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SIAN EVANS (KOSHEEN)
Interviewed by Michael A. Capozzoli JR
Sian Evans of Kosheen Interview.
By Michael A. Capozzoli Jr.


Within the international dance music scene, there is a revolution of sorts underway. At the forefront of that uprising is dance/soul diva Sian Evans, who fronts the British dance trio Kosheen. What places Sian at the vanguard for the "musical revolution" of 2002? She is, "A Real Woman" and all that title implies. "I'm a woman, not a little girl," Sian says during a recent interview. "All the aspects of what a woman is about. Very sensual, very whole. Women are more sexy when they are being themselves. They're more confident about who they are. Whenever women are going around starving themselves or altering themselves with cosmetic surgery, just to look a certain way or they're looking to identify with some 'pop idol', that's not what I'm about at all."" The dynamic fusion between Sian and the two men who are her partners in Kosheen, Mark Morrisson and Darren Beale, has created a musical synergy that is igniting dance floors with the music from their album titled, "Resist". And, along with the trio's dynamic performances has come positive reviews of "Resist", by the music critics. Kosheen seems on the verge of shattering the wall between the genres of the underground dance and rave culture and international pop scene. With all of the accompanying media attention many pop stars receive with their every move, the members of Kosheen have remained very relaxed, to the point of being almost anti-star, in their attitudes toward the media. They realize, according to Sian, that today's pop star headline makers all too often vanish from the pop scene once the hype and glare of the media spotlight fades. It is an attitude that is a welcome change. In the following interview Sian talks about her own opinion of who a "real woman" is and what Kosheen is all about.


(Q)- How do you feel regarding the way many of the younger, female pop stars in Britain, especially the younger pop stars are more focused on their appearance then their music? Does the "sex vixen" version of female sexuality that is portrayed by many females in the recording industry appall you?
Sian- It doesn't appall me. I just look at it like, if the people want it, they buy it, it works. Boom, boom. But also what works is, selling music, good songs and an honest representation. As a rule, we're looking for an identity in the music that is around us. And, in many instances, everybody is looking to identify with a pop idol. I think the people who identify with the people who are real, is a lot more wholesome. I don't want children growing up getting cosmetic surgery and starving themselves to death. I'm not a skinny little thing.


(Q)- So you represent all aspects of what being a woman is about?
Sian- Absolutely! To me I think woman are more sexy whenever they're being themselves and being more confident about who they really are. Oh Yeah! I'm very much against that. I'm not a teenybopper. I'm not about wearing miniskirts. I'm representing real women. It makes me proudest whenever one of my girlfriends come up to em and say, "It's great what you're doing. Because of what you're doing, I'm going to go and join college and go and earn my college degree. I'm going to start working on that.


(Q)- Are you saying that you are comfortable with whom you are?
Sian- Yes. You see the music reflects so vividly that. It would be stupid to try and package that in any other way. The record company could have been heavy handed about it, by trying to do different things with us, but I don't think they'd have signed a deal with us. When you have music like Kosheen's music, you have to be honest with it. These are honest songs. These songs are not puffed up or overproduced or anything like that. There is a beautiful balance in the music and we have the luxury of being allowed to be ourselves.


(Q)- The women seem to be attracted to the drum and bass dance music scene more with Kosheen then with other drum and bass dance groups. Why?
Sian- I think that drum and bass (dance music) has gotten pretty masculine. It's gotten hard core. And for me on-stage, it has been hard at times performing, seeing all of these guys standing out there in the audience with their arms crossed between their chest, just staring at me. With Kosheen there is a change going on here. Both Darren and Mark have noticed the change in the drum and bass (dance) sounds and the way it was getting so much more "techie" and the producers were producing music for themselves and their peers rather then for people to go out and express themselves through music that is created to dance to. There is a lot to be said for the drum and bass (dance) sound. It is an underground music. So it always is going to have that undertone of darkness. But, it really was lacking soul. And, I don't think by bringing my voice into that element, it takes away from the dark side of it, it just opens up the light a little bit more. At the end of the day you have to make of music what you will and music will say something to somebody then say something completely different to the next person. It's the way that you hear it and the way that you interpret it. So there is a certain dark, yet not necessarily negative side to drum and bass (dance) music. To me dark is a side of the personality that needs to be explored and I'm sure the safest place to do that is in music. I'm sure of that. I've always loved songs, I've always loved dance music. I loved the technology of dance music and I was a full on into raves. But I never lost that love of melody and I think that if anybody loves melody they remember and appreciate the music that has melody within it. The pop scene has been starved of it.


(Q)- How would you describe the music Kosheen creates and performs?

Sian- I think the album "Resist" is very human. It is a very intimate, emotional, fragile, yet strong and safe album. In those ways, it is a very human album. While it's very song based music, the technology utilized to create the music is very much from the dance quarters. The lyrical subject matter is intimate and very human. (She laughs)


(Q)- You do write the song lyrics?

Sian- I write everything.


(Q)- Over the past decade, you've lived a variety of experiences and lifestyles. You have a "proper" musical training in your background and you're also a huge Joni Mitchell fan. Yet, you chose a "hippie" existence for a while and lived with an almost gypsy-like quality to your life. Are those life experiences reflected in your song lyrics?
Sian- Yes.


(Q)- What is your take on the rave scene which contributed to the now international dance scene with raves and dances taking place across the western and parts of the eastern world? It all began in Britain after all and both women and the men participated with equal enthusiasm?
Sian- The rave and dance music scene did that. All of a sudden in this country (Britain) it didn't matter where you came from. You could be a Goth, a punk, a square or some little rude boy in the city. And, here we were all jamming together at these parties. It didn't matter where you came from. Dance music was a very leveling form and it gave us all an identity. That kind of made me strong, there was and is a strength in numbers kind of thing. When I'm at a party or I'm out partying or I'm on-stage at a gig and I feel that movement of people and that energy, it remains amazing at the strength we have as a group. Us little folks.


(Q)- Do you attempt to explain to media interviewers or fans what each of your songs are about?
Sian- You can think of it (the songs) what you will. A lot of the album is about observations developed by watching other people's lives. I really don't like to explain every single word of my songs. If I sat with Joni Mitchell and she explained to me what some of her songs are about, I might be devastated. I'd never ask. Because I've personalized music all of my life to mean what I want it to mean. To me there's an art in the creation of the music, there's an art in the performance and then there's an art in the interpretation as well.


(Q)- What is it like for you traveling and touring with a tour bus filled with men and you find yourself the only woman traveling within that circle?
Sian- Well it's not all fun and one long, big party! The shows are elevating. If it wasn't for the shows and the people mainly, then I'd be devastated.


(Q)- Why?
Sian- Traveling for so long, being away from my child for the first time in his life was difficult. (Her son's name is Tom Shales.) He used to travel with me whenever we were on tour but now he is much more serious and he has to go to school. It is tough, not having him with me now whenever we're on tour. He has to have a much more ordered life and the road is not a good place for a child.


(Q)- In what way?
Sian- Touring in general. This is all new to us as a group. So the guys have been drinking after a show their bottle of Jack Daniels (whiskey) every night! And generally creating a very good environment for the lads on the (tour) bus. And that's tough for a woman. I was the only woman on the bus. Not only did I miss my son, I missed conversations with other women as well. We're very different, men and woman. We are very similar as well. But we have our differences and after a few weeks, I start to become starved for female company. I'm not knocking the guys. Guys will be guys. It's that sort of thing.


(Q)- How did you handle that?
Sian- I take lots of long walks. Deep breaths. (she laughs) Just generally keeping my head together for the shows. I mean it did test us out as a band but we did learn a lot.


(Q)- What were some of the lessons you've learned which have changed the situation?
Sian- We have learned about scheduling and stuff. We have to make spaces for each of us as humans. We need down time, everybody does. When you're traveling twenty hours in a tour bus and you're doing three gigs in a row, it takes it's toll on you. Yet, I'm really surprised and elated how well we've performed and how warm the reception we've had. We haven't done a duff gig yet.


(Q)- If Kosheen comes to the forefront of the British media due to the trio's success by having a major hit on the British pop charts, what will your response be?
Sian- My music is what it is all about. I don't really feel as if I need to say anything more then that. The purest way that I know how to say anything is through my music. I'll chat with journalists and maybe a little bit of my personal history is a bit interesting but the product, the music, the proof is in the pudding. I'm not trying to change the world, I'm just commenting on what I've seen.


(Q)- How did you develop your own unique vocal singing style?
Sian- I've always listened to jazz divas and some soul divas as well. I think that soul music is something that is built in the individual.


(Q)- What will the next Kosheen album be about?
Sian- Right now we're learning more about ourselves. We learn every day something about ourselves. The situations that we've been thrown into over the past eight months have been very testing and very trying.


(Q)- In what way?
Sian- I certainly have discovered quite a bit about myself. I can't stop my songwriting at the moment and that will come through in the second album.


(Q)- So your songwriting is a cathartic experience for you?
Sian- Very much so. I write by putting pencil to paper. It's organic. It's cool. I've got pieces of paper with scribbled bits on them, sitting around a room at my place and all of a sudden one day, they seem to find each other in the pile of paper and write a song. (She laughs) Then in the (recording) studio I'll take a tune to the guys for them to go ahead and do their thing. At times, as I keep singing, the words are just coming out of the top of my head. Strangely, while the words do sound right, there are times when I wouldn't know what I was going on about, then all of a sudden there's this song with relevance. Maybe because you're locked into that space so you feel creative and free, it allows you to drop your conscious and be creative and more fluid rather then having to let it think in logical terms.
end....

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