LESLEY RANKINE
About
Music ~ Ruby, Pigface, Silverfish
Lesley began her music career as the lead singer of post-punk noise band, Silverfish, in London. Gaining recognition in the UK music press, the band toured extensively in the EU, UK and US, and released several albums in their short, 5 year lifespan.
She is one of the earliest members of Pigface, the loose knit industrial noise collaboration headed by Martin Atkins of PIL/Killing Joke, whose members have included Trent Reznor of NIN, Randy Blythe, singer of LAmb of God, Bill Rieflin, drummer in Ministry, REM and King Crimson, and Danny Carey, drummer in Tool.
After leaving Sliverfish, Lesley subsequently moved to Seattle to create her solo project, Ruby, who’s first release was the acclaimed electronic-downtempo-trip hop album, ‘Salt Peter’, a classic of the mid '90's alternative & dance music scenes and one of the first albums to be recorded entirely digitally. ‘Salt Peter’ & the follow-up, ‘Short-Staffed at the Gene Pool’, were remixed by the likes of Primal Scream, Bench, Peshay, Gilles Peterson, Danny Saber, the Mekons, Mira Calix, Conor Oberst.
Among Lesley’s other notable projects, a duet with Tom Jones on a cover of ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ for the Jackie Chan movie ‘Supercop’, and a Pepsi commercial appearance singing ‘Thank Heaven for Little Girls’, directed by Samuel Bayer, which premiered at the 1997 Superbowl.
There is now a 25th anniversary remake of Salt Peter, completely reimagined, with Lesley and her brother, Scott Firth (Bass player in PIL) on production and mixing duties.
“Going to a Ruby gig is the closest most of us will come to milking a snake”
--- David Bennun,
Visual Art and Photography
Lesley studied graphics and illustration at Wimbledon and Camberwell Schools of Art. However, as her band, Silverfish rapidly grew in popularity at a time when arts funding was all but scrapped by a Tory government, Lesley never finished her degree course, choosing to instead "go off n' be a rock star for a wee bit!!!"
During her career in music she used her visual art skills for designing record covers and collaborating on promotional material such as photography and music videos.
She now makes visual art, both abstract and figurative, using printmaking and a range of traditional media, as well as things like fabric, metal, found objects, wood, plant material, and, when available, wasps nests!