Skin when you're winning

When I tell Skin – former frontwoman of Skunk Anansie – that I’m absolutely loving her new punky hard-rock pop album, Fake Chemical State, she accepts the compliment with refreshingly high self-esteem.

“I’m really pleased with it myself,” she says. “It’s a great piece of music – the best album I’ve done so far. It’s really fun and dirty.”
You have the reputation for being a tough woman, I say.
“I feel there’s nothing I can’t conquer,” replies Skin. “I feel quite strong a lot of the time, and other times I can feel quite vulnerable, which I allow myself to do.”
She’s tough, without being cold and detached, she says. “I’m tough in a way that I can survive, but not tough in the way that everyone thinks I am. I get the impression that people sometimes think I’m this weird Amazonian 6 ft 2 black female superhero. I’m actually a lot smaller, more fragile, and shorter! 5 foot 7, in fact.
“I was watching TV the other day and somebody was introducing my video and they said, oh yeah, I met her, she’s huge, 6 ft 2 – I was like, you lying bastard!”
I ask Skin what age she is (in hindsight a dumb question to ask a woman like her).
“I don’t know,” she mumbles, “I’ve forgotten. Look, Madonna and Kylie get such a hard fucking time over their age I’ve decided I’m not telling. The abuse you get as a woman if you’re over 30 in this business! I don’t see any men the same age as Madonna that get anywhere near as much grief as she gets for her age.”
Born under Leo, the fiery leadership sign, Skin is one of those high-energy women who do a million and one things with their lives.
“I cook a lot,” she says, “and I DJ, and I’m renovating a house I bought in the countryside in Spain (I used to be an interior designer). I’m quite sporty: I like working out and cycling, and I’m organising a snowboarding trip at the moment. I’m also involved in raising awareness for various charities and organisations, like The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture.
“And I like to party,” Skin laughs mischievously. “I can be very sociable, but I love to write too, so I’ll sit and do some writing – I call it ‘fluid mindthought’ ­– and be a real loner for a few days.”
Are you a balanced person?
“I’d say that I’m extreme, and go from one end of the scale to the other. But I’m much more balanced than I used to be. I think being onstage you exorcise a lot of demons. I can be as unbalanced as I like onstage, that’s when you get to just be completely crazy and completely free, personality-wise. I come offstage and feel like I’ve spent a lot of emotions, and I can now just chill out and relax a bit.
“But if it’s a time when I’m not doing gigs, I’ll go out and get absolutely roaringly drunk, because I have to have some kind of release and madness to my life. When I’m onstage I never get drunk, but when I’m not, it all really builds up and sometimes I just need a mad night with my friends.”
Sounds great! Do you think this is something you’ll always do?
“Yeah, unfortunately,” she says. “I’ll probably be, like, 80 years old and collapsing on the dance floor, the oldest swinger in town.”
But you’re very health conscious at the same time.
“I’ve always believed that prevention is better than cure. If you try to lead a healthy life, which is also a fun life – I’m also crazy – then it takes the percentage of getting ill right down.
“I have acupuncture and reiki regularly,” adds Skin. “A lot depends on what you put into your body. If you put shit into your body, you’re going to look and feel like shit. If you’re putting good things into your body and doing exercise and being happy and naughty, then chances are you’ll live a healthy life.”
With this kind of attitude, we can look forward to a lot more solo albums from an ageless Skin.