Under the Kosheen

It’s a perfect parody of the textbook tantrum thrown by many an overwrought diva. Having insisted five minutes into the interview that drum ‘n’ bass trio Kosheen are so close that bandmates Markee and Darren are used to the sight of her “spotty arse” on the tour bus, singer Sian Evans has left off promoting the music and is suddenly plagued with doubts about the bad press her apparently blemished bottom might get.

“For the benefit of the tape recorder,” she says, enunciating every word with mock-sincerity, “I would like to confirm that I do not have a spotty arse.” As she speaks, Darren Decoder softly chants the words “spotty arse” in her ear in a menacing tone. Concerned that her message isn’t getting through, Sian abandons the tape recorder and offers to moon at Hotpress instead.

She’s being disingenuous, of course. Even if Sian Evans, vocalist and songwriter with Kosheen, could rival Kylie in the uber-arse stakes, it wouldn’t eclipse the attention which her strikingly soulful voice has attracted of late.

With producers Markee Substance and Darren Decoder employing their electronic expertise on dance stompers ‘Hide U’ and ‘Catch’, it was Sian’s powerful vocals that guaranteed the single’s heavy airplay and thrust Kosheen into the dizzy heights of the Top Ten in 2001. Not surprisingly, she has no desire to be seen as a trophy vocalist. “I don’t just go up on stage to shake my tush,” she stresses. “Kosheen are a proper songwriting team.”

This ‘proper songwriting team’ formed two-and-a-half-years ago out of very diverse backgrounds, “none of them privileged” according to Sian. The force that brought them together was the same one that sent less progressive musicians back to their bedrooms clutching their Rod Stewart records defensively: the late ’80s rave scene.

“That was the beautiful thing about raves,” says Darren wistfully, “I met punks there and goths as well – all sorts of people. I even met a guy who made a one-wheel motorcycle, how unlikely is that?”

About as unlikely as the instant rapport between band members that caused Kosheen to begin laying down tracks in the studio just hours after they started working together. And this rapport was evident on last year’s debut album, Resist, a collection of urban electronic breakbeats and drum ‘n’ bass torch songs, which reveals that, though advocates of the rave scene, the band’s ethos, as explained by Darren, remains distinctly punk.

“It’s about resisting politics through music and being able to say, ‘Fuck this, I can do whatever I like’. If you’ve got faith in yourself it all comes off in the end.”