Jessie Evans is many things to many people: American exile, daughter, frequent traveller, current Berlin resident, saxophonist, active photographer, front-woman, new-wave siren and cabaret chanteuse. She has, by all accounts, lead a life less ordinary. A one-time resident of these isles, Jessie returns this weekend with the equally curious Toby Dammit, one time drummer and percussionist with Iggy Pop and New York's Swan's in tow. But first a recap!

"I've spent a lot of time running around and into things but I'm a Taurus afterall and have always been eager to get out there even if its not really the right moment yet or maybe I'm not prepared," says Jessie. "I left home at a young age and ended up for awhile in Dublin. I have no idea why, except that I've always been a hopeless romantic and had some kind of poetic delusion about the place, though there is something fantastic in the eyes of the Irish. The time I spent in Dublin was sort of desperate but that was part of it, being a teenager and not having so much experience yet in life. I worked at a number of clubs and restaurants, also selling The Big Issue on the streets, and hung out with these guys from this band Stricknein DC. I wasn't really doing music with people yet, cos I was too shy, but I guess hanging out and watching how things were done part of the trip."

Jessie's hobo soul is mirrored in her musical career to date. From The Vanishing right on through to the duo with Bettina Koster, Evans has displayed a willingness to adapt the basic fundamentals of her sound. "The first show I played was when I was 19 at Gilman St in Berkeley playing bass in a group called Leper Sex Killer on the Loose. I soon joined an all girl group called Subtonix playing sax. I was also playing bass at the time in a group called The Knives, which was sort of crazy angular screetchy guitar deathrock and freejazz. I formed The Vanishing in San Francisco with the drummer from that group and that was my longest project so far, which sort of brought me (back) to Europe, as we had success touring there and I had become friends with Hanin Elias (singer from Atari Teenage Riot), who lived in Berlin and she was like, 'C'mon over!'

"I needed to get out of San Francisco because it was too expensive. At the time I left I was working at a car dismantlers, processing the DMV papers for the junked cars that came in. My boss was a 45 yr old tranny who did lots of drugs and the office was covered in about 10 years of car oil with dead rats rotting behind the pc's. It was actually an ideal job but I was ready to support myself doing music, something I found hard to do living in America."

Aside from her music, Jessie is also a talented photographer and the press shots from her various musical ventures, particularly with Toby Dammit, suggests Evans place as much emphasis on the importance of the visual as much as the musical. The same can be said for her on stage persona. "The album I'm working on now is simply about desire. Lust for things you can touch but also what you cant. My photography is just a love for people, a way to describe the relationship between things.

Visually, I appreciate when people create something more out of the ordinary. It's interesting to think about the level of dedication spent by Hollywood stars of the past - for instance Fred Astaire or Rita Hayworth. Every aspect of performance was integrated- singing, dancing, acting, glamour. Now it's sort of the opposite, with the trashiest people being exploited everywhere in the media. It's not really 'real life' and its not really interesting either.

"Stage persona is just a reflection of the true self. Things you can't express every day are allowed to come out and to shine in these moments. I like to accentuate the distance between these personalities too. With The Vanishing I was a girl searching for something and the live show reflected a sort of manic possession of somebody on a journey - at times aggressive but also playful. Playing with Bettina Koster allowed me to relax a little because there was two of us and the show was more of a comedy. I felt much more calm and submissive in this situation, which eventually got boring.

"With this now I'm arriving at something new again - maybe the performance is more aware than in past and more open because I'm more conscious about what I'm saying and its not such a mess. It feels more sensual too but like always, I just want to have fun and get down with the crowd."

And what of her current collaboration with Toby Dammit? Well, true to form, it's yet another typically interesting chapter in the unfolding Jessie Evans saga, with recording taking place in locations such as the barrios of Mexico City, John Wayne's house in Acapulco and the Playas of Tijuana. "Toby and I had known of each other in Berlin for a couple years but were never friends.