Patricia Anne Rainone was active in the Los Angeles, California punk rock scene even before graduating from high school in 1979, having had an early interest in music: "When I was 12 years old, I saved up every cent to buy a guitar. I went to the guitar shop and realized I could afford the guitar, but not the lessons or a way to get there as my mom worked. So I walk out of the store empty handed, a decision I will always regret."[2] She was a founding member of the Bags.[3] Morrison said: "I started a band with two girlfriends in our late teens then, punk showed up and that decided my future. I had very little to do with it, I wanted to be a veterinarian, but couldn't afford it."[4]
Rainone and Alicia Armendariz, aka Alice Bag, met at school and formed their first band, Femme Fatale, in '1975 /1976', later re-named Masque Era. Initially guided by glitter and glam, though enamoured by punk music, they played a few local gigs. A 1977 concert featuring the Germs inspired them to move toward a more punk sound, and to form the Bags, with Janet Koontz joining them on guitar. The band wore bags over their heads onstage. Morrison recalls: "The Bags were playing somewhere very early on and my mother came running out of the driveway yelling 'Patricia you forgot your bag!' My mother making sure I had a bag to put over my head is a special moment in time." [4] They released a single, Survive, in 1978, but Morrison left the following year after a falling out with Alice Bag.[5][6] and went on to co-found Legal Weapon with Kat Arthur in 1980, performing under the single name "Patericia" (sic). The group released an EP called No Sorrow in 1981. In the same year she assumed the surname Morrison after marrying Rick Morrison of Catholic Discipline.
Asked in a 2003 interview if it was difficult being taken seriously as a female musician in the 1970s, Patricia replied;
It wasn't difficult, it was impossible. You're either the singer or a keyboard player. The boys in bands humoured us which was nice, but it was punk that changed the male domination in music - for a while at least. Now it's girls to the background again, unless you have your ass and tits hanging out with a stylist and team of songwriters. Talent ain't what it used to be.[4]
Any females I have played with have been strong characters and in some ways more single-minded than the men. Also, back then you had to try harder if you were a girl. As I started playing with women first, it never seemed odd or different to me- it was down to the individual's personality so not much difference looking back on it. Male and female, we all had the same problems, issues, camaraderie and egos.[7]
Morrison left Legal Weapon and joined the Gun Club in 1982, after persuasion from former Bags drummer Terry Graham. She played bass on their 1984 album The Las Vegas Story, and was one of the longer serving band members, before leaving after her second tour in late 1984. Morrison cites that although there were great times playing with the Gun Club and writing songs with singer Jeffrey Lee Pierce, ultimately she found it frustrating due to Pierce's uncooperative approach to business and his self-sabotaging tendencies; "realizing Jeffrey was his own worst enemy and despite loving the band it was going nowhere and I was finding it hard to watch".[8][9]
At the start of 1985 and now living in London, Morrison formed the band Fur Bible with guitarist Kid Congo Powers, who had also exited the Gun Club after their 1984 UK tour. They also invited Tex Perkins, vocalist with Australian band Beasts Of Bourbon, having met him on the Gun Club's 1983 tour. Tex duly travelled to the UK to join them but was denied entry as he had not secured the necessary visa prior to leaving Australia. Fur Bible then played a short tour in Holland as backing band, with Morrison wearing a blonde Dolly Parton wig onstage, to the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, in order to reimburse the Dutch promoter who had paid for Tex's travel. Congo Powers had work permit issues which kept him in Amsterdam until June, by which time Tex was finally able to join them in London. However, it proved unsuccessful and Tex returned to Australia. Fur Bible released one vinyl EP, Plunder The Tombs, and embarked on a two-month tour opening for Siouxsie and the Banshees' 'Cities In Dust' tour. Fur Bible's final concert was in Maastricht in March 1986; the band had a further sixty dates lined up, but during the Banshees tour Morrison had been invited by Andrew Eldritch to join the Sisters of Mercy (who had supported the Gun Club on their 1983 UK tour), and she left Fur Bible. Kid Congo Powers accepted an offer to join Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.[10]
[T]he choice of Patricia Morrison as bassist - beginning with her work on Floodland (1987) - was not a decision made without weighing its aesthetic value. Music videos and promotional photographs showcased the perfect goth pin-up girl with her high arched eyebrows, black eyeliner, blood-red lips, teased-out hair, long black nails, and fetish-meets-renaissance wardrobe.[14]
The Sisters of Mercy song "Lucretia My Reflection" was written by Eldritch about Morrison. The lyric compares her to the historical figure Lucrezia Borgia. Asked about her favourite memory from the Sisters of Mercy, Morrison recalled, "Petra, riding my little Arabian horse throughout the magnificent city"; this on location for the video shoot of Dominion.[4] She left the band at the end of 1989, claiming money owed by Eldritch was not paid.[15][16]
Due to an ongoing lawsuit with Eldritch, Morrison temporarily ceased working as a musician and instead became a motorcycle courier in London, later telling one interviewer; "I made more money than when I was with Sisters of Mercy, hahaha!". It ended when the bike was stolen, but by then Morrison was returning to music, and in 1994 released a solo album, Reflect on This. She put together a band and played a three month European tour, but found some of the musicians lacked the necessary commitment, and dissolved the group on return to the UK.[8]
Morrison had been friends with, and a musical fan of, The Damned for "many years", and in 1996 Captain Sensible suggested she join them to replace bassist Paul Gray, who had been injured by a beer glass thrown from the audience during a concert.[8] The same year Morrison married the Damned's lead singer Dave Vanian in Las Vegas.[17] Morrison played on The Damned's first album release in fifteen years, 2001's Grave Disorder, stating in one interview; "It is the only recording I have ever played on that I am happy with and can listen to without wishing most of it were different." As well as extensive touring with the band, she also took responsibility for arranging appearances and concerts.[4] In 2005, after giving birth to the couple's child the previous year, Morrison officially retired from The Damned.[18]
The Damned are an English rock band formed in London in 1976 by lead vocalist Dave Vanian, guitarist Brian James, bassist Captain Sensible and drummer Rat Scabies. They were the first punk band from the United Kingdom to release a single, "New Rose" (1976), release a studio album, Damned Damned Damned (1977) and tour the United States. Nine of the band's singles charted on the UK Singles Chart Top 40.
The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band formed in Leeds in 1980. After achieving early underground fame, the band experienced a commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s, sustaining their success until the early 1990s, when they halted the release of new records in protest against their record company, WEA. Currently, although the band operates primarily as a touring outfit, they continue to perform new and unreleased music live.
Andrew Eldritch is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is the lead vocalist and only remaining original member of the Sisters of Mercy, a band that emerged from the British post-punk scene, transformed into a gothic rock band, and, in later years, flirted with hard rock.
The Gun Club were an American post-punk band from Los Angeles that existed from 1979 to 1996. Created and led by singer-songwriter and guitarist Jeffrey Lee Pierce, they were notable as one of the first bands in the punk rock subculture to incorporate influences from blues, rockabilly, and country music. The Gun Club has been called a "tribal psychobilly blues" band, as well as initiators of the punk blues sound cowpunk – "He (Pierce) took Robert Johnson and pre-war acoustic blues and 'punkified' it. Up until then bands were drawing on Iggy & The Stooges and the New York Dolls but he took it back so much further for inspiration."
Floodland is the second studio album by the English gothic rock band the Sisters of Mercy. It was released on 16 November 1987, through Merciful Release internationally and distributed by WEA, with Elektra Records handling the United States release. After the release of the band's debut studio album, First and Last and Always (1985), members Craig Adams and Wayne Hussey left to form the Mission, causing the dissolution of the Sisters of Mercy. As a result, band frontman Andrew Eldritch formed a side project known as the Sisterhood. After the first Sisterhood album was received negatively overall, Eldritch restarted the Sisters of Mercy and hired the Sisterhood member Patricia Morrison for the recording of a new album.
First and Last and Always is the debut studio album by English gothic rock band the Sisters of Mercy, first released on 11 March 1985 through the band's Merciful Release label. Prior to recording sessions for a debut album, the band started off by releasing multiple extended plays and singles from 1980 through 1984. Guitarist Ben Gunn departed the band in October 1983 and was subsequently replaced by Dead or Alive member Wayne Hussey. This created one of the band's most iconic line-ups, comprising Hussey with frontman Andrew Eldritch, guitarist Gary Marx, and bassist Craig Adams.
Vision Thing is the third studio album by English gothic rock band the Sisters of Mercy. It was released on 22 October 1990 through Merciful Release and East West Records, with Elektra Records handling the US release.
A Slight Case of Overbombing is a greatest hits album by English gothic rock band the Sisters of Mercy. It was released on 23 August 1993 on the band's own label, Merciful Release, under distribution contract with East West Records. All the tracks featured on this compilation album are in reverse chronological order of release. A Slight Case of Overbombing contains mostly remixes and edited versions of songs that the Sisters of Mercy had released by 1993, as well as two never-before released tracks: a re-recorded version of "Temple of Love" from 1992, and one new track, "Under the Gun", which was released as a single to promote this compilation album and is also the band's most recent single as of 2024.
Bags were an American punk rock band formed in 1977, one of the first generation of punk rock bands to emerge from Los Angeles, California.
The Sisterhood was a musical project led by Andrew Eldritch. With guest musicians, the Sisterhood recorded songs he had originally intended for a second album by the Sisters of Mercy.
Jeffrey Lee Pierce was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and author. He was one of the founding members of the band The Gun Club, and released material as a solo artist.
"Lucretia My Reflection" is a song by the English rock band the Sisters of Mercy. Released as the third and final single from their second studio album, Floodland, in June 1988, it reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart.
Jonathan Charles Poole is a British musician and songwriter. A multi-instrumentalist, singer and producer, he is best known for his work as guitarist for Cardiacs and as bass player for the Wildhearts and Lifesigns.
Legal Weapon were a Southern California-based punk band, initially composed of singer Kat Arthur and guitarist Brian Hansen, bassist Patricia Morrison, drummer Charlie Vartanian and guitarist Mike R. Livingston.
Alicia "Alice" Armendariz, also known as Alice Bag, is an American punk rock singer and author. She is the lead vocalist and co-founder of the Bags, one of the earliest punk bands to form in Los Angeles in the mid-1970s.
"Under the Gun" is a song by the English rock band the Sisters of Mercy released as the single from their album A Slight Case of Overbombing: Greatest Hits Vol. 1. It is a duet featuring Terri Nunn on vocals, and was accompanied by a music video with Andrew Eldritch and Nunn. It is the only new song on a greatest hits compilation released in 1993 by Merciful Release on EastWest Records, a UK Warner Music Group label. This is the band's most recent single as of 2024.
The discography of the English rock band the Sisters of Mercy consists of three studio albums, two compilation albums, two extended plays (EPs), and sixteen singles. The Sisters of Mercy were formed in Leeds in 1980 by Andrew Eldritch and Gary Marx (guitar) and released their debut single, "The Damage Done", the same year on their own independent record label, Merciful Release. In early 1981, Craig Adams (bass) joined the band and they started to use a drum machine, which was christened Doktor Avalanche. Ben Gunn joined the band as a second guitarist by the end of 1981 and this line-up recorded four more singles and two EPs during 1982 and 1983. Guitarist Wayne Hussey replaced Gunn in early 1984 and, after building up their live reputation, The Sisters signed with WEA, who distribute the band's releases on Merciful Release in the United Kingdom and on Elektra Records in the United States. The band's next single, 1984's "Body and Soul", became their first charting effort in the UK when it reached number 46. Three more singles were released before the band reached number 14 on the UK Albums Chart with their debut album, First and Last and Always, which was released in March 1985. Following the album's release, Marx left the band, before the rest of the group disbanded in mid-1985.
The Reptile House E.P. is the second independent EP by the Sisters of Mercy, released on 12" vinyl in May 1983 on the band's own label, Merciful Release. The EP was never released as a stand-alone CD, but was included on the Some Girls Wander by Mistake collection.
"Alice" is a song by the British rock band the Sisters of Mercy, written by vocalist Andrew Eldritch. The song was released as a non-album single by the band's own label by Merciful Release, on 21 November 1982. It was re-released in March 1983 as a 12" EP.
The F Club was a punk rock, post-punk and new wave club night in Leeds that ran between 1977 and 1982. Beginning as the Stars of Today in a common room in Leeds Polytechnic, it was held at various venues across the city during its tenure, which also included the Ace of Clubs and Roots. After moving to Brannigan's in 1978, it changed its name to the Fan Club.
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