Earlier this week, The Sisters of Mercy announced their first U.S. tour in over a decade. As it turns out, the tour may not have happened if it weren’t for Serj Tankian.

As Sisters frontman Andrew Eldritch tells the Brooklyn Vegan, it was the System of a Down vocalist who convinced the “More” outfit to play the upcoming Sick New World festival in Las Vegas, which then led to the booking of the rest of the tour.

“Not the most recent time that we played in Australia, but the previous time, we did some shows and then we went to see System of a Down at an arena gig,” Eldritch explains. “Serj spotted me in front of the stacks and the whole band immediately launched into one of my very old songs as a way of saying hello. They played 30 seconds of ‘Marian’ and I was just blown away by the love.”

At the Sick New World festival, The Sisters of Mercy will be playing alongside bands including System, Deftones, Korn, Incubus and Evanescence.

“There’s a lot of love from the hard rock/metal community for us right now,” Eldritch says. “And, if Serj likes you, you pay attention.”

Maybe Eldritch can return the favor by convincing System of a Down to finally record their first album since 2005. In the meantime, The Sisters of Mercy U.S. tour launches May 10 in Silver Spring, Maryland, and Sick New World takes place May 13.

“It must be said that playing America in May, this year, was not our idea,” Eldritch says. “You can blame Serj for this. We did not plan on coming to America.”

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