The Escoffery Sisters have long been doyens of Britain's gospel scene (remember their appearance on 'The Rock Gospel Show'...no?) Amazingly, they never recorded... until now. James Attlee spoke to THE ESCOFFERYS.

Several American artists working within gospel have set their music within a broader perspective as part of the Afro-American cultural experience - Sweet Honey In The Rock in the 70s and 80s and the hugely successful Sounds Of Blackness in the 90s spring to mind.

The Escofferys too are proud to identify themselves with black consciousness. While they point out how different their experience is to that of the American black, whose grandparents were already in America, whereas "we know exactly where our family is from in the West Indies," they also hark back to their African roots by singing in Chanian dialect on a track on their CD. They belong to a new breed of gospel artists -standing up for their cultural identity, not afraid to pick up on what is positive in popular culture and to work alongside those whose beliefs may differ but who share the love of music instilled in the sisters since childhood. Sandra is in no doubt as to the future aims of the group.

"We see ourselves developing and becoming a household name. We want to open the door for a lot of other people who haven't had the opportunity because people haven't realised that there's a lot of talent in Britain. We don't want gospel to be cornered, restricted to one type of music and one type of message. There are other issues that can be covered - there is a positive message that can be put across about emotional issues, relationships between boyfriends and girlfriends, husbands and wives. Social issues, without getting political - there are things that need to be spoken about and I think we can do it with the kind of music we make. We want t o be positive; rappers do the same kind of thing with what they do except they're more aggressive. They're still talking about 'be a father to your child', things that are everyday issues. We can deal with the same things within songs."

There are plans afoot for the group both to go out and make pa's in the clubs to promote the 12-inch and to play live with a full band. For the live shows they plan to include some more traditional material to appease their hardcore gospel following who might be phased by the dance rhythms and somewhat inexplicit lyrics. Their inspiration for their approach to live work comes from contemporary gospel acts like the Winans and beyond.

"I think the Winans are absolutely excellent," enthuses Marcia. "I think their whole stage presentation is so spiritual and they have it from start to finish."

"We want to have concerts where you come away feeling uplifted, not just saying that was a good bass-line, I enjoyed the music and h ad a good sweat and then you leave and there's nothing left," says Sandra. "Like Anita Baker's concerts, she's very spiritual in her own way and it comes across in her music and you've got a buzz for at least the next two weeks like you've been on something. Frankie Beverly and Maze have the same effect and it's because of their positive message."

This is not to say that the gospel roots of their music will be drowned in a sea of commercialised platitudes. As Sandra told a British journalist recently, "The message we want to project is not our message. It's Christ's message and that message is to love thy neighbour as God loves us." All of which is seasoned with sound commercial common sense. When I asked if there was anything more they wanted to say they chorused with one voice, "Buy our records! We're British! BUY OUR RECORDS!"