Gary's gaffer-taped boots, 1981-1985!

When you think of classic early 1980’s The Sisters of Mercy, certain iconic objects come to mind: Eldritch’s shades, Ben’s NHS specs, Gary’s Hawaiian shirts, Edritch’s leather jacket and later frock coat, Craig’s mercifully short-lived 1984 stetson, Wayne’s collection of hats, Von’s sideburns … the list is endless. Yet one item is more symbolic than any other of the esprit de corps in the band in those breakthrough years .... Gary’s gaffer-taped boots.

Over on the wonderful 1980-1985 FB fanpage, kind-hearted Belgian collector Bruno Bossier shared some magnificently sharp photos which he had acquired of the Hull Tiffany’s gig on Monday 18^th March 1985 on the Tune In, Turn On, Burn Out tour to coincide with the release of FALAA the previous week. One of the photos (reproduced here) shows the prized footwear in all its self-repaired three-buckled glory. 

The boots had become a bit of a cause célèbre, and went on to feature in Gary’s last interview as a Sister which duly appeared in Artificial Life fanzine. The interview took place on the early afternoon of Sunday March 24^th, as on the cassette recording of the chat, a TV in the background can be heard playing the familiar theme tunes of (the end of that day’s omnibus edition of) Eastenders and Match of The Day (the start of live coverage of the Norwich v Sunderland League Cup Final).

At one point in the interview, the journalist (Jake Jacobs) notices Marx’s unusual footwear and asks him about it. Marx’s response shows the level of commitment which and other band members had to the project, having already said “There’s a lot of sacrifices for the band.” Many 1980’s artists would have been provided (out of their advance) with the latest fashions and a dresser to help with sartorial purchases, but TSOM continued to plough their meagre finances back into the band:

Four years! This might seem to be a gross exaggeration, but in the aftershow footage of the legendary Peterborough gig two years earlier (again kindly uploaded to YT by Phil Verne, watch out for Gary at about 10:27), the offending shoes were already patched up with (a smaller amount of) gaffer tape, and are the identifying feature as Marx walks through the shot. The situation is summed up at the end of the Artificial Life interview, where Jacobs pays a fine tribute to the guitarist, just after the latter has humorously stated his ambitions, including a desire to be (sort of) better shod:

My thanks for this post go to two of my regular partners-in-crime, Phil Verne of the 8085 FB group for the extracts from the fanzine (the full print interview can be seen on that FB group) and to Bruno Bossier for sharing the wonderful photo.