As a co-founding member of The Sisters Of Mercy – together with singer Andrew Eldritch – guitarist Gary Marx was a key architect of the postpunk sound that would later be dubbed ‘goth’. And now he’s back with Green Ginger Jive, a stomping glam rock album featuring guests including The Mission’s Wayne Hussey (the first time they’d recorded together since the Sisters’ 1985 debut album First And Last And Always), The Wonder Stuff’s Miles Hunt and The Membranes’ John Robb.
How do you view your time with The Sisters Of Mercy?
All of the petty arguments are out of the way, so what’s left are the recordings and lots of them I’m really proud of. I’m very comfortable now to be the guy that set up The Sisters of Mercy with Andrew Eldritch and it’s given me the platform to do whatever I’ve done since.
What prompted you to start making music again?
I’ve never stopped making music. This is something that I have in common with Andrew. Even though I don’t release music, I make music all of the time. It’s part of what I do and I just do it for fun.
What made you decide to record a glam album?
When I turned 60, it made me track down a few old friends who were that age as well. A lot of them talked about me in terms of the teenage me, but then we got into lockdown, so we started keeping in touch with video calling and I started doing the odd jokey song or sometimes a cover. I did The Sweet’s Ballroom Blitz because glam was our shared vocabulary. So I kept writing glam songs that were about the teenage me. They became important to me and were a gift to my friends.
As a son of Hull, did you feel the spirit of Mick Ronson around you?
I did. Andrew was a Bowie nut when I met him. I always say that’s why he latched on to me – because I’m from Hull, he thought I was Ronno to his Bowie.
How did Wayne Hussey – your fellow guitarist from The Sisters – come to guest on the album?
I hadn’t spoken with him in about thirty years. He had his autobiography, Salad Days, coming out and he rang me out of courtesy to say, “Look, this book is coming out and there’s nothing to worry about; there’s no scandal there about you.” And when I started making the album, I remembered that he’d had his own glam project called Metal Gurus. I asked him to sing, so he did it and it sounds great.
What’s the deal with the glam elephant head featuring a Bowie Aladdin Sane-style lightning bolt that features on your album cover?
I’d had the papier mâché elephant’s head as a decoration in the house and I painted the lightning bolt on. I took it into the studio as a totem along with a banana and three albums – Bowie’s Aladdin Sane, Slade Alive and Slayed by Slade. One day, I was at the mixing desk and just as a bit of fun, asked someone to take a photo of me and I held the head up. It wasn’t quite the size of my head so I held it in front of me to fill where my head would be. The picture just really amused me.
Any live plans?
I’m doing a launch show for the label, Wrecking Ball Sounds. If it goes well, it’ll probably prompt me to do some more.
