Siobhan Fahey, aka Shakespears Sister, has returned from her recording hiatus with the new album Songs from the Red Room.

Including writing and production collaborations with such contemporary hit-makers as Whitey, Jagz Kooner and Death in Vegas, as well as musical legends Marco Pirroni and Terry Hall, Songs from the Red Room is Shakespears Sister's fourth studio record to date.

We spoke to Siobhan about how her music's evolved and what to expect from the new album.

How do you feel your music’s grown or evolved over the years?
I think early Shakespears Sister was quite 80s sounding in production, some of it recalling The Gap Band and Dead or Alive, although 'You're History' is a funky little classic that still sounds fresh and I'd already started to explore the glitter beat with 'Primitive Love'.

Then on Hormonally Yours there was 'Catwoman from the Moon'. By the mid 90s, for the third album, I was writing some pretty interesting and candid lyrics and going even more glam, being heavily influenced by Bowie, Mott the Hoople and early Roxy.

The latest album has all those influences, from Donna Summer and Blondie through to vintage Bowie, but with more of a vintage electro flavor in the production combined with glam and disco.

Do you like to draw on your own experiences with your song writing?
I can't help but write about my own thoughts and feelings - sometimes a little too much! Maybe I should try more descriptive narratives - they're much easier to write. 'Pulsatron' is about someone other than myself! It's very playful.

Music is a tough industry – what do you think you need to be successful in it?
I think you have to have style, taste and vision to be any good - but to be successful you have to have huge drive, focus, energy, determination and total self belief. It's about how hard you work at the end of the day - that's why there are so many people who are successful but no good and vice versa.

Tell us about your album Songs from the Red Room – what can we expect?
I am not prolific, but I reckon I've got good taste and high standards in terms of what I write. The tunes are catchy and wry and unusual.

"I think you have to have style, taste and vision to be any good - but to be successful you have to have huge drive, focus, energy, determination and total self belief. It's about how hard you work at the end of the day."

What are you most proud of about the album?
I made this record without any label or management in my back garden, with Clare and Gully from my Shakespears Sister band, and my boyfriend Wildcat, who is a drummer and DJ. Between us, we've come up with an album of left field pop gems such as you'd expect from anything that has my name on it. Plus - I really like the cover shot by Jake Walters!

What was it like to record?
It was quite a long gruelling process - recorded in my back garden and working around the band's availability, it was done in bits and pieces. Clare tours regularly with Sinead O'Connor, Damien Dempsey and the Indigo Girls, while Wildcat was often away on tour with Whitey. Plus, I was raising two kids and DJing regularly. But I think all the outside activities kept us inspired.

So, do you get a lot of attention from gay fans? Are you popular with the ladies?
Hell yeah!

What’s the strangest piece of fan mail you’ve ever been sent?
There have been some odd letters in my time, but nothing scary. Some people just need to unload or ramble and they regard me as a close friend, though I've never met them. I guess there are a lot of lonely people in the world.

What can the crowd expect from a Shakespears Sister performance?
Well, there are now four great albums' worth of material to draw from, so it's a stonking set - old, new, borrowed and blue.

Do you have any musical hates?
God, loads! I can't stand jazz, jazz funk, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, power pop, fake punk, most rap, house anthems, banging beats, but most of all I hate all that Pop Idol/X Factor nonsense, though I would hesitate to call it music - it's more light entertainment masquerading as music. It's like punk never happened.

What’s one of the most outrageous things you’ve ever done?
You can't honestly expect me to answer that, can you?

"Between us, we've come up with an album of left field pop gems such as you'd expect from anything that has my name on it."

What comes first for you – sex or love?
I suppose falling in lust/love - you can't tell the difference at first.

What makes you happy?
My boys, great music, being in love, sunsets, vistas, road trips, sunshine, blue skies, beautiful language, fresh crusty white bread, Guinness, pork rind, flat bed airplane seats, great boots, liquid eyeliner and bright red lipstick, a cat on my lap.

What are your plans for the album and beyond?
Now my boys are grown and independent, I just want to tour as much as possible with Shakesears Sister. The albums and band are great and I'm ready to start performing again.

What else would you like to say?
How appalling it is that the government haven't outlawed those shameful bankers' bonuses despite the fact that it's our tax money that's paying the wankers for fucking up! Talk about naked corruption and lies! Don't get me started! You should all be rioting in the streets. Well - you did ask!

Songs from the Red Room, by Shakespears Sister
Label: Palare Records
Released: 16 November 2009
ASIN: B002STRNL0

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