Reactivated SISTER SIN Releases Second New Single In 12 Years, 'Drive'

Swedish heavy rock band SISTER SIN has released a second new single, "Drive". It is the follow-up to last month's "Suicide Hill", which marked SISTER SIN's first new music in 12 years.

"Drive" and "Suicide Hill" were recorded by SISTER SIN's current lineup of Liv Jagrell on vocals, Jimmy Hiltula on guitar, Andreas Strandh on bass, Dave Sundberg on drums and Sebastian Svedlund on rhythm guitar and was mixed and mastered by Lawrence Mackrory at Rorysound Studios.

"Suicide Hill" is inspired by the 1988 classic movie "Maniac Cop" as well as the novel "Suicide Hill" by James Ellroy.

Although the SISTER SIN reunion was announced back in December 2019, the coronavirus pandemic delayed the band's return to the live stage until June 2022 when the group performed at Backstage Rockbar in Trollhättan, Sweden.

In a new interview with the Denim And Leather podcast, Liv stated about SISTER SIN's split more than a decade ago (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We broke up in 2015. And to be honest, it was due to too much touring. We were all very, very tired — super exhausted. I do love the touring, so I couldn't really see that I was exhausted as well, but we had two band members that couldn't take it anymore for personal reasons. So they left the band in 2015 after [the] Mayhem [festival in the U.S.] and after we had done a couple of more [gigs] — Summer Breeze and some shows — and they left the band, and it was only me and the drummer. And we kind of said that it's not gonna be SISTER SIN if we take in two new members. It didn't feel right to do that. So then we said, 'Let's end it here instead,' because it would be weird to take in two new members and then maybe it doesn't work, et cetera. So, we quit. And when I think about it, I think maybe we were a little bit doing it in a rush, 'cause we were also tired and a bit angry and frustrated, 'cause I really felt that we quit when we were in our prime. And I had still some bitterness towards that, because all I wanna do was play music and tour, but I totally understand why my bandmembers left. They were not feeling well. I could see it. They were not happy."

Regarding how she ended up launching her own project LIV SIN, Jagrell said: "For me, my whole life was living around SISTER SIN; my whole life was being the vocalist of SISTER SIN. And when that disappeared, I didn't know where to go. I didn't know what to do. I lost my whole identity. And for almost a year I was super depressed and I didn't know where to start over and how to start over. I just felt like my whole life was over. But then after a while, I was with a boyfriend, who is know my husband, who told me and got me to believe that just because SISTER SIN doesn't exist, it doesn't mean that I need to stop making music. I can still continue making music. So after almost a year, I started to believe in that thought or I started to believe in that, and I was, like, 'Okay, I wanna still make music.' And then I was, like, 'What kind of music do I wanna do?' 'Cause I've always been into heavier music, more modern metal kind of music. So I was, like, 'Okay, if I'm gonna do my own thing, I need to make music that I really wanna do.' And I started LIV SIN. And obviously the music has a little bit changed over the years, but it goes towards the heavier stuff all the time, 'cause that's more my identity, actually. I'm not very much a rock and roll girl. I'm more much a metal girl, so I started with LIV SIN, and finally I felt that I also could make music that suited my voice and I could experiment with my voice, which I really love to do. Me, the guitar players and the drummer write the music, but I write all the lyrics, I write all the melodies. So, in a way, LIV SIN is obviously more my music and more of me, 'cause I can get my creativity out and I do the music I'm more passionate about. And I still love doing the SISTER SIN stuff, because it's super cool. But [LIV SIN] is maybe more my kind of music."

After the interviewer noted that Liv is now making music and playing shows with both LIV SIN and SISTER SIN, she explained: "Obviously I'm more active with LIV SIN, because we are a band that is active and we try to release records in the cycle of two, three years, et cetera, et cetera, and play as much as we can, even though it's harder today after COVID, et cetera. But SISTER SIN, we kind of didn't talk for five years, and then we started to talk a little bit in 2019. And then we said, 'Shouldn't we do a festival summer 2020, just to end the band in the right way?' Because we felt that we didn't — as I said, we rushed when we quit the band. So we were, like, 'We do a full festival summer, and then we say a real goodbye.' And then COVID came. So there was no five-year reunion thing. Instead we did some festivals in 2022 — I think it was postponed to 2022 — and we played a little bit. And the guys were really having a good time when they were playing. So they said that maybe we should try to do some shows here and there and again. So we do a little bit, and then they made two songs and recorded. And so we are releasing two songs and a cover this spring. So it's like a small kind of EP. So, two original songs and one cover. So I'm juggling both bands."

As for SISTER SIN's future plans when it comes to performing live, Liv said: "We'll see, because the guys in SISTER SIN, they have full-time jobs and they also have families, so they can't tour like we used to. They're really, like, 'This is how we can do it.' And it's mostly some shows here and there, festivals, et cetera, weekend things. No longer tours. We try to find a way to make it work."

Jagrell announced the SISTER SIN reunion seven years ago after revealing that her post-SISTER SIN outfit LIV SIN was "taking a little bit of a break" following the departures of guitarist Chris Bertzell and bassist Tommie Winther.

SISTER SIN announced its split in November 2015, saying in a statement that the band's "relentless" touring and recording schedule took its toll and "the motivation for some members just wasn't there anymore." However, the group left the door open for a possible comeback, saying: "It is our hope that the flame will burn once again and hopefully resurrect this Swedish bastard sometime in the future. Time will tell…"

Eleven years ago, Liv told Sleaze Roxx about the end of SISTER SIN: "We toured too much and we got burned out. That's the simple answer. They just felt like they did not want to do this anymore. [In 2015], we had been out for almost four months or something so it's a lot of time away from family. It's a lot of time away from friends. And also just to survive in the business is hard, so I think we maybe worked too hard in the last years."

SISTER SIN's fifth studio album, "Black Lotus", was released in October 2014 via Victory.

Promotional photo by Mathias Colouri (courtesy of David Sundberg)