The Sisters of Mercy's enigmatic frontman Andrew Eldritch.
The Sisters of Mercy's enigmatic frontman Andrew Eldritch.
Ben Christo is in mid-flow, eloquently pontificating on religion and the supernatural and people's need to believe in something when suddenly the Zoom screen goes completely black.
There is no frozen screen or stuck picture. For all intents and purposes, he has disappeared into the void. As time ticks byI think that's it for the interview when, just as unexpectedly, he reappears.
"I think what happened was there was some kind of divine intervention from a higher power because I was blaspheming against the gods," he laughs. "They don't like me questioning."
I hadn't intended to get into matters of the spiritual or paranormal but perhaps it was unavoidable. Christo is the guitarist for the pioneering and influential goth-rock band Sisters of Mercy. The band's moody, smoke-black songs and vivid lyrical imagery are filled with religious iconography and literature references that create a graveyard atmosphere and have provided the template for countless bands to follow since the early 1980s - although Christo wouldn't join until 2006.
"Over the years I've reached the conclusion that I don't disbelieve in anything," he continues, now that the gods appear to have forgiven him and our Zoom call is up and working again. "Historically there are so many things now that were once considered to be witchcraft or sorcery or the interventions of the gods and now are accepted as nature or technology. Things that were written off 100 years ago, 50 years ago, are now accepted as fact. My thought about supernatural activity is not necessarily that it's a sentient presence that knows what it's doing, it's more like a trapped energy. The same as how you can enter a room and feel that it's uncomfortable although nothing tangibly makes it so. My ethos when it comes to any of these things, supernatural or extraterrestrial, is to not disbelieve anything. To stay open-minded."
He says the same is true of the band as a whole.
"The Sisters have been very strident in that sense of accepting everybody, regardless of ethnic background, belief systems, race, creed, sexuality, gender. We've always been a very accepting band. That's why you have such a brilliant cross-section of people at our shows. It's really very varied. Possibly much more so than many other rock bands would experience."
He speculates that this is due to the enigmatic quality of the band and their music, like cult hits Vision Thing, Dominion and the epic, thumping disco-goth of Temple of Love.
"There's an interesting juxtaposition there. Melodically and musically the band can be bold and simple, you've got songs that are one chord sequence that goes around and around for five minutes, sometimes 10 minutes, which builds incrementally. There's a pounding simplicity to it. Whilst the lyrics retain an oblique quality that keeps intriguing people. Somehow, the Sisters have transcended a specific time period. What the band produced in 1987 still seems to connect with people who are hearing it for the first time in 2022."
The Sisters of Mercy; from left Ben Christo, Andrew Eldritch, Ravey Davey and Dylan Smith.
The shows next week are filled with hits and signature tunes but also a host of new songs. While the announcement of a band's new song at a show is usually the cue to nip to the bar for a refill, here it's a genuine reason for excitement. That's because there's no other way to hear the Sisters' new material as the band's visionary, if stubborn, frontman Andrew Eldritch has no desire to go back into a recording studio - a hangover from the disastrous and contentious dealings with their major label back in the 80s.
Not that Christo is concerned. As the band's longest-serving member, outside of Eldritch, of course, he's chuffed to be writing and collaborating with Eldritch on the new material and playing it to the fans. Something he describes as, an "amazing honour".
"It took me a while to understand how to write for this band. It really is less is more. But the less that you have is much more thought out than any kind of songwriting I'd done previously," he explains. "For the Sisters, you have to write three notes that are really different and original and it's just those three notes. It's a pretty challenging thing."
LOWDOWN Who: Ben Christo, guitarist for Sisters of Mercy What: The pioneering rock band play two New Zealand shows. When: This Tuesday at Auckland's Powerstation and Wednesday at Wellington's Hunter Lounge.
