Steven Severin

Steven Severin (born Steven John Bailey; 25 September 1955) is an English songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer.

Musically close enough to the differing Cure and Banshee styles to attract large sections of both sets of fans, the more experimental nature and references to 1960's psychedelia and pop-art also attracted a more eclectic audience.

The use of keyboards and synthesizers, as well as the inclusion of instrumental only tracks, were also an early pointer to Severin's post Banshee musical output.

On a Sunday afternoon in 1971, he discovered German rock band Can thanks to a schoolfriend's elder brother in the army who was stationed in Hamburg.

At 15, Severin saw Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band in concert in London which was a life changing experience.

His favourite writers when he was a teenager, were William Burroughs and Jean Genet amongst others: he said, "Since I was very young I’ve always felt the need to retreat into my head and scratch around the rim of my imagination to shut out the trivia and carelessness of the world outside".

He is best known as the bassist of the rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees which he co-founded in 1976.

He was also a member of the short-lived band the Glove.

He took the name "Severin" from the Leopold von Sacher-Masoch character who is mentioned in the Velvet Underground song "Venus in Furs".

Severin had earlier considered "Steve Spunker" for his stage name.

Severin—who was known as Steven Havoc when he joined the band in September 1976—was the co-founder.

He was a full contributor to Siouxsie and the Banshees' musical output from the first release: the B-side to the top 10 single "Hong Kong Garden", was a Severin lyric, "Voices".

Although the entire band often was credited for songwriting, the lyrics were usually indicated as the work of only one or two members.

Severin would contribute lyrics to many of the album tracks, singles and B-sides produced by the band.

He also initially wrote many of the songs recorded by the band, composing earlier versions that the band would work together to perfect.

In the same way he would add his input into potential tracks contributed by Siouxsie Sioux or others.

He recorded 11 studio albums with the group.

He also produced the majority of the album Happy Birthday (all 1981).

The only track not produced by him was the title track (which also formed the intro and coda), which became the band's breakthrough hit.

When the record company realized that "Happy Birthday" had a commercial potential, they asked Martin Rushent to re-record it at the last minute.

In 1982, he produced, and played bass on, the Lydia Lunch EP The Agony Is the Ecstasy and in 1983 co-wrote the song "Torment" with Marc Almond on the latter's LP Torment and Toreros (by Marc and the Mambas).

They both started to compose material in 1982.

During that era, Severin's first studio

recording with Smith was to record an early version of the Cure's song "Lament" for Flexipop magazine.

Severin then played bass again with the Cure for a one-off live TV appearance on BBC's Riverside in January 1983, for a rendition of the song "Siamese Twins".

Severin and Smith composed a second block of songs for the Glove in early 1983..

Severin came up with the name, the title and the blue/yellow sleeve concept.

This led to the release of the album Blue Sunshine and two attendant singles.

The album reached number 35 in the UK charts in 1983 and the single "Like an Animal" peaked just outside the UK top 50.

The next single from the album, "Punish Me with Kisses", only just made it into the top 100.

Though Smith did sing on a few tracks, the featured vocalist is Jeanette Landray – a friend of Banshee drummer Budgie who was at the time involved in progressing a musical relationship with Siouxsie under the Creatures banner.

The album is noted for its low-level musical interludes between tracks.

In 1985, he produced an EP of the Flowerpot Men, titled Jo's so mean to Josephine which "has become a proto-techno classic".

Severin's work outside the Banshees, in this period, is however most known for the Glove, his side project with the Cure's (and then current Banshee guitarist) Robert Smith.

After the split of Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1996, Severin created his own label RE: and released several instrumental albums via his official website.

Since their split in 1996, he has been supervising the entire back-catalogue, choosing extra tracks for reissues.

During his tenure with Siouxsie and the Banshees, Severin was also involved in records by other bands, often with Banshees connections.

Altered Images had toured as a support act for Siouxsie and the Banshees and Severin produced their first two singles "Dead Pop Stars" and "A Day's Wait".

In the late 2000s and the early 2010s, he regularly performed live in solo, playing music over footage of silent films.

He grew up in Archway and moved to Bromley at the age of 11.