While the world reels in the aftermath of Donald Trump winning the 2016 U.S. presidential election, those who feared he might win are going through various stages of shock and grief (count me among them). But as history has foretold, unpopular presidents inspire great rock music.
Given this, the surprise Donald Trump win may have had yet another unthinkable outcome: a new album from goth icons The Sisters of Mercy, who haven’t released an album since 1990’s Vision Thing (which was greatly inspired by the presidency of George Herbert Walker Bush).
Frontman and founding member Andrew Eldritch teased the idea in an interview with Team Rock, saying: What is happening in America is an ever more bizarre circus, and the population doesn’t seem to realize just how much it’s being taken for a ride.
I can tell you one thing: If Donald Trump actually does become President, that will be reason enough for me to release another album. I don’t think I could keep quiet if that happened.
As to why it’s been a nearly three decades since the group released an album, the singer elaborated:
Well, the fans have been hearing our new material for over 20 years at our concerts. And of course we’re incredibly grateful that they keep coming. The main problem with a new album is that I don’t want to blackmail my band into doing it for free. It takes a lot of work and effort, and in this day and age music unfortunately no longer seems to have any value.
On the one hand nobody wants to pay for it anymore, on the other the information overkill has led to a world in which mainly music devoid of any content is consumed. Add to that the fact that I haven’t spoken to the label in years and vice versa. I have thought about crowdfunding, but nothing is decided. I’m just glad people still listen to our old songs so much. At least in this respect the streaming boom has been advantageous for us. But we’ll see.
So while the notion of an insecure bully as commander-in-chief stokes panic, the idea of the first new Sisters of Mercy album in over 26 years would prove a most welcome distraction. Until then, some fitting mood music from the Sisters classic 1987 album Floodland: