euphoric crowd reaction – “People went nuts!” marvels Ace – made them realise they could still take on the world, and helped put paid to the idea that it might be time to do one last farewell tour, then walk away.
“We asked the question, ‘Do we continue or not continue?’” says Skin. “If we can write really high-quality songs, then we have a future. But if we’re just going to write average stuff, then maybe we’re creatively out.
“The painful truth was, we plateaued in the last five years,” she adds. “If we weren’t careful, it would have just been a slow decline; people would only be excited about who we were in the ’90s.”
Instead, the band – inspired by David’s unusual-but-highly-creative studio techniques – infused their trademark lyrical and musical heaviness with a fiery alternative slant, electronic elements, huge pop-friendly choruses and plenty of “clever bollocks” wordplay from Skin. From the unashamedly poppy Shoulda Been You to the stark, brutally honest Shame (“I’ll probably get in trouble with certain people for that, but I’m already in trouble with those people!” jokes Skin), it’s the very much the album Skunk wanted to make, rather than the one people might have expected.
“There’s that sense of, ‘Are the fans going to like it?’” admits Skin. “Because it’s not what we normally do. But what people actually want is you, the artist, to give them something really amazing that they didn’t know they wanted. It’s not our job to follow people.”
And that, of course, has always been the Skunk way, ever since they blazed a trail through the straight, white, male-dominated rock scene of the ’90s.
“I had no idea at the time – we were just being a band,” scoffs Skin. “But I’d like to think we made it easier for people like me to get into rock music – we did fucking invent it after all! Hopefully little black girls and diverse bands can now do their thing without getting too much fucking slapback.”
Nonetheless, the band have had their fair share of setbacks of late. Firstly, during recording, Cass was diagnosed with Stage 4 throat cancer. His experience gave the album its title, and the bassist a new perspective.
“This is the best medicine I could ever have, being around these people,” says Cass. “They have no idea how much they affected me getting better, just by being themselves. That’s why I’d do anything for my band.”
“Lend us a tenner!” quips Ace.
“Well, when I say anything, there are some caveats…” deadpans Cass.
He’s now cancer-free but drummer Mark Richardson is on his own journey, having been diagnosed with prostate cancer shortly after the birth of his first child.
“We spent 12 years trying to have a baby, and then the universe lands prostate cancer on you,” he says, shaking his head. “It’s like, ‘Fucking hell, really?’ But it is what it is. I’ve had a fucking amazing career and I’m surrounded by wonderful people – you can’t ever ask for more than that.”
Having had surgery, Mark will miss the May dates but is optimistic about the outcome and pleased that going public inspired many others to go for their own tests (“Blokes don’t get checked for prostate cancer because they think it means a finger up the bum, but the first stage is a blood test or pee test”).
And, after 30 years of weathering every challenge the world can throw at them, Skunk Anansie are not about to back down now.
The Brighton show is epic, showcasing a band at the peak of their powers, with brilliant new songs such as An Artist Is An Artist and Cheers slotting superbly alongside classics like Weak and Little Baby Swastikkka. Surely, then, it’s time for Skunk Anansie to finally get the respect they’ve always deserved?
“It would be nice to be remembered as a band with a good message,” ponders Ace. “‘They meant what they said, they broke down some barriers and they did the right thing.’”
“Compared to what we’ve done, we haven’t had our flowers yet, but that’s an industry thing,” shrugs Skin. “We get our flowers from the people every night – and that’s all we need.”
Listen to Skin on Kerrang! In Conversation. Skunk Anansie’s new album The Painful Truth is out now via FLG Records
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