Andy Gill (GANG OF FOUR) & the sisters

demolitionsisters · 28 Dec 2011, 09:21

Andy Gill from Gang of four mentions smth about the sissies' situation back in the early nineties.

Excerpt taken from: http://www.furious.com/perfect/gangoffour2.html

''We played a quite a few gigs in Europe and America. We did a tour with Public Enemy and the sisters of mercy, which was kind of weird. (laughs) It was a kind of Lollapalooza type of concept. I think Public Enemy are great. It was a weird mixture of people. Andrew Eldritch (Sisters) was having problems with his record company at the time. There was a very strange atmosphere but it was interesting. We were playing all of these huge places all over the country.

It was kind of mixed with the crowd. (laughs) There were some people who were into Gang of Four and then there'd be some people looking at you "Who the f**k are you?" The cross-over between Sisters of Mercy fan base and Gang of Four fan base isn't that great.''

Being645 · 28 Dec 2011, 16:15

nice, demolitionsisters ... and an interesting read over there on that website ... so thanks for the link ...

demolitionsisters · 28 Dec 2011, 16:19

Being645 wrote:nice, demolitionsisters ... and an interesting read over there on that website ... so thanks for the link ...

you're welcome, man

Being645 · 28 Dec 2011, 16:33

demolitionsisters wrote:
Being645 wrote:nice, demolitionsisters ... and an interesting read over there on that website ... so thanks for the link ...
you're welcome, man

girl, or something the like ...

...

Btw, IMHO Entertainment was their best record ...
the sound was so original and cool, and the lyrics were so funny ...

...
Later on there were a few good songs as well, but I don't remember the titles or recall the music ...
only if I heard those songs again, I'd surely recognize them. They were played soo often everywhere ...
Their latest release Content is not bad, either. More back to where they started, I think ... nice enough ...

Anyway, I prefer The Sisters ...

...

Nikolas Vitus Lagartija · 28 Dec 2011, 22:16

Being645 wrote: Btw, IMHO Entertainment was their best record ...
the sound was so original and cool, and the lyrics were so funny ... ...

The Girls always acknowledged the Mekons and the Gang of Four as influences for the DIY punk ethic they employed from day one, as mentioned in the seminal Dave Simpson article on Goth in the Guardian a few years ago (http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2006/sep/29/popandrock), but the jagged, syncopated guitar chops of Watch and Damage Done reveal a big musical debt to their Leeds forerunners. The tour with PE was probably a way of repaying a musical debt ...

Being645 · 29 Dec 2011, 06:19

Heaven knows who's idea it was to organise a tour with The Sisters of Mercy, Gang of Four and Public Enemy as headliners ...

It was a great idea ...

...

... and very sad for all of them that plenty gigs got cancelled ...

I don't think it had anything to do with repaying "a musical debt" for each of these bands did their very own thing
and they complemented each other in really an interesting and exicting way ... just a wonderful line-up ...
and great fun for sure for anyone lucky enough to see them ...

Thanks for the link to the article, however ... a nice read ....

...

GC · 29 Dec 2011, 11:22

Being645 wrote:Heaven knows who's idea it was to organise a tour with The Sisters of Mercy, Gang of Four and Public Enemy as headliners ...

It was a great idea ... ... ... and very sad for all of them that plenty gigs got cancelled ...

I don't think it had anything to do with repaying "a musical debt" for each of these bands did their very own thing
and they complemented each other in really an interesting and exicting way ... just a wonderful line-up ...
and great fun for sure for anyone lucky enough to see them ...

Thanks for the link to the article, however ... a nice read .... ...

i think it was a terrible idea to put them together. Two bands with nothing in common, music, fanbase nothing. Tour also destroyed the Sissies in US and therfore destroyed the future of any record making.
Flava Flav is also a moron how did he complement AE?

Being645 · 29 Dec 2011, 11:44

Gollum's Cock wrote:
Being645 wrote:Heaven knows who's idea it was to organise a tour with The Sisters of Mercy, Gang of Four and Public Enemy as headliners ...

It was a great idea ... ... ... and very sad for all of them that plenty gigs got cancelled ...

I don't think it had anything to do with repaying "a musical debt" for each of these bands did their very own thing
and they complemented each other in really an interesting and exicting way ... just a wonderful line-up ...
and great fun for sure for anyone lucky enough to see them ...

Thanks for the link to the article, however ... a nice read .... ...
i think it was a terrible idea to put them together. Two bands with nothing in common, music, fanbase nothing. Tour also destroyed the Sissies in US and therfore destroyed the future of any record making.
Flava Flav is also a moron how did he complement AE?

Funny how perceptions and opinions differ ...

... anyway, there were some people who actively decided to cancel large parts of Tour Thing II ... but the idea was great, IMHO ... and it did surely not destroy any record making ... remember it was 1991 then!!! ...

...

Bartek · 29 Dec 2011, 11:55

Damn, even Mr Gill said that there was nothing in common between TSOM, GOF and PE, so how the hell you Sabin wrote that there was something?
I mean, of course, all three bands/groups were doing what they wanted to do, all there were quite big at this time, but that's end.

Being645 · 29 Dec 2011, 12:09

Bartek wrote:Damn, even Mr Gill said that there was nothing in common between TSOM, GOF and PE, so how the hell you Sabin wrote that there was something?
I mean, of course, all three bands/groups were doing what they wanted to do, all there were quite big at this time, but that's end.

Nothing in common doesn't mean nothing to complement ... I see no contradiction there, sorry ...

Bartek · 29 Dec 2011, 12:38

Using same logic fist is complment to nose.
Edith: to by clear by this i mean this:

Being645 · 29 Dec 2011, 13:27

Bartek wrote:Using same logic fist is complment to nose.
Edith: to by clear by this i mean this:

... so you think the organisers were right to cancel the tour, because it's all nothing but a boxing competition ...

Bartek · 29 Dec 2011, 14:02

you're provocing me or just BeingSilly.

abridged · 29 Dec 2011, 14:24

Being645 wrote:
Bartek wrote:Using same logic fist is complment to nose.
Edith: to by clear by this i mean this:

... so you think the organisers were right to cancel the tour, because it's all nothing but a boxing competition ...

Actually it was according to

the (implicitly racist) fear of an ahem 'boxing match' that caused local authorities to cancel dates on the tour, the rationale being that you can't have mostly black fans of PE and mostly white fans of the Sisters present at the same time without civil strife. On a personal note I think its good to mix genres rather than see variations on a theme.

Nikolas Vitus Lagartija · 29 Dec 2011, 22:59

Being645 wrote: Thanks for the link to the article, however ... a nice read .... ...

I like the bit about Craig Adams being a "child piano prodigy" - I'm not sure whether Marx is winding Simpson up or Simpson is winding up Guardian readers, but this reference is surely an in-joke which I have never seen referred to elsewhere.

Being645 · 04 Jan 2012, 19:51

Bartek wrote:you're provocing me or just BeingSilly.

... think what you please ...

...

anyway, in this thread is the link to an article somewhat reflecting the situation of that constellation as viewed by the media ...

http://www.myheartland.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=16708

GC · 04 Jan 2012, 20:15

"bass-baritone growl that rises to a bitter bleat" nice descripition and thanks for the tip.

Sita · 04 Jan 2012, 20:58

Bartek wrote:Damn, even Mr Gill said that there was nothing in common between TSOM, GOF and PE, so how the hell you Sabin wrote that there was something?
I mean, of course, all three bands/groups were doing what they wanted to do, all there were quite big at this time, but that's end.

Don't know about that - I know a lot of people who back then were into both, The Sisters, and Public Enemy.
Of course my 5 buddies are not enough to fill several stadiums of some 10.000 and I guess that is the problem

to make genre-crossing experiments on such big scale, I mean.

Being645 · 04 Jan 2012, 22:13

Gollum's Cock wrote:"bass-baritone growl that rises to a bitter bleat" nice descripition and thanks for the tip.

... I should have checked it properly for disadvantagous formulations before posting ...

... especially given it's from "as early as" 1991 ...

...

But hell ... now as then, The Sisters rock ...

... and today in well a different way ...

...

weebleswobble · 06 Jan 2012, 14:25

I was and still am a fan of Public Enemy and The Sisters. I'd have loved to have seen one of those gigs.

radiojamaica · 06 Jan 2012, 14:30

weebleswobble wrote:I was and still am a fan of Public Enemy and The Sisters. I'd have loved to have seen one of those gigs.

Me too!
I did see both of them on the Pukkelpop festival in 1992, PE in the afternoon and on the same stage (those days the festival only had one stage) The Sisters were headliners...