Below, The Mission's frontman and co-founder Wayne Hussey previews the band’s run of four unique nights at The Forum in London next month in celebration of 40 years of the group’s debut album, God’s Own Medicine.
God’s Own Medicine was released in the same year that London’s accursed M25 was opened, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded and NASA’s space shuttle Challenger blew up. Does it feel like 40 years have elapsed?
[Nodding] It was a long time ago and a lot of things have happened. I’ve made a lot more records since. Certain memories from those days are even more vivid than something I did last week. They were special times. And 40 years is a milestone worth celebrating.
Were you confident that God’s Own Medicine would be successful?
Oh yeah. We’d all been in bands before. It wasn’t like we were new kids on the block, we had worked hard to get to that point. By the time The Mission formed, all of us knew what we were doing.
The album spawned three Top-30 hits and went gold in the UK. How did you react to stardom?
I suppose like everybody else that it affects. You spend many years working towards something and initially it goes to your head. I was a young man around town. I milked it for all it was worth [chuckles]. But that only lasts for a couple of years, and then you begin to find yourself as a person within that maelstrom.
A review in US magazine Trouser Press dismissed the album as “a horrible amalgam of Led Zeppelin, Yes and Echo & The Bunnymen”.
I like Zeppelin and the Bunnymen, and I even went to see Yes when I was younger. We were never popular with the music press so we very quickly learned to take that stuff with a pinch of salt.
You smiled while saying that, almost like it was a challenge that had been relished.
It [banter with the press] was entertaining. With losing the weekly papers all of that has changed. Music journalism has now become more conservative, which is a shame as you no longer get characters like Nick Kent or Paul Morley [of NME]. Certain writers were pretentious to us back then, and it was nice to give it right back to them.
Ironically, John Paul Jones was hired to produce The Mission’s next album, Children. Was that a good collaboration?
Very much so. Suddenly we were being invited round to Iggy Pop’s for tea. We were the first thing John did after Led Zeppelin had split. He was great. He taught us a lot. I’ll never forget that one night we sat up late with him drinking and playing Zeppelin music. He started crying, telling us how much he missed John [Bonham].
Did those days feel like the best of times?
Not particularly. There have been a lot of great moments. We’re preparing a new album now – our first in 12 years – and it’s great to still be making music with your mates. It comes out in February or March of next year. If nobody likes it, then so what? We’re of an age where it doesn’t really matter. We’re doing it for ourselves.
The Mission are revisiting God’s Own Medicine over four gigs for its 40th anniversary. On the first night it will be played in its entirety, followed by other era-specific sets. Throw in different support acts each night and the ‘unique factor’ escalates. Such events are often a treat for the fans, but can be a nightmare for the musicians.
It doesn’t really bother me. When we go out on tour I like to change the setlist every night. There are three or four songs that you have to play, but I thrive on spontaneity. It certainly keeps the band on its toes, and me as well. And I love the idea of these gigs because they’re all in London, so there’s no travel involved.
The Mission play The Forum in London on November 4-7. Find tickets.
