Skin, best known as the former lead singer of UK noise pop act Skunk Anansie, is anything but conventional.

"My first solo album, Fleshwounds, was recorded when things in my life were quieter and more introspective," she told Today recently in a phone interview from her home in Spain.

Which makes the record a stark contrast to her newest offering, Fake Chemical State - the "rockiest" thing she's ever done, she said.

Was the 38-year-old singer worried about the risk of alienating her fans?

"It doesn't bother me that fans of Skunk Anansie were confused by the quietness of Fleshwounds," she said with obvious pride.

"I am the creator and I am an artist. People follow me. I don't follow them. Hopefully it pissed off people who were expecting the exact same stuff I did when I was in Skunk Anansie, because rehashing that would have been a boring and unimaginative thing to do."

To Skin (real name Deborah Dyer), it is all about finally finding her groove, five years after Skunk Anansie broke up after a successful run of four albums that sold more than four million copies worldwide.

Since then, Skin has continued to make her mark as a singer - finally earning her due as a soloist - while also serving as a rock DJ in clubs across Europe.

Released last month, Fake Chemical State has won praise from critics for its edgy and unpolished take on rock.

"With the new album you can hear sounds that are much more raw, dirty, less complicated and more personal," she said.

"It is the complete opposite of my 2003 debut album Fleshwounds. I was just trying to find my legs on that album. It didn't always work but very few artistes find their sound straight away anyway. Even people like Graham Coxon or Richard Ashcroft didn't get it right the first time around."

Despite her musical success, Skin's image remains a constant source of fascination for critics worldwide. After all, she cuts an imposing figure with her shaved head and catwalk-on-acid looks.

While it might seem reasonable to expect Skin to live up to her reputation for being confrontational, on the phone she was polite to a fault and admitted to being amused at her being typecast as an "angry rock chick".

"The truth is, my name is short for 'skinny'", she said with a laugh. "I was a really skinny kid and the name stuck. So, no, it's not short for skinhead."

But if Skin turned out to be pleasant and ever-ready to regale this scribe with tales of her clubbing and musical collaborations with everyone from The Prodigy's Maxim Reality to Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi, she was nothing short of ferocious when the discussion turned to her previous record company, EMI.

Not surprising since Fleshwounds was a flop in the United Kingdom, a fact Skin blamed entirely on her former employer.

"The record company had a lot of disagreements with me and it reached a point where I wasn't heard at all," she fumed.

"I'm much happier being with my current company V2 because they're a much stronger force and much better people really."

Record company politics aside, Skin said she accepts the fact that critics and fans are unlikely to forget her musical past.

"People are definitely going to compare this album to my work with Skunk Anansie but, let's face it, I was Skunk Anansie," she said with a laugh.

"Its an obvious comparison because it was my band and I put it all together and wrote the songs. I am proud of our legacy and I'm fine with the comparisons, but to repeat myself sound-wise wouldn't be logical." - TODAY/sh