Just a few (typical) thoughts...

daggs · 26 Apr 2006, 09:11

regarding a possible new album

My bf and I were putting our heads together and doesn't it seem that von is testing the water to see how popular the sisters are atm? They've been playing in so many countries...a huge tour in comparison weith recent years...and they've even played in France where von swore he'd never play...maybe testing how well a new album will be received worldwide?

Also I'm not that familiar with set lists of other years but I know they don't usually do a typical nostalgia act, but doesn't it seem that they are playing a high number of new songs?

Then there is the name bite the silver bullet...biting the bullet, doing something he never thought he'd do, and silver...perhaps a reference to money? cashing in on their popularity?
Or even a reference to the fact that the sisters would need to raise alot of money to bring out an album considering they don't have record label support...now the only way they could do that is doing a big tour?
And it's looking good as by the looks of it the tour has been alot more successful than they originally thought as they're adding the new dates...(we can see through you're attempt to make it look as if you'd planned these "end of tour dates" all along von

)

Also there has been a rising tide of popularity for bands that...although von doesn't like having the sisters associated with them...the sisters are associated with...examples being bauhaus doing a tour, the nephilim bringing out an album and touring, the cult touring, the m*****n touring, killing joke bringing out a new album and touring etc.

could that be the "surprise" vons got for us?

Will i dream?

euphoria · 26 Apr 2006, 09:37

daggs wrote:regarding a possible new album

My bf and I were putting our heads together and doesn't it seem that von is testing the water to see how popular the sisters are atm? They've been playing in so many countries...a huge tour in comparison weith recent years...and they've even played in France where von swore he'd never play...maybe testing how well a new album will be received worldwide?

Maybe testing...but I think it feels more like "preparing" and showing the world what the Sisters of 2006 are like. A new release would have surprised me pre-Ben Christo, but not anymore.

daggs wrote: Also I'm not that familiar with set lists of other years but I know they don't usually do a typical nostalgia act, but doesn't it seem that they are playing a high number of new songs?

No, I see no difference in this sense compared to the last tours. If anything, then -fewer- new songs. Actually I am waiting for even more Adam Pearson-songs to be faded out and replaced with new pieces.

daggs wrote: Then there is the name bite the silver bullet...biting the bullet, doing something he never thought he'd do, and silver...perhaps a reference to money? cashing in on their popularity?

Well, they are certainly biting the bullet, but that can just mean the get less money for the gigs and play much more gigs...or it can mean something more. Most important of all, maybe: I DO know/have a feeling that both guitarists are highly motivated to record something, which means andrew has noone (Adam) to blame anymore for not releasing singles or releasing over the net.

daggs wrote: Or even a reference to the fact that the sisters would need to raise alot of money to bring out an album considering they don't have record label support...now the only way they could do that is doing a big tour?
And it's looking good as by the looks of it the tour has been alot more successful than they originally thought as they're adding the new dates...(we can see through you're attempt to make it look as if you'd planned these "end of tour dates" all along von )

Well I'm sure we haven't seen the end of it, Eastern Europe seems to be the next one up now, and let's see when South Africa comes

doctoravalanche · 26 Apr 2006, 09:50

By the way all the new songs were written by Pearson ?
Slept, Top Nite Out, Susanne, Crash and burn ...
Who knows who wrote what ?

itnAklipse · 26 Apr 2006, 09:54

War on Drugs at least was written by Eldritch, no? But as far as i know, Pearson's contribution to Top Nite Out was probably the biggest.
Crash and Burn sounds a lot like Von, too, to me.

Edit: Oops, Suzanne was of course written by Varjak...

Badlander · 26 Apr 2006, 10:12

Romedo down, Summer : Pearson / Eldritch
War on drugs : Eldritch
We are the same, Susanne : Varjak / Eldritch
Will I dream : Pearson & Varjak / Eldritch

As for the rest, I gather from experience that it's almost impossible to know what's going on in

's mind. So no need to speculate IMHO.

We may or may not see a new release in the near or not so near future. Hope that helps.

crashandburn · 26 Apr 2006, 10:16

Wishful thinking... I don't understand what really is stopping him. All his other "friends" (New Model Army, even Fields Of The NEphilim) are releasing albums... what's wrong with him? Laziness or lack of inspiration?

euphoria · 26 Apr 2006, 10:19

Pearson has been involved in all "new" songs except War on drugs and Suzanne...which is why Suzanne is on the official home page I guess...which can make anyone happy that Pearson is now gone.

Badlander · 26 Apr 2006, 10:25

crashandburn wrote:Wishful thinking... I don't understand what really is stopping him. All his other "friends" (New Model Army, even Fields Of The NEphilim) are releasing albums... what's wrong with him? Laziness or lack of inspiration?

No one ever said he had to. Clicky.

Welcome to HL.

And erm... maybe you shouldn't call FotN "friends" of Von's. Just a thought.

26 Apr 2006, 10:44

I think that's why crashandburn wrote "friends" rather than friends

mh · 26 Apr 2006, 10:52

It is interesting to speculate on what's going on though. Even if only folks who've seen them were to buy a hypothetical new release, that's still a few hundred thousand sales worldwide, which is about average for a typical Sisters LP in the past, if memory serves. There's obviously still an interested fanbase there.

Not too many bands that could do a 60 or so date world tour a good 16 years after their last proper LP either, is there? Only the big established names can do that.

I personally think that the success of this tour is a tribute to the fans more than anything else: we/they want to show Von that yes, we're still interested.

Purple Light · 26 Apr 2006, 15:10

Its certainly made it a more interesting topic with this tour being the size it is. I totally agree with a comment above, I think there was little chance of anything official with Sisters BC (before Christo) but BC's not going to want to be part of something that isn't going anywhere I wouldn't have thought. Unless he's just in it for the money from this tour which I seriously doubt he is then the future is looking rosier.

Ps. Adam told me last year that he wrote Crash & Burn, so for that alone, gone but not forgotten.

Ozpat · 26 Apr 2006, 15:31

They have been working on new stuff ever since Chris joined the band.

No new album soon. They are thinking about the possibilities.
A record company is not the first option.

Von has to make a living. So he starts this massive tour. Some say it wil be the last one...Let's hope they are not right.

metalorange · 26 Apr 2006, 15:59

These days, the internet is a perfect solution for bands without a record deal but a faithful fanbase. All you need to do is put up mp3 downloads and make fans pay for them via credit cards. There's hardly any overheads beyond the initial set-up, and no boxes of CDs left unsold.

Sure, proper CDs are better quality, but Vinyl was better quality than CDs but we've left them behind - CDs are going to get left behind too since we have all got used to mp3 quality and listen to everything on mp3 players!

You then use tours to promote the new material on the website.

This is without a doubt what the Sisters should be doing - complete artistic control without gambling a fortune on the success or failure of a new project.

Badlander · 26 Apr 2006, 17:02

metalorange wrote:Sure, proper CDs are better quality, but Vinyl was better quality than CDs but we've left them behind - CDs are going to get left behind too since we have all got used to mp3 quality and listen to everything on mp3 players!

I do not.

Arrrgh! · 26 Apr 2006, 18:51

I listen to music on my PC, in my car and on my mp3 player. I'd so happily pay â‚¬15 to â‚¬18 for a new ten track downloaded CD from www.thesistersofmercy.com - think of the profit margin on CDs or downloads sold at that rate online - how many CDs in HMV would the Sisters have to sell conventionally to equal the profit margin on one CD sold directly without a distributor online? Does an artist even get â‚¬1 from the sale of an album? â‚¬2? â‚¬3?

The standard argument against this model is that without promotion and distribution, you have no market to sell to, but it's also interesting to see that this tour has largely been a success, with virtually no promotion at all! Take a second to think about that - it's insane.

If The Sisters sold 50,000 CDs online at â‚¬15 through their site and via itunes, that would take in â‚¬750,000. Recording technology today means that they should be able to get the album recorded for half nothing - that is if it's not already mostly recorded in some form.

Perhaps I'm being naive, but that's a lot of dough, at what seems to me to be a very reasonable sales rate. If they sold 100,000 or more copies, that figure starts to get quite attractive. Particularly as there's just three of them, and two of them have yet to write anything. Pipe dreams and boat drinks, I know, but . . . .

Such an action would fuel the next tour or two, which must also be lucrative. How much do you suppose the Sisters make in profit for each of the almost 60 dates played this year? â‚¬10,000 seems like a reasonable guess, averaged out - â‚¬580,000 ? Costs are probably high, but's not like they need to haul a drumkit around with them, is it?

metalorange · 26 Apr 2006, 20:11

Badlander wrote:
metalorange wrote:Sure, proper CDs are better quality, but Vinyl was better quality than CDs but we've left them behind - CDs are going to get left behind too since we have all got used to mp3 quality and listen to everything on mp3 players!
I do not.

There's always a few who hold onto their crackly vinyl, or those that hold onto their jumpy scratched CDs, rather than new technology with mp3s backed up on, errr, jumpy scratched CDs, err, uhmm...

Personally, I have never forgiven Tomorrow's World for lying when they claimed new fangled CDs were indestructable, even if you covered them with jam, tap-danced on them or took an orbital sander to them...

Personally, I'm waiting until they invent clear crystals like in Superman that not only play the audio but project a hologram of the band playing right in your living room...

czuczu · 26 Apr 2006, 20:26

metalorange wrote:
Badlander wrote:
metalorange wrote:Sure, proper CDs are better quality, but Vinyl was better quality than CDs but we've left them behind - CDs are going to get left behind too since we have all got used to mp3 quality and listen to everything on mp3 players!
I do not.
There's always a few who hold onto their crackly vinyl, or those that hold onto their jumpy scratched CDs, rather than new technology with mp3s backed up on, errr, jumpy scratched CDs, err, uhmm...

Personally, I have never forgiven Tomorrow's World for lying when they claimed new fangled CDs were indestructable, even if you covered them with jam, tap-danced on them or took an orbital sander to them...

Personally, I'm waiting until they invent clear crystals like in Superman that not only play the audio but project a hologram of the band playing right in your living room...

Would that mean Marlon Brando could be in the line-up? I'll sign up for some of that!

Badlander · 26 Apr 2006, 20:53

metalorange wrote: Personally, I have never forgiven Tomorrow's World for lying when they claimed new fangled CDs were indestructable, even if you covered them with jam, tap-danced on them or took an orbital sander to them...

So true. If properly taken care of, a vinyl has a 50 year life span (roughly). Think that applies to your CDs as well ?
Not only that, but vinyls have more bandwidth than CDs, which in their turn have more bandwidth than MP3s.

Personally, I'm waiting until they invent clear crystals like in Superman that not only play the audio but project a hologram of the band playing right in your living room...

canon docre · 26 Apr 2006, 21:08

Arrrgh! wrote: ... but it's also interesting to see that this tour has largely been a success, with virtually no promotion at all! Take a second to think about that - it's insane.

to release an album after this tour would be completely insane IMHO. With an album release before this tour, it would have been easily sold out.

I honestly can't imagine Eldritch writing songs together with Ben or Chris.
I think, he just can't be bothered with the music industry nowadays. And who could blame him?

aims · 26 Apr 2006, 21:20

I can't see Andrew writing songs with Ben and Chris, but I can certainly see him guiding their hands and putting vocals over the top. They're both competent guitarists and they know the current sound better than anyone else, so I see little reason why Ben and Chris couldn't write an instrumental album and have Andrew lay his poetic jottings over the top when he has a spare minute. It would certainly be interesting, if nothing else.

SomeKindOfStranger · 26 Apr 2006, 21:32

metalorange wrote: Personally, I'm waiting until they invent clear crystals like in Superman that not only play the audio but project a hologram of the band playing right in your living room...

I think it was Jack Dee that told a story of being harrassed by a salesperson to buy CDs instead of Vinyl -
'the sound is so clear - its like the band are in the room with you' said the salesman.
"I like the pogues" replied jack. 'I love their music but I REALLY dont want them in my living room......'

Personally I still frequently scavenge ebay and record stores for Vinyl - there are some songs that just dont sound right without the faint crackle of the needle.

euphoria · 26 Apr 2006, 21:33

Motz wrote:I can't see Andrew writing songs with Ben and Chris, but I can certainly see him guiding their hands and putting vocals over the top. They're both competent guitarists and they know the current sound better than anyone else, so I see little reason why Ben and Chris couldn't write an instrumental album and have Andrew lay his poetic jottings over the top when he has a spare minute. It would certainly be interesting, if nothing else.

Which already has happened in the case of one song as it seems:

http://www.myheartland.co.uk/viewtopic. ... 538#232538

paint it black · 26 Apr 2006, 22:46

no real point in arguing this on here, but

huge drug habit, small apartment, retirement fund

one chance

too much smoke, bad sound, crap songs, means you got us this time, but never again.

they're hardly a close knit unit, likely to write inspirational new songs, if two of the band members spend little time with the singer and don't even know where they're going next. just a thought

(at least that might be the view in the real world away from the rose tinted of HL)

Badlander · 26 Apr 2006, 22:48

SomeKindOfStranger wrote:I think it was Jack Dee that told a story of being harrassed by a salesperson to buy CDs instead of Vinyl -
'the sound is so clear - its like the band are in the room with you' said the salesman.
"I like the pogues" replied jack. 'I love their music but I REALLY dont want them in my living room......'