THE place for your Sisters-related comments, questions and snippets of Sisters information. For those who do not know, The Sisters of Mercy are a rock'n'roll band. And a pop band. And an industrial groove machine. Or so they say. They make records. Lots of records, apparently. But not in your galaxy. They play concerts. Lots of concerts, actually. But you still cannot see them. So what's it all about, Alfie? This is one of the few tightly-moderated forums on Heartland, so please keep on-topic. All off-topic posts will either be moved or deleted. Chairman Bux is the editor and the editor's decision is final. Danke.
Assuming we have all heard the sisters -pretty weird place to hang out fella if you haven't- we'll call seeing them live a CE of 1st kind, meeting any band member other than Eldritch or spotting Von from afar as CE of 2nd kind, and actual direct contact with the Man as CE of 3rd kind -this does not stretch to meeting him in a dream, "knowing" beyond a shadow of a doubt that ANY lyric was SPECIFICLY written for you and one day the universe will join you together FOREVER AND EVER..or that the voice in your head is a manifestation of HIS divine will (especially the one telling you to go out and murder prostitutes cuz thats you, you sick f**k).
we are only interseted in unusual 2nd kinds and 3rd kinds. basically lets have a list of who has actually met Andrew.
so-yes, 3rd kind outside leeds O2 in 2009:
EMWK wrote:however....the cherry-on-the-icing on the top of the whole rather enormously scrumptious cake (for me) was finally meeting eldritch -totally out of the blue, whilst i was having a fag outside the aftershow. i've only ever wanted to shake him by the hand and say "thank-you" (and to do so without bugging him or making a tit of myself) and it made me a very happy man. got his autograph as well ("i know i said i wasn't going to bug you andrew but if you could sign that for me i promise to f**k off!") and when he said it was his pleasure he looked like he meant it which was good enough for me.
Well I was handsome and I was strong
And I knew the words to every song.
"Did my singing please you?"
"No! The words you sang were wrong!"
The Third Kind was at one of the 30th anniversary shows in Leeds, myself and Steve Hom were having a beer afterwards when we spotted Von; I popped over to say "hi" whereupon The Great Man said "I'm off" and scarpered!
I've also met Chris and Simon, who had great fun mugging it up for a photo.
If I told them once, I told them a hundred times to put 'Spinal Tap' first and 'Puppet Show' last.
Can't say I've met him, but a funny encounter anyway;
He stood just before me at the airport security in Helsinki on his way to Japan, shades off which looked weird, and went through the metal detector with St Pauli hoodie, heavy boots and all - the detector beeped instantly, but neither Andrew nor the security staff reacted, the man just walked away and I stood there with open mouth - it was all more rockstar-like than anything I've ever seen on a stage
after the lights had gone up at rock city in 2006 mr D was still shuffling around stage (our) left, conscientiously packing up the Doktor's umbilica and related backline, and finally the machine itself. if you didnt know it was Simon you would have naturally assumed he was just another member of the road crew (see *below )
anyway i spent a good 5 mins bellowing over to him, altenately attempting to scrounge any items like set-lists, plectrums, andrew's sweaty towel etc in between creepin g madly wth statements like "not only do i love the march violets and own several of their records, but i loved the batfish boys and thought they should have enjoyed far more success than they did." he smiled and shrugged and said nothing doing and carried on packing away.
being a never say die kin d of irritant i waited round the corner til h'ed finished and shouted his name one last time, this time miming him writing his name. to my eternal delight he brought over a piece of paper in person. "i really did love the batfish boys i said" "really?" he asked all unbelieving modesty. i reminded him of a noteworthy ghost dance gig 20 years before round the corner at trent poly...memorable because Marx sat on his amp, back to the audience for the entire set,in an obvious foul mood, and at the end of the set smacked his guitar head-stock first into the stage and when it failed to snap, hoyed end over end out into the crowd, kicked the amp over andstormed off. batfish boys were supporting. simon completely pissed himself laughing and said " f**k me yeah! mark had a right cob-on and sacked the whole f**king band that night!". he shook my hand and handed me the hand-written
cue-sheet for the doktor signed by himself. "no-ones got one of them" he said. (i believe that others now do have later ones, but mine was the night they first played "Still" and it was thru my cue-sheet that we learned the songs name.)
a very, very nice man, a collossal personality and for me the quintessential Nurse.
*a note of interest for spotters...there is hardly ever any actual sisters road-crew apparent at gigs these days beyond individual techs for the guitars, a couple of sound and backline chaps, the lighting geezer and local crew humping boxes. places like rock city, students unions and the O2 natch have their own house p.a. which explains to some degree the god-awful sound quality we are exposed to. for the record, the last time i saw the band with their own front of house p.a. in this country was those fabulous columns at the blank canvas, where incidentally the sound was full, loud, clear and complete.
Well I was handsome and I was strong
And I knew the words to every song.
"Did my singing please you?"
"No! The words you sang were wrong!"
euphoria wrote:Can't say I've met him, but a funny encounter anyway;
He stood just before me at the airport security in Helsinki on his way to Japan, shades off which looked weird, and went through the metal detector with St Pauli hoodie, heavy boots and all - the detector beeped instantly, but neither Andrew nor the security staff reacted, the man just walked away and I stood there with open mouth - it was all more rockstar-like than anything I've ever seen on a stage
Literally one of the best moments of my life was having Lucretia sung directly in my face at Melbourne Corner Hotel in 2012. Ok it was on stage, but having just followed them about all over the world, for some time I got a wink and a nod, which is good enough for me.
I have have chatted Chris at the merch stand a couple of times, superbly lovely fellow.
Had a bit of a natter with Simon as he packed up Melbourbe gig 1 and he gave me set lists, then before gig 2 met him out the back on the way in and thanked him & the boys for coming all the way to Melbourne. He again gave me set lists, shook my hand and was all in all the most delightfully humble chap.
...and to my eternal shame at the after do in the bar I exhaustedly/drunkenly/overwhelmed with sheer "oh my! they came to Melbourne and it was brilliant" stroked Ben's arm while telling him the (Melbourne Corner) gig was "uttterly ace".
Third kind 1: I saw Ben before the Linz gig, he was jogging in a park nearby. We greeted each other.
I had third kind in May 2014 - Gasometer with Von. I had already written in the Vienna topic last year.
We had a chat (we talked about how long I have loved them, about the gig, why they were not coming to Hungary on A38 last year, etc.) and he signed my stuff and a photo was taken with him (I shared this pic only with my friends on Facebook).
He was incredibly kind, talkative and was smiling all the time.
"Music is there to enrich your life and make you aware of things in a slightly different way."
Going with the 2nd kind here
Met Craig & Wayne & had a couple of beers & smokes with them when they rocked up for the Mish's secret warm up gig at Champagne's in Horsham in 86.
Went to the Violet's show at The Left Bank in Leeds in 2010 & met with Chris, who turned up towards the end as he'd just been to see Motorhead.
Afterwards had a bottle of that Welsh cydwr stuff with Si, who is a thoroughly nice chap.
& lastly, I thanked Ben for a top show one night on the A38. One of the XXX shows in Budapest.
Did see the lot of them outside a cafe/ bar the day after the Sibiu gig, but they looked quite involved with something (choosing what ice cream to have IIRC), so didn't want to hassle them. Ice cream is serious business
I probably could have gotten into the sound check back in the early 90s. I met the tour leader/manager when I was the only person camped out at the venue hours in advance. A man started to follow me around and I was quite a bit more awkward and shy than I am today, and so I hid.
Dean, the camera operator, recognized me from one tour to the next. We shared deep drunken thoughts and he invited me to come to an after party. And so I hid...
In 2008, Ben came over to say hi after he'd seen me lined up in both SF and LA. Truly good guy and talented; I even felt comfortable enough to actually ATTEND the after party for hyper nova at some lovely house in Beverly hills with a huge tsom poster in the stairwell. No idea where I was, but Eldritch wasn't there and still it was a memorable night.
I did once write a rather dorky but heartfelt "thank you for the music" note and managed to hand it off onstage. Does that count as the third kind?
I dated a man a few months ago who also loved The sisters, and seemed to "get" the music the way I do. (Remarkably similar to me in all ways; I decided he was a psycho.) I explained then... I hesitated all those times to meet the creator of the music that did all those amazing things that music can do for me over the last 25 years... I'd hate for anything, such as a trite or embarrassing conversation, to dull the impact of the music.
I've been in close proximity to Eldo before the Josephs Well (2005) gig but didn't go closer for a chat as I didn't have anything meaningful to say and didn't want to looke like a prat by going all on him.
I have had a longish drunken chat with Craig in 1988 at a Mish Fan Club gig. He'd been chatting with some friends and asked them if any of them had read Fear & Loathing and none of them had but pointed at me and said "He has!", and he walked over and we had a chat.
Me and a friend went to seem them at Tuska festival 2006, we got booked at the same hotell as the festivals band where located to. After the show we had a chat with the man in the hotel bar, also talked a bit to Chris and Ben and Simon. Did a terrible misstake asking Nige to explain how he did some light effects, it felt like asking a Heart Surgeon explain how he attach veins and arterys to the heart, lol.
some other funny third kind stories...
A friend was doin the German leg either 90 or 91. He and a couple of other people was sleeping at the train station to catch the early train out of the town. Eldtrich shows up early on the morning and asks them if they wanna join him for breakfast. Sadly I don't remember what town it was. Might have been Hamburg,
Before the show in Berlin 1991 Eldtrich was standing outside the venue and handling out flyers for the supportband, think he was quite amused by the fact that most people ignored him.
Andrew Eldritch Dour Festival 1997: Yeah, We take any request... As much as we ever do.
I've opted for second although as MH stated, could probably have gone for a CE of 3.
Thanks to The Boss myself and Weebs were lucky enough to get backstage passes for The Leamington gig, so saw a couple of times lurking around. Wanted to buy him a drink as I did Chris (Guiness) but he skulked off before I had the chance to offer.
I think that getting a kiss from Eldritch after the 2005 Joseph's Well gig ("the second best offer I've had all night") might count as a CE4 but as the option's not down, I've voted CE3.
Also I knew Chris before he was in the Sisters, what does that score me?
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
—Bertrand Russell
markfiend wrote:I think that getting a kiss from Eldritch after the 2005 Joseph's Well gig ("the second best offer I've had all night") might count as a CE4 but as the option's not down, I've voted CE3.
Also I knew Chris before he was in the Sisters, what does that score me?
Drsisters wrote:Did a terrible misstake asking Nige to explain how he did some light effects, it felt like asking a Heart Surgeon explain how he attach veins and arterys to the heart, lol.
Well I was handsome and I was strong
And I knew the words to every song.
"Did my singing please you?"
"No! The words you sang were wrong!"
Met Chris in Dallas once. A very nice fellow to chat with.
I briefly met Mr. Pearson at a show in San Francisco, too.
--
The most successful tyranny is not the one that uses force to assure uniformity but the one that removes the awareness of other possibilities, that makes it seem inconceivable that other ways are viable, that removes the sense that there is an outside.
Do ex-band-members count? A friend and I met Craig briefly, until my friend told him that he liked the Sisters more than the m*****n, and he didn't look very happy and walked off.
I tried to tell her
About Marx and Eldritch, God and angels
I don't really know what for.
Met several Sisters (Adam, Ben, Chris) in bars, toilets and fields. Longest talk was with mr Pearson after his gig with the MC5 in Antwerp ten or so years ago. The great Eldritch? Nope, the legend's still intact
I did meet some interesting side characters like Choque & Eric (JR) and hell, we even gave Speedy Dave a cake for his 150th gig
Two third encounters along with numerous seconds (too many to list).
Third encounter no.1:
Went to watch Chris' alto ego Robochrist back in 2007 at the legendary but now long gone Bradford Rios. Walking round the venue I noticed a short bald man sat in the shadows keeping himself to himself, after asking Chris if Von gets out much to watch his gigs, he replied with a twinkle in his eye that 'yes he does, you spotted him then'. Eventually decided to go have a chat with him, and to this day I still have no clear recollection of what I said. All I can remember is that he was very well spoken and more than happy to respond to the what I now believe to be nonsense I was spouting.
Third encounter no.2:
Went to the aftershow/backstage after the Leamington gig in 2010. Wife was heavily pregnant at the time with child no.1 and needed somewhere to sit down. The only real option was a nice comfy settee I spotted, but which was occupied, so after getting a cup of tea (very rock & roll) from the facilities laid on, walked over to said settee to find it was Von sat there. Asked him if he wouldn't mind moving so the wife could sit down. He jumped up straight away saying that our need was greater than his, before disappearing for the rest of the evening.
on him.
a couple of times lurking around. Wanted to buy him a drink as I did Chris (Guiness) but he skulked off before I had the chance to offer. 
