Teen Gothic

And let me tell you, it was absolutely sick. I got the barrier since I've been at the venue (Rockhal in Esch-sur-Alzette) since 2:30pm, the doors opened a little before 8pm. The support act, The Virginmarys, were sure not goth at all but still very good (I talked to them a little bit after at their merch booth and they were really nice guys, they even signed my CD), I listened to their albums beforehand and loved them, especially King of Conflict, so I was really excited to see them too. And then the Sisters of Mercy came on stage. Andrew didn't just stay static in front of the mic stand, he took the mic and went around on stage, doing little dances and robot-like moves. It was my first goth concert so I was really, really excited for it. And also, something incredible happened. At a moment, Ben Christo was playing in front of me, we had our hands raised, like a lot of people do at concerts, and… he handed me his guitar pick. I'm still so shocked. It's the first time I ever got a guitar pick from a concert, so it made my little black heart so, so happy. I'll cherish this pick and this moment forever. To sum it up, this was an incredible experience for me, and an absolute honor to see a living legend live.

https://youtu.be/feZanLStvg8

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"?