From the brothels of Soho to junkies in Madrid, the Tiger Lillies’ Martyn Jacques tells MATTHEW JENKIN what gives the band their darkly comic edge.

LIKE a twisted thought lurking in the shadows of a madman’s mind, the Tiger Lillies’ subversive mix of gypsy music and Brechtian cabaret has been praised and damned in equal measure.

Having toured worldwide and won critical acclaim with their Olivier Award-winning opera Shockheaded Peter, the three-piece band are back on tour, bringing their inimitable brand of deviant theatrics to Croydon’s Ashcroft Theatre on Friday.

However, the show is not for the faint-hearted and to fully appreciate it, you have to dive head first down the rabbit hole, trust you’ll land on your feet and not be afraid of dark.

“In simplistic terms I would say we are dark, musical version of Tim Burton with lots of comedy references,” explains Martyn Jacques, the band’s lead accordion and ukulele player.

He says the subject matter of their shows was shaped by his early years, living above a brothel in Soho and selling marijuana-smoking paraphernalia with a druggie and an old jail-bird in Rupert Street market.

He said: “There were heroin dealers living downstairs from our flat and one day I heard this blood-curdling scream in the street.

“I went down and the dealer had his face cut from cheek to cheek. Obviously a Triad, heroin thing. So it wasn't necessarily great, but from a song-writing point of view it was good material and very inspiring for me.

“I always think of Toulouse-Lautrec, hanging round in brothels. I think for an artist it’s good experience.”

The band may have moved on from those Bohemian days living on the edge of the seedy underworld, but their material is no less influenced by the tragic and the bizarre.

Martyn said: “I’m fascinated by those who have a sense of tragedy about them or those who have broken down the barriers of normal existence.

“For example, I was recently in Madrid and met a photographer who was an ex-junkie, real hard-core. His work was amazing and he said that photography saved him.”

The trio of oddballs may have a list of famous fans as long as their clown faces, Mel Brooks and Marilyn Manson to name two, but they’re not short of detractors either.

“There will always be a small element who don’t approve and to be honest I don’t care,” says Martyn.

He said: “We encompass every conceivable neurosis and vice and I can’t identify with people who choose to live in a bubble or go through life with blinkers on, so when something slightly controversial or shocking happens they fall to pieces.

“If that’s what they choose to do then so be it. If I manage to shock, then I'm succeeding in my aim.”

And it is the band’s ability to stir controversy and unsettle an audience which makes them so perversely fascinating.

However, the squeemish may want to lock their doors and hide their first borns when the freak show rolls into town.

Tiger Lillies. Ashcroft Theatre, Park Lane, Croydon. Friday. £15. 020 8688 9291 or visit fairfield.co.uk