Teen Gothic

I just discovered The Snake Corps via the Spotify algorithm doing it's thing … was wondering why I'd never heard them before and then realized that I basically had since they were doing a number of SL&G songs.

And then I found via Wikipedia that the band was actually made up members of SL&G? I'm not really clear on the chronology of which band was formed when, does anyone have any insights?

NONE OF WHAT FOLLOWS IS INTENDED AS A COMPLAINT OR CRITICISM. I know some people will probably be a little sensitive about this stuff, so I think it's worth stating that from the outset. I don't think The Sisters of Mercy have to work harder or be better. I don't think they owe us anything. If Eldritch & Company are happy, that's good enough for me. I'm largely just curious about why they operate the way they do. I don't read interviews or articles about the band, so I'm not sure if any of this has ever been addressed.

That said, I went to the Boston and NYC shows last month, and I got into a discussion about the band with a friend who picked me up from the airport. He owned and enjoyed Floodland, but knew little else about The Sisters. For the life of me I couldn't really explain certain decisions they've made over the years, namely stuff like:

They have not released a studio album in almost 30 years. Clearly they've been writing new material all this time, and performing it live. Why aren't there studio tracks? Eldritch seemed pretty fed up with record labels in the 90's, so that was understandable at the time. But we now live in an era of self-published music. Surely they could record stuff and sell it digitally, or sell self-pressed CDs at live shows. I would love to hear what their new stuff sounds like with proper production. I think in interviews Eldritch has made excuses about the cost of making new recordings, but certainly far less notable acts have managed to release music despite the cost.

They have virtually no presence on the internet. There is no official account for the band on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. The Sisters' official web page was pretty clearly designed in 1999, and hasn't been significantly updated since. Visiting their site is like stepping into a time machine, in a pleasant way. I kind of like how weirdly sterile and threadbare it is. Their merchandise page only accepts payment in UK pounds sterling, which is going to inherently limit the number of people buying merch. I don't want or expect them to be crazed capitalists, but it'd be nice if I could buy stuff without jumping through hoops.

They stopped touring in America for 15 years. The Sisters used to swing through North America every 2-3 years in the 2000's. I went to a few shows at the House of Blues Orlando during this time, and admittedly each one had diminishing returns in terms of crowd size. The first show I went to was crazy-packed, and the last one had a pretty sparse crowd. Maybe they thought a hiatus was necessary, and that their American audience was dwindling? Maybe they just run a lean-and-mean operation, and doing the Europe/Latin America festival scene was easier or more profitable? The 2023 American tour seems to have gone pretty well, so I hope they will come back soon.

The "new" logo. Why was the fairly beloved old Merciful Release logo replaced with the weird alien design? Aliens were in vogue in the 90's so I kinda get it, but we're 20 years on now and the "new" design feels much more dated and passe than the old one. Why do they insist on the newer logo when the old one is much more beloved and recognizable?

Is there any rhyme or reason to all this? Or should I just chalk it up as "Andrew Eldritch is a weirdo with strong convictions we'll never understand"?

I'm new to goth music, I've seen some people call them goth and some refuse to do so, I'm just confused issall

I'm tryna diversify my goth playlist, that's why I'm asking.

Im goth and I wear spiked chokers and everyone at my school thinks I’m into bdsm. It’s rlly annoying and makes me anxious. I won’t stop wearing it but I would like to put a little knowledge into their thick skulls

Thank you all for the help.