The Fall

[dem bones]

Dave Simpson - The Fallen: Life in and out of Britain's most insane group (Consulate, 2009)

"a cross between a large Victorian family and a rehab unit" - The Times -

In which the author makes it his mission to track down everyone who has at one time or another spent time in The Fall, which, it transpires, is the entire population of Prestwich, most of Salford, the occasional exotic American (Brix E. Smith) and a fiddle player with a glass eye (Kenny Brady). As he pursues his quest, drummer Karl Burns becomes Simpson's all-consuming obsession to the detriment of his seventeen year old relationship with lover Suzanne. The Fall's regularly sacked maverick drummer seemingly vanished off the face of the earth after the notorious on-stage punch up in New York which did for that particular version of The Fall (and landed Smith in jail): rumours persist that MES had him done away with and Simpson is determined to learn the truth!

As we'd all suspected, The Fall are not your average pop group and much of the time, thanks to the slightly unorthodox persona of MES things are ... tense. Or, as rhythm guitarist Craig Scanlon, who, incredibly stuck it out for sixteen years, puts it. "It was like your last tour of Vietnam, with appropriate flashbacks and nightmares."

i'm not sure i set out wanting to like Dave Simpson's exploration of the wonderful and frightening world of The Fall as it is everything MES purports to despise, but i couldn't help myself. As an insight into Mark's bizarre and often brutal working methods - think Captain Beefheart's tyranny over the Magic Band - it's surprisingly enlightening. As tragicomedy, it's the funniest thing i've read in ages though not without those all-important moments of sheer poignancy. Virtually all who suffered the wrath of Smith's bombast speak of him without rancour and Brix's concern for him even now is a genuine sob-inducer.

The search for Karl Burns brought to mind a mouldy oldie from my now thankfully much-neglected "real v*mp*re' library, namely:

Katherine Ramsland - Piercing The Darkness: Undercover With Vampires In America Today (Boxtree, 1999)

In July 1996, Susan Walsh, investigative journalist, vanished while researching the New York 'vampire' scene. Katherine Ramsland's book sets out to find out what happened to Susan by using her considerable status among Anne Rice fans to infiltrate the subculture.As far as i can recall, she doesn't find Susan, but her enthusiastic research brings her into the orbit of the usual array of blood fetishists, S & M enthusiasts, common or garden goths, role players and some tragic types who tend to take it all rather too seriously. Ghouls will be disappointed at the lack of a corpse, but this is certainly one of the more interesting of the books on the goth-'vampyre' crossover circa the Dracula Centenary.

[Craig Herbertson]

As I never tire of boasting my old band supported The Fall sometime in the early 1980's. They were very nice to us unlike some other bastards whose soundmen ripped the shreds out of the PA or on occasions forgot to switch it on. Smith was a charismatic frontman. Happy little punk memories...

[ghost]

Aug 22, 2011 9:56:02 GMT dem bones said:

i'm not sure i set out wanting to like Dave Simpson's exploration of the wonderful and frightening world of The Fall as it is everything MES purports to despise, but i couldn't help myself.

Same here. I ended up buying several extra copies when the book turned up in The Works for 49p. Hmm.

[valdemar]

I've loved The Fall for ages - many years ago, when I was in my first job, I had the dubious pleasure of being the only management in the shop where I worked, as the manager was on holiday, and the assistant manager was off sick [pissed], and so, for one day, in 1985, I was in charge. Our shop, which sold shoes, had one of those players that piped crap-quality 'muzak' through the store, and to be frank, it was getting on my nerves, so, as I went to lunch, I removed the 'muzak' tape, and replaced it with a compilation tape of Fall tracks sent to me by a friend. I locked the office, and went out. Imagine my joy, on returning, to hear 'Eat Y'self Fitter' coming out of the speakers, and several staff members attempting to open the office, to which I had the key. I was never asked to stand in again. Did I care? No.


Favourite Fall Song titles?

'Spectre Vs Rector'
'Prole Art Threat'
'Haf Found Borman'
'Spoilt Victorian Child'
'Mollusc In Tyrol' [my favourite]
'Jawbone & The Air Rifle'
'Susan Vs Youthclub'

[valdemar]

Looking through my CD collection, I found ''20 Years In Show Business'', by I, Ludicrous [another great band and Peel fave], which contains a track which all Fall fans will appreciate, and possibly, find hard to believe. It is entitled: ''I've never been hit by MES''. Genius.

[dem bones]

"When I'm dead and gone/ my vibrations will live on/ in vibes on vinyl through the years/ people will dance to my waves"

Mark Edward Smith, 5 March 1957 - 24 January 2018

R.I.P. M.E.S.

[valdemar]

Mark E. Smith. One of the very few famous people to die that caused me to shed a tear or two. Sadly though, it seems that a great many musicians I liked when I was younger have died recently. Including:

Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks)
Genesis P. Orridge (Throbbing Gristle)
Florian Schneider (Kraftwerk)
Gabi Delgado-Lopez (D.A.F.)

I recently read Mark E. Smith's autobiography, 'Renegade', and it's superb. M.E.S. - We shall not see his like again, sadly.