The Sisterhood - "Giving Ground" Single (January 1986)

"Giving Ground" Single (January 1986)

On the very same day Eldritch made a phone call to bassist Patricia Morrison whose band Fur Bible was on a UK tour with Siouxsie and the Banshees at the time, and asked her to play on his planned album. Morrison: "The day they fell apart he called me and said 'Will you do it?' and I said yes. We had some tours set up, so I waited until that was cleared, then left."

Hussey and Adams, who like Eldritch remained under contract with WEA Records, booked some studio time at Slaughterhouse Recording Studios in Driffield at the end of October 1985, recorded a four-song demo tape, and set up a new band. But the demo tape was rejected by the record company who were not convinced by Hussey's singing talents.

Eldritch went into the studio at the tail end of 1985 to produce the debut single of James Ray and the Performance for his Merciful Release label. James Ray: "The Sisterhood project arose during the recording of 'Mexico Sundown Blues'."

While Eldritch was in the studio, Hussey and Adams, who had taken over The Sisters' roadcrew and equipment, announced their debut concert for 20 January 1986 which they were going to play under the new name The Sisterhood.

Eldritch was alarmed: "They began to claim rights to, which patently had to be stopped. And when they wanted to be called The Sisterhood, there was nothing I could do but be The Sisterhood before them - the only way to kill that name was to use it, then kill it." "Warners thought they could have two bands on the same label with pretty much the same name."

Eldritch decided to secure the rights to The Sisterhood name as quickly as possible. He registered a company under the name and prepared a record to be released on his own label.

In only five days Eldritch recorded a song called "Giving Ground" which he co-wrote with Merciful Release manager Boyd Steemson and co-produced with Lucas Fox. Fox and Eldritch had met in the spring of 1985, when Fox was the stand-in drummer for Australian support band The Scientists on The Sisters' UK tour. Eldritch recorded all instruments himself (guitar, bass, synthesizers and drum programming), while Fox programmed some additional percussion tracks.

The single contained two different mixes of the song, Eldritch's original instrumental "Giving Ground (AV)" (5:45 min) on the b-side and the vocal remix "Giving Ground (RSV)" (4:50 min) on the a-side. 'AV' and 'RSV' are explained on the official Sisters website this way: "The 'Authorised Version' of 'Giving Ground' is Andrew's original version, and the 'Revised Standard Version' is the version developed by colleagues at Merciful Release and subsequently adopted as the standard version. 'AV' and 'RSV' are well-known versions of the Bible."

Because Eldritch as an artist was under contract to WEA Records, he could not sing on the record, otherwise WEA would have had an option on the recording. James Ray: "He asked me and I did the vocals, as easy as that."

Merciful Release announced the single's release with a press statement: "From among the forces allied to Merciful Release we bring you The Sisterhood. capturing (in this instance) the musical bile of Andrew Eldritch, and introducing the colossal vocal talents of James Ray and the Performance ... of whom more soon."

The single was released as planned on 20 January 1986, the same day that Hussey and Adams played their debut concert in London as The Sisterhood. The press hype about the two conflicting parties made the single enter the UK Indie Chart on 8 February, where it got to no. 1 on 15 February 1986. The reviews in the music press were unanimously negative, and even James Ray later declared: "It's a terrible track."

Hussey and Adams had to give up The Sisterhood name. A radio session for the Janice Long Evening Show on BBC Radio 1 on 10 February was broadcast under the provisional name of The Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams Band, and at the end of February 1986 the new name The Mission was announced.

Another Eldritch press release commented: "We assume that their choice of name is entirely unconnected with the forthcoming Andrew Eldritch album which for some months has had the working title Left on Mission and Revenge."

On 2 March 1986 The Mission played in Birmingham. Wayne Hussey: "The majority of the songs we've been doing in the set so far are my songs that Andrew rejected for The Sisters' second album. It's ironic cos he saw us at Birmingham and told us how good he thought the songs were."