The Mission with Wayne Hussey

The Mission special with Wayne Hussey talking about life in music, Sisters of Mercy, The Mission and his new book, Salad Daze.

After an aborted recording session with Andrew Eldritch in the summer of 1985, Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams left the Sisters of Mercy. Based in Leeds, the duo continued to work on various musical ideas and recorded them over the autumn. Dismissing the use of a drum-machine, Adams and Hussey asked Mick Brown to help out with the sessions. By the end of the year, he had joined the band on a permanent basis. With Hussey as both the frontman and principal songwriter, the trio required a second guitarist to facilitate a live set-up. They eventually recruited Simon Hinkler who also contributed keyboards and thus completed the four-piece. The name 'The Sisterhood' was chosen with a nod to past and rehearsals for the first shows started in January 1986. The new name quickly became a point of discussion in the English music-press, giving the four-piece significant amount of publicity. As 'The Sisterhood' the band made their live-debut on 20 January 1986 at the Alice in Wonderland, London.

Hussey and Adams were released from their WEA contracts and the band signed a seven-album deal with Phonogram in July 1986. Their debut God's Own Medicine was then recorded in six weeks with novice producer Tim Palmer, an acquaintance from Hussey's Dead or Alive days.

In October the single III(Stay With Me) was released, preceding the album that appeared the next month. The band set out on a three-month World Crusade I UK/European tour, with their dedicated followers 'Eskimos' in tow. They also appeared on British television a number of times and recorded a session for BBC radio. The single IV (Wasteland) charted at No. 11 in January 1987.

The World Crusade II tour brought the band to North America, where they were known as 'The Mission UK'. The 41-date trek was characterised by substance abuse and led to the collapse of an inebriated Craig Adams in Los Angeles, resulting in him temporarily quitting the band. Sound man Pete Turner filled in for one show, before they enlisted the help of Chris Bocast to play bass with them for the remainder of the tour, which included an opening slot for The Psychedelic Furs. In March 1987, the single V (Severina) with a guest vocal from Julianne Regan was released.

Back in England, Adams returned to the band to play a handful of European festivals, and two support dates in Leeds and Edinburgh on U2's Joshua Tree Tour. A live video entitled Crusade was released, capturing the band and their noisy audience at the early stage of their career. It coincided with the release of The First Chapter in June 1987, a collection of the material from the first two EPs