Siters Bio - HELP! ta.

[paint it black]

25000 wasn't an advance. It was a punishment, hence the taunting.

The sisterhood were the original. Fanbase. There were two girls (catholic). The fanbase was a few dozen. I have bootlegs from the band to the sisterhood - this was a cause of cinflict

[markfiend]

Thanks Lee glad I didn't dream it

Edit to add: I stand corrected PiB

[Elfink]

Just done what I think are the final tweaks - I think I'm done with it now; maybe I'll change the images so that its more a gallery of the various line ups.
Funny thing was I thought I knew enough about the sisters to write a short bio in half an hour and chuck it up there - I didn't expect it this.

So thank you folk for helping me out with this one.
I want to post the original Sisters bio that was there so you can see why I wanted to ammend this:
it read

''From 1980 until the split in 1995, The Sisters of Mercy were one of the significant groups of the Gothic Rock movement. After a new start at the end of the 1980s, the band finally left the Gothic Rock scene and turned to a more pop-friendly and hardrock-influenced sound.''

Muchas gracias people x

[stufarq]

IIRC there was a suggestion that Wayne & Craig were going to call their offshoot band The Sisters at first, but Eldritch's lawyers "had a word". The Sisterhood was apparently a different enough name (legally) for them to get away with it... until Eldritch intervened with Gift.

according to eldritch on this picture-disc interview-disc they (hussey/adams) did in fact actually try to call themselves "the sisters of mercy", then "the sisters" -both scotched by eldrith's lawyers- before calling themselves "the sisterhood".

Ramone (one of the early fans who called themselves the Sisterhood) has told a story whereby Wayne phoned him to tell him about the split and asked if it would be okay to use The Sisterhood name. The implication (and, I'm not sure, but I think Ramone may have specifically said it) is that this was immediately after the split - certainly soon enough for fans not to have known yet, and therefore surely not enough time for there to have been two other names considered and scotched by lawyers. Of course, Ramone's memory could be wrong, but it's known that when The Sisterhood started playing live, some venues put up posters billing them as "the new Sisters of Mercy" (much to the band's displeasure), which was the point when Von, who had previously attended some of their gigs and made approving noises, started getting militant. Seems more likely to me that Von is misremembering those events and claiming Wayne & co tried to use that name earlier, when in fact they repeatedly had to ask venues and promoters NOT to bill them as such; and that Von only brought in lawyers at that stage.

[paint it black]

I meant god squad duh. The sisterhood were later

Silly me.

[markfiend]

Stu oh yes, I remember that now.

Seems more likely to me that Von is misremembering those events

I think your interpretation is probably correct.

Mr it black... can you expand on your

25000 wasn't an advance. It was a punishment

please? Did t'Mish have to pay damages to Eldritch?

[stufarq]

Stu oh yes, I remember that now.

Seems more likely to me that Von is misremembering those events

I think your interpretation is probably correct.

Mr it black... can you expand on your

25000 wasn't an advance. It was a punishment

please? Did t'Mish have to pay damages to Eldritch?

As I recall, there are at least three stories about what the 25000 represented: the publishing advance, damages or Von's profits on something-or-other. But didn't someone find a quote or some paperwork that resolved this a few years ago? I seem to remember something that confirmed one of the first two. Can't remember the thread or the details, so I wouldn't like to say for sure, but I thought it was the advance.

[Nikolas Vitus Lagartija]

I think this is the definitive account you are referring to ...
http://www.the-sisters-of-mercy.com/gen/regift.htm

[stufarq]

Could be. Although, given my earlier post, I'd have to concede that "definitive" is a bit optimistic.

[panzerfaust]

"An album review from Wayne reveals that he has completely missed the significance of the whole album, politically or musically. "

anyone has that review?

[Nikolas Vitus Lagartija]

One other mystery - why was only the Leeds gig cancelled when the London and Brum ones either side of it went ahead, albeit with new name on the night (if not on the posters/tickets) ? Was this some compromise between the lawyers ?

[centurionofprix]

"An album review from Wayne reveals that he has completely missed the significance of the whole album, politically or musically. "

anyone has that review?

I've read it, so it's definitely around somewhere. The Husstler predictably condemns the album, without touching on its content, and then asks Andrew to "come back home" or some such ("home" meaning the m*****n?!). I can't find it on my computer right now, though.

[centurionofprix]

There was a copy in the gallery here. Enjoy~

[paint it black]

to put in context, this was the time a very bearded AE was mumbling on about black king taking white knight with extreme prejudice, so wayne probably had a point

[stufarq]

My favourite review of Gift is still the Smash Hits one that described the vocals as sounding like a goblin being sick into a cauldron.

[Norman Hunter]

http://www.amoeba.com/music/artist/148444/bio

[Being645]

http://www.amoeba.com/music/artist/148444/bio

Helmed by an Oxford-educated, middle class misfit Andrew Eldritch, The Sisters helped provide the foundations of the Gothic rock genre.

... ... lovely ...

[Nikolas Vitus Lagartija]

http://www.amoeba.com/music/artist/148444/bio

deliberately awful ....featuring Eldritch mumbling ...

Wasn't sure at first of this was a review of Go Figure or a descriptIon of the sound at some live gigs.

[rien]

http://www.amoeba.com/music/artist/148444/bio

deliberately awful ....featuring Eldritch mumbling ...

Wasn't sure at first of this was a review of Go Figure or a descriptIon of the sound at some live gigs.

This article seems a bit Frankenstein's creature-y, cobbled together from several smaller ones.

Did Patricia really sing on This Corrosion? I thought they had a whole choir for that.
Didn't know the pseudonyms were because of wellfare! Makes sense...
"collapsed in the studio in 1984" just once? One would think the sheer volume of substances ingested by the man would result in more than one breakdown...

[markfiend]

I think that the "pseudonyms because of welfare" is actually speculation that originated on here!

[rien]

I think that the "pseudonyms because of welfare" is actually speculation that originated on here!

what goes round...

I have to rephrase my '84 comment, because it was stupid. I'm more astonished at the fact that they just carried on after that. "yeah, our singer and lyricists just collapsed in the studio. No biggie."

[Quiff Boy]

I think that the "pseudonyms because of welfare" is actually speculation that originated on here!

First reported here, but it came direct from the mouth of Mr Marx (while sat in this pub in Farsley, just around the corner from Choque Hosein's house and just down the road from where I lived at the time)

Gang of Four had just been in trouble with the DSS because they were still signing on but had appeared on the cover of NME (or was is MM?)

Marx & eldritch decided to adopt new pseudo-names to avoid such potential problems. I gather they also liked the idea of alternate names...

At one point when they were considering band names they almost became the Captains of Industry, with each band member being a "Captain". Andrew was to be Captain Black, natch I forgot what sort of "Captain" Gary was going to be, but it may have been "Orange".

Mr Marx said that his name came from an on-going joke between himself Claire (Shearsby) because she was always forgetting his name and call him" Gary", to which he would respond "...Mark!" (Mark Pearman being Gary Marx's real name).

The "Gary! Mark!" thing stuck, with a twist because Marx is a cooler surname than Mark.

In hindsight, Mark regrets choosing a different first name and surname as it created a complicated split in how people people referred to him. Andrew was always Andrew, but Gary was either Mark or Gary depending on who was speaking to him

Shortly after all this Craig joined the band and they couldn't think of a cool pseudonym, so he reverted to his old school nickname "Lurch".

....or at least that's the version of the truth I was told

You may also find some interesting tidbits lurking in the old interview we did with Marx: https://www.myheartland.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=2140

[stufarq]

http://www.amoeba.com/music/artist/148444/bio

deliberately awful ....featuring Eldritch mumbling ...

Did Patricia really sing on This Corrosion? I thought they had a whole choir for that.

No, she did not.
http://www.the-sisters-of-mercy.com/gen ... aqnorm.htm
Scroll down to the question "Who sings the female parts on the records?"

Morrison didn't leave until after they'd started working on Vision Thing. I forget whether Bruhn arrived before or after her departure (there were session guitarists involved), but James was brought in to replace her after work had already begun. Bricheno (not Bruchero) only arrived after the album was finished.

The tour with Public Enemy wasn't cancelled until halfway through ie it had already started.

And it's Giving Ground, not The Giving Ground.
And When You Don't See Me.

[mh]

Andrew was to be Captain Black, natch I forgot what sort of "Captain" Gary was going to be, but it may have been "Orange".

Hey! Reservoir dogs!

[Being645]

Hhi ... there's always something new to learn about The Sisters ... ...