Waiting For Another War: A History of The Sisters Of Mercy Vol. I: 1980-1985
Genre/Influences: New Wave, Gothic Rock.
Format: Book (paperback) – also available as kindle.
Background/Info: The Sisters Of Mercy are still a cult-band nowadays, although they officially only released 3 studio-albums and started their career back in 1980. They are worldwide seen as one of the founders of the gothic rock genre and are also one of the most bootlegged bands ever. The American author Trevor Ristow was already a huge fan of the band in his teenage years and released a Sisters’ fanzine in the ’80s. He collected lots of press articles, stories from close friends of the bandmembers and his own live experiences to write this book.
Content: First we learned to know the importance of certain people in the beginning period of the band as Claire Shearsby (dj, keyboard-player, sound-mixer and ex-girlfriend of Andrew Eldritch), Ruth Polsky (booker, tourguide, fixer, photographer), Kenny Giles (sound-engineer, studio-owner), Jon Langford (Mekons, The Three Jons) and many others. But most of all we experienced mastermind Andrew as the control freak inside the band which caused lots of conflicts with other people. The stories that are being told are not only about frontman Andrew Eldritch, but also about the other (former) band members Wayne Hussey, Craig Adams, Gary Marx and Ben Gunn.
Many other topics are covered such as The God Squad and The Sisterhood, the very strong Sisters-fanbases, the first American tour (September 1983) and the tough negotiations between Andrew and some major record-companies. The start and rise of the band is very well clarified, starting from the first gig on February 16th, 1981 (Alciun College – York) until the “final” concert at the Royal Albert Hall on June 18th, 1985. Here, the legendary video “Wake” was recorded and it was also the final concert for founding member Mark Pearman alias Gary Marx. Later the split with Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams would also follow, deciding them to continue as The Mission.
+ + + : We get a deeper look into parts of the private life of the band members at that time, as well as interesting stories of what sometimes happened backstage, the tension between the band members and also the relationships of the band members at that time with their girlfriends. About 50 rare pictures, very detailed information on gigs, special anecdotes, explanation of the deeper meaning of the lyrics, the founding of the Merciful Release label … it’s all there.
– – – : Most of the covered topics are about the genius Andrew Eldritch, always driven on amphetamines and not too shy to say how much he hates being labelled as “goth-band”. Some parts of the book are written from the own perceptions of the author, which can of course be different from your own point of view.
Conclusion: Every old-school Sisters-fan should own this 270 pages entertaining masterpiece for sure! The added context that the author provides to song-texts and many other topics is amazing! We are already looking forward for the release of volume II that will cover the ’90’s era.
Artist: www.thesistersofmercy.com
Label: www.gkwfilmworks.com/sisters – www.facebook.com/waitingforanotherwar
About The Sisters Of Mercy
The Sisters Of Mercy are an English rock band formed in Leeds in 1980 by Andrew Eldritch and Gary Marx, whose real name is Mark Pearman. The pair set up the Merciful Release label for their first single “The Damage Done” in 1980 and built the group around a drum machine credited as Doktor Avalanche. Ben Gunn joined on guitar, followed by Craig Adams on bass; Wayne Hussey replaced Gunn in 1983.
The singles “Body Electric”, “Alice” and “Temple Of Love” appeared between 1982 and 1983 and the first American tour ran in September 1983. The debut album “First And Last And Always” arrived in March 1985. The Royal Albert Hall concert of 18 June 1985 was the last with Marx and was filmed for the video release “Wake”. Hussey and Adams left afterwards and went on as The Mission.
Eldritch continued the band through “Floodland” in 1987 and “Vision Thing” in 1990, then stopped releasing new records in a dispute with the label WEA. The group has worked as a touring act since, playing unreleased material live. In March 2026 Side-Line reported that the band cancelled a Brutal Assault appearance to move up the recording schedule for a new album.
The book reviewed here covers the years 1980 to 1985 and is the first of two planned volumes. It is sold through the author’s own site rather than a record label, and no Bandcamp or streaming release accompanies it.
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