After years of silence, archetypal Gothic band The Mission is=20 alive, well — and playing in Johannesburg. FRED DE VRIES=20
THE Mission’s singer/guitarist, Wayne Hussey, has a reputation=20 for being loud and pretentious. His lyrics always used to be full of=20 quasi-religious symbolism; his music often fell on the wrong side=20 of pomp. And in interviews he used to love to boast about his drug=20 intake and sexual appetite. But three years of silence and rest have=20 done him good. The old image has gone to dust. If anything,=20 Goth’s 37-year-old demi-god sounds a bit tired and weary. “What I did during those years was get a personal life,” he says=20 from London, where he is mixing backing tracks for the two=20 shows he’ll be performing in Johannesburg next week. “I had a=20 drug problem (amphetamines), and basically took a bit of time out=20 to get my life in order …” Those three years in the wilderness almost meant the end of The=20 Mission. Hussey says he thought about giving up a number of=20 times. “There are certain frustrations that come with the territory.=20 There are expectations from your audience. If you deviate too far=20 from that, they don’t find it acceptable. That can be very=20
Hussey formed The Mission with bassist Craig Adams in 1986,=20 after an acrimonious split from the Sisters of Mercy, whose=20 hollow-cheeked lead singer, Andrew Eldritch, also had an=20 obsession for speed, examplified in songs like Amphetamine=20 Logic. Hussey composed about half of the songs on the Sisters of=20 Mercy’s seminal first album, First and Last and Always. The Mission was always seen as a less sombre, more commercial=20 version of Sisters of Mercy. “I never thought we were all doom=20 and gloom. I’ve always felt there was a lot of colour to The=20 Mission,” says Hussey, acknowledging that there were some neo- hippie elements. “We certainly wore the uniform and spoke the=20
The first two Mission albums, God’s Own Medicine and=20 Children, sold extremely well and earned the band a large and=20 * oyal fan base. In true Eighties fashion, The Eskimos, as the fans=20 were called for their strictly black clothes and white faces,=20 followed the band all over Europe, specialising in the Gothic=20 armwave at gigs. But the advent of the Nineties seemed to signal the end for The=20 Mish. New, more exciting bands surfaced, and the travelling fan=20 base evaporated. According to Hussey, “they’ve all grown up,=20 got university degrees and got married”. “Good riddance,” he=20 adds. “I think they were nuts. Watching the same band all the=20 time is not my idea of fun.” But just when everyone had given up on Hussey and his mission,=20 there was a new line-up and a new album. In many ways,=20 Neverland is a return to form(ula). About half the songs have that=20 slightly bombastic trademark Mission sound, which will get those=20 rusty Gothic arms waving again. But elsewhere the band tries new=20 things and sounds fresh and surprisingly down to earth. Those=20 wild and crazy days of yore are over, assures Hussey. “The=20 Mission was a lifestyle but it ended up a sad, futile thing.” But fans needn’t worry. He may have cut his hair and his drug=20 intake, but he’s not a born-again Phil Collins. “I’m a=20 recreational (drug) user now,” he laughs. “I don’t get up in the=20 morning and put speed in my coffee any more.” The Mission’s Wayne Hussey and guitarist Mark Gemini=20 Thwaite will perform two sets at The Doors nightclub (165=20 Marshall Street) on July 19 and 20 at 9pm. On July 21 they will=20 do a short acoustic set at Megavox at The Randburg Waterfront at=20