The goth tag came later, possibly around the time of the Banshees' lachrymose JuJu album.  When I speak to Sioux, and her partner, ex-Banshees' drummer, and Creatures bandmate, Budgie (real name Peter Clarke) in the bar of a west London hotel, they seem unable to pinpoint the exact moment they got lumbered.  'I blame Robert Smith,' says Budgie, deadpan, referring to the Cure frontman, and one-time Banshees associate.  'He took Siouxsie's look and ran off with it.  He took backcombing to its ultimate, and we got all the blame for goth.' 
 

'As you get older, you just can't be bothered worrying about labels,' Sioux drawls in her great rasping, rather masculine voice (when I'd rung up earlier, I'd initially mistaken her for Budgie).  It's the middle of the afternoon.  Sioux, 42, sprawls in her chair, still stunning, still heavily made-up, still wearing the kind of clothes you usually only see in faded photographs of old Hollywood fancy-dress parties.  After living in rural France for several years, her accent is a strange mix of barrow-girl and husky Eurotrash.  

If you listen hard enough, you can hear the Banshees' influence everywhere in the current pop scene, from the obvious steal of Garbage to the more subtle meanderings of Portishead and Radiohead, through to the Sneaker Pimps and Catatonia.  Sadly for Sioux and Budgie, the combined legend of the Banshees and the Creatures was not enough to secure them a new deal.  'It was a rude awakening,' Sioux admits.  
 

Now, self-financed, The Creatures release a new album, Anima Animus (inspired by the Carl Jung's concept of transgender), on Sioux Records tomorrow.  In the circumstances, it's unlikely that Siouxsie Sioux will follow Debbie Harry, her fellow punk poster-girl, to the top of the charts.  Which is a shame because Anima Animus is accomplished stuff, full of grinding beats and echoing sex vocals.  
 

All things considered, was it a good idea starting over?  Sioux arches a laconic eyebrow and sighs: 'Obviously, nobody joins a band to do the accounts.  But it's important for me to feel that things are ongoing.'  So, I ask, what else is important to Siouxsie Sioux these days?  And the woman with one of the most copied haircuts in pop reflects for a moment, then chuckles softly: 'At this stage of the game, kinder lighting.'  The Creatures play Dublin Music Centre, Tues; Belfast Empire, Wed; Glasgow King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, Thurs; Manchester University, Sat; Leeds Cockpit, 21 Feb; Cambridge Junction, 22 Feb; Birmingham Irish centre, 24 Feb; Salisbury Arts Centre, 26 Feb; London Shepherds Bush Empire, 27 Feb; Oxfoed Zodiac, 28 Feb.