On the beach (The Sisters of Mercy-cover)

Most likely written by Andrew Eldritch, Ben Christo and Dylan Smith.
On the beach was first performed live by The Sisters of Mercy on october 30th 2022 in Sydney, Australia.
A few hours after the first perfmance a video was uploaded to youtube, • On The Beach. The Sist... . The intro and the first verse was not included in the video.
The band performed the song on the remaining 3 shows on the NZ/AUS-tour and on nov 5th a full version of the song, from the show in Perth, was uploaded to soundcloud, / on-the-beach .
These 2 uploads made it possible to start recording a cover so huge thanks to you two uploaders! :)
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This is how I recorded On the beach
The lyrics were published on the official website on february 25th 2021.
The 3rd verse of the published lyrics is not used at all in the 2 versions I have heard of the song.
On the Perth-version Andrew starts to sing the first verse right from the first measure and Ben onto the 9th measure. I trust Ben more to when a verse starts so that's how I sang.
I use all8.com to tap the bpm of the song, 160 bpm. www.all8.com/tools/bpm.htm
I started recording the song on november 5th. Programming the drums, recording all guitars (ESP LTD), bass (GIBSON LES PAUL) and keyboard (EDIROL PC-50). The DAW I use is Cubase Elements 12. I've been using Cubase since the 90s.
I use Toontrack's EZdrummer 3 for the drums. The expansion-pack, or EZX, I have used is Dream pop except the crash-cymbals which are from the Made of metal EZX and the kick drum, 909, which is from the Electronic EZX. The kick is of course inspired by The Roland TR-909 which is a classic drum machine Sisters of mercy used in the early 80s. I'm not 100% sure how the hi-hat is played throughout the whole song but I tried my best to get some dynamic between the different parts of the song. I think there's the faster hi-hat, as on the choruses, on the outro but I felt that sounded a little too stressed so I kept it slower since this is MY version. :)
I recorded 2 distorted rhythm guitars that I use through the whole song and 2 clean rhythm guitars for the verses, bridge and outro.
I also recorded 2 more guitars for the choruses doing some octavestuff. I had a really hard time hearing how they were played so if more videos and versions of the song may appear some time I might record a 2nd version of the song. Ben plays some notes 2-3 times during the choruses and I tried to get them done while doing the octaves but the solution due to my lack of guitarplayingskills was to record those notes on yet another 2 more channels.
I use Toontrack's EZmix for the backing vocals, bass, and all guitars except the clean guitar where I use VST Amp rack which is included in Cubase Elements.
I use Cubase internal chains along with T-De-Esser for all the lead vocals.
The strings are HALion Sonic (Strings in church)
I recorded the "Andrew-vocals" on november 11th. I have this corner in the basement where I record all vocals. I usually use 2 or 3 channels of lead-vocals and this time it's 2. As a warmup I sang along the live-version 2-3 times and then hit record. I recorded the second verse a second time for both channels because on nr 1 the "we are rievers" didn't have the power I wanted and on nr 2 I, for unknown reason sang "dog eat dog WE'RED honored". It may sound as if I sing BOOTIES in verse 1 but listening to just the vocaltracks it really is BOONIES :) 2 or 3 channels of leadvocals singing the exact same thing is a good way to make the voice sound thicker and hide defects.
I recorded the "Ben-vocals" on november 17th. 2 channels. Nothing special, a little warmup and all done in 25-30 minutes. Dylan have a mic and in the video it looks like he's singing but his vocals are always somewhere between unhearable and really low in the mix. Too bad because Dylan sings great in I NATION and I know hearing Dylan sing would make the Sisters sound even better live.
The vocals during the outro are not the same on the 2 uploaded versions. In Sydney the line is repeated all throughout the whole outro and in Perth the line is repeated 3 times, a little breathing pause and then 3 times again before the final On the beach. I decided to sing it Perth-style.
I worked with mix and master while recording. I exported testmixes all along the process and listened to them in headphones, cellphone and in the car, making small adjustments until it sounds ok to me.
Enjoy and welcome back soon! 2 more Sisters-related recordings are already finished!
On the beach on The Sisters Wiki: sisterswiki.org/On_The_Beach_...)
Official website: www.the-sisters-of-mercy.com/
Heartland - Fan forum: www.myheartland.co.uk/
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#sistersofmercy #thesistersofmercy #eldritch

[@janveen1150]

I play this song on my bass. Nice song i love it you do it.

[@silenceblue82]

A great cover that doesn't need to hide behind the original in any way... well done, good work !! 🖤💯

[@tobiasforsner]

Thank you! again! :)

[@Naginata333]

My new favourite song. Amazing job. Thanks

[@tobiasforsner]

Thanks! I think it's on my top 5 Sisters-covers, really happy with how it turned out.

[@paulrobson8217]

Just brilliant, cant stop listening to this.

[@janveen1150]

Geweldig

[@tobiasforsner]

Heel erg bedankt! :)

[@Ynffy]

Sweet cover! This made me long for a new TSoM-album even more.

[@Vincentxxx]

hahaha

[@tobiasforsner]

Thanks! :)

[@smmner570]

Thank you very much for Upload the second Album to Spotify This is so Great !!

[@draculin1911]

Another tune and another perfect job. You are making SoM what they really should be - with a singer that indeed can sing, guitar/bass not manned by some spare robot, mixed with sense and most of all : played and recorded will heart in it.

[@tobiasforsner]

Thank you so much for your kind words!!!!! Merry christmas and a happy new year!

[@Peterkj11]

Thanks for recording. Great work. So nice to have another version of this song.

[@tobiasforsner]

Thank you!!!

[@garymclean5448]

Awesome thank you 🎉

[@tobiasforsner]

Thanks!

[@afroheadwes]

Thank you so much for making this

[@wernerbergh2593]

I admire you because i am a great Sisters of mercy fan and i love the covers you do .Well done man

[@GothicCrypt]

Another one that is perfect! Great job

[@tobiasforsner]

♥🖤♥

[@JST700416]

Again great performance 🖤

[@erasercut]

"In the fever dreams of Alice ... " opening line is fantastic. Your rendition excellent, as usual!

[@tobiasforsner]

Thanks! :)

[@smmner570]

That‘s so perfekt; thank you very much & Upload this on on spotify !!!

[@tobiasforsner]

Thanks! my plan is to release it on Spotify in a few weeks! :)

[@pumaschannel501]

Unbelievable great Mr. Darkvoice🖤

[@tobiasforsner]

Thank you, Mr. Remix! :)

[@thetimelessvalley1717]

A very nice one! Love it!

[@tobiasforsner]

Thank you so much!

[@tragkas]

Well done! Good job...

[@tobiasforsner]

Thank you!!! :)

[@christianjacobi4277]

unfassbar gut

[@tobiasforsner]

Thanks! :)

[@darrenstatt9190]

Thanks for the link, don't know how I missed this. Just fecking love it, awesome brilliant just one small tiny problem hardly worth mentioning "IT'S NOT LONG ENOUGH" lol a song this good should be at least 6 minutes long

[@tobiasforsner]

Sisters of mercy have been playing a different ending since I recorded the song. with just vocals . Maybe I should record an extended version 😄😀

[@christianmetzger5090]

Fine job again

[@tobiasforsner]

Thanks!

[@cornevanrooyen4717]

Awesome man

[@tobiasforsner]

Thank you! :)

[@jean-fabien]

Nicer one 🤘🏻

[@tobiasforsner]

Thank you!

[@dgmvs]

please, tell me what you want for christmas, if you make a studio version of suzanne i will buy it for you.

[@tobiasforsner]

LOL, OK :) well, let's see what will happen the following months

[@smmner570]

Wonderful ❤

[@kanalnamn]

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.

[@tabo01]

On the Beach is a bleak book novel, post nukes war.

[@mikelucraft]

🍺

[@tylerskiss]

Excellent. How did you get the lyrics?

[@tobiasforsner]

On the official website www.the-sisters-of-mercy.com/news/livenews.html

[@tylerskiss]

Thank you. I just found that after seeing this video. I gave up on the official site years ago- got sick of seeing the lyrics for Far Parade and nothing else… Now I see all these lyrics and new song titles- there’s a song called Left On Venom and Revenge!? Anyway I’ve actually been listening to these renditions. This song in particular is amazing. Well done.

[@tommiatkins3443]

I really love the Sisters non-album tracks but of course they are almost unlistenable to due to them being recorded at gigs and the quality being awful. You have brought them to life.

[@tobiasforsner]

Thank you so much! 🙂👍😎

[@tommiatkins3443]

@@tobiasforsner I saw them in Wolverhampton a few weeks ago. It was a fantastic gig, but its your version on my playlist!

[@arnaudverbeeren7841]

They should hire you as a live bass player!

[@tobiasforsner]

yeah! and I'd wear any hat of Tony James' choice! LOL :)