Page 78 - Classic Rock (February 2020)
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reached No.14 in the UK chart. But shortly
afterwards, Anrew Eldritch announced that
the band would be splitting up – partly the
result of friction between him and Wayne
Hussey and Craig Adams – after they played
a farewell gig at London’s Royal Albert Hall
that June.
Wayne Hussey: First And Last And Always was
a difficult album to make, but sometimes the end
result justified the human relationship you have to
endure to get to that point.
Andrew Eldritch: I like some of the songs on the
first album. I’m just not keen on the production
or the style of playing or my singing – particularly
my singing.
Wayne Hussey: Andrew was a big figure in my
life. Still is, even though I’ve not seen him for years
and we don’t have any communication.
Andrew Eldritch: He was only in the band
The Cult in 1985.
for a year. We’ve been going for thirty years.
Draw your own conclusions from that.
Wayne Hussey: When I left the Sisters,
I went to see Andrew and said: “I’m leaving.
The Mission. I’m going to join up with Craig and form
a band.” He wished me luck and asked if
Roger Nowell: We’re all running round I would play on his next album. I said: “Yes,
dressed in black, calling ourselves Skeletal absolutely.” I don’t think he bargained on us
Family and Sisters Of Mercy, and we getting a band together and making records
wondered why we got labelled ‘goth’. so quickly.
Punk’s DIY attitude was embedded The band Hussey and Adams formed
deep within goth’s DNA. With little were called The Sisterhood, until
major label interest, bands had no Eldritch rush-released an EP under the
option but to sign to indie labels such as 4AD same name, forcing them to change it to The
and its hothouse subsidiary Situation 2 – or Mission. Eldritch reconvened the Sisters Of
even start their own label, as the Sisters Of One of the reasons I’d Mercy as a two-person operation featuring
Mercy did with Merciful Release. himself and American bassist Patricia
bonded with Ian in the Morrison, instigating a long-running spat with
Simon Denbigh (The March Violets): The way Hussey that would become one of the decade’s
it worked in those days was with independent first place was because great rivalries. Together with The Cult, who’d
records, and ‘independent’ then meant you doing it he’d heard me playing had a hit single with 1985’s She Sells Sanctuary,
yourself. I had a deal with Red Rhino where they The Mission represented goth’s rock’n’roll
paid for you to make the record, and then they’d Jimi Hendrix riffs.” wing – in sound and attitude.
take most of the profit but give you some back and
you’d reinvest or just go: “We want to make Billy Duffy, The Cult Wayne Hussey: Did we want to be Led Zeppelin?
another record.” It was a good way of doing it. I would totally agree with you.
They made an awful lot of money, but we got to at Driffield, who went on to produce loads of
do it the way we wanted to, with no interference, thrash bands. Billy Duffy: One of the reasons I’d bonded with
make our own decisions, do our own sleeves. Ian [Astbury] in the first place was because he’d
Jim Morris: We set up our own label, Chapter 22, heard me playing Jimi Hendrix riffs for a laugh, cos
Roger Nowell: We did the first with our manager at the time. All our it wasn’t allowed. He later told me he’d thought:
Skeletal Family record ourselves. early releases came out on it. The first “That’s very unusual, that somebody would dare to
We tried to do it for about twenty EP we did stayed in the NME Top 40 play this forbidden music, without having long
pence, and it sounded like it. for fifty-odd weeks. Once we got hair and flares.”
signed by Virgin for our first album,
Simon Denbigh: Snake Dance The Greatest Story Ever Told, we thought: Wayne Hussey: Generally my attitude has been,
was our best-selling single. We “That’s it, we’ve made it.” We ‘Yeah, it’s fun.’ There’s a faction out there that
bought a Linn drum – which cost realised pretty quickly that there resent people having fun. There are certain people
three or four thousand pounds at was still a lot of work to do. who think that what we do should be taken
the time at the time. It was the seriously. The only thing I’ve taken seriously is
Rolls-Royce of drum machines. the music.
Snake Dance was produced by Gil
Norton before he was famous. We In 1985, the Sisters Of Mercy Billy Duffy: We were friendly with Wayne, so we
worked with unknown guys who released their debut album, invited The Mission to tour with us, sharing a tour
later became famous. Colin Wilkinson First And Last And Always. It bus. It got very messy very quickly. GETTY x3
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