In late 1985, Wayne Hussey (vocals & guitar) and Craig Adams (bass) enlisted the talents of Simon Hinkler (guitar) and Mick Brown (drums) and formed The Mission. In January 1986 they embarked on their first European tour supporting The Cult. They released two singles independently, ‘Serpents Kiss’ & ‘Garden of Delight’, both reaching No.1 in the UK Independent charts, before signing a worldwide record deal with Phonogram (now Universal). Eight years later in 1994 with the band having scored 13 UK Top 40 singles including anthemic classics such as ‘Wasteland’, ‘Tower Of Strength’, ‘Severina’, ‘Deliverance’ and ‘Butterfly On A Wheel’ and having released six albums (including the classics God’s Own Medicine, The First Chapter, Children, and Carved In Sand) that have, in total, gone on to sell globally in excess of five million the band parted company with Phonogram and set up their own label, Neverland, on which they released two more albums. During this period The Mission enhanced their reputation as one of the best and most exciting live bands in the world winning countless accolades, readers polls, and inspiring both lurid media stories and a fanatical following as they toured constantly, including highlights such as seven sold out consecutive shows at the Astoria Theatre in London, and headlining the famous Reading Festival twice. After various line-up changes and dwindling fortunes and enthusiasm Wayne Hussey in the mid 90s decided to call a halt to the general craziness of their existence to seek respite and well-earned solace.
In 1999, fully reinvigorated, The Mission reunited and, after a few spectacularly successful early shows, embarked on a year-long tour that saw the band visit places as far-flung as South America, Mexico, USA, South Africa, Greece (Recon 2000 tour), including memorable appearances at the Eurorock and M’era Luna Festivals and which culminated in a successful European tour in late 2000.
In late 2001 The Mission released what many considered to be their finest album to date in AurA. It marked the beginning of a contemporary and exciting new era for the band and reached No. 1 in the German alternative chart and stayed there for eight weeks! The band also embarked on a European tour as special guests of HIM to coincide with the release of the album, quickly followed by their own very successful six-week tour of Europe in early 2002.
From 2002 through to 2007 the band toured the world constantly, again with shifting line-ups, Wayne Hussey being the only ever-present member of the band. Various releases and re-releases during this period maintained a presence with the record buying public and despite not reaching the high chart positions of yore these were still regarded as commercially successful.
The Mission released their album God Is A Bullet in April 2007. It would’ve been easy for the band to revisit past glories but they resisted. The Mission recorded a ‘forward-looking’ album that was both brave and adventurous. It’s a ‘guitar’ album full of swagger, confidence, good tunes, and, in Wayne Hussey, a songwriter that was at the top of his game. It was an album that confused many of the band’s core audience though much like 1992’s Masque album did.
March 2008 saw The Mission close the curtain – for the time being at least, with Wayne disbanding the group to concentrate on solo ventures – with a sold-out European tour which culminated with four shows at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire. The band released The Final Chapter DVD, which chronicled the tour, and charted at number 6 in the UK DVD chart later that year.
2011 and 3/4 of the original line-up of the band – Wayne Hussey, Craig Adams, Simon Hinkler – reformed with the addition of a new drummer to play a sold-out European 25th-anniversary tour which ended at London’s Brixton Academy – a show that was sold out a full six months in advance! Encouraged by the response of their audience the band extended the tour to include South & North America and then went onto record, and release in late 2013, a brand-new album, The Brightest Light, which garnered the best press reviews the band had received in years, which included the new live favourite, ‘Swan Song’. Much touring ensued with visits to Australia, New Zealand, South & North America again, and South Africa.
The year is now 2016 – the band return with an album that some of their fanatical fan-base consider their finest work EVER – that album is Another Fall From Grace. Wayne has described it as the lost link between The Sisters of Mercy’s First and Last and Always and The Mission’s own first album, God’s Own Medicine. He attributes this in large part to his use of the electric 12-string guitar which fell out of favour with the singer-songwriter during the Mission’s interim years.
Produced by Wayne with Tim Palmer and including guest artists such as Julianne Regan (All About Eve), Ville Valo (HIM), Gary Numan, and Martin Gore (Depeche Mode), the album received unanimous critical acclaim and was the band’s best selling and first UK & German Top 40 album in over 20 years!
The Mission have continued to tour – Covid permitting – to an ecstatic and ever-loyal following, the highlights being a tour of UK’s arenas in 2017 with Alice Cooper, festival appearances across Europe during the summer of 2022, and a hugely successful tour of Latin America later the same year. The band continued their Deja Vu tour, visiting 18 different countries, with a mostly sold out 6 week European tour in April-May 2023.
Omnibus Press published the first of Wayne Hussey’s autobiographies, Salad Daze, in 2019 with the second instalment, Heady Daze, following in April 2023.
With new drummer Alex Baum now installed behind the kit 2023 saw The Mission continue their Deja Vu tour with a successful (rescheduled from 2022 due to the Covid outbreak) North American tour in September and October and ending the year with five shows in the UK culminating with a sold-out shout the legendary Roundhouse in London at the end of that month. This show marked the end of their Déjà Vu World Tour which commenced with shows in the UK in March 2022!
2024 saw the year commence with the band members intending to spend a bit of time away to pursue other projects
…but the offers started to roll in and The Mission now have what appears to be a busy calendar for the year ahead with shows in North American, Latin America, Europe, and Dubai already confirmed with possibly more to follow.
For more info and ticket links please visit: h”ps://themissionukband.com/shows#upcoming-shows
Or: https://www.facebook.com/themissionuk
