Skunk Anansie star reveals stage four cancer diagnosis which inspired 'emotional' new album

26 February 2025, 11:54

Skunk Anansie bass player Cass has revealed he was diagnosed with stage four cancer, which inspired the band's "emotional" new album.

The diagnosis inspired the group's upcoming album The Painful Truth, which is due to be released in summer.

The group, made up of Skin, Cass, Ace, and Mark Richardson, made the revelation during a Q&A session on Monday.

Cass said he had chemotherapy throughout the recording but kept it a secret from his bandmates.

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"During the process of recording I was diagnosed with stage four cancer and so I was having chemo while we were making the album," the bassist said.

"I thought my f*****g cards had been marked, actually, and so I was just, I was happy with having had a good life, and I was quite content, I accepted whatever my fate was. 

"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."

He went on to say: "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 explained that her daughter had not known that he was unwell.

"She just wakes up, and she goes, Uncle Cass isn't sick anymore. So I called him," she said.

Cass continued: "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 turned to Cass for inspiration over the title of the new record, asking him to describe the making of it.

"Right now, the first thing that comes into your head," she said. "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!"