The odd reality of doing an interview to promote an interview is not lost on Deborah Dyer, aka Skin.

“The interesting things that people want to know don’t necessarily get asked in interviews if you’re selling something,” she laughs.

“People have a different viewpoint and angle then. It’s nice to talk about what I do… but this is my first official talk so I don’t really know what to expect.”

Over the past five years The Space has carved itself a truly unique niche in Brighton’s entertainment scene, giving audiences an insight into the lives of stage and screen stars, the creative talents of those behind the scenes and a host of Q&A sessions with respected journalists, artists and musicians.

In Skin, the quarterly event has found themselves a highly passionate speaker – politicised, opinionated and honest.

Throughout the 1990s she led band Skunk Anansie to chart success; a group whose angry, bristling lyrics and electro-rock riffage offered a refreshing alternative to the fashion and swagger of Britpop. They spawned a unique sound and albums such as Paranoid & Sunburnt, Stoosh and Post Orgasmic Chill would go on to sell millions around the world.

Following their split in 2001, Skin went solo to release two albums, model for the likes of Alexander McQueen and Gucci and tour as a house music DJ. In 2009 the band reformed for a greatest hits release, which was followed in 2010 by a new album, Wunderluste.

“I think we feel like a forward-thinking fresh and futuristic band. We are definitely not a new band and we don’t want to be – we like having our heritage and our history because it gives us some concrete to stand on rather than quicksand,” she says on their return.

“We wanted to do an album very quickly so we could shake off this ‘reformation’ thing. It’s a typical English attitude – you just get lumped in with what everyone else is doing. Skunk Anansie have always been outsiders, we’re misfits and this is the first time we’ve been lumped in with something. We don’t want to be.”

It might come as a surprise to some that Skunk Anansie are bigger than they’ve ever been in Europe – playing arenas in some countries.

“Then we come back to England and everyone hates us,” Skin laughs.

“A lot of bands say that – from Coldplay to Snow Patrol. The media have a huge disconnection with the audience in England and I think in other countries that disconnection is not so wide. My problem is that, in England, people applaud new bands, but they forget that new music can come from anywhere.”

Proffering the idea that you’re only new for a minute and then you’re old, Skin argues that we live in a “throwaway culture” when it comes to music.

“If you’re just obsessed about new bands, you don’t give careers to rock musicians who get better and change with age like painters. We’re artists, we go through one period in our teens, then our 30s, 50s and 80s – it’s all vibrant and fantastic and it’s all necessary,” she states.

“In Europe they love new music, in England they love new bands.”

Skin is equally as frank about the music industry and what she calls “the curse of the internet”.

“The good thing is that it’s given us a lot of power and a lot of freedom. OK, people can download our music for free, but we can market to them for free,” she says.

“I don’t like the fact that people have this attitude that music is free and they shouldn’t pay for it, but I do think music was overpriced before, and a lot of very greedy record companies were making ridiculous amounts of money. When CDs came in, they made them too expensive and they kept them up there.

“It’s really their fault that we’re in this situation.”

However, admitting that nowadays the main source of Skunk Anansie’s income comes through gigs and sponsorship rather than music sales, Skin remains positive that the old adage, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way”, still stands when it comes to ongoing creative output.

“Now, bands are finding new ways to earn money. The people who want to make good music will make good music, and nothing will stop them. They will find a way and this is what true artists are all about,” she says.

“To the people who say, ‘Oh, I don’t want to make music because I can’t make any money’, I say, ‘Don’t, we don’t want you!’”

8pm, £8.50/£5.50. Call 0845 2938480