Alice (EP)

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***Alice*** is the first independent EP by the Sisters of Mercy, released on 12" vinyl in March 1983 by Merciful Release, the band's own label.

## Recording

After one week of pre-production at Andrew Eldritch's flat in Leeds, four tracks were recorded over two weekends with producer John Ashton of the Psychedelic Furs at Kenny Giles's studio in Bridlington: "Alice", "Floorshow", Stooges cover "1969" and the unreleased "Good Things".

The same four songs had been previously recorded for a BBC radio session in August 1982.

## Release

"Alice" and "Floorshow" were released as the band's third 7" single on 21 November 1982. With two additional tracks, "1969" and the new recording "Phantom", it was re-released in March 1983 as a 12" EP.

Ashton financed a US release (the band's first) of the 12" EP on Island Park, New York label Brain Eater Records.

The EP was never released as a stand-alone CD, but was included on the *Some Girls Wander by Mistake* collection.

## Personnel

* Andrew Eldritch – vocals
* Craig Adams – bass guitar
* Ben Gunn – guitar
* Gary Marx – guitar
* Doktor Avalanche (drum machine) – drums

## Artist commentary

* Andrew Eldritch (1990): “My attitude to 'Alice' has changed over the years. I wrote it in ten minutes about pills and tranks when I used to care about watching people I know get dragged down by that. Now I really don't care.”
* Gary Marx (1983/2003): “Ben joined us last year. The first single that we did with him was 'Alice', which was like our break in a very small way, as it got us into the indie charts [...] The Psychedelic Furs put up all the costs so it was no skin off our noses. What happened was, Andy went to see the Furs a long time ago and gave them our first tape, which they liked and gave to various people, including their manager. So we've had a lot of help and advice from them. John Ashton, the Furs' guitarist, produced 'Alice' which was the reason why it was so good. With a bit of luck he might help us with the next one.” “The guitar sound was my old £85 Shergold in the early days, something I’d borrowed off Jon Langford or other friends of the family, or one of Andrew’s guitars [...] We’d made ‘Alice’ with John Ashton producing who did a brilliant job, and rather than invite him to work with us again Andrew believed he’d learnt everything he could from John and took sole responsibility for [the band's follow-up single] ‘Anaconda’.”
* Les Mills (manager, 2004): “I arranged for them to record with John as I felt it would benefit both parties, as the Sisters' previous recorded work had been dire and John wanted to get into production.”

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Dave Thompson: *Beautiful Chaos. The Psychedelic Furs*. Helter Skelter Publishing 2004, page 108.
2. ↑ "Radio 1 - Keeping It Peel - 25/08/1982 Sisters Of Mercy". BBC. Retrieved 2014-05-22.
3. ↑ George Gimarc: *Punk Diary*. Backbeat Books 2005, page 684.
4. ↑ http://www.ultimatesistersguide.org/documents/Official.htm
5. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/Sisters-Of-Mercy-Alice/release/1641295
6. ↑ David Quantick: New Boots And Panzers, *New Musical Express*, 15 December 1990, page 30.
7. ↑ "Two sisters, at our mercy! (part one)". Ultimatesistersguide.org. Retrieved 2014-05-22.
8. ↑ "Two sisters, at our mercy! (part two)". Ultimatesistersguide.org. Retrieved 2014-05-22.
9. ↑ Gary Marx interview, *Myheartland* website, 6 July 2003

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