Andrew Eldritch
Encyclopedia
Andrew Eldritch is the English
frontman, singer, songwriter
and only remaining original member of The Sisters of Mercy
, a band that emerged from the British post-punk
scene, transformed into a gothic rock
band and, in later years, flirted with pop
and hard rock
.
Eldritch also programs the tracks for The Sisters of Mercy's drum machine (known as "Doktor Avalanche") and plays guitars and keyboards in its studio recordings. He has also established the record label Merciful Release
. In addition to The Sisters of Mercy, in 1986 Andrew Eldritch established a side-project The Sisterhood
(in order to keep former band members from using the name) which was quickly abandoned in favour of continuing working under The Sisters of Mercy.
Eldritch is known for his deep, distinctive bass-baritone
voice and for his black leather
clothing.
Eldritch studied French
and German literature
at the University of Oxford
before moving to Leeds around 1978 to study Mandarin Chinese at the University of Leeds
; he left both courses before graduating. Although he speaks fluent French
and German
, and has some knowledge of Dutch
, Italian
, Russian
, Serbo-Croatian
and Latin
; he claims to have forgotten the Chinese he learned. During this period, Eldritch was a freelance drummer in the local Leeds punk
scene.
formed The Sisters of Mercy. On the first single, "Damage Done/Watch/Home of the Hit-men", Eldritch played the drums, a task he was later relieved of by a series of drum machines referred to as Doktor Avalanche, allowing him instead to focus on his vocal performance. Over the years, nine members have left the group, several of them citing conflicts with the frontman as a reason for their departure. These former members include Patricia Morrison
, who claimed she had been paid an average of £300 per month; and Wayne Hussey
, with whom Eldritch had a personal feud which contributed to heavy criticism of both by the popular music press during the 1980s. Hussey formed a breakaway band called The Mission
as a result of this conflict.
, Eldritch initiated a 1991 U.S. tour of The Sisters of Mercy in a triple-bill with Gang of Four and hip-hop act Public Enemy. The tour was cancelled midway and the band relocated to Europe, touring occasionally until late 1993.
In 1995 Eldritch interviewed David Bowie
and Leonard Cohen
for the German edition of Rolling Stone
magazine. He also contributed articles on computers to German magazines. That year, he briefly rejuvenated his working relationship with erstwhile Sisters of Mercy guitarist Gary Marx. Marx wrote an album's worth of backing tracks, to which Eldritch could contribute lyrics and release it as a new studio album. Eldritch eventually backed out of the project and Marx released the tracks over a decade later as a solo album.
Prevented by contractual obligations from appearing under his own name, he is also rumoured to have produced a couple of techno albums under various pseudonyms during the 1990s, a rumour he would not deny when asked about it in an interview by Alexa Williamson in May 1997. Two musical projects Eldritch set up with his label, Merciful Release
, have later been confirmed as Paris Riots (a collaboration with James Ray
) and Leeds Underground. Both projects were abandoned before any tracks were released to the public.
In 1997 Eldritch produced the SSV album Go Figure, featuring his vocals over drumless electronic music. The album finally freed him from his contractual obligations, as EastWest agreed to waive their claims for two more Sisters of Mercy albums in exchange for the recordings. The SSV tracks were, however, never officially released. The full name of the band is SSV-NSMABAAOTWMODAACOTIATW, said to be an acronym for "Screw Shareholder Value - Not So Much A Band As Another Opportunity To Waste Money On Drugs And Ammunition Courtesy Of The Idiots At Time Warner".
In 2009 he gave his first interview in 12 years to Classic Rock
writer Joel McIver
, in which he denied the need for any new recorded material from the Sisters and talked at length about the band's career.
, Leonard Cohen
and Shakespeare
), erotic imagery, metaphores of drug culture, and an acrimonious criticism of the Republican Party
of the United States, with which Eldritch claims to have a "hate-hate" relationship, in view of the Bush dynasty
, Christian fundamentalists and the military-industrial complex
. Politically, he has claimed to be "traditionally a Labour
supporter" despite his "anarcho-syndicalist
tendencies".
, despite being formed in 1980, were originally not very popular in the early-80s post-punk
sub-genre of bands and music fans which the British press had labelled Goth
. The Sisters of Mercy were, however, accused by the press of plagiarizing Joy Division
, who were marketed by their management as "gothic" in the late 1970s.
Since the early 1990s, Eldritch has publicly rejected associations with the Goth subculture. He describes The Sisters of Mercy as humanist
, modernist, and implies he wants nothing to do with Goth
, stating "it's disappointing that so many people have in all seriousness adopted just one of our many one-week-of-stupid-clothes benders". He also notes that, "I'm constantly confronted by representatives of popular culture who are far more goth than we, yet I have only to wear black socks to be stigmatised as the demon overlord".
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
frontman, singer, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and only remaining original member of The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band that formed in 1980. After achieving early underground fame in UK, the band had their commercial breakthrough in mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new recorded output in protest against their record company...
, a band that emerged from the British post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
scene, transformed into a gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
band and, in later years, flirted with pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
.
Eldritch also programs the tracks for The Sisters of Mercy's drum machine (known as "Doktor Avalanche") and plays guitars and keyboards in its studio recordings. He has also established the record label Merciful Release
Merciful Release
Merciful Release is a record label started by Andrew Eldritch, frontman with Leeds outfit The Sisters of Mercy. As Eldritch states in an early interview, he wanted to hear himself on the radio. He and Gary Marx played and recorded on the Sisters Of Mercy's initial single "Damage Done" and pressed...
. In addition to The Sisters of Mercy, in 1986 Andrew Eldritch established a side-project The Sisterhood
The Sisterhood
For movie, See The Sisterhood The Sisterhood was a side project by Sisters of Mercy singer Andrew Eldritch that recorded songs, which he had intended for a second Sisters album, with guest musicians.- Background :...
(in order to keep former band members from using the name) which was quickly abandoned in favour of continuing working under The Sisters of Mercy.
Eldritch is known for his deep, distinctive bass-baritone
Bass-baritone
A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende...
voice and for his black leather
Leather
Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...
clothing.
Before The Sisters of Mercy
Andrew Eldritch was born in the small cathedral city of Ely in 1959. Eldritch later wrote a piano song named "1959", alluding to the year of his birth, starting with the line "Living as angel in the place that I was born".Eldritch studied French
French literature
French literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in French language, by citizens...
and German literature
German literature
German literature comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German part of Switzerland, and to a lesser extent works of the German diaspora. German literature of the modern period is mostly in Standard German, but there...
at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
before moving to Leeds around 1978 to study Mandarin Chinese at the University of Leeds
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
; he left both courses before graduating. Although he speaks fluent French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, and has some knowledge of Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian language
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
and Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
; he claims to have forgotten the Chinese he learned. During this period, Eldritch was a freelance drummer in the local Leeds punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
scene.
The Sisters of Mercy
In 1979, Eldritch and Gary MarxGary Marx
Gary Marx is a founding member of British rock band The Sisters of Mercy and its lead-guitarist and songwriter from 1979 to 1985....
formed The Sisters of Mercy. On the first single, "Damage Done/Watch/Home of the Hit-men", Eldritch played the drums, a task he was later relieved of by a series of drum machines referred to as Doktor Avalanche, allowing him instead to focus on his vocal performance. Over the years, nine members have left the group, several of them citing conflicts with the frontman as a reason for their departure. These former members include Patricia Morrison
Patricia Morrison
Patricia Morrison is an American bass guitarist, singer and songwriter. She worked with The Bags, The Gun Club, The Sisters of Mercy, and The Damned.-Biography:...
, who claimed she had been paid an average of £300 per month; and Wayne Hussey
Wayne Hussey
Wayne Hussey is a British musician, best known as lead singer of The Mission and guitarist with The Sisters of Mercy....
, with whom Eldritch had a personal feud which contributed to heavy criticism of both by the popular music press during the 1980s. Hussey formed a breakaway band called The Mission
The Mission (band)
The Mission are a gothic rock band formed in 1986 from the splinters of the freshly dissolved rock band The Sisters of Mercy.The band was started by frontman Wayne Hussey and bassist Craig Adams , soon adding...
as a result of this conflict.
The 1990s
Following the release of the band's last studio album to date, Vision ThingVision Thing
-2006 Re-issue:Along with the group's previous two releases, Vision Thing was re-issued in November 2006 with bonus tracks, which, listed as follows:-Personnel:*Andrew Eldritch - vocals, guitar, keyboards*Andreas Bruhn - guitar*Tim Bricheno - guitar...
, Eldritch initiated a 1991 U.S. tour of The Sisters of Mercy in a triple-bill with Gang of Four and hip-hop act Public Enemy. The tour was cancelled midway and the band relocated to Europe, touring occasionally until late 1993.
In 1995 Eldritch interviewed David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
and Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
for the German edition of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine. He also contributed articles on computers to German magazines. That year, he briefly rejuvenated his working relationship with erstwhile Sisters of Mercy guitarist Gary Marx. Marx wrote an album's worth of backing tracks, to which Eldritch could contribute lyrics and release it as a new studio album. Eldritch eventually backed out of the project and Marx released the tracks over a decade later as a solo album.
Prevented by contractual obligations from appearing under his own name, he is also rumoured to have produced a couple of techno albums under various pseudonyms during the 1990s, a rumour he would not deny when asked about it in an interview by Alexa Williamson in May 1997. Two musical projects Eldritch set up with his label, Merciful Release
Merciful Release
Merciful Release is a record label started by Andrew Eldritch, frontman with Leeds outfit The Sisters of Mercy. As Eldritch states in an early interview, he wanted to hear himself on the radio. He and Gary Marx played and recorded on the Sisters Of Mercy's initial single "Damage Done" and pressed...
, have later been confirmed as Paris Riots (a collaboration with James Ray
James Ray
James Ray may refer to:*James Arthur Ray, professional speaker and author convicted of negligent homicide in 2011*James B. Ray , governor of Indiana*James Earl Ray , assassin of Martin Luther King Jr.*James Edwin Ray , U.S...
) and Leeds Underground. Both projects were abandoned before any tracks were released to the public.
In 1997 Eldritch produced the SSV album Go Figure, featuring his vocals over drumless electronic music. The album finally freed him from his contractual obligations, as EastWest agreed to waive their claims for two more Sisters of Mercy albums in exchange for the recordings. The SSV tracks were, however, never officially released. The full name of the band is SSV-NSMABAAOTWMODAACOTIATW, said to be an acronym for "Screw Shareholder Value - Not So Much A Band As Another Opportunity To Waste Money On Drugs And Ammunition Courtesy Of The Idiots At Time Warner".
Recent career
The Sisters of Mercy tour every year, but no new recorded material has been released for sale since 1993. Despite this, the band continue to debut new material on stage on a regular basis, infrequently playing secret gigs under a pseudonym in their spiritual home of Leeds.In 2009 he gave his first interview in 12 years to Classic Rock
Classic Rock (magazine)
Classic Rock is a British magazine dedicated to the radio format of classic rock, published by Future Publishing, who are also responsible for its "sister" publication Metal Hammer. Although firmly focusing on key bands from the 1960s through early 1990s, it also includes articles and reviews of...
writer Joel McIver
Joel McIver
Joel McIver is a British author. The best-known of his 20 books to date is the bestselling Justice For All: The Truth About Metallica, first published in 2004 and selling close to 50,000 copies in nine languages since then. McIver's other works include biographies of Black Sabbath, Slayer, Ice...
, in which he denied the need for any new recorded material from the Sisters and talked at length about the band's career.
Songwriting and philosophy
The devices in Eldritch's lyrics include literary allusions (most prominently to the works of T. S. EliotT. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
, Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
and Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
), erotic imagery, metaphores of drug culture, and an acrimonious criticism of the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
of the United States, with which Eldritch claims to have a "hate-hate" relationship, in view of the Bush dynasty
Bush family
The Bush family is a prominent American family. Along with many members who have been successful bankers and businessmen, across three generations the family includes two U.S. Senators, one Supreme Court Justice, two Governors, one Vice President and two Presidents...
, Christian fundamentalists and the military-industrial complex
Military-industrial complex
Military–industrial complex , or Military–industrial-congressional complex is a concept commonly used to refer to policy and monetary relationships between legislators, national armed forces, and the industrial sector that supports them...
. Politically, he has claimed to be "traditionally a Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
supporter" despite his "anarcho-syndicalist
Anarcho-syndicalism
Anarcho-syndicalism is a branch of anarchism which focuses on the labour movement. The word syndicalism comes from the French word syndicat which means trade union , from the Latin word syndicus which in turn comes from the Greek word σύνδικος which means caretaker of an issue...
tendencies".
Gothic associations
Though Andrew Eldritch has been called the "Godfather of Goth", The Sisters of MercyThe Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band that formed in 1980. After achieving early underground fame in UK, the band had their commercial breakthrough in mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new recorded output in protest against their record company...
, despite being formed in 1980, were originally not very popular in the early-80s post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
sub-genre of bands and music fans which the British press had labelled Goth
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
. The Sisters of Mercy were, however, accused by the press of plagiarizing Joy Division
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis , Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris .Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences...
, who were marketed by their management as "gothic" in the late 1970s.
Since the early 1990s, Eldritch has publicly rejected associations with the Goth subculture. He describes The Sisters of Mercy as humanist
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
, modernist, and implies he wants nothing to do with Goth
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
, stating "it's disappointing that so many people have in all seriousness adopted just one of our many one-week-of-stupid-clothes benders". He also notes that, "I'm constantly confronted by representatives of popular culture who are far more goth than we, yet I have only to wear black socks to be stigmatised as the demon overlord".
Guest appearances
- Gary MooreGary MooreRobert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer....
- After the War (1989) - Backing vocals on "After the War", "Speak for Yourself" and "Blood of Emeralds" - Kastrierte Philosophen - Toilet Queen (1989) - Remix of "Toilet Queen"
- Die KruppsDie KruppsDie Krupps is a German industrial rock/EBM band, formed in 1980 by Jürgen Engler and Bernward Malaka in Düsseldorf.-History:Their initial sound throughout the 1980s combined synthesizers with metallic percussion...
- III: Odyssey of the MindIII: Odyssey of the MindDie Krupps III: Odyssey of the Mind is the fifth album by the German band Die Krupps. It was released in 1995.-Track listing:# "The Last Flood" - 5:34# "Isolation" - 4:13# "Odyssey of the Mind" - 5:06# "Eggshell" - 4:51# "Scent" - 4:19...
(1995) - Remix of "Odyssey of the Mind" - Die KruppsDie KruppsDie Krupps is a German industrial rock/EBM band, formed in 1980 by Jürgen Engler and Bernward Malaka in Düsseldorf.-History:Their initial sound throughout the 1980s combined synthesizers with metallic percussion...
- Rings of SteelRings of SteelRings of Steel is a compilation album by German industrial rock/EBM band Die Krupps. It was released in May 1995 via Cleopatra Records and targeted torwards the US markets....
(1995) - Remix of "Fatherland" (with Rodney OrpheusRodney OrpheusRodney Orpheus is a musician, record producer, author, lecturer, and a leading member of the Thelemic organization Ordo Templi Orientis...
from The Cassandra ComplexThe Cassandra Complex (band)The Cassandra Complex are an electronic rock group formed by Rodney Orpheus and Paul Dillon in 1980 in Leeds, England, later expanding to a trio with the addition of Andy Booth.-History:...
) - Sarah BrightmanSarah BrightmanSarah Brightman is an English classical crossover soprano, actress, songwriter and dancer. She is famous for possessing a vocal range of over 3 octaves and singing in the whistle register...
- FlyFly (Sarah Brightman album)Fly is an album by English soprano Sarah Brightman. It is her second album with producer Frank Peterson and has a stronger pop and rock influence than her previous Broadway and operatic albums; it included collaborations with Andrea Bocelli, Tom Jones and Chris Thompson...
(1995) - German interlude on How Can Heaven Love Me and backing vocals on A Question of HonourA Question of HonourA Question of Honour is a 1965 Italian - comedy-drama film directed by Luigi Zampa. It was co-producted with France. The film was entered into the 16th Berlin International Film Festival.-Cast:* Ugo Tognazzi - Efisio Mulas... - SSV - Go Figure (1997) - Sampled vocals on all songs