Andrew Eldritch is doing “God’s work” today. But before you go blaming the Sisters Of Mercy's redoubtable frontman for the binfire that is the state of the world in 2024, the 65-year-old musician simply means that he's currently deeply immersed in Sisters business, rehearsing the latest iteration of his band for what will be their second North American tour in less than two years, launching on September 14 at Detroit’s legendary Fillmore venue.
“Yesterday, I put in a full shift and we wrote a new song,” he reveals. “We have an extra bounce in our step. We’re in a good place right now.”
Fans who've been paying attention to the travails of the iconic Yorkshire band over the past year will be aware that Eldritch's succinct summary of their current bill of health marks an extraordinary turnaround. Because, not so very long ago, it appeared as if we were witnessing the slow death of the Sisters. Their 2023 European tour was plagued by ill health, cancellations and was, their frontman admits, the most miserable experience he has endured in 40-plus years of touring.
“I wish you hadn’t brought it up,” he admits, “but it needs to be addressed.”
Before we go any further, it's important to mention that there have been major changes in the Sisters' camp since their last jaunt across the Atlantic. Eldritch and guitarist Ben Christo – the band's two longest-serving members - are both present and correct. But, having discharged his touring duties as a Nameless Ghoul with Ghost, guitarist Chris Catalyst is back in the fold, nursing Doktor Avalanche, which entails manning the conjoined laptops that function as the drum machine, and contain all the non-guitar parts. Secondly, Kai from Anglo-Japanese alt. metal band, Esprit D’Air, has replaced Dylan Smith on guitar and backing vocals.
One of these line-up changes was smooth. The other, to put it mildly, was not. But we'll get into all that and much, much more in what is Eldritch’s first interview in many months.
How was last year’s US tour for you?
It was interesting. Maybe a bit too interesting at times. It was the first time I’ve ever played in a bowling alley. It was like half bowling alley, half disco. All in one room. Very strange. The PA was one of those old white plastic disco boxes but it sounded amazing. It turned out to be a really good gig.
You played the Sick New World festival, with the likes of Slipknot and System Of A Down.
We bumped into the people from Sepultura. We used to play football with them. Not American football, I stress, I’m not built for that. One time, Kenny our merch guy, was doing swag for them as well and we got roped into their football team. They’d take on anybody they came across. They had the shirts and everything. I’ve still got my shirt somewhere.
What position did you play?
I used to be right midfield. That’s where I belong.
When you’re not touring, do you go to the US as a civilian?
Not recently, but there have been times when I’ve been a bit bored and thought, I’ll go to Vegas for three months.
So you like a flutter?
I do not gamble. It’s one of two things I do not do: that and heroin. But it’s possible to live there very cheaply because the hotel rooms are subsidised by people who do gamble. I like the weather, that desert heat. And downstairs in the hotel there was a 24-hour bar that you could smoke in.
Have you been to the Liberace Museum in Vegas?
Course I have! It’s shut now. Vegas is a wonderfully ephemeral place. So much iconography and they really don’t care about it. You can turn up at a place one day and the next all its accoutrements are left lying in a car park. The hotel I stayed in doesn’t exist anymore. It’s an empty lot. I mean, you shouldn’t build a city in the middle of the fucking desert to start with. The whole idea of Vegas is nonsensical.
You still seem enthralled by the US. It dominates the imagination of your generation.
When I was growing up – which I sort of still am - my ambition was not to be in XTC, it was to be in The Stooges.
Your fascination is with outsider American culture then?
Oh yeah. If I was built for it, I’d be in the Hell’s Angels. Also, I’m rubbish at riding motorcycles. I have the scars to prove it.
A Bob Dylan-style crash?
In a field in Hamburg.
Donald Trump is the most incompetent, venal, repulsive character on the planet
Not quite as serious, I hope.
Well, facial scarring. Had my chin rebuilt. That’s just regular rite of passage stuff.
What’s your US election prediction? Last time I asked a rock musican this (Cristina Martinez of Boss Hog), she predicted a Hillary Clinton landslide...
This morning I’m feeling pretty chipper. I do not think Kamala Harris is the answer to everything but she’s clearly got something that connects to the American people. More power to her. And Trump? Well … (Eldritch’s voices rises by an octave at this point) how is that even a thing? How was it ever a thing? The most incompetent, venal, repulsive character on the planet!
Will you watch live in November in the hope of seeing Trump go down in flames?
Yes. Every time I think about Trump, which is a lot, I’m reminded of Forbidden Planet, that manifestation of the American Id. It’s genuinely monstrous, that pure nastiness that he has allowed to erupt across the nation.
Did you stay up all night and watch that rogue’s gallery of Tories get kicked out on UK election night?
No. Since Brexit, I have not followed British politics. I get the sense Britain just doesn’t matter anymore. It’s so thoroughly shot itself in the foot.
I check out the front pages of The Guardian, The Telegraph and the Mail, but I spend a lot more time reading Salon, The Bulwark, The Hill, The Daily Beast. I used to read Slate for Roger Sollenberger whose work I very much admire, but he moved to The Daily Beast, so so did I [Editor's note: Roger Sollenberger was in fact a staff writer at Salon before moving to The Daily Beast, not Slate]. I read Salon because I think Heather Digby Parton is very good and I like the way Amanda Marcotte writes. I read Charles Pierce at The Atlantic religiously. Most of what I clock on a daily basis is American politics. It’s a fascinating landscape.
Terri Nunn of Berlin sang Temple of Love with you in Los Angeles on the last tour and seemed delighted to be there. What’s the story behind that?
It was her idea. I was quite surprised she turned up. I did get a letter from her lawyer about a month before asking for money, banging on about having written part of Under The Gun. I didn’t take it badly or even personally. I look fifty years older than the last time I saw her. She looks exactly the same.
Another old acquaintance you met up with on that tour was Jürgen Engler from Die Krupps. You remixed them in the '90s.
Very successfully I like to think! I did two tracks for them. No-one really notices the other one but I always thought there was a great pop song in Fatherland and that’s what I was trying to bring out. We’re both very happy to wear our politics on sleeve. In that synth band end of the pond, there’s a lot of right-wing nonsense. And Die Krupps. Aren’t. That.
After that 2023 US tour came an extraordinary autumn and winter: a European and UK tour that was a mixture of triumph and horror. And pure Spinal Tap. On the first night, at the Roundhouse in London, you lost a guitarist...
...In a very public manner. It was unfortunate. I think people know why he was ushered off-stage. It was self-evident. That’s not why he didn’t come back. It was something that happened immediately afterwards. We’ve all had moments on-stage when we’ve been a bit sub-par. That’s forgivable. There was stuff, which happened immediately afterwards, that was not. Lines were crossed. I don’t really want to get into it. I could defend my corner, but it would be ungracious of me.
Dylan was a fabulous guitarist, a terrific composer and great stage presence yet, with no hesitation whatsoever, you fired him. Wasn’t that a little hasty
You have to transgress to be fired from a rock’n’roll band, but he was determined to do it. And do it, he did. I did what had to be done. I don’t regret it. I doubt, in hindsight, nor does he.
I think he is a great composer. I still think Black Sail is amazing. That whole song came together in a day. Oh, so sweet.
So after that debacle, you had another show starting in less than 22 hours.
I knew we could do the gig with just Ben playing guitar. I had to run around a bit more and cover more stage. He had to run around a bit more and cover more stage. He would have to play rhythm and lead at the same time – but he can do that. Not ideal, but cancelling the tour wasn’t an option. Despite having Chris Catalyst with us, we never considered that as the next move. Chris’s destiny is to be a guitar player. It’s not to nurse the Doktor. So me and Ben put Ben’s head together and he said, 'I know a person.' We tried it and it instantly worked.
You’re referring to Kai from Esprit D’Air. I was at their first gig in Würzburg and my reaction was...
“Who is that girl?
Yes, actually. They were in silhouette, had long hair...
They do carry their guitar at girl height. That silhouette is completely ‘girl with guitar’.
All the languages I speak – apart from English and Dutch - are gendered and I’m bad at code switching. I introduced Kai to my cat the other day as 'Uncle Kai'. I was worried I had misgendered my friend.
Kai did a great job in Würzburg. And after.
They had to learn an awful lot of songs in a week. Initially Kai was just helping us out but after a couple of gigs, I took them to one side and said, Do you want to make this permanent? And they did.
How was Kai sold to you? Clips of an androgynous person playing prog-metal, singing in Japanese?
I didn’t get any homework. First time I met Kai was at breakfast in a hotel somewhere down the road. I was initially a bit dubious because Dylan had been one of Ben’s recommendations. So part of me was thinking, Here we go again. So far, we haven’t found out what Kai’s major character deficiency is. Let’s hope we never do.
You’ve never discovered Ben’s. He’s been in the band for 18 years.
I know exactly what it is and I can deal with it. It’s not a deal-breaker.
Ben Christo: what a trooper! Absolutely rock solid when he needed to be.
It never crossed my mind he wasn’t up to it. I don’t think it crossed his either. We just found ourselves in a situation we knew we could deal with. He is ridiculously self-confident. I’ve heard him talk about what’s on the other side of the mirror, but I don’t get to see it. All I get to see is resilience.
That tour – not just the dramas of the first part - really took its toll on you. There were consequences. Multiple cancellations, even after the support band had played.
I was mortified. I’d made that decision hours earlier, but other people were crossing their fingers hoping for the best: “Maybe he’ll get a second wind.” It is pretty terrible to cancel a gig five minutes before showtime.
I’ve learned to know when I’m not up to it and it’s best to just not go on. Others have that “See if you can get through it” attitude. It’s even worse to go on and be pitiful. I’d rather go, No, this is not happening.
You've fully recovered?
I spent some time in hospital having everything checked. And there’s basically nothing wrong with me. I go up to Glasgow to have all my doctoring done and the dude’s looking through my numbers going, “This is all wrong. You should be way un-fitter than this! Your numbers are perfect.”
I’m working bloody hard at the moment and then I’m having a holiday before the American tour. The Psychedelic Furs are playing the Alhambra (in Granada). I think I should be there. I haven’t seen that band since forever.
You’ve done rough tours before. 1985 was so awful you didn’t tour for 5 years. So if 2023 was worse than that...
2023 was really bad and it looked like it was all my fault. I know it wasn’t, but it looks like it’s all on me, which is unfortunate. So personally, I felt very miserable. I still feel miserable thinking about it but we are doing our best to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
How? No-one wants to see a repeat in the US.
We think we’ve addressed that issue. We have a different tour manager now. I need to sleep in the daytime. I don’t need to be travelling. My work is in the night-time and if I’m not allowed to sleep during the day, all hell breaks loose.
When I’m onstage my job is to be God. And I’m pretty good at it.
There are thousands and thousands of people who care whether you are well or not. How does that knowledge affect you? What about having people shout “Andrew, we love you” at you?
I don’t take it personally. Like I don’t take it personally if they shout, “You’re rubbish” and whistle through the whole damn gig. When I’m up there in that headspace my job is to be God and I’m pretty good at it.
But when you are not in that headspace? People do care.
I care about the songs and if the songs are respected. Anything which helps with that is good, even if I do find most of it to be a sort of morbid fascination, rather than caring. I’m happy for people to be morbidly fascinated with me, if it helps with the songs.
And yet the UK dates – at the end of this very gruelling tour - were great. Explain that?
The whole Kai thing worked out for us. We were really chuffed with ourselves. We are also excited to bring Kai to America. They’ve only been to New York City. I think they might find it a bit tricky in Texas, what with their demeanour and all. We’re going to have to keep an eye on them: I can see trouble coming looking for Kai.
Half of America has gone very much backwards. The other half is doing fine. The other half is rocking. I’m glad to see black women winning. Fingers crossed. We’re going to be touring in the thick of it.
What else will be different for The Sisters this time in the US? New songs?
Panic Is An Option. That we wrote yesterday. It’s a banger. Ben keeps coming up with slow stuff. “Not today, Ben. I’m only interested in bangers.”
Will there be songs never played in the US or Canada before?
Yes. We also messed around with Better Reptile, so it’s now a better Better Reptile. We played it in rehearsal and thought, That’s not really finished, is it? We’ve definitely tweaked it, so that might get another outing.
There are two very good songs only ever played once in Europe: There is a Door and She’s a Monster.
That’s today’s job. We like them, but they need a bit of work, so we’re going to put a bit of work in. There’s definitely something there. She’s a Monster is very funny: There is a Door is a bit of a slog. We haven’t cracked it. Something about the song is inherently hard work, and it shouldn’t be. The better of our new songs flow so easily and seem so instantly righteous. There’s not much to But Genevieve but it’s glorious.
You’ve been double dipping lyrics. Genevieve and Don’t Drive on Ice share a verse.
I don’t see why I shouldn’t be allowed to reprise myself. I know it’s not the kind of thing one generally does. I did it at one gig and thought, That works, so I kept on doing it.
There was new stage and lighting design in Europe. Is that going to the US and Canada?
I’m calling Alan our lighting fella about that today. It’s black camouflage netting over lights. That camo is really hard to source because it has to be fire-retardant. Funnily enough, normal camo is not. You would have thought being battlefield-ready, it would be.
It reminds me of Jenny Holzer’s text-scrolling LED installations. Or flares falling to earth, as in Apocalypse Now.
Yup, the bridge of Do Lung. That scene: “Hey, Soldier, do you know who’s in command here?” I’ve been trying to replicate that on stage for decades. I see pictures of the old very smoky stages and I think there’s a lot of the bridge at Do Lung in that too. What I wanted this time were lianas hanging from the top truss, which we weren’t allowed to do, so we’ve got pillars instead; stalagmites instead of stalactites.
Anyone on your wish-list for guest spots?
They’re all dead.
Neil Young seems like a kindred spirit. In the same way Joey Ramone did.
Neil Young and Stevie Nicks are alive.
Ah, you’ve got me. Yes, those two. Every time a US agent asks what we want, my answer has always been the same: We want the Neil Young tour. It’s not like I sit around listening to Neil Young records but he seems a kindred spirit. In the same way Joey Ramone did. And on a different level, I’m always happy to bump into New Model Army.
Other’s people’s music has touched you deeply. Maybe that doesn’t get discussed enough in your interviews. Punk rock rewired your whole life.
I’m also very much a child of the Glamtastic. I used to live and breathe music but when you start making it your ears turn into producer ears. I can’t enjoy a pop song because I’m thinking about the EQ on the snare drum.
Let's do some quick questions on your foundational musical taste. Born to Run or Nebraska?
Darkness on the Edge of Town all the way for me. Never heard Nebraska.
That’s a surprise. That has Springsteen in Suicide-mode, and you love Suicide.
People told me Nebraska was a bit gloomy.
You know Springsteen used to do Suicide's Dream Baby Dream to huge crowds a few years ago? Just him and a keyboard.
Oh, God bless him. That just might bring me to tears.
Radio Ethiopia or Easter?
Because The Night is good and I was impressed by the feminist armpits, but Radio Ethiopia every time. For Ain’t It Strange.
Springsteen and Patti Smith must be rock’n’roll Valhalla for you?
And Jimmy Iovine. That is the trifecta right there.
Talk Talk or Forever Now?
Everything about that album, The Colour of Spring, is out of time, but it gels. That record is fucking perfect. You can understand why the guy [Mark Hollis] stopped. (Eldritch’s voice goes up an octave again) Where are you going to go after that? I’ve got a lot of respect for people that just stopped.
That’s an interesting answer but I meant say Talk Talk Talk, The Psychedelic Furs album!
Forever Now. Better songs and I didn’t like the cover of Talk Talk Talk. Horrible.
Kick Out The Jams or It’s Alive?
Oof. Both in my blood stream but I’ll go for It’s Alive. I’ve modelled the whole of our song progression live on it. No gaps. The only way Joey [Ramone] managed to memorise his set was by learning all of it as one block, not individual songs.
Space Ritual or No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith?
Oh, No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith. There’s good stuff on Space Ritual but there’s a bit of ‘woodland fairy’ nonsense with Hawkwind. I love the space rock but you have to be very selective with Hawkwind.
Made in Japan or The Song Remains the Same?
Made in Japan. A lot of widdling for the sake of widdling on The Song Remains the Same. A lot of guitar wank.
Station To Station or Diamond Dogs?
Woah … [Long pause] Diamond Dogs because I don’t think anything beats Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (Reprise).
You are correct in thinking that. Funhouse or The Stooges?
Funhouse.
That is also the correct answer. It’s one of the greatest things ever made by humans.
Hurgh! [mimicking Iggy Pop] Just for the way it goes ‘Hurgh!’
That’s a strangely accurate impression.
I know. I’ve practised this. It’s so eloquent, isn’t it? Like “A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop-bam-boom.”
Nurses in the '70s were mad for Leonard Cohen. And I was mad for the nurses.
The next answer would be Sabotage/Live, but you can’t have that, so of these mid-70s John Cale albums...
The one with I Keep A Close Watch on.
Death of a Ladies Man or End of the Century?
Neither.
Incorrect! Death of Ladies Man is a wonderfully wrong record.
I associate Leonard Cohen records – well, one particular Leonard Cohen record - with going round the Nurses’ Home (in Oxford) and having a fun time. Nurses, as it turns out, in the 70s, were mad for Leonard Cohen. And I was mad for the nurses.
It’s become almost traditional to end your Louder interviews with a ‘True or False’ round. These are ten stories I’ve come across researching my two books on your band...
1. You have a Stevie Nicks T-shirt?
True. Michael Alago took me to see Stevie Nicks at Radio City (in New York, in 1983) and bought me a pink T-shirt, which I still have. Mentally it sits in my closet next to a white Kym Wilde T-shirt. Michael was at Elektra back then. He was always hanging around the building. I wasn’t entirely sure what he did but I liked him.
I met him again on the last US tour. Unfortunately, we only had enough time to say hello and have a quick hug. I was very dismayed they made a documentary about him (Who the Fuck is That Guy?) before they made one about me! He came across as just adorable – which he is.
2. A Sisters guitarist once wore pyjamas to a soundcheck in an attempt to get fired.
I do not remember that. Also, I don’t think I know anybody who owns pyjamas. Who wears pyjamas? Nobody does that, outside of a 1970s sex comedy. Actually, Tony James might. That’s the kind of thing Tony James might do.
3. Speaking of the devil... when Tony James joined the Sisters it was in his contract that your hotel rooms on tour were not to be better than his. And he would pop round to check.
I don’t think we ever did have a contract. We had a gentleman’s agreement about percentage points on the Vision Thing album and that was it.
4. You once had a Ramones plectrum – given to you by one of the Ramones –stolen from a hotel room?
I certainly lost it at some point. It was from Johnny. For a right-wing nutter, Johnny was actually very approachable. And I had a good time with Joey upstairs at the Danceteria doing things one should not do. I never met the rest of them. I mean, you wouldn’t walk up to Dee Dee and start a conversation, would you? You’d take one look and instantly cower.
5. The last punch-up you had was in a Moscow airport?
Yeah. I think it happens quite a lot in Moscow. Either on your way in or on your way out, the powers-that-be send an agent provocateur to see if they can start something and shake you down. So I got decked. It wasn’t a two-way thing. I thought, I am not engaging in a fight, in an airport, with someone who has clearly been put here to start something; I am just not going there. So I just lay on the ground. Chris (Catalyst) stepped in and stopped it going any further.
6. Your first pair of Aviator shades were Andy Gill’s? And you pinched them off his amp during a Gang of Four gig?
Allegedly I did. I don’t remember doing it.
7. You have a large collection of Motörhead and Hawkwind CDs in one of your houses?
Yes.
8. When you sang New Gold Dream on stage with Utah Saints, you did the entire song in a crouch because “that’s what Jim Kerr does.”
That is such a good story, I wish I’d thought of it.
9. You are a great admirer of Serge Gainsbourg, including his French lyrics?
More of a Jacques Brel man. Something he did really well, and which John Lydon did very well also, is be very, very sweaty on stage. People like to know you’re putting a shift in.
10. You watched the original Tron on acid in a Leeds cinema?
I don’t remember that. But then I wouldn’t, would I? But I think that’s apocryphal. I stopped doing psychedelics when Thatcher came in. The two do not mix.
The Sisters of Mercy’s North American tour begins on September 14.
Here: The Story of The Sisters of Mercy’s Long-Awaited Fourth Album by Mark Andrews is funding now through Unbound.
