Heartland

from the facebook Sisters 81-85 fb page. (because some of us are not so elite to not bother to join). thx to Lagartija Nick for finding this out.

‎Nikolas Vitus Lagartija‎ to The Sisters Of Mercy 1980-1985 Group
Yesterday at 15:01 ·
Just in case anyone hasn't seen this, I thought I'd post it here, a great interview by everyone's favourite goth DJ and Sisters fan (having first seen them in 1981) Mark Musolf with a relaxed and personable Mr That Guitarist. Unfortunately the sound levels aren't great (partly due to the background noise in the pub) so those whose first language isn't English might struggle to make bits out, but for members of this group the key moments are :
a) the beginning where Wayne confirms that we have Si Denbigh to thank/blame(!) for Wayne taking on vocal duties when the m*****n was formed;
b) 3:30 in where he talks about the disappointing reaction of some Sisters fans in the recent "missing link" debate and then talks about the infamous "you're fired" phone call to Gary Marx on Eldritch's instructions;
c) 11:54 onwards. WH talks about when he joined TSOM : "When I was first in the band I used to sleep on Eldritch's couch,,, and we would rehearse downstairs, but then I found a house...I came in just before "Temple of Love" was released and I reaped the benefits of mini-celebrity in Leeds just by being in the Sisters which was quite exciting".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QHzYDH8LPM

Right at the beginning of some upcoming (probably nasty) discussion, in which I won't participate further,

a short reminder of the lovely interview here https://www.myheartland.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=2140

HL) You where the first to jump ship from The Sisters – was that a difficult decision?

GM) Not at all, it’s become difficult rationalising it sometimes since, but to the 24 year old me it was as obvious as leaving school at 16.

HL) Craig and Wayne went shortly afterwards – what was your relationship with them like at the time?

GM) My relationship with all three of them was completely shattered. If anything I felt more animosity towards Craig and Wayne than I did to Andrew, because they hadn’t had the balls to leave when I did. Andrew could never be accused of a lack of courage in those days.

Does he tell us is Von gay?

It's a nice little chat really. He's an affable chap & Mark didn't dwell too much on the tired old questions.
Even when he mentions the Sisters fans reactions towards him he takes it in his stride & sort of shrugs it off.
Good on him

Being645 wrote:...upcoming (probably nasty) discussion...

I hope you're wrong...

Actually, let's put it on notice:

Any sign of this thread getting nasty and it will be locked.

Was going to post the link here originally but decided the timing wasn't right(!) but now it's here, there are a couple of interesting questions arising from it for us amateur TSOM historians.

As @Being645 correctly points out, there is a discrepancy in the narrative of Gary's departure. Did he jump or was he pushed?

Secondly, just as in the current VLR article which has Wayne joining in September 1983, in this interview he also joins before TOL was released. We seem to be inching towards the exact sequence of events for the previous "split", i.e. Ben appears to leave immediately after the US East Coast dates and Wayne is already in situ before the end of the month. However, for reasons yet unclear he doesn't feature in any live shows in October (Sweden/US West Coast), and there is no definitive evidence yet that the Hacienda gig did not take place.

If I understand correctly, Ben left just before the Stockholm show. I assume the remaining trio just played out the last couple of dates without him.
Maybe that Wayne hadn't had time to rehearse the set meant that he didn't feature until the following spring. ?

http://sisterswiki.org/Tom_Ashton

Rumour has it that Eldritch asked Tom to join The Sisters at this point. He didn't.

see also
https://www.myheartland.co.uk/viewtopic ... tom+ashton

Being645 wrote:http://sisterswiki.org/Tom_Ashton

Tom Ashton played guitar for the Sisters circa 1981 for a few live dates after Dave Humphries had left. Rumour has it that Eldritch asked Tom to join The Sisters at this point. He didn't.

Fixed that for you (if memory serves)

Nikolas Vitus Lagartija wrote:

Being645 wrote:http://sisterswiki.org/Tom_Ashton

Tom Ashton played guitar for the Sisters circa 1981 for a few live dates after Dave Humphries had left. Rumour has it that Eldritch asked Tom to join The Sisters at this point. He didn't.

Fixed that for you (if memory serves)

OK.