The Mission (band)
Encyclopedia
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
(both from the Sisters of Mercy), soon adding drummer
Mick Brown (Red Lorry Yellow Lorry
) and guitarist
Simon Hinkler
(Artery
and Pulp
). Aside from Hussey, the line-up has changed several times during the years.
The band's catalogue consists of nine main album
s (God's Own Medicine, The First Chapter, Children, Carved in Sand, Masque, Neverland, Blue, Aura and God is a Bullet) with several complementing albums, compilations and other miscellaneous releases also in existence.
. "Dance on Glass" was essentially the Sisters' "Black Planet", while "Garden of Delight", "Over the Hills and Far Away" (one of several original songs with an identical name), "Bridges Burning", "Serpent's Kiss" and "And the Dance Goes On" were previously unreleased.
Meanwhile, Eldritch was unhappy about their usage of Sisters of Mercy songs and the Sisterhood name, not only because it was too similar a name, but also as it was what the band's fans were called. In order to stop the practice, he recorded an album and a single, and released them as The Sisterhood
.
In need of a new band name, The Mission was coined. According to the Mission's autobiography, "Names Are for Tombstones, Baby", Hussey said the name came about because of his Mormon upbringing and his parents' desire for him to become a missionary. Mick Brown has a different account, saying the name came from his favourite brand of speakers, Mission. Other possible rumours of how the name came include an originally planned Sisters of Mercy album Left on Mission and Revenge. Using the Eldritch-rejected material from their Sisters sessions, The Mission quickly released two indie singles on the Chapter 22 label, generating interest from several record companies.
Signing a seven-album deal with Phonogram
, their debut album God's Own Medicine was then recorded in six weeks with novice producer Tim Palmer
, an acquaintance from Hussey's Dead or Alive
days. The band then headed touring around Europe as supporting act for The Cult
, culminating in a prestigious slot at the Reading Festival
. As the American leg of their "World Crusade Tour" went into overdrive, the heavy schedule lead to the temporary departure of Adams.
During their first U.S. tour in 1986 the Mission performed on American TV for the first time on Joan Rivers
' chat show. Problems resulted later that night as an inebriated Adams caused problems at their hotel in Los Angeles and resulted in him temporarily quitting the band just prior to their show that evening. Their sound man, Pete Turner, filled in for a couple of shows and when they were offered an opening slot with The Psychedelic Furs, they recruited American Chris Bocast to play bass with them for the remainder of the first U.S. tour.
A reflective mood followed Adams' return as Hussey found himself to be a father to a girl named Hannah. A live video entitled Crusade was released, capturing the band and their noisy audience at the early stage of their career. Turbulent recording sessions of the John Paul Jones
-produced second album Children gave way to "Tower of Strength", the band's biggest hit yet, reaching number 12 in the UK Singles Chart
. The following world tour "Children Play" included South America (documented on the fan-club only VHS release called "South America", and was supported by a legion of devoted fans (dubbed "eskimos" or "missionaries"), to whom this era would mark the peak of the band's live prowess.
Within a few months, the record company released a collection of music videos as From Dusk to Dawn, and to recapture the intimacy of the early gigs, the band played a series of low-key fan club concerts in the UK, followed by concerts in Spain and Portugal and a tour of larger venues in the UK where they tried out some new material, hitting the studio afterwards to carve out their next album. There was a brief pause in recording for concerts in support of the Lockerbie disaster and Hillsborough disaster
victims, the latter spearheaded by Hussey, a lifelong Liverpool F.C.
fan. After a low-key tour of the Scottish Highlands a few summer festival appearances (including a headline appearance at Reading) and a fan-club all-day event at Sheffield Polytechnic, the band returned to the studio to complete the album. A lot of material was recorded for Carved in Sand, and the band were never unanimous about what songs made the cut, so the album was quickly followed by Grains of Sand, containing the rest of the candidates, some of which had already surfaces as single b-sides. The recording and mid-recording activity of this period of the band was documented on the "Waves upon the Sand" video.
To heal disagreements with humour, the foursome then promptly went camp
to form a glam rock
tribute band The Metal Gurus, playing support for The Wonder Stuff
and recording a cover version
of "Merry Xmas Everybody
" with Noddy Holder
and Jim Lea
from Slade
. However, as the Deliverance world tour rolled, strains between the founding members resulted in Hinkler kicking over an amp and storming off the stage during a gig at Montreal
's Metropolis.
He was replaced by David Wolfenden for the remainder of the tour, while Tim Bricheno
(of All About Eve
) guested before leaving to join The Sisters of Mercy. With Paul "Etch" Etchells (ex-Ghost Dance
) on keyboards and guitars, the last leg of the tour was finished with Hinkler returning twice as a guest during the encores at Leeds and the final night of the tour at Brixton Academy.
After a break to recuperate, the band teamed up with engineer Joe Gibb to create a high-tech studio setup. Brown had been soaking up the Leeds
dance scene, while Hussey's explorations were towards folk music. The band, asked to perform a lucrative headlining gig at Finsbury Park
in 1991, brought out quite a different side, joined by Maartin Allcock
of Fairport Convention
and Anthony Thistlethwaite
of The Waterboys
. Many long-standing fans left the gig worried about the direction of the forthcoming release, Masque (produced by Mark Saunders
). Masque was originally intended to be a solo release by Hussey, however the remaining band members contributed to the recording, and the album was released under the group name as a result. Adams left the group subsequent to the release of the album. Reduced to a duo, the Mission began searching for new members, even placing an ad in the Melody Maker
.
(formerly of Spear of Destiny
) on guitar, Rik Carter (formerly of Pendragon
) on keyboards and eventually Andy Cousin
(formerly of All About Eve) on bass. This line-up's first release was a fanclub-only flexi disc
cover of the Osmonds
song "Crazy Horses" in early 1993. The recording of a new album started, while a BBC
live album No Snow, No Show for the Eskimo was compiled by Hussey and Joe Gibb. For the first time in three years, the band decided to tour, and a warm-up was arranged as the "Off the Street" benefit for the homeless in Leeds. As Andrew Eldritch signed up, completely unfounded press speculation about a Hussey/Eldritch reunion became rife. The Club Mission tour played smaller venues around Europe, with new tracks "Afterglow" and "Raising Cain" becoming a regular feature in the set.
The end of 1993 saw Hussey remixing "Tower of Strength" with Youth
, and revisiting some of the past material for a greatest hits
compilation album
. A remix
ed version of "Tower of Strength" appeared in the UK Singles Chart
in January 1994, and the band made their last appearance on Top of the Pops
. The compilation, entitled Sum and Substance, was released the next month and featured two new tracks; "Sour Puss" (relating to Adams departing) and a remix of "Afterglow" by Mark "Spike" Stent
. The latter was also released as the final single through Vertigo
/Phonogram — the seven-album contract was now up, and neither of the parties was interested in a continued relationship.
Recordings proceeded slowly, while the band negotiated a new independent record deal, and Hussey produced a collection of three BBC sessions as Salad Daze. In late 1994, a single, "Raising Cain", was released on Equator Records. Early in 1995, the single "Swoon" paved way for the next album, Neverland, more or less a Mission signature sound but with a much heavier production. The Neverland tour saw a slight revival in popularity, with two of the concerts being filmed for German television, a promo-only live EP
released and a handful of summer festivals played.
In March 1996 the band set up in Bristol
for eight weeks to record new songs which Hussey had been developing. When the resulting album, Blue
, was released, it received mixed review from music critics but left portions of the old fanbase rather unimpressed. Future interviews would see Hussey hating the album, with only the reworked B-side
"Evermore & Again" ever becoming a regular staple in subsequent tours. A short stint around the UK, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands afterwards turned out to be a farewell tour: After ten years, Hussey and Brown decided that enough is enough. The band finished it all off with festivals in Spain and South Africa, the latter being their final gig at the Kyalami
racetrack in Johannesburg
.
with his wife and young daughter. In semi-retirement, he produced sporadic remixes and singles for Cleopatra Records
and Dancing Ferret
Records, as well as up-and-coming acts, and contributing a new song for a Mission album put together by Mission fans over the internet.
In 1999, after releasing an album of solo versions of Mission classics in his home studio, Hussey resurrected the band with Adams, drummer Scott Garrett (Adams' band-mate in The Cult) and Mark Thwaite
, for what was intended to be a one-off tour with Gene Loves Jezebel
across the United States and an also-resurrected All About Eve across the United Kingdom. The success of the tour and the reaction of the crowds gave the band plenty of encouragement to continue beyond the tour, and 2000 saw the band take on a mammoth world tour, heading festivals in Europe and sharing the bill with the Sisters of Mercy at the M'era Luna Festival
in Germany. A souvenir CD of the 1999 tour was released as Ever After, with the various live tracks complemented by three tracks from the 1995 promo-only Live EP and the even-rarer fanclub-only studio outtake "Crazy Horses".
At the end of 2000, the band recorded tracks for a new album at The Levellers' Brighton studios, and Dave Allen (who produced the first Sisters of Mercy album) was drafted in to oversee the recording of tracks in Bath. Before the release of the album, dubbed Aura
, the band were invited to play support for the German tour of the Finnish band HIM. At this juncture, Thwaite left the band (first due to touring commitments with Tricky
and later to form the band New Disease) to be replaced by Rob Holliday
of Sulpher.
Aura was released on their own Playground label run by former Phonogram A&R man Charlie Eyre. The sound was heavy and the production very intricate, but fans noted that several songs were uncomfortably similar to previous Mission songs, notably "Dragonfly", which was very similar to 1990 hit "Butterfly on a Wheel". Nonetheless, the band undertook a large world tour supporting the album. However, the stresses of touring and diminishing returns once again saw tensions grow, and during the South American leg of their 2002 tour, Adams decided to leave once again. Hussey continued the leg of the tour by himself, with some acoustic shows backed by pre-recorded tapes, also lining himself up for a number of much more successful solo acoustic shows in Europe.
In early 2003, The Mission gained a new bass player in the form of Ritchie Vernon and within a matter of months, Garrett also left, to be replaced by Steve Spring. This new line-up carried on through to mid-2004.
rejoined the band, as Holliday was occupied touring with The Prodigy
. The band evolved the hard-rock angle further, while audience ranks grew throughout the tour. Hussey announced that 2006 would hold no tours, as he would concentrate on the new album and his personal projects.
As well as Lighting the Candles, 2005 saw the release of Waves Upon the Sand and Crusade for the first time on DVD.
In 2006 Hussey marked the 20th anniversary of the band with the issue of a limited edition
T-shirt designed especially for the occasion. Meanwhile, Phonogram records released another "best of", Anthology: The Phonogram Years, a two-CD set including all 11 of the band's Top 40 hits alongside rare mixes, long lost B-sides, BBC sessions, 5 previously unavailable tracks and 5 tracks appearing on CD for the first time.
A new single, "Keep It In the Family" was released in March 2007, followed a month later by the new album God is a Bullet
featuring Hussey, Thwaite, Vernon and Spring and guest musicians Simon Hinkler
, Bricheno and Julianne Regan
. To coincide with the release of the new album, Mercury Records reissued the first three Mission albums as enhanced CDs complete with bonus tracks.
In February–March 2008 the band played a tour of Europe which culminated in a series of four concerts at Shepherds Bush Empire
in London, with each night dedicated to a particular period of the band's history. Hussey announced that these would be the last ever Mission concerts, as he wished to have an indefinite break from band activity and concentrate on other personal projects. Simon Hinkler
joined on each night for the encores and occasional songs in main set. The final concert in the series was filmed, and each night recorded and later released as part of a boxed set.
In February 2009 the Mission's record label SPV records released a double album
Live & Last plus the DVD Final Chapter recording of the final show which included additional footage from the tour. The DVD debuted in the official UK BBC charts at No.6 - the highest UK chart position in many years for the band.
In June 2010 the band's label SPV released Dum Dum Bullet. Hussey alluded to a possible reformation of the band in 2011, for some live shows celebrating the band's 25th anniversary.
On 31 October 2010, it was announced that The Mission will be playing in Belgium, at the Sinners Day Festival, on 31 October 2011.
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 formed in 1986 from the splinters of the freshly dissolved rock band 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...
.
The band was started by frontman 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....
and bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Craig Adams
Craig Adams (musician)
Craig Adams is a British musician, bass guitarist and songwriter. Over his career he worked with a variation of rockbands while also being part of a touring crew....
(both from the Sisters of Mercy), soon adding drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Mick Brown (Red Lorry Yellow Lorry
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry are a rock band that were formed in Leeds, England in early 1981.- History :The band was formed by guitarist/songwriter Chris Reed and vocalist Mark Sweeney, along with bassist Steve Smith and drummer Mick Brown...
) and guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Simon Hinkler
Simon Hinkler
Simon Thomas Hinkler is a guitarist, keyboard player, songwriter and producer from Sheffield, most notable for being the lead guitarist for the British rock group, The Mission from 1986 to 1990....
(Artery
Artery (band)
Artery are a British post-punk band from Sheffield, that was founded in 1978. They were originally known confusingly as just The. After several changes in the line-up and four albums they split up in 1985...
and Pulp
Pulp (band)
Pulp are an English alternative rock band formed in Sheffield in 1978. Their lineup consists of Jarvis Cocker , Russell Senior , Candida Doyle , Mark Webber , Steve Mackey and Nick Banks ....
). Aside from Hussey, the line-up has changed several times during the years.
The band's catalogue consists of nine main album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s (God's Own Medicine, The First Chapter, Children, Carved in Sand, Masque, Neverland, Blue, Aura and God is a Bullet) with several complementing albums, compilations and other miscellaneous releases also in existence.
Incarnation
Initially touring as The Sisterhood, the new band played songs originally written for the Sisters of Mercy. Some were already released, some vetoed by band leader Andrew EldritchAndrew Eldritch
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...
. "Dance on Glass" was essentially the Sisters' "Black Planet", while "Garden of Delight", "Over the Hills and Far Away" (one of several original songs with an identical name), "Bridges Burning", "Serpent's Kiss" and "And the Dance Goes On" were previously unreleased.
Meanwhile, Eldritch was unhappy about their usage of Sisters of Mercy songs and the Sisterhood name, not only because it was too similar a name, but also as it was what the band's fans were called. In order to stop the practice, he recorded an album and a single, and released them as 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 :...
.
Signing a seven-album deal with Phonogram
Phonogram Records
Phonogram Records was started in 1962 as a joint venture between Philips Records and Deutsche Grammophon. In 1972, Phonogram was merged with Polydor Records into PolyGram....
, their debut album God's Own Medicine was then recorded in six weeks with novice producer Tim Palmer
Tim Palmer
Tim Palmer is a British music producer, audio engineer and songwriter of rock and alternative music.-1980-1990:Palmer worked as an assistant engineer at Utopia Studios in London, England in the early 1980s...
, an acquaintance from Hussey's Dead or Alive
Dead or Alive (band)
Dead or Alive were a British New Wave band from Wirral, England, United Kingdom, Europe. The band rose to fame in the 1980s with their number one single on the UK Singles Chart, "You Spin Me Round ". They were the first group to have a number one single under the production team Stock Aitken Waterman...
days. The band then headed touring around Europe as supporting act for The Cult
The Cult
The Cult are a British rock band that was formed in 1983. They gained a dedicated following in Britain in the mid 1980s as a post-punk band with singles such as "She Sells Sanctuary", before breaking mainstream in the United States in the late 1980s as a hard rock band with singles such as "Love...
, culminating in a prestigious slot at the Reading Festival
Reading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend, sharing the same bill. The Reading Festival is held at Little John's Farm...
. As the American leg of their "World Crusade Tour" went into overdrive, the heavy schedule lead to the temporary departure of Adams.
During their first U.S. tour in 1986 the Mission performed on American TV for the first time on Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers is an American comedian, television personality and actress. She is known for her brash manner; her loud, raspy voice with a heavy New York accent; and her numerous cosmetic surgeries...
' chat show. Problems resulted later that night as an inebriated Adams caused problems at their hotel in Los Angeles and resulted in him temporarily quitting the band just prior to their show that evening. Their sound man, Pete Turner, filled in for a couple of shows and when they were offered an opening slot with The Psychedelic Furs, they recruited American Chris Bocast to play bass with them for the remainder of the first U.S. tour.
A reflective mood followed Adams' return as Hussey found himself to be a father to a girl named Hannah. A live video entitled Crusade was released, capturing the band and their noisy audience at the early stage of their career. Turbulent recording sessions of the John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (musician)
John Paul Jones is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. Best known as the bassist, mandolinist, and keyboardist for English rock band Led Zeppelin, Jones has since developed a solo career and has gained even more respect as both a musician and a...
-produced second album Children gave way to "Tower of Strength", the band's biggest hit yet, reaching number 12 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. The following world tour "Children Play" included South America (documented on the fan-club only VHS release called "South America", and was supported by a legion of devoted fans (dubbed "eskimos" or "missionaries"), to whom this era would mark the peak of the band's live prowess.
Hillsborough disaster
The Hillsborough disaster was a human crush that occurred on 15 April 1989 at Hillsborough, a football stadium, the home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C. in Sheffield, England, resulting in the deaths of 96 people, and 766 being injured, all fans of Liverpool F.C....
victims, the latter spearheaded by Hussey, a lifelong Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
fan. After a low-key tour of the Scottish Highlands a few summer festival appearances (including a headline appearance at Reading) and a fan-club all-day event at Sheffield Polytechnic, the band returned to the studio to complete the album. A lot of material was recorded for Carved in Sand, and the band were never unanimous about what songs made the cut, so the album was quickly followed by Grains of Sand, containing the rest of the candidates, some of which had already surfaces as single b-sides. The recording and mid-recording activity of this period of the band was documented on the "Waves upon the Sand" video.
To heal disagreements with humour, the foursome then promptly went camp
Camp (style)
Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...
to form a glam rock
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
tribute band The Metal Gurus, playing support for The Wonder Stuff
The Wonder Stuff
The Wonder Stuff are a British alternative rock band, originally based in Stourbridge, West Midlands, in the Black Country, England.-Origins:...
and recording a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of "Merry Xmas Everybody
Merry Xmas Everybody
"Merry Xmas Everybody" is a 1973 song by the English rock band Slade. Written by lead vocalist and guitarist Noddy Holder and bassist Jim Lea, and produced by Chas Chandler, it was the band's sixth number-one single in the UK...
" with Noddy Holder
Noddy Holder
Neville John "Noddy" Holder MBE is an English musician and actor. He was the lead vocalist and guitarist with the rock band Slade....
and Jim Lea
Jim Lea
Jim Lea , is an English musician, most notable for playing bass guitar, keyboards, violin, guitar, and singing backing vocals in Slade.-Career:...
from Slade
Slade
Slade are an English rock band from Wolverhampton, who rose to prominence during the glam rock era of the early 1970s. With 17 consecutive Top 20 hits and six number ones, the British Hit Singles & Albums names them as the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles...
. However, as the Deliverance world tour rolled, strains between the founding members resulted in Hinkler kicking over an amp and storming off the stage during a gig at Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
's Metropolis.
He was replaced by David Wolfenden for the remainder of the tour, while Tim Bricheno
Tim Bricheno
Tim Bricheno has been the guitarist and writer with several notable English indie bands, including All About Eve, The Sisters of Mercy, XC-NN and Tin Star...
(of All About Eve
All About Eve (band)
All About Eve were a British rock/pop band. The creative core consisted of the Coventry born Julianne Regan , and the Huddersfield born Andy Cousin , with other members changing over the years...
) guested before leaving to join The Sisters of Mercy. With Paul "Etch" Etchells (ex-Ghost Dance
Ghost Dance (band)
Ghost Dance were a British gothic rock and post-punk band. formed in 1985 by Gary Marx and Anne-Marie Hurst as both were leaving their respective bands...
) on keyboards and guitars, the last leg of the tour was finished with Hinkler returning twice as a guest during the encores at Leeds and the final night of the tour at Brixton Academy.
After a break to recuperate, the band teamed up with engineer Joe Gibb to create a high-tech studio setup. Brown had been soaking up the Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
dance scene, while Hussey's explorations were towards folk music. The band, asked to perform a lucrative headlining gig at Finsbury Park
Finsbury Park
Finsbury Park is a 46 hectare public park in the London Borough of Haringey. Officially part of the London area of Harringay, it is also adjacent to Stroud Green, the Finsbury Park district and Manor House. It was one of the first of the great London parks laid out in the Victorian...
in 1991, brought out quite a different side, joined by Maartin Allcock
Maartin Allcock
Maartin Allcock , also known as Martin Allcock, is a multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer.-Biography:...
of Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
and Anthony Thistlethwaite
Anthony Thistlethwaite
Anthony "Anto" Thistlethwaite is a British multi-instrumentalist best known as a founder member of the folk-rock group The Waterboys and later as a long-standing member of Irish rock band The Saw Doctors.After a year busking in Paris, playing tenor saxophone around the streets of the Latin...
of The Waterboys
The Waterboys
The Waterboys are a band formed in 1983 by Mike Scott. The band's membership, past and present, has been composed mainly of musicians from Scotland, Ireland and England. Edinburgh, London, Dublin, Spiddal, New York, and Findhorn have all served as homes for the group. The band has played in a...
. Many long-standing fans left the gig worried about the direction of the forthcoming release, Masque (produced by Mark Saunders
Mark Saunders
Mark Saunders, is a British record producer who has worked on a number of albums. He relocated to New York City in 1996 and currently works from his facility in Manhattan - Beat360 Studios....
). Masque was originally intended to be a solo release by Hussey, however the remaining band members contributed to the recording, and the album was released under the group name as a result. Adams left the group subsequent to the release of the album. Reduced to a duo, the Mission began searching for new members, even placing an ad in the Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
.
Childhood's end
The second incarnation of the Mission consisted of Brown, Hussey, Mark ThwaiteMark Thwaite
Mark Gemini Thwaite has been the guitarist for a number of British rock bands and artists over the last two decades, including The Mission, Tricky, Peter Murphy, New Disease, Spear of Destiny, Theatre of Hate, Mob Research , and Canadian band National Velvet plus various guest appearances...
(formerly of Spear of Destiny
Spear of Destiny (band)
Spear of Destiny is a British rock band, established in 1982 by singer and songwriter Kirk Brandon and bassist Stan Stammers. It has had an ever-changing line-up through the years.-Biography:...
) on guitar, Rik Carter (formerly of Pendragon
Pendragon (band)
Pendragon are an English neo-progressive rock band established in 1978 in Stroud, Gloucestershire as Zeus Pendragon by guitarist and vocalist Nick Barrett. The Zeus was dropped before the band started recording as the members decided it was too long to look good on a t-shirt...
) on keyboards and eventually Andy Cousin
Andy Cousin
Andrew 'Andy' Cousin is an English bassist and, less commonly, guitarist from Huddersfield in England...
(formerly of All About Eve) on bass. This line-up's first release was a fanclub-only flexi disc
Flexi disc
The flexi disc is a phonograph record made of a thin, flexible vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral stylus groove, and is designed to be playable on a normal phonograph turntable...
cover of the Osmonds
The Osmonds
The Osmonds are an American family music group with a long and varied career—a career that took them from singing barbershop music as children, to achieving success as teen-music idols, to producing a hit television show, and to continued success as solo and group performers...
song "Crazy Horses" in early 1993. The recording of a new album started, while a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
live album No Snow, No Show for the Eskimo was compiled by Hussey and Joe Gibb. For the first time in three years, the band decided to tour, and a warm-up was arranged as the "Off the Street" benefit for the homeless in Leeds. As Andrew Eldritch signed up, completely unfounded press speculation about a Hussey/Eldritch reunion became rife. The Club Mission tour played smaller venues around Europe, with new tracks "Afterglow" and "Raising Cain" becoming a regular feature in the set.
The end of 1993 saw Hussey remixing "Tower of Strength" with Youth
Martin Glover
Martin Glover, also known as Youth, is a record producer and a founding member and bassist of the UK band Killing Joke. He is a member of The Fireman along with Paul McCartney. Glover was born in Africa.-Early career:...
, and revisiting some of the past material for a greatest hits
Greatest hits
A greatest hits album is a music compilation album of successful, previously released songs by a particular artist or band...
compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
. A remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
ed version of "Tower of Strength" appeared in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
in January 1994, and the band made their last appearance on Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
. The compilation, entitled Sum and Substance, was released the next month and featured two new tracks; "Sour Puss" (relating to Adams departing) and a remix of "Afterglow" by Mark "Spike" Stent
Mark Stent
Mark 'Spike' Stent is a British record producer, and audio engineer who has worked with The KLF, Björk, Keane, Depeche Mode, Muse, Erasure, Hard-Fi, Massive Attack, Janet Jackson, Madonna, Christina Aguilera, Marilyn Manson, Pet Shop Boys, Dave Matthews, No Doubt/Gwen Stefani, CSS, Beth Orton,...
. The latter was also released as the final single through Vertigo
Vertigo Records
Vertigo Records today is a UK-based record label operated by Universal Music UK.-History:Vertigo Records was the name Philips Records chose in the late 1960s for its record sub-label to counter the progressive labels of its rivals EMI with Harvest Records and Decca Records with Deram...
/Phonogram — the seven-album contract was now up, and neither of the parties was interested in a continued relationship.
Recordings proceeded slowly, while the band negotiated a new independent record deal, and Hussey produced a collection of three BBC sessions as Salad Daze. In late 1994, a single, "Raising Cain", was released on Equator Records. Early in 1995, the single "Swoon" paved way for the next album, Neverland, more or less a Mission signature sound but with a much heavier production. The Neverland tour saw a slight revival in popularity, with two of the concerts being filmed for German television, a promo-only live EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
released and a handful of summer festivals played.
In March 1996 the band set up in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
for eight weeks to record new songs which Hussey had been developing. When the resulting album, Blue
Blue (The Mission album)
Blue is a studio album by The Mission. It was released in 1996 and was their last album of the decade. It reached #72 on the UK Albums Chart and #11 on the UK Independent Albums Chart.-Track listing:# "Coming Home"# "Get Back to You"...
, was released, it received mixed review from music critics but left portions of the old fanbase rather unimpressed. Future interviews would see Hussey hating the album, with only the reworked B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
"Evermore & Again" ever becoming a regular staple in subsequent tours. A short stint around the UK, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands afterwards turned out to be a farewell tour: After ten years, Hussey and Brown decided that enough is enough. The band finished it all off with festivals in Spain and South Africa, the latter being their final gig at the Kyalami
Kyalami
Kyalami is a motor racing circuit located in Midrand, Gauteng province, South Africa. The circuit has been used for Grand Prix and Formula One races and has hosted the South African Grand Prix many times. In recent years, the area surrounding the circuit has developed into a residential and...
racetrack in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
.
Afterlife
After the Mission disbanded, Hussey spent his time in Orange County, CaliforniaOrange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
with his wife and young daughter. In semi-retirement, he produced sporadic remixes and singles for Cleopatra Records
Cleopatra Records
Cleopatra Records is a Los Angeles-based independent record label.- History :Founded in 1992 by Brian Perera, it specializes in gothic rock, hard rock, heavy metal and reissues of out-of-print music...
and Dancing Ferret
Dancing Ferret
The Dancing Ferret entertainment group is an unofficial collective name for Dancing Ferret Discs and Dancing Ferret Concerts. It was started by Patrick Rodgers in 1995 with the formation of Dancing Ferret Concerts...
Records, as well as up-and-coming acts, and contributing a new song for a Mission album put together by Mission fans over the internet.
In 1999, after releasing an album of solo versions of Mission classics in his home studio, Hussey resurrected the band with Adams, drummer Scott Garrett (Adams' band-mate in The Cult) and Mark Thwaite
Mark Thwaite
Mark Gemini Thwaite has been the guitarist for a number of British rock bands and artists over the last two decades, including The Mission, Tricky, Peter Murphy, New Disease, Spear of Destiny, Theatre of Hate, Mob Research , and Canadian band National Velvet plus various guest appearances...
, for what was intended to be a one-off tour with Gene Loves Jezebel
Gene Loves Jezebel
Gene Loves Jezebel are a gothic rock band from the early 1980s, now two separate bands of the same name, founded by identical twin brothers, Michael and Jay Aston .-Early years: 1980-1989:...
across the United States and an also-resurrected All About Eve across the United Kingdom. The success of the tour and the reaction of the crowds gave the band plenty of encouragement to continue beyond the tour, and 2000 saw the band take on a mammoth world tour, heading festivals in Europe and sharing the bill with the Sisters of Mercy at the M'era Luna Festival
M'era Luna Festival
The M'era Luna is a festival of goth, metal and industrial music. It is held annually on the second weekend of every August, in Hildesheim, Germanyat Flugplatz Hildesheim-Drispenstedt, a former British Army airbase....
in Germany. A souvenir CD of the 1999 tour was released as Ever After, with the various live tracks complemented by three tracks from the 1995 promo-only Live EP and the even-rarer fanclub-only studio outtake "Crazy Horses".
At the end of 2000, the band recorded tracks for a new album at The Levellers' Brighton studios, and Dave Allen (who produced the first Sisters of Mercy album) was drafted in to oversee the recording of tracks in Bath. Before the release of the album, dubbed Aura
Aura (The Mission album)
Aura is the ninth studio album by The Mission. Released in 2001, it was their first studio album since Blue in 1996. The album was also released as a slipcased limited edition 2CD set...
, the band were invited to play support for the German tour of the Finnish band HIM. At this juncture, Thwaite left the band (first due to touring commitments with Tricky
Tricky
Tricky is an English musician and actor. As a producer and a musician, he is noted for a dark, rich and layered sound and a whispering sprechgesang lyrical style. Culturally, Tricky encourages an intertwining of societies, particularly in his musical fusion of rock and hip hop, high art and pop...
and later to form the band New Disease) to be replaced by Rob Holliday
Rob Holliday
Rob Holliday is a professional musician. He was the live guitarist of industrial metal band Marilyn Manson as well as for Gary Numan, The Prodigy, and Sulpher...
of Sulpher.
Aura was released on their own Playground label run by former Phonogram A&R man Charlie Eyre. The sound was heavy and the production very intricate, but fans noted that several songs were uncomfortably similar to previous Mission songs, notably "Dragonfly", which was very similar to 1990 hit "Butterfly on a Wheel". Nonetheless, the band undertook a large world tour supporting the album. However, the stresses of touring and diminishing returns once again saw tensions grow, and during the South American leg of their 2002 tour, Adams decided to leave once again. Hussey continued the leg of the tour by himself, with some acoustic shows backed by pre-recorded tapes, also lining himself up for a number of much more successful solo acoustic shows in Europe.
In early 2003, The Mission gained a new bass player in the form of Ritchie Vernon and within a matter of months, Garrett also left, to be replaced by Steve Spring. This new line-up carried on through to mid-2004.
Recently
In September 2005 the band's first DVD, Lighting the Candles, was released, complemented by a live CD. It took over a year for Hussey to compile this 2 DVD set which includes a live gig, some video clips, a commented biography and discography and plenty of interviews, live performances and backstage shots. The result gained good reviews and good sales. The single "Breathe Me In" hit the top of the Alternative Chart in Germany, and the band once again undertook an extensive EU tour. Mark ThwaiteMark Thwaite
Mark Gemini Thwaite has been the guitarist for a number of British rock bands and artists over the last two decades, including The Mission, Tricky, Peter Murphy, New Disease, Spear of Destiny, Theatre of Hate, Mob Research , and Canadian band National Velvet plus various guest appearances...
rejoined the band, as Holliday was occupied touring with The Prodigy
The Prodigy
The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and other acts, The Prodigy have been credited as pioneers of the big beat genre, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s and 2000s...
. The band evolved the hard-rock angle further, while audience ranks grew throughout the tour. Hussey announced that 2006 would hold no tours, as he would concentrate on the new album and his personal projects.
As well as Lighting the Candles, 2005 saw the release of Waves Upon the Sand and Crusade for the first time on DVD.
In 2006 Hussey marked the 20th anniversary of the band with the issue of a limited edition
Special edition
The terms special edition, limited edition and variants such as deluxe edition, collector's edition and others, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints or recorded music and films, but now including...
T-shirt designed especially for the occasion. Meanwhile, Phonogram records released another "best of", Anthology: The Phonogram Years, a two-CD set including all 11 of the band's Top 40 hits alongside rare mixes, long lost B-sides, BBC sessions, 5 previously unavailable tracks and 5 tracks appearing on CD for the first time.
A new single, "Keep It In the Family" was released in March 2007, followed a month later by the new album God is a Bullet
God Is a Bullet
God Is a Bullet is the tenth and final studio album by The Mission. It was released in 2007.-Track listing:# "Still Deep Waters" - 3:10# "Keep It in the Family" - 3:59# "Belladonna" - 3:34# "To Love & to Kill With the Very Same Hand" - 4:27...
featuring Hussey, Thwaite, Vernon and Spring and guest musicians Simon Hinkler
Simon Hinkler
Simon Thomas Hinkler is a guitarist, keyboard player, songwriter and producer from Sheffield, most notable for being the lead guitarist for the British rock group, The Mission from 1986 to 1990....
, Bricheno and Julianne Regan
Julianne Regan
Julianne Regan is an English singer, song writer, guitarist, bass guitarist and keyboard player. She is best known for being the lead singer of the band, All About Eve.- Early life :...
. To coincide with the release of the new album, Mercury Records reissued the first three Mission albums as enhanced CDs complete with bonus tracks.
In February–March 2008 the band played a tour of Europe which culminated in a series of four concerts at Shepherds Bush Empire
Shepherds Bush Empire
The O2 Shepherds Bush Empire is a music venue in Shepherd's Bush, London, England, run by the Academy Music Group. It was built in 1903, as a music hall, and in 1953 became the BBC Television Theatre...
in London, with each night dedicated to a particular period of the band's history. Hussey announced that these would be the last ever Mission concerts, as he wished to have an indefinite break from band activity and concentrate on other personal projects. Simon Hinkler
Simon Hinkler
Simon Thomas Hinkler is a guitarist, keyboard player, songwriter and producer from Sheffield, most notable for being the lead guitarist for the British rock group, The Mission from 1986 to 1990....
joined on each night for the encores and occasional songs in main set. The final concert in the series was filmed, and each night recorded and later released as part of a boxed set.
In February 2009 the Mission's record label SPV records released a double album
Double album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
Live & Last plus the DVD Final Chapter recording of the final show which included additional footage from the tour. The DVD debuted in the official UK BBC charts at No.6 - the highest UK chart position in many years for the band.
In June 2010 the band's label SPV released Dum Dum Bullet. Hussey alluded to a possible reformation of the band in 2011, for some live shows celebrating the band's 25th anniversary.
On 31 October 2010, it was announced that The Mission will be playing in Belgium, at the Sinners Day Festival, on 31 October 2011.
Studio albums
- God's Own Medicine (1986)
- The First Chapter (1987)
- Children (1988)
- Carved in SandCarved in SandCarved in Sand is the fourth studio album by The Mission, released in 1990. It reached #7 in the UK albums chart, making it the second of two top ten albums and overall best-selling album in the band's career...
(January 1990) - Grains of SandGrains of SandGrains of Sand is a 1990 album by gothic rock band The Mission. It includes tracks that were originally recorded for their previous album, Carved in Sand, but not included on it....
(November 1990) - MasqueMasque (The Mission)Masque is the title of the sixth studio album by The Mission. It was released in January 1992 on the Vertigo sub-label of Mercury Records...
(1992) - Neverland (1995)
- BlueBlue (The Mission album)Blue is a studio album by The Mission. It was released in 1996 and was their last album of the decade. It reached #72 on the UK Albums Chart and #11 on the UK Independent Albums Chart.-Track listing:# "Coming Home"# "Get Back to You"...
(1996) - AuraAura (The Mission album)Aura is the ninth studio album by The Mission. Released in 2001, it was their first studio album since Blue in 1996. The album was also released as a slipcased limited edition 2CD set...
(2001) - God is a BulletGod Is a BulletGod Is a Bullet is the tenth and final studio album by The Mission. It was released in 2007.-Track listing:# "Still Deep Waters" - 3:10# "Keep It in the Family" - 3:59# "Belladonna" - 3:34# "To Love & to Kill With the Very Same Hand" - 4:27...
(2007) - Dum Dum Bullet (2010)
External links
- Official site
- And The Dance Goes On - German fanpage
- MishDisco -discography of the band (in German)
- Wasteland - UK-based fan site