Sisters of Mercy Return

The Sisters of Mercy will make their first North American concert appearances since 1999 with a run of shows beginning in mid-February.

The goth-rock pioneers--who have gone through almost as many lineup changes as Spinal Tap--will kick off their return to the States with a Feb. 16 in Las Vegas. The tour will last slightly more than a month and the band will hit 15 cities on the outing, including two Canadian dates.

The Sisters of Mercy were formed in Leeds, England in 1980 and went on to become one of the most successful goth-themed acts of that decade. The band released three albums, the last, "Vision Thing," coming in 1990. The group--now down one remaining original member in co-founder and lead singer Andrew Eldritch--continued to play live shows for most of the '90s and this decade, even without benefit of new recorded material.

Eldritch, who has a long history of feuding with various record labels, has recently discussed the possibility of new Sisters material being released, but has set no timetable for the idea. "New and hence unreleased songs make up half of any live Sisters set these days, although the classics get a good thrashing in rotation," Eldritch said on the band's website.

The current lineup of the band consists of Eldritch, Chris Catalyst (guitar,) Adam Pearson (guitar/vocals) and a drum machine named "Doktor Avalanche." This was the same name given to the drum machine that accompanied Eldritch and the band's other co-founder Gary Marx in the early years of the group.

Guitarist Pearson has also appeared recently playing live shows with the reunited MC5.