More Than Skin-Deep

England’s Skunk Anansie, fronted by the lithe and lethal-looking singer Skin, comes across as a scrappy, post-apocalyptic outfit from Mel Gibson’s “The Road Warrior” as the members stand in the lobby of the Holiday Inn in Hollywood.

Nose rings and tattoos are de rigueur--if they weren’t musicians, they might be mistaken for exotic assassins in a John Woo flick.

On the surface, the group’s image offers a stark contrast to the lobby mural, which includes stars of yesteryear, including Marilyn Monroe and Humphrey Bogart, but then again, the setting makes sense.

Moments away from going on stage at the Whisky, Skunk Anansie is the epitome of stoosh, a West Indian slang term that is also the title of the band’s second Epic Records album, and one that also describes both Monroe and Bogart: classy and dangerous.

“I’d like to know what fans will think of us [in America],” Skin says with a surprisingly proper, touchingly demur voice that’s far from her snarling, screaming, stage-diving stage persona.

“I think certain journalists have typified us as ‘the band with the black, 6-foot-4, Amazon-ian Grace Jones-type singer with a bunch of minions,’ and I think, playing live, we’ve changed that opinion in every [other] country.

“People here are so concerned with sexuality and race, and all those things, and I hope that by now, people can see that there’s more to this band than just those things.”

True enough, this band (and its 5-foot-8 singer) eschews labels and simple classifications.

Skunk Anansie’s dynamic music is reminiscent in spirit to that of both Funkadelic, the rock side of George Clinton, and the Sex Pistols, for whom the quartet opened some shows during the punk band’s world tour last year. The group’s eclectic music comes across both blistering and smooth.

With no subject seemingly taboo, Skunk has attacked hypocrisy in religion (“Selling Jesus”) and racism (“Little Baby Swastika”), and touched upon matters from sensuality to its own image .

On stage and on record, Skunk Anansie--which has also opened for U2 on some of the Irish group’s “PopMart” dates--comes at you at times with the fury of a Rage Against the Machine, but other times, woos you with the melodic purity of Oasis.

It all adds up to a mixture that is rewarding for discerning listeners but frequently hard to market in a pop radio world that doesn’t know how to handle bands that step outside the usual boundaries.

“Business-wise it can be a disadvantage,” says Skin, referring to the group’s striking look and sound. “But [expletive] that. It’s better to be outside the trendy side of [today’s] English pop. [We’d rather be] a classic band that’s going to be around in 15 or 20 years, instead of a band that will burn out after two albums.”

It’s David Massey’s job as senior vice president of Epic Records to make sure that Skunk Anansie is able to follow its creative dictates, yet live up to the label’s commercial expectations. He helped Oasis break through to stardom in this country, and he hopes that Skunk will be next.

“It takes time to break down these barriers,” Massey explains. “How many rock bands do you know have a black, bald, gay front person? They’re not typically Top 40, alternative or rock. They’re a hybrid of all of those things.”

Skunk Anansie hasn’t had any problems marketing itself to a world audience.

“Stoosh,” the group’s second album, has sold more than 1 million copies in England since its release last fall and the collection is also doing well in other parts of Europe and Australia. In the United States, however, the band has only sold about 15,000 copies of “Paranoid & Sunburnt,” its 1995 debut, and about 5,000 copies of “Stoosh.”

Skin, a London native with West Indian roots, didn’t begin singing until 21, though she was surrounded by music as a child. Her grandfather ran a speak-easy in the family home’s basement, playing the ska sounds of Prince Buster and Max Romeo.

“My family is filled with frustrated musicians,” she says during an interview with the other band members--bassist Cass Lewis, guitarist Ace and drummer Mark Richardson.

“I grew up listening to reggae, but I like everyone from Deniece Williams and Billie Holiday to Bette Davis [Miles Davis’ ex-wife]. I think American R&B; is fabulous.”

It’s drawing on these myriad influences that gives Skunk Anansie its organic, unpredictable sound. Named after Anansie, a character from an African folk tale, the group was founded in 1994.

Massey wanted to sign the band after witnessing its blistering first gig at London’s Borderline club, finally getting the group into the studio to record its debut album after only 14 shows. Thanks to its dynamic live presentation, unique look and sonic verve, the band captured immediate attention in England. Director Kathryn Bigelow even cast the band in her futuristic 1995 mystery-thriller “Strange Days,” and she used two of its songs in the movie.

British writer Stephen Wells of New Music Express describes Skunk Anansie as “Brash, bold, intensely political, breathtakingly emotional, dynamic, frenetic, and powerful . . . Skunk Anansie, more than any other current band, encapsulates all this about rock ‘n’ roll.” The band next states its case in this country when it embarks on a six-week tour next month.TK

Skin seems up for the challenge.

“The chemistry of our band comes from the spontaneity,” she says. “We don’t really plan that much when it comes to the music because we can feel that when it’s right, it’s right. The four of us have our style. Even if we did an all-acoustic album, it would still sound like Skunk Anansie.”