If it wasn't obvious from their 1979 debut, Cut, the Slits were trouble. Depicted on the cover as topless, mud-caked savages in an English country garden, they made music that was equally undomesticated. Merging dub, post-punk, and a native gift for effrontery, Cut was made doubly indelible by vocalist Ari Up's insolently off-key delivery, which would often peel upward into a demented trill. Up was 15 years old when the Slits joined the Clash on its fabled White Riot Tour. Noting at the time that the all-girl group caused more public uproar than any of their male touring partners, Caroline Coon wrote of Up: “She obviously presents a challenge to the very foundations of decency and order.”

Catching her minutes after a show in the Comox Valley, it's clear that Up's feral nature is undiminished. “Hello, hello?” she bellows into her cellphone, “I think I wanna pee! Where do I pee? I'm going to pee in the bush.” When she returns, she announces, “I'm not on drugs, by the way. I'm high on adrenaline. I don't do drugs or drink even. But I would like to have more sex.”

With that, speaking in an accent that is part German, part Kingston patois, and occasionally South London, Up launches into a mostly uninterrupted 20-minute demonstration of her gale-force personality. The only sad thing about this is that it leaves much of her extraordinary life undiscussed: her time spent living naked in the jungles of Belize, her career as a DJ in Jamaica, or whether or not she calls John Lydon “dad” . (The former Johnny Rotten married her mother.) We barely even get into the first real Ari Up solo album, a tremendous romp through dance hall, hip-hop, and three-chord-guitar abuse called Dread More Dan Dead. Among its many charms, Up's considerably developed vocal skills stand out.

“I never stopped playing music””never,” she thunders. “But I have no clue why the fuck nobody wanted to release my shit. Basically people didn't want to work with me because they feel threatened.”

Be that as it may, Up is currently touring with the Austrian crew Dubblestandart, ostensibly in support of Dread More Dan Dead.

“No, not really,” Up fires back. “I'm bored with that already. We're just playing anything. Whatever the fuck comes to my mind.” She lets out a hoarse laugh. “I got so many new songs,” she says, before barrelling out of the interview as quickly as she barrelled in.

Ari Up plays the Vancouver Folk Music Festival's mainstage on Friday night (July 14) and Stage 5 at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday (July 16).