What actually happened after Vision Thing?

[Les Fleurs du Mal]

I'm sorry if this is already posted. I'm having a hard time with the search function.

What happened after vision thing was recorded and toured. What went on afterwards and why exactly were there not a follow up? Was there an album planned?

[Big Si]

Hello new person!

[taylor]

there a new lp just come out called

"First Flood thing & Some Slight" lp on Nord Sud label

[mh]

Hello and welcome.

What happened before may also be a good question, which is that the Sisters were switched from Warners to East West, and which precipitated the whole thing.

What happened after was the Public Enemy tour, which seems to have been the point at which the wheels really started coming off. The band also started falling apart with Tony James leaving to revisit his puppet show, Bricheno for reasons that were never really too clear, and Bruhn for his solo career.

Add in some compilation LPs that likely didn't sell as well as the record company might have hoped, a record company that Eldritch didn't feel was working in the band's interest, and at that point Eldritch sacked himself from the band in an attempt to get out of his contract.

Then there are the strike years from 93 to 96, followed by the band reactivating for live work only (still under contract), then the SSV fiasco, release from the contract, promises of great things happening, none of which work out for reasons we've speculated on but don't really know, and then the current tumbleweed.

Think that's about it.

[Les Fleurs du Mal]

And then Mr E lost his geist?

[MadameButterfly]

And then Mr E lost his geist?

You haven't seen him lately?

No mister hasn't lost anything, well hair maybe.

[Les Fleurs du Mal]

I have and that made me wonder when, where, why and what happened to him.

[MadameButterfly]

Seriously, don't go into the when, why as in past tense...there is so much history in here you could just read the forum to find out.

Where? This year a gig in Germany.
What? TSOM

Happened? Still doing what he does in slow, very slow tempo.

[mh]

I have and that made me wonder when, where, why and what happened to him.

His hair fell out.

There's another side to the whole thing too, which is that Eldritch has consistently claimed that so long as the record industry is in it's current state he has no intention of participating. A good summary is here: http://www.the-sisters-of-mercy.com/gen/rrr4.htm (written by Adam, who seems to have had quite an influence over the band during his tenure).

A counter argument is that there are plenty of other bands finding their own creative solutions to similar situations, but that Eldritch seems more like he just couldn't be bothered.

The possibility that he's also creatively washed-up generally tends to get raised too.

We've honestly gone over that debate many times before, but the above summarises it kinda well enough.

Added: it's important to add that you shouldn't get the impression that any of us are in any way in contact with the band and have sources of info that are not otherwise available. We aren't and we don't (although some of us have met members of the band from time to time, and there's always the possibility that band members may - or may not - be following some of what goes on here, and even posting incognito; but we don't know and we don't speculate too much on it).

[Being645]

I have and that made me wonder when, where, why and what happened to him.

Maybe if you look at the concert vids from over the years you'll get an idea of the times in between and the state of affairs ...

You might be surprised at times ... ...



Ah, btw, welcome Les Fleurs du Mal ... ...

[Ozpat]

A new album was announced in Philly 1997; Butfuck Parlour Time.

We're still waiting for that one to arrive.

[Les Fleurs du Mal]

Thank you for welcoming me so elegantly. I have been a member for a while but never gotten around to write anything. One does not want to make a complete fool of one self.

[quote="MadameButterfly"]Seriously, don't go into the when, why as in past tense...there is so much history in here you could just read the forum to find out./quote]

I have tried to use the search function but haven't really gotten the hang of it. Is the trick just patiently browsing the whole forum?

[MadameButterfly]

Seriously, don't go into the when, why as in past tense...there is so much history in here you could just read the forum to find out.

I have tried to use the search function but haven't really gotten the hang of it. Is the trick just patiently browsing the whole forum?

The search function is weird in these parts. Yes the trick is to just patiently read through the different sections, page after page, between all the other stuff you will find what you are looking for.

[Europa]

Hi Les Fleurs du Mal

Cool name (although I had to look it up to know what it meant!)

Keep posting

[copper]

What happened after was the Public Enemy tour, which seems to have been the point at which the wheels really started coming off. The band also started falling apart with Tony James leaving to revisit his puppet show, Bricheno for reasons that were never really too clear, and Bruhn for his solo career.

In retrospect, the PE tour definitely seems to be the breaking point in a commercial sense, as it likely played a significant role in souring EastWest's trust in the Sisters as a marketable act in the US. From the outside, the Vision Thing recording seemed like an extended period of time to cater oneself with a supposedly lucrative advance and finally, pulling the album together by force. I recall Boyd Steemson mentioning at Classic Rock that they had around 4-5 songs completed while the deadline was looming ahead and the rest of it was stitched together at a breakneck pace.

The gamble didn't quite pay off, as the PE tour tanked. This is probably when and why EastWest begun to turn their backs on the band and Eldritch became increasingly hostile towards their politics. It should be pointed out that the Sisters scarcely toured in '92-'93 when compared to the busy year of 1991. Von also became increasingly reluctanct in providing any new material, passing on an early collection, a compilation and a retooled cover. Had he swallowed the pill and delivered a new album without a Macchiavellian effort to be released from his contract, the Sisters might've produced subsequent albums on other labels.

On the flipside, EastWest took forever to drop the Sisters entirely from their roster, which is amusing when considering the whole of the situation. Two parties, which by definition do not get along, spent many years battling for the dwindling stock value of the Sisters brand. In the end, both had casualties, but not many benefits.

[stufarq]

but we don't know and we don't speculate too much on it).

Oh, surely we speculate way too much.

[MadameButterfly]

but we don't know and we don't speculate too much on it).

Oh, surely we speculate way too much.

Yeah we even know how many users names they all have!

*catch up in the back.

[moses]

If organic turnips aren't being bought then Tesco's aren't going to try to sell them.

[DerekR]

One does not want to make a complete fool of one self.

Indeed, we keep that kind of thing for the meets

[bangles]

I wonder has there ever been an answer to how 'difficult' were/are the sisters/ eldritch to deal with? With the VT era band, maybe Tony James was always going to have his own agenda - although one imagines it was an agenda that Eldritch was happy with, but what about the rest of them? Surely, they would have hung in to see what would happen...? Or did the Sisters effectively cease to be a band (in the traditional sense) since the Reptile House when Von took control and have forever since been a team of hired hands (no disrespect meant) who effectively did what what was required until either they were no longer neccessary or simply couldn't be arsed dealing with what was going on...

Hi Les Fleurs du Mal! Great question - i love when other people ask stuff I'm dying to know!!!

[deadagain]

What happened after was the Public Enemy tour, which seems to have been the point at which the wheels really started coming off. The band also started falling apart with Tony James leaving to revisit his puppet show, Bricheno for reasons that were never really too clear, and Bruhn for his solo career.

Tim went off and formed the excellent CNN / XC-NN and later Tin Star.

[Being645]

What happened after was the Public Enemy tour, which seems to have been the point at which the wheels really started coming off. The band also started falling apart with Tony James leaving to revisit his puppet show, Bricheno for reasons that were never really too clear, and Bruhn for his solo career.

Tim went off and formed the excellent CNN / XC-NN and later Tin Star.

After all that formation of the band didn't exist for all that long ... 1990 - 1993, see ...
http://sisterswiki.org/Band_History#Vis ... 90-1993.29


And then - for more than 10 years - there was Adam Pearson ... as well as Chris Sheehan and Mike Varjak ...

In 1997 the contract with EastWest was finally terminated and while looking for another contract,

The Sisters did their 1998 Event Horizon Tour in Europe and the US followed by a few summer festivals.

Two gigs in Japan, scheduled for autumn 1998 were cancelled, see ... http://sisterswiki.org/Mon%2C_07-Sep-1998 ...


In 1999, a tour of the US, titled Sisters To The Planet Edge, followed ...
In this manner, The Sisters of Mercy played tours or at least a few gigs each year
until 2003 (Smoke And Mirrors), but never managed to contract for a new album ...

After the Twothousandfive festival tour Adam Pearson left The Sisters.

In 2006, The Sisters (with Chris Catalyst and Ben Christo on guitars now) did a major tour of the US (30 gigs) and
Europe (including South America, Russian and Turkey, 47 gigs) ... Sisters Bite The Silver Bullet ...

For events since 2006 see http://sisterswiki.org/Current_events ...

[GlosGoth]

hello (again)

it must be years since i posted anything on here...

Chris Sampson wrote an excellent 10,000 word essay on the subject of the Sisters post VT in Glasperlenspiel magazine, but even thats old now


bye
Rich.