Goth bands thrown off music festival by The Sisters

[I Am The Jaw]

In the first article it claims that the Sisters fee was $30,000 for the show, I wonder if that is accurate?

[BillyBadBreaks]

In the first article it claims that the Sisters fee was $30,000 for the show, I wonder if that is accurate?

It is possible as The Damned were charging 10,000 sterling for a show, back when Anything was released!

[markfiend]

My £0.02:

Eldritch's disdain for Ver Goff is somewhat... disingenuous IMO. Has he ever been to a Sisters gig? Has he ever seen who turns up?

Yeah, OK, a fair proportion of the crowd have less in the way of hair and more in the way of beer-gut than might be expected for a truly goth crowd, but the clothes are predominantly black and there's a fairly large amount of black eye-liner on show.

For all his protestations that the goth thing was "a week of silly clothes" that week seemed to last from mid-83 (if not earlier) until about 1992...

And quite frankly it doesn't seem to bother him being on the same bill as silly goth bands at M'era Luna (for example) it's only ever the UK or the US where he throws his toys out of the pram.

[James Blast]

fiendy

[centurionofprix]

My £0.02:

Eldritch's disdain for Ver Goff is somewhat... disingenuous IMO. Has he ever been to a Sisters gig? Has he ever seen who turns up?

Yeah, OK, a fair proportion of the crowd have less in the way of hair and more in the way of beer-gut than might be expected for a truly goth crowd, but the clothes are predominantly black and there's a fairly large amount of black eye-liner on show.

For all his protestations that the goth thing was "a week of silly clothes" that week seemed to last from mid-83 (if not earlier) until about 1992...

And quite frankly it doesn't seem to bother him being on the same bill as silly goth bands at M'era Luna (for example) it's only ever the UK or the US where he throws his toys out of the pram.

Sometimes in the world as is...

[Mothra]

In the first article it claims that the Sisters fee was $30,000 for the show, I wonder if that is accurate?

It is possible as The Damned were charging 10,000 sterling for a show, back when Anything was released!

I think so as well. There was an interview with Alan McGee (Creation Records founder) in The Guardian back in the late 90s where he expressed amazement that he had to assure the journalist that "This Corrosion" was a great record. He went on to say that he thought it great that Eldritch refused to go on stage for less than £15000. I possibly still have the article somewhere, but definitely won't be able to lay my hands on it any time soon. Will scan if it ever shows up.

Going by current prices, if the Leeds gigs sell 2000 tickets per night at £25, thats a cool £50,000 in ticket sales alone. I know a cut goes to the venue, promoters etc, but surely a large chunk also goes to The Sisters/Andrew. And whilst the $30,000 figure is a long time ago, the band were selling a lot more than 2000 tickets per night back in those days.

Nice work if you can get it.

[James Blast]

for pissin' about with the threat/treat of them playing some 'new'

[Debaser]

High-waisted old-man pants, suspenders and a fedora.

Is Perry Farrell coming?????

[James Blast]

I'm rather proud of my 'high-waisted old man' black jeans, eh.... I mean pants

[Maisey]

I rather like Sunshine Blind, was listening to them tonight as it happens.

For what it's worth, I think Eldritch has mellowed out a lot since those days. He was happy to put a Goff disco on at his XXX shows you might recall. He was perfectly decent to me and I'm just about as much of a crimped nightmare as you could hope to avoid.

[Doktor Gott]

I rather like Sunshine Blind, was listening to them tonight as it happens.

For what it's worth, I think Eldritch has mellowed out a lot since those days. He was happy to put a Goff disco on at his XXX shows you might recall. He was perfectly decent to me and I'm just about as much of a crimped nightmare as you could hope to avoid.

Quite. you do put the fey into fop somewhat...

[H. Blackrose]

Isn't it the case that Von's attempt to run off the Goth segment of the fanbase in the 1990s was a belief that the crimping-eyeliner-and-lace brigade was what was keeping the Sisters from mainstream success - that normal people wouldn't give his music a chance because of the Goth stigma? The fact that he's mellowed out now would support that, given that he must have realised that mainstream success will not happen, and he should be grateful for every fan he still has.

[stufarq]

To be fair, mainstream success did happen briefly in the mid-80s and early 90s. Floodland and its singles sold and charted well and Temple Of Love went straight into the chart at no 3 if I recall. The two greatest hits albums subsequently got big displays in high street shops. He then chose to capitalise on that success by not releasing anything else.

[Machine Regime]

To be fair, mainstream success did happen briefly in the mid-80s and early 90s. Floodland and its singles sold and charted well and Temple Of Love went straight into the chart at no 3 if I recall. The two greatest hits albums subsequently got big displays in high street shops. He then chose to capitalise on that success by not releasing anything else.

I can't help speculating how big the Sisters might be by now had Von chosen to continue releasing after the WEA debacle...

Would they have become stadium headliners, rather than playing second fiddle to the likes of the 'Mode - with such expansive crossover appeal that even Newsround would feature an interview with Von - possibly even before the programme's broadcasting of yet another article about the successful toilet training of a captive panda?

Would Von have become cultural ambassador to the UN, and thereby performed choreographed burlesque, ala Ginger Spice, for Nelson Mandella?

Would he have become a corporate mogul, and released a highly anticipated "prequel trilogy" to the first three albums, only to Phantom Menace us with a updated version "Lights" dubbed every few bars with an exclamation of "Yipeee!"?

Maybe, all things considered, it's a good thing after all that we're not subjected to what could have been...