Banshee Steve Severin, Robert Smith of The Cure and The Beatles may seem an unlikely combination, but they all have something in common - Glove. Paul Burshce gets first hand information...

All You Need Is Glove

Steve Severin looks tired. It's only lunchtime yet he seems in a daze. He keeps rubbing his bleary eyes as he looks around the pub we're in.

He sips at his pint delicately, and begins to tell me about the group that got him into this sorry state - Glove.

THE BLUE MEANIES
 

Glove is named after the "murder mitten" of a corrupt policeman called Blue Meany, who appeared in the Beatles' cartoon Yellow Submarine. It comprises Steve Severin, bass player with the Banshees and Robert Smith of The Cure.

They got together about two years ago while the Banshees were recording their 'Kiss In The Dreamhouse' album. "We just wrote a song together at that time," says Steve. "It's not as if we're some sort of reaction to The Creatures (Siouxsie and Budgie's group)."

The Banshees and The Cure, though, have been so busy for the last couple of years that it wasn't until recently that Steve and Robert actually found time to record.

STRANGE-ERS IN THE NIGHT
 

They began to work on an album, but Steve was also working on new material with the Banshees at the time - both projects being conducted at night.

"It just naturally came about that we ended up sleeping all day and then getting up and working all night," says Steve. "That's why I'm so tired now. I should be in bed."

It's this reversed lifestyle that led to the seemingly psychedelic fell on the album - the guitars stretching and twanging, the strained vocals and the dreamy keyboards.

"It's not psychedelia, though," Steve insists. "Don't forget that it was recorded during the night and we were sometimes drunk or worse. We'd just sort of stagger over the keyboards and records something." He laughs. "That's one reason why we're not going to play live. There's no way that we can hope to recreate some of those moments on stage. No way."

FINGERS OF THE GLOVE
 

Glove songs concentrate on all manner of weird and wonderful things. 'Like An Animal', the current single, tells the sad, but true story of a woman living in a US tower block who slowly went mad.

She started dropping small things onto people's heads and progressed to finally throwing a washing machine on top of some unfortunate.

Films played a part in the songwriting. "We'd get back to my plat about 6am sometimes," recalls Steve. "Then we'd maybe watch a video before going to sleep. The next day, of course, when we went in to record the film would still be in our minds.

"For instance, one of the songs on the album, 'Sex-Eye-Makeup", is derived half from Bad Timing (a tortuous love affair) and half from a letter that Robert has. It was written by a madman to the Queen."

It seems that Glove are inspired by odd and strange affairs. Steve agrees. "That old stuff about The Cure and Banshees being on the brink and close to the edge (of madness) is pure rubbish. It's an interest in these things that we have, not an obsession."

TRYING ON THE OTHER HAND
 

"The chance to play other instruments has certainly been a big spur to me," says Steve. "I'd never really had the chance to play keyboards or drums before.

"We thought that if we just played the instruments we'd played before we'd have sounded up like a cross between The Cure and the Banshees. As it is, we've experimented and come up with a new sound.

"Getting in Jeanette (Landray, a friend of Budgie's) was a similar decision," he continues. "Robert's voice sounds too distinctive... actually, he sometimes sounds as if he's crying."

All this fiddling about has produced a brand new sound for Glove. It's a part classical, part exotic, part dreamlike sound, and one they can be proud of. I for one would wear this Glove.