Less than a year ago, I teased you all with the news that new music was being released by a founding member of The Sisters of Mercy. To my surprise, we’re back again! Following Gary Marx’s release of Green Ginger Jive in October of last year, he’s back with a new album called “Sad Songs for Anthony” – and kindly indulged a few questions from me as well!
Turns out, whilst Mr Marx was performing his popular Green Ginger Jive shows last year, there were other songs biding their time, and once he’d worn out that infamous scarlet suit, he was back recording riffs that sound more like the early 80s than the late 70s! Sad Songs for Anthony is a generous selection of dark-tinged, guitar-driven postpunk tracks, that share DNA with those mesmeric tunes which immortalised The Sisters of Mercy in the first place and continued into his Ghost Dance years.
Picking on some particular favourites, “Sahel” has a mesmerising riff that plays utterly to Marx’ strength as a guitarist – a burning experience “on some desert’s shore” that is laced with dark foreboding. “Low Loader” oozes out from the smoked glass windows of a muscle car that just growled up the ‘long white line’ of “Heartland”, drawing an indelible line between 2025 and 1983. “Diaspora” benefits from Marx’ exploration of his violin sounds, and broods menacingly whilst howls swirl about just on the edge of hearing – a deliciously thrilling track.
Conversely, “Here Goes Nothing” kicks off as a pumping ripped-up punk thrash track with a dark devious shadow, that could sit comfortably on “Machine Gun Etiquette”. When Mr Marx turns his hand to a slower song, “Waiting to Burn” unmistakably flows from the same guitarist that wrote the B-side of “First and Last and Always” – and some of the eerie jangling on “And the Flesh” wouldn’t sound out of place at all on “The Reptile House”.
If there are any drawbacks, it’s that “Sad Songs for Anthony” could benefit from more post-production, in particular more work to bring forward Marx’ vocals. They need elevation and punch, they deserve to lead the way when the delivery is more sibilant or even elusive. A bit of spit and polish to really put the sheen on a brilliant concept.
The new album is available through Spotify, iTunes and Amazon Music. Sincere thanks again to Gary and team for an advance copy to listen to.
I’m also grateful to Gary for being incredibly open and prompt with his replies to my questions – please enjoy!
The Blogging Goth: Hi Gary – how’re you doing, and what have you been up to recently?
Gary Marx: I’m in good shape thanks, currently deaf in my right ear after spending too much time underwater. I split my time between Yorkshire and Catalonia and have done for a while. I make music wherever I find myself – technology has made that possible, and so the recent surge in activity is partly due to the ease of putting tunes together now.
TBG: It’s not yet been a year since Green Ginger Jive came out – what inspired you to create Sad Songs for Anthony?
GM: Well, I started the two sets of songs around the same time. Quite early on they split into the distinct camps. The knockabout nature of the glam-inspired stuff made it easier to throw together if I had an hour free here and there. That meant I got a fuller picture sooner of how that might work as an album and a ‘concept.’
As that plan formed, I became determined to try and meet some anniversaries that were heading my way in 2023 – most notable in cultural terms was the 50th anniversary of Bowie’s farewell show when he killed off Ziggy. I put Sad Songs on the backburner and threw my weight behind the glam collection. That ended up missing the 2023 deadline anyway because of some ups and downs in my personal life and the time-consuming involvement of the guest vocalists.
Anyway, once I got that done and completed the circle, (as I saw it) by playing in Hull back in October, I went back to Sad Songs For Anthony because I knew there were some good tunes there. I think the glam album is great and I appreciate people going along with it – I know the majority of them would prefer I turned out the lights and recreated ’83 rather than ’73. I saw SSFA as a thank you of sorts for indulging me, but I think both sets of songs are unmistakably me.
On a practical, music-making level, the inspiration or trigger for me was trying to play the violin. When people hear the album, they’ll realise it only features on three of the eleven songs, but it prompted the musical approach throughout. It made sense for me as a beginner violin player to select a specific set of notes and limit myself to them on each song I was creating.
I sometimes deliberately chose an odd or ugly sounding group of pitches rather than more standard scales. I adopted that strategy for all the guitar playing across the album. It means there is often a sense of the music not settling and this in turn led to me exploring ideas of place and identity in the lyrics. In that sense it dovetails neatly with Green Ginger Jive where I was interested in returning home to my roots. Sad Songs sees me adrift in the world again…
TBG: Violin inspirations and looper pedals – sounds like a lot of novel ways of making music. Do you feel like you have an experimental streak when it comes to music?
GM: I don’t view it as being experimental, but I do often start songs by asking myself, I wonder what will happen if…’ I do like to wander into areas that I’m not really equipped to deal with, which is how I started out in music. It occurred to me a couple of days ago that there was an element of Eno’s ‘Oblique Strategies’ about setting out writing songs based around an instrument I could barely play. I like the nervous energy created by being stretched – I like the feeling when you can’t sense if you’re running or falling over.
TBG: It’s also intriguing to hear you describe Sad Songs for Anthony as a “thankyou” to the fans. It definitely does sound more like your Sisters material that the glam influence of Green Ginger Jive. Do you feel an obligation to the fanbase from the 80-85 period?
GM: I don’t think there’s an obligation as such, just an awareness that a group of people are rooting for me, and I try and acknowledge that from time to time.
With Sad Songs For Anthony it wasn’t a case of, ‘let me pretend to be this other character to satisfy the Sisters fans.’ The new tunes on Sad Songs are things that came quite naturally, and are things I like and wanted to see released – I pushed ahead with getting them out now so that they can be viewed as part of the last twelve months’ activity. That means to get a full idea of who I am and what motivates me, you’d need to hear the nostalgia-drenched glam stuff, snippets of conversation and reworked songs from the two live shows, as well as this collection.
TBG: You’ve had great success with live performances from Green Ginger Jive – will there be any live performances for Sad Songs for Anthony?
GM: I don’t have any immediate plans to play more shows. I sense that fans of my music find this aspect puzzling and even frustrating. I loved both the shows I have done recently. Hull was a massively important thing for me to do. I found a format for the performances that interested me and worked well. Making it about more than just performing a few tunes was what allowed me to enjoy getting up again and just be myself in front of an audience.
I liked the flexibility of it mostly being just me onstage, but the looper pedal has its limitations and doesn’t immediately suggest itself as an option for the songs on SSFA. I certainly don’t want to get into a band situation and rehearsing endlessly – despite various offers I’m not getting sucked back into the live circuit. I don’t rule out future one-off shows but there’d need to be a specific reason, beyond ‘wouldn’t it be great to hear me play Lights and Poison Door.’
TBG: That’s the prompt I need! I’m sure you were expecting it, but… it’s the fortieth anniversary of the Sisters debut album this year. Any reflections on that influential moment? What does the legacy of The Sisters of Mercy mean to you?
GM: I think anyone at the shows in Farsley and Hull or who has seen footage doing the rounds online knows how important the band and its music was and is to me. I have no desire to present myself as some sort of Sisters tribute act – the band demands better than that.
I tell my tale because I happen to think it’s a good one. That was true with my involvement in contributing to Mark Andrews book, my interviews with John Robb, and my own recent shows. I get any number of takes on what Andrew is up to now from people I know or who I come into contact with. Some feel he’s selling that legacy short, others believe he’s displaying more integrity as an artist than pretty much any of his contemporaries. I don’t have anything to base an opinion on when it comes to the Sisters, post Vision Thing.
What I do know is Eldritch did enough in those first five years when I was alongside to warrant him being regarded as a major talent. I was happy to be along for the ride.
The Sisters of Mercy, 1981
TBG: I can easily imagine the interest in getting you for more performances, even if as you say – part of the appeal of the Hull and Farsley shows was the great mix of nostalgic tunes and brilliant personal reflections. Have any of the offers come close to tempting, though? Could that ‘specific reason’ you mentioned be something like a big event that would host you, a crucial anniversary to celebrate, or just the right people asking you?
GM: I see the specific reason being something that I come up with rather than one that someone else suggests to me. There was such a lot driving me towards those two shows on a personal level. I don’t want people to think that Hull and Farsley were emotionally draining or anything pretentious like that because they weren’t – they were great nights out. I [just] don’t want to dilute the memory of those shows, (for me or those who attended) by doing something that simply recycled them.
TBG: Is there going to be any physical release for the ‘old fashioned’ types who like music they can hold?
GM: At the moment I don’t intend to make the album available as a physical product. Apologies if anyone feels let down by that – in this instance I wanted the tunes out, and didn’t want to go through a further production period which would delay their release. I don’t rule out revisiting that decision – I had originally intended for Green Ginger Jive to only be available on vinyl, (so I’m willing to be convinced.) For the moment the tunes exist in the form I’ve got used to hearing them, as files on a computer or phone.
TBG: Finally, are there more musical projects in the pipeline? Can we expect a follow-up to SSFA anytime soon?
GM: This may not be the answer people want to hear but there is a far greater chance of there being a follow up to Green Ginger Jive next. I wrote so much material for it that there’s another album I could pull together quickly – unless I invite guest vocalists again!!
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