LONDON--The Sisters of Mercy have announced a U.K. tour to follow their German festival dates in August. The group will play medium-sized venues in Glasgow, Nottingham and London in September, followed by two shows in Spain.

Frontman Andrew Eldritch told LiveDaily, "We had the period set aside for a trip to South Africa, but that didn't work out, so we made ourselves open to offers. The U.K. was quickest to offer."

Eldritch also hinted that the U.K. shows would feature 50% new material and 50% classic tracks. "We'll be playing most of the newer, unreleased songs, which we've been gradually introducing into the set over the last few years. We're planning to play a couple of brand new ones as well, but we still have to cater for the majority of ticket-buyers who--quite reasonably--want to enjoy a selection of their favorites before the night's over."

He added, "I suppose it would be fatuous of me to point out that more than 90% of the set we most recently played [in Mexico City] has never been performed in Scotland."

Having released their last studio album "Vision Thing" in 1990, and then engaging in an ongoing battle to get out of their contract with EastWest Records, Eldritch denied that the upcoming tour was a precursor to a new album. "Our experiences with EastWest Records long since taught us to disconnect our live schedule from any release schedule.

"As regards arrangements for the next Sisters album, I've been talking to a few people for some time now, but I'm not in a position to report anything at the moment." Fans are advised to check out the Sisters' official website for any new album developments.

Eldritch also quashed rumors circulating on a British ticket-sales website that members of the original line-up--including founding member Gary Marx and lead singer of the Mission Wayne Hussey--would be reinstated to band.

"Rumors about the original Sisters line-up surface with monotonous regularity," he said. "I don't know why. I can't see what evidence there's ever been to support such a notion, but then again, evidence has little to do with most reports on the Sisters."

The current line-up includes Adam Pearson and Mike Varjak on guitars and long-standing drum machine Doktor Avalanche.

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