THE LAST BEAT
AND FINALLY: THE MAN WHO MAINTAINED THE BANSHEES’ RHYTHMIC CHASSIS, AND A MARRIAGE TO THEIR IMPERIOUS DIVA, FOR SO LONG. BUDGIE SINGS LIKE A CANARY. MARTIN ASTON HARKS.
Fireworks display: (clockwise from left) Budgie and Siouxsie cool down after the shoot for The Creatures’ Wild Things EP (inset); John McGeoch, Budgie and Severin, Modena, June 23, 1981; Budgie and Siouxsie at the 1987 Brit awards.
Adrian Boot/
urbanimage.tv, PG Brunelli/Iconicpix, Shutterstock
NOT JUST THE LONGEST-SURviving drummer in the Banshees’ history but Siouxsie’s lover (and husband) for almost 30 years, Peter ‘Budgie’ Clarke was closer to the eye of the storm than any other member. The couple divorced in 2007, since when Budgie has remarried and currently lives in Berlin. More recently, he’s played with John Grant and recorded a forthcoming album (and an ongoing podcast) with Cure founder Lol Tolhurst. “I’m still here,” he says. “That’s what really matters.”
Did you know that Siouxsie was returning to live performance?
I had no idea. The first I heard was that she was headlining the festival with Iggy in America. At first it was, “Let me check that out,” and, “Ooh, what’s the drummer doing?” I checked the setlist, and I think, apart from three songs, it could have come from 40 years ago, which surprised me because I realised this tour is heading for the big festivals, audiences who might know only one or two songs. But I think Siouxsie looks comfortable in herself: she doesn’t have to do anything audiences expect, or not. It’s not Siouxsie And The Banshees, though, it’s just Siouxsie.