After the March 1985 release of the first Sisters of Mercy album First and Last and Always the band prepared themselves for a follow-up. Eldritch: "The next Sisters album was going to be called 'Left On Mission and Revenge'." [1] 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 James Ray and the Performance ... of whom more soon." Due to legal conditions, Eldritch could not sing on the album so James Ray, took on vocal duties while Lucas Fox contributed the spoken word part on ‘Rain From Heaven’ and Patricia Morrison uttered the infamous “2 – 5 – 0 – 0 – 0” vocal intro on ‘Jihad’.

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. [15] James Ray: "The Sisterhood project arose during the recording of 'Mexico Sundown Blues'." [16] Eldritch was alarmed: "They began to claim rights to [the Sisters name], 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." [12] "Warners thought they could have two bands on the same label with pretty much the same name." [17] a b c [12] [ permanent dead link] Michael Ruff: "Prinz der Feuchtgebiete" ( SPEX magazine January 1988) 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". [21]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.

The long-out-of-print album by The Sisterhood— the project born out of Andrew Eldritch’s feud with ex- Sisters of Mercy bandmates Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams — will be reissued on CD, cassette and vinyl for the first time in decades, and released digitally for the first time ever. Thus he took Eldritch took the name The Sisterhood for himself and announced single through his own Merciful Release label:“Giving Ground”. Music Written and Produced by Andrew Eldritch Featuring Doktor Avalanche and The Chorus Of Vengeance

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. The Gift album was issued on CD for the first time in 1989 then reissued in 1994, but has been out of print on all formats — aside from bootleg repressings — since then, and has yet to debut digitally. The Sisters of Mercy are scheduled to play a pair of rare U.S. shows this spring — a festival in Las Vegas and a headlining date in Los Angeles — as the lone album from Andrew Eldritch’s mid-’80s side project The Sisterhood finally sees a reissue several years after it was announced. Andrew Eldritch: "The people that are now the Mission and myself had an agreement, no one would use the name when the band went its separate ways." [12] "The band was good and successful, each of us could continue. The split came at a time when it wouldn't do us any damage." [2] "Giving Ground" single (January 1986) [ edit ] "Giving Ground"

James Ray: "Lucas Fox done the spoken word stuff." [26] "If I remember correctly I advised Andrew on how Lucas Fox should approach his vocals and that was quite enough for me." [16]Andrew Eldritch radio interview [ permanent dead link] (Andrew Collins Show, BBC 6 Music 17 April 2003) Eldritch: "Then they said 'Well, okay, what are we gonna do for new songs?' And I said 'How about this, this and this' and, unfortunately, the first 'this' I cited had too many chords per minute and Craig said 'If that's the guitar line, I'm not playing it' and walked out. That was really that." [8] "The others didn't want to play my new songs, such as 'Torch' for instance. [...] The song has some unusual chord changes. Craig thought it was crap, he said 'I'm not playing it, I'm going home.' And there he stayed." [9] As to the involvement of Alan Vega in this album, Andrew Eldritch replied in an interview with The Quietus by Ben Graham of November 12th, 2011: Sounds magazine reported on 20 February 1986 that "a new 12-inch EP called 'This Corrosion' will soon be in the shops, featuring the same line-up but with the addition of a mysterious and so far undisclosed American vocalist." [24] This 12inch single even appeared in German music paper adverts as "available soon". [25]

and believe me there's a lot of people i know, which remember gift very well, but they don't know who the "floodland" is 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." [13] Gary Marx left earlier to form Ghost Dance, famously not showing up to perform the final concert dubbed “Wake” on his birthday.The Gift album was issued on CD for the first time in 1989 then reissued in 1994, but has been out of print on all formats — aside from bootleg repressings — since then, and had yet to debut digitally. RCA, the record label and publisher of the music of The Sisters of Mercy, and the band that would eventually become The Mission were also signed to, profited from the feud a lot. 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 James Ray and the Performance … of whom more soon.” London-based Cadiz Music has announced the reissue of Gift is “coming soon” and is being produced in conjunction with Eldritch’s Merciful Release label, which first issued The Sisterhood’s album Gift in 1986.