Long before I got caught up in my family’s communist past I was an East Anglian small town goth obsessed with The Sisters of Mercy. In 1987, at the age of fourteen, I begged my dad to let me go and see Ghost Dance, the band formed by Sisters co-founder Gary Marx at Lowestoft Pier. Alas, he thought I was too young and it was two years until I was allowed to go to my first gig (Fields of the Nephilim at UEA in 1989- they were ace!)
Anyway, Marx has been fairly low profile since the demise of Ghost Dance in the late 1980s. He was always my favourite member of the Sisters because he looked so fucking cool and, as so many years have passed, I thought I’d never see him. Until tonight. Gary Marx is playing and telling all.
I’m in Old Woollen in Farsley watching the heartwarming scenes of old faces from the 1980s Leeds goth scene greet each other while I nurse a pint on my own as I was unwilling to subject my partner to a level of detail about the early years of The Sisters of Mercy that I thought she couldn’t cope with. I admit I was wrong. I’ve spotted the parent of one of my son’s childhood friends in tow with his kid who’s now the age when I was most in thrall to the Sisters. The guy used to do their merch. I’ve already texted my kid to say it’s as if I dragged him along to a CPGB meeting. The show’s about to start so I’ll hold off for a while.
…………….
OK! He started with Anaconda, played the Damage Done and Adrenochrome, Burn was on there and the last song was Heartland- my favourite Sisters song of all time. The anecdotes were funny and he was an engaging performer. So why am I telling you all this?
They’re on the left. They’ve always been on the left. Since the days where their drum machine sounded like, as Jon Langford described, “a mouse tap dancing.” They came from a scene that included Gang of Four and The Mekons and, although they’re not explicitly political they’re actually consumed by politics. I wasn’t old enough to see the original version of the band but I’ve seen most incarnations and I’m heartened that they are defiantly supportive of their current non binary guitarist. Gary Marx is actually Mark Pearman, a pseudonym for the DHSS but to be honest all of that doesn’t matter right now.
I had the best time tonight.
Alan Stewart.
Postscript. Sunday evening. Countryfile’s on.
If the above post doesn’t make much sense it’s because I was slightly tipsy (understatement) when I wrote it. Now leaning into my hangover…
Breaking the Fetters 