Skunk Anansie have revealed how their bass player Cass’ shock stage four cancer diagnosis inspired their upcoming album.
The band, made up of Skin, Cass, Ace, and Mark Richardson, are set to release their sixth record The Painful Truth in summer.
Speaking during a Q&A session on Monday at Dolby Atmos in London, Cass revealed how he underwent chemotherapy throughout the recording.
The bassist shared that he was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer while they were in the process of recording the album. Despite undergoing chemotherapy during this time, he continued to work on the music.
He expressed his initial thoughts of feeling like his time was running out and accepted whatever outcome that may come his way. The challenging circumstances didn’t deter him from creating music and giving his best to the project.
‘I wouldn’t think about the work, the record, I would think about my life. I’d had some very intensive chemo sessions, and no one knew nothing.’
Skunk Anansie have revealed how their bass player Cass’ shock stage four cancer diagnosis inspired their upcoming album (Cass pictured this week)
During a Q&A session held at Dolby Atmos in London, Cass spoke about his experience of balancing chemotherapy sessions with the recording sessions for the album. His resilience and determination to carry on despite the health struggles are truly admirable.
He continued: ‘I just thought, I’m on this long road of chemo. And that took a year. And then Skin’s daughter woke up one morning and said, “Uncle Cass is not sick anymore”. And this is the truth.’
Skin added: ‘She didn’t know. She didn’t know you were sick. She’s like, Uncle Cass, Uncle Cass. She just wakes up, and she goes, Uncle Cass isn’t sick anymore. So I called him.’
Cass confirmed: ‘About two weeks later, I had to go and have tests to see how the chemo was affecting me, and they couldn’t find any cancer.
‘So from stage four, it disappeared. So her little angel is my little angel. As soon as I knew that I wasn’t going anywhere, I was like “Just get back on the record. There’s nothing better to work for!!!”
Skin explained: ‘That’s where the album title comes from. I called Cass up and I said, Cass, if you were going to describe the making of this album, this year, what would you call it? And he said, oh, you know, give me a minute, I’m going to call you back in a minute.
‘And I was like, no, no, no, just right now, the first thing that comes into your head. And he said ‘The Painful Truth’. And I was like, that’s it!
‘That’s what all the songs are about, that connects everything, that connects what we’ve been through over the last few years. It’s the connection with these guys. I love them to bits, you know, they’re my brothers.
‘What we’re going through, and everything, it’s quite emotional, it’s the painful truth. It’s what you’re here for, and what’s important in your life, and what you’re going to do about it. That’s the painful truth!’
The band, made up of Skin, Cass, Ace, and Mark Richardson, are set to release their sixth record The Painful Truth in summer (L-R Mark Richardson, Ace, Skin and Cass in 2019)
Skin previously opened up about an ‘abusive’ and ‘controlling’ relationship she had as a teenager.
Speaking candidly, the British rock singer, whose real name is Deborah Dyer, explained that as a ‘vulnerable 16-year-old Christian girl’, she thought the relationship was ‘normal’.
It wasn’t until many years later – when she did some work with a rape crisis centre – that she realised what she had actually gone through.
The experience is what stirred her to write Weak, one of the band’s biggest hit singles.
Speaking to fellow Absolute Radio presenter Tim Burgess on his podcast, Tim’s Listening Party, Skin said: ‘I was going out with this much older guy.
‘Not through choice, but because I was a quiet, vulnerable 16-year-old Christian girl and this guy was like 29.
‘He’d give you a lift home [from church] and that’s how he ended up knowing where I live.
‘He would just turn up and say I’m taking you out. He was abusive and controlling but I actually didn’t realise that it was an abusive relationship.’
Skin previously opened up about an ‘abusive’ and ‘controlling’ relationship she had as a teenager that inspired Weak
She added: ‘I didn’t know what a relationship was – I thought that was normal. I ended the relationship by going off to university in Middlesborough.
‘I went that far deliberately but he would drive 300 miles to come up for the weekend, so I moved.
‘I didn’t tell anyone, I just moved to a different house and that was him out of my life.
‘But it wasn’t until later when I did some work with a rape crisis centre and I was listening to people having conversations it just dawned on me, “Oh my god that’s what happened to me.”
‘I remember sitting down with my new guitar and thinking about one time when he hit me and he started crying. I remember thinking weak as I am, I’ve got no tears for you.’
