The Sisters of Mercy is a band started in 1980, founded by Andrew Eldritch and Gary Marx. With Andrew Eldritch on drums and only a guitar and a 3-watt practice amplifier, they recorded a single to hear themselves on the radio. They set up their own label, Merciful Release, to independently release their records. Thus, 1000 copies of the single The Damage Done / Watch / Home Of The Hit-Men were made. Afterwards, the group was very dissatisfied with the released work. Eldritch wanted a radically different approach and took over the vocals. A drum machine, also called Doktor Avalanche, was also used. The Sisters of Mercy created an innovative sound with this. Singles like Alice introduced England to the true sound of The Sisters of Mercy.
In 1984, Wayne Hussey joined The Sisters of Mercy. He focused on acoustic and doubleneck guitar. In 1986, Craig Adams and Wayne Hussey left the band due to disagreements over material and tours to form the band The Mission. After a friendly farewell, Adams and Hussey actually wanted to continue under the name The Sisters of Mercy, but Eldritch put a stop to this. They then chose the name The Sisterhood, which Eldritch also did not agree with. Eldritch therefore hastily released the album Gift with a one-man project he created called The Sisterhood. This way, he also retained the rights to that name. Adams and Hussey chose the name The Mission, after the project album Left On Mission And Revenge, which the ex-Sisters of Mercy members had worked on before their departure.
In 1987, The Sisters of Mercy released "Floodland". For this album, Eldritch enlisted the help of bassist Patricia Morrison. At this point, the group consisted only of Eldritch and Morrison. With the album, they achieved one of their greatest successes. The singles: This Corrosion, Lucretia my Reflection and Dominion did very well in the charts. At the end of the 1980s, Morrison left the group. Eldritch was alone for a while until Andreas Bruhn joined 'The Sisters' in 1991. Bruhn and Andrew started working on a new record. Tony James and Tim Bricheno were also asked to complete the line-up. After nearly 5 years without performing live, The Sisters of Mercy played live again. The enthusiasm was turned into a European tour.
In 1992, the band had their greatest success with the re-released, reworked version of Temple Of Love. This song, which also features Ofra Haza, became their biggest international hit of their career.
In 1997, the band's line-up changed again: Chris Sheehan strengthened The Sisters of Mercy's guitar ranks. Only a year after joining, he left the group and was replaced by Mike Varjak. Since the 1990s, little material has been released. However, The Sisters have continued to tour Europe and the United States, with occasional breaks. In 2006, the band started the Sisters Bite The Silver Bullet tour with the youngest line-up (Chris Catalyst and Ben Christo on guitars, who are now about the same age as Andrew Eldritch was in The Sisters' early days), which, albeit with interruptions, went all over the world.
It is notable that during this tour, classics like Floorshow (Minneapolis, First Avenue, 18 November 2008) and Good Things (Tienen, Suikerrock 26 July 2008) were played - but not at every show.
A new studio album has still not appeared, and whether there ever will be one is even disputed by the band members. In an interview on the site Mlive.com on 12 November 2008, Chris Catalyst said: "There won't be a new album soon. As long as the record industry doesn't come out of its shell and make a move forward, we will just keep making songs and playing live. By the way, everything at our concerts is recorded by fans and shared via the internet."
Source: Wikipedia Photo: Sven Mandel and Mendor
