8: WA*NE HUSSEY
The next order of business was the new guitarist. Eldritch wanted to improve on Ben Gunn and was not about to settle for just anyone. He wanted to choose a guitarist who could not only play the difficult parts the band had written for their old material, but who could also contribute to the writing of new songs (Gunn never had) and help the band expand their sound and thereby – critically – their audience. A major label deal promised wide distribution and Eldritch wanted to make sure that The Sisters were prepared to dazzle; this, too, was part of the Master Plan. The search sent the band into hibernation from which they were not to emerge for almost 6 months.
“Someone said, ‘you need a guitarist? Have I got a guitarist for you!’ And they were right.� Thus Andrew Eldritch explained the hiring of Wa*ne Hussey to a journalist. “The reason he was picked and the reason he picked us is that he fits in very very well, and it seems like we’ve known him a very long time. And we’re getting to know him very fast on tour!� The hiring of Wa*ne Hussey to play guitar for The Sisters Of Mercy was not quite as simple as Eldritch makes it sound. Eldritch, Marx and Adams auditioned a number of potential guitarists, all of whom would have been happy to have the job. Simon Hinkler, later to join The m*****n with Craig Adams and Wa*ne Hussey, was one candidate who was turned away for his lack of songwriting skills.
During the initial talks with major labels, CBS had been a serious contender for The Sisters’ signatures along with Warner Brothers and Eldritch had cultivated friendships there. Hanging around CBS’s London offices one day, Eldritch ran into a friend and mentioned to him that they were in need of a new guitarist. He recommended a young man from Liverpool named Wa*ne Hussey who had recently been fired from (or left, depending on whom you ask) CBS act Dead Or Alive. Eldritch was intrigued by Dead Or Alive’s recent chart success and agreed to give Hussey a call.
Jerry Wa*ne Hussey was born a Mormon, an bizarre American cult religion founded in the 19th Century whose followers believe, among other things, that the Garden Of Eden is located in Missouri, that Christ preached in Mexico, and that American Indians are descendents of the ancient Hebrews. They also believe that every good Mormon boy must spend a portion of his teenage years spreading their strange gospel as a missionary, often in distant third-world countries. Wayne dashed his parents’ fervent hopes that he would become a missionary by becoming involved in the small punk scene of his native Bristol and then, at age 18, moving north to Liverpool to dedicate himself to a career in music.
His first real band was called Foxglove and the Ded Byrds, but by the time of their first release, 1978’s ‘Rich And Nasty’ c/w ‘Summer In Russia,’ they had been re-christened The Walkie Talkies. After their first single The Walkie Talkies folded and Wa*ne Hussey (as he was by then known) graduated through a series of forgettable local Liverpool acts before recording a song, “Trip To The Dentist,’ for a compilation album entitled And The Dance Goes On. His next gig was as guitarist for Pauline Murray’s Invisible Girls in Newcastle. The band had some promise and Hussey initially thought he had found a home for himself; Buzzcocks’ John Maher played drums and Martin Hannett of Joy Division fame produced an album and an EP. But Pauline Murray, disillusioned with the music business, ended the band herself and left Hussey once again without a vehicle for his talents.
Back in Liverpool Hussey met Pete Burns, androgyne and frontman of post-disco outfit Dead Or Alive. Founded in 1981, Dead Or Alive was Burns’ latest group; he had been a fixture of the Liverpool punk scene for years and had fronted a number of other bands. Dead Or Alive’s lineup shifted almost constantly during its first year of existence, and Hussey joined just as original guitarist Mitch departed. In the fall of 1982, Dead Or Alive headlined the Futurama 4 Festival with Hussey on guitar. Coincidentally, Craig Adams’ band The Expelaires played Futurama 2 in 1980, The Sisters played Futurama 3. Shortly after their Futurama appearance, Pete Burns negotiated a major-label deal for Dead Or Alive.
The initial releases on Epic Records were quite a bit more accessible and danceable than the previous muck they had recorded, and Dead Or Alive began to hit the charts. Their debut album, Sophisticated Boom Boom – co-written by Hussey – was recorded and scheduled for a January 1984 release. But Hussey and Burns were fighting. “I didn’t like the direction the music was taking,� explained Hussey. “It had strayed from what I believed in… I couldn’t have gone along with their ‘poppy’ image. No matter how many compensations success may have, it’s never enough to make up for turning your back on what you believe in.� Hussey also wanted to take Dead Or Alive’s popular tunes on tour. He had always loved playing live and hungered for the fruits of the road. Burns, now married despite his androgynous and outrageous appearance, was more domestic and preferred the studio to the stage. Their arguments ended in divorce; whether Hussey left or was fired has never quite been resolved, but in any case by September 1983, immediately after recording his parts for Sophisticated Boom Boom, he was a free agent.
Eldritch’s friend at CBS heard about Hussey’s departure. Although Hussey had had offers – including one to join Frankie Goes To Hollywood – he had not yet settled on his next move. Then Eldritch called.
Of course Hussey knew The Sisters Of Mercy, if only by their records and reputation. But he liked what he heard and he responded enthusiastically when Eldritch explained to him that The Sisters were looking for a songwriter who could broaden their audience by writing more accessible songs, not just a guitar player who could do the parts. It is ironic that Hussey claimed to have left Dead Or Alive because their music had become too “poppy,� but then proceeded to graft an unmistakeable pop sensibility on to his subsequent band. In any case, Eldritch and Hussey talked a bit on the phone and Eldritch hung up without committing to anything. A few days later he called Hussey again and asked whether he would consider changing his name. Hussey declined. Eldritch caved on this point and Hussey enthusiastically accepted his invitation to audition for The Sisters Of Mercy.
Hussey had traveled to Leeds to audition, but didn’t play a note for Eldritch and Marx: “We just spent the afternoon chopping out lines, and then I got the job. Obviously I had come recommended and Andrew knew I could play. It was just a case of whether or not we got on or not. Which we did. For that first day anyway.� There was an immediate attraction between the Eldritch and Hussey when they met. One chronicler of the union wrote:
Eldritch himself may not have known precisely what it was that attracted the pair to one another, although ambition certainly came into it. Before Hussey’s arrival, and the occasional flash of mass appeal notwithstanding, The Sisters existed entirely within a world of closeted cultdom… Hussey, though his eye for what cynics might call ‘the main chance’ had still to fully focus itself, was nevertheless firmly entrenched in the notions of commercial appeal and, while Eldritch’s contributions to The Sisters would not, for the most part, change too much, his willingness to permit Hussey full rein within the band’s musical department certainly represented more than a casual lightening-up of the group’s hitherto stygian visage.
“He was looking to do something which was more or less something which we were looking to do,� explained Eldritch rather cryptically about his choice of Hussey. “I think it was a good choice.�
Apart from Hussey’s ability to write poppier songs, Eldritch also saw in him the potential to act as a spokesman for interviews Eldritch was unwilling or unable to do himself. Eldritch had no stomach for the platitudinous drivel certain magazines published, but he recognized the need for someone from within the band to do those interviews if they were to reach a broader audience. “I don’t talk to fanzines,� said Eldritch. “I just can’t communicate with those people. And I don’t do the teen papers too well.� Thus Hussey was roped into the job and he immediately proved his mettle: “I have great faith in humanity, and I guess one of my fave possessions is deep emotion and being able to wear my heart on my sleeve,� explained Hussey in one of his first interviews. He never seemed short of a cute anecdote or endearing soundbite worthy of TeenBeat. Eldritch, on the other hand, tended to put people off. “The BBC used to ring up once a month and say, ‘We’re thinking about playing one of your records. How about giving us a little anecdote to introduce it on the radio?’,� he related. “I told ‘em quite straight that I didn’t have anything remotely amusing that didn’t have a great deal to do with vomit.�
So in November 1983 Hussey was drafted into the band and they were once again a quartet. In a press release, Eldritch noted that all previous guitarists who had played with them – and here he lumps Ben Gunn in with Dave Humphries and Tom Ashton – were “stubbornly additional� and that the Adams/Eldritch/Hussey/Marx lineup was, for the first time, “permanent.�
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