Described by critics as melodramatic and bombastic, the Mission nonetheless attracted a core audience of goth rock fans. The group was formed in 1986 by guitarist/singer Wayne Hussey and bassist Craig Adams, who both left the Sisters of Mercy to do so. (Hussey had also played with the Walkie Talkies and Dead or Alive.) The two recruited Artery guitarist Simon Hinkler and former Red Lorry Yellow Lorry drummer Mick Brown and called themselves the Sisterhood, to which Sisters of Mercy leader Andrew Eldritch objected strenuously. The Mission released two successful independent singles in the U.K. and signed to Mercury in 1986. The group soon completed its debut album, God’s Own Medicine, which went on to produce a handful of U.K. hits, while critics found much of the record to be reminiscent of Led Zeppelin and Yes. Although the band toured extensively in the U.K. and America; Adams had to return home from the latter leg after suffering from exhaustion. Produced by Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, their second album Children, widened the band’s audience, reaching number two on the U.K. album charts. 1990’s Carved in Sand shed some of the Mission’s Zep fascination for more refined songwriting. Hinkler left the band midway through the supporting tour and was eventually replaced permanently by Paul Etchells. Meanwhile, several Mission members backed Slade members Noddy Holder and Jim Lea on the Christmas charity single “Merry Xmas Everybody.” By 1992, Hussey was the only original member left; following the 1994 Sum and Substance retrospective, he recorded the 1995 album Neverland with a new Mission lineup. Blue followed a year later, with the greatest-hits retrospective Resurrection appearing in fall 1999. The 2001 album Aura was followed by a world tour that slowly saw the new line-up dissolving. By the time God Is a Bullet arrived courtesy of the 2007 version of the band, Hussey was living in Brazil. He announced that the Mission would actively promote the album through early 2008, after which he would be focusing on solo work. His first release to fall into this category was Bare, a Hussey album largely made up of cover versions which appeared before the end of that year. Next, an album of outtakes from the God Is a Bullet sessions was issued in 2010, under the name Dum-Dum Bullets, before Curios — an album of covers and original material — appeared in 2011 under the Hussey & Regan moniker, re-kindling Hussey’s creative relationship with the All About Eve founder Julianne Regan. For much of 2011 and 2012, Hussey appeared live under the Mission name in celebration of their 25th anniversary, and in September 2013, the band released a new album, Brightest Light. Three years later they released their 11th studio album, the 12-string heavy Another Fall from Grace, which Hussey described as the “lost link between the Sisters of Mercy’s First and Last and Always and the Mission’s own first album.” ~ Steve Huey & James Wilkinson

Gothic post-punks Theatre of Hate formed in Britain in 1980; led by singer/songwriter Kirk Brandon, formerly of the Pack, the original group also comprised guitarist Simon Werner, bassist Jonathan Werner and drummer Jim Walker. Immediately recognized as one of the era’s premier live acts, Theatre of Hate debuted in 1981 with the concert LP He Who Dares Wins Live at the Warehouse Leeds; soon after, Brandon dismissed the remainder of the group, assembling a new line-up comprising guitarist Billy Duffy, bassist Stan Stammers, saxophonist John Lennard and drummer Nigel Preston (who was soon after replaced by Luke Rendle). Another concert recording, Live at the Lyceum, followed in 1982 before Theatre of Pain entered the studio with producer Mick Jones of the Clash to record their proper debut, Westworld; the album went on to reach the UK Top 20, also launching the Top 40 single “Do You Believe in the Westworld?” He Who Dares Wins Live in Berlin followed in late 1982, but by this point the group was beginning to disintegrate, with Duffy exiting to form the Cult; a second studio album, Aria of the Devil, was recorded but went unreleased. By 1983, Brandon had founded a new unit, Spear of Destiny.