The Sisterhood

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The Sisterhood was a short-lived English goth band, consisting of Andrew Eldritch (writer and producer), drum machine Doktor Avalanche and the "Chorus of Vengeance" of Lucas Fox (drums), Patricia Morrison (bass and vocals), James Ray (guitar and vocals) and Alan Vega (synthesizer and vocals).

The band was formed by Eldritch after the 1985 breakup of his band The Sisters Of Mercy. There had supposedly been an agreement among Eldritch and the ones leaving the band that Eldritch would retain the rights to the songs and the names, while the ex-Sisters would play their old songs under the name of Sisterhood. Eldritch would not accept this close a name, especially with them breaking the agreement by playing songs they weren't allowed to.

Quickly, he formed The Sisterhood to force the old band members out of the game. Enlisting the helping hand of Patricia Morrison, formerly of The Gun Club and soon-to-be member of the reformed Sisters, and Alan Vega of the New York outfit Suicide, The Sisterhood released one LP, Gift, in 1986 on Eldritch's own Merciful Release label. From this LP, the track "Giving Ground" was lifted as a single.

Not named after the English word but rather the German word for poison, Gift is quite simple with its long, droning rhythms and ill sentiment ("what you have lost can never be found" and "trust lies broken, and the truth is drowned") towards the former Sisters members, especially Wayne Hussey. Morrison, on the starter track Jihad, recites the numbers 2-5-0-0-0 several times. This was evidently the amount of money (in pounds) a certain record company offered to the first of the two Sisterhoods to produce a full record. A rather persistent (but false) alternative explanation for the number is the amount Hussey had to pay Eldritch for using the Sisterhood name, when the matter was tried in the court of law. The second track, Colours, was later heard in official Sisters catalogue with Eldritch singing lead (he did not sing lead on Gift). On Finland Red, Egypt White, Lucas Fox reads the technical specifications of an AK-47 rifle to several minutes of sheer repetition. It is worthy of note that the hit single "This Corrosion" that wound up on Floodland was originally planned for the Gift album, harboring the same vitriol towards the betrayers of Eldritch's trust.

Sure enough, the release copyrighted the name of the band, forcing the other Sisterhood to initiate a name change. Changing to The Mission, supposedly taking the name from the next Sisters LP that had been planned, Left on a Mission and Revenge, the band quickly started a life of its own.