Have a little mercy

Andrew Eldritch, leader of Sisters of Mercy. Photo / NZ Herald archives

The 'Godfather of Goth', who denies all links to the dark movement, is bringing his band to New Zealand. He talks to Scott Kara

And on the stroke of midnight - Leeds local time - Andrew Eldritch of Sisters of Mercy calls through to TimeOut. The witching hour is a fitting time for the band's main man to call, given the dark and steely industrial groove and mood music - beware of calling it "goth-rock" around Eldritch - that the Sisters have come up with over the past 30 years.

They are heading to New Zealand for the first time for a one-off show at the Powerstation on February 22.

"We're rather glad we're coming," says Eldritch, sounding surprisingly chipper in his broad baritone lilt. "It all looks rather exciting from the pictures. It all looks rather rugged in a 1950s kind of way."

With all this "rather this", and "rather that", it might come across as though he's a little bit posh, but it's just that Eldritch is a very well-spoken chap in a happy grump kind of way.

Even though it pays not to mention the g-word, Eldritch - the one constant in Sisters of Mercy - does have a sense of humour about his status as the "Godfather of Goth", a crown he inherited in the 80s when albums like 1985's First And Last and Always and 1987 follow up Floodland put the rock into gothic rock.

"I quite like what I do," he muses, "but I don't need to be doing it. I could play [video game] Minecraft for a year, or get a job doing design, and of course being called the godfather of any movement - whether it's got anything to do with you or not - guarantees you a swimming pool, basically. So I could sit out and look at my swimming pool for three years at least before I get bored." His pool is in another country, but he's not letting on which one.

So Eldritch is doing okay and the success of Floodland's sprawling goth pop classic This Corrosion, which clocks in at almost 11 minutes, is one of the main reasons why. However, though it's one of the band's most well-known - and best - songs, it's not one Eldritch would like to be remembered by. "It's a bit of an anomaly - being completely pop, overblown, and extroverted in a way that doesn't come naturally to me." He's more fond of something from eerie rock debut First And Last And Always, or an "edgy and moody" track like After Hours off 1984 EP Body and Soul.

"It's an obscure old track that is basically seven minutes of F sharp. We'll probably use it as an intro for the shows," he laughs.

Sisters of Mercy haven't released any new recorded material for almost 20 years (although Eldritch has written many new songs) and the band is mainly a touring outfit with an ever-revolving cast of players (New Zealander Chris Sheehan formerly of the Dance Exponents and The Starlings was in the band during the late 90s and early 2000s).

They celebrated their 30th anniversary last year - "with birthday cake, dancing girls, and lots of extra flashing lights [at shows] for about a week and then we thought, 'That's quite enough of that'." - and you can tell Eldritch is proud of his band's legacy.

"I think we've managed to make sure there is still a little bit of wit and intelligence left in music with a great deal of good bloody mindedness and some good tunes."

Lowdown
Who: Andrew Eldritch, leader of Sisters of Mercy
Listen to: First And Last And Always (1985); Floodland (1987); Vision Thing (1990)
Playing: February 22, Powerstation

- TimeOut