Kosheen have been burning up the dancefloors with their debut track "Hide U" off their album "Resist". And currently touring with Faithless around Europe. Sian took some time out with me for a phone interview on Smelly socks, surfing and a bit of leather and lace...

Members of Kosheen: Markee, Darren and Sian(She-anne).
sian - "Don’t call me Sharon or I will hang up"
mav - "How about Shazza?"
sian - "Shazza's OK!"

There has been a great response to your single "Hide U" in Australia. What inspired you whilst writing it? What has been the response in Europe/UK?
It was my maternal instincts as I have a nine year old son. It is a protective song that has elements of change. These elements are also appropriate to friends, family and any relationship that you have. The single wasn’t originally meant as an album track, but was picked up by Radio One with an incredible response. Drum and Bass initially was underground in the UK and received commercial appeal with our music in Holland.

What is the meaning of Kosheen?
It is phonetic and warm. Actually it is derived from a name for a North American Warrior, Kochese. When we where touring we discovered that the Chinese characters for Ko and She had a meaning of Old and New. Our group name was something that we where throwing around and Kosheen just sounded right, we didn’t realize that it had this meaning.

How would you compare the dance music scene within Europe at the moment?
We have mainly been traveling within Eastern Europe and parties from the beginning of Drum and Bass ten years ago. The scene is very adverse with countries like Turkey and Yugoslavia putting on a great show. We were fortunate enough to do a gig at a U.N meeting in Belgrade at the ending of Milosevic''s power, and that was great!

I am coming back to the UK in December. Where does it rock?
"Fabric" parties are brilliant. Drum and Bass crosses over to many different styles of dance music, but it needs to stay underground so that people can experience it in it’s true form and be themselves.

And how would you describe your sound? What ages do you see at your shows?
We have grown up with our music but remain true to our identity, there is always elements of that in everything that we do. I find that we are very song based. The ages are across the board as Drum and Bass appeals to all. Songs are our strength, an organic formula and mix.

Have you collaborated with any other artists or acts? Is this something that you would do?
No, but I am definitely looking forward to it. At the moment Kosheen is our number one focus but I would love to work with other artists in the future. I have spoken to members of Travis who seem keen.

Why do you use animal pictures on your album and single?
We found it organic and iconic. There where a few ideas that we tossed around, but decided on the animals. If you look closely you can see that they are slightly off-centre with a painted backdrop. Some of the animals are not in their native habitat.

What can we expect to hear on your album "Resist"?
"Hide U" is not representative of the album sound. There is a lot of emotion and production in this album. By the time you get up to track five and six you get an idea of what Kosheen is about.

Where do you see yourselves a year from now?
In Australia! And hopefully America. Actually we are set to be in Australia in March 2002. I can’t wait and neither can my son as he is very keen to get on a surfboard.

How about I show you around Bondi Beach when you are here?
Do you have a board?

No, but for you I will get one!
You're on!

Are you excited about supporting Faithless?
It has been great. We have already been to the Czech Republic, Germany, France and Italy. We have found it challenging doing support as we normally play early in the evening. But it is a great opportunity to open peoples eyes to Drum and Bass. Next week we tour in Norway and Sweden.

How did you come together as a group?
Mark heard my vocals on some material that I had done and he liked them. We came together and I sang over some of their backing tracks and it worked out really well. No conflict, just smelly socks in the tour bus. A bit hard when you are the only woman amongst nine men. Originally I was writing my own material with a guitar which was emotional and a slow trip-hop sound.

What could we expect to see from one of your shows? What is the live element?
Very dance orientated but we brought the band forward in our shows. We have a Cello, Drums, Guitar, Keyboard and a DJ who does our mixing. We bring the full live element to our show and I sing all of my vocals.

Fashion seems to compliment music. Would you be trend-setters or materially unconcerned?
It is a total personal style. They tried to get me into the sneakers and baggy pants, but I wasn''t having it. For me it is more like leather and lace.

What type of artistic control do you have over your music?
We have full control. Of course our writing changes but we feel more confident in making suggestions to one another on other aspects of our musical production. We have less defined rules.

Describe Kosheen in one sentence.
Organic Technology.

'Hide U' is now available through BMG Records or check out click2music.com.au for more information. Special thanks to Choon at BMG Australia.