Friday, March 24, 2006
for the dark side February marked a milestone for legendary industrial-goth band the Sisters of Mercy: 25 years ago, it played its first live show in York, England.
Back then, the house wasn't filled with the black-garbed types the band would later inspire, says co-founder Andrew Eldritch, phoning from Denver. The band is in the midst of its first North American tour in seven years and plays the Crystal Ballroom on Friday.
Despite not releasing a new album since the early 1990s, the Sisters of Mercy's hard grooves have continued to grow a following of more than just the gothic set.
When you began, did you ever imagine you'd have such a career and generate such a following?
I don't remember the level of ambition I had when it got going. But I certainly never thought that we'd be playing gigs like Radio City Music Hall, or with Public Enemy. It's quite gratifying, though, and they (the fans) are quite gratifying.
Through the course of the band there have been many labels for your sound -- industrial, first- and second-wave goth . . . but how would you like the music to be named?
The latest we've been called is "supercharged psychedelic rock," and I rather like that. There's been so many (labels) given, and they're all rather meaningless, really. The only people it really matters to is us. People are still ripping off our sound, you know, but its still our sound, we were there first.
The band has gone through more than a few changes. The only two remaining original members are you and Doktor Avalanche (the name given to the group's first drum machine and applied to its successors).
It's quite different having a band member in a box. He can't go anywhere so it's a bit more restrictive. (Laughs) He's always been here, though, and he always will be. I am subservient to him.
Your shows include a good portion of new material, yet there's been no new album released in over a decade.
We've taken the view that we do as much new material as we can get away with, so we do half new material and half old stuff, and somehow we're able to square the circle. We don't believe in doing only nostalgia shows or shows of all new material.
Why not a new release? If not on a major label, then perhaps an indie?
I'm afraid the whole business is in a complete state right now. I've said I don't mind being competently exploited, but competency is in short supply right now. . . . We were always told in the '80s that we weren't a fit, and in the '90s, and now we're being told, "Oh, we were wrong, you were a fit after all." It's quite crazy, really.
9 p.m. Friday, Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W. Burnside St.; $28.50 advance; Ticketmaster, 503-224-4400; all ages. -- Lee Williams Special to The Oregonian
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