"Consciousness is a being, the nature of which is to be conscious of the nothingness of its being" ... Jean-Paul Sartre
The Fall - Reformation Post TLC
I have been listening to ‘The Fall’ since I purchased their first LP, ‘Live at the Witch Trials’, in 1979. I have been listening to their 26 th, or their 90 th depending on who you talk to, lately. Jolly good fun …
Here is the video for the title song … enjoy … definitely not Top 40 American stuff.
And, if you want, here is an interview translated from a German magazine.
Them Bastards Hooted
Bands, names, fashions and music styles come and go. But he lives in the same house in Manchester and sings for 30 years in The Fall. Without doubt this 50 year old is an icon of underground music. An interview with Mark E. Smith about fame, poorness and the advantages of being a plumber.
The failed terror-attacks in London and Glasgow recently headed the news. Did the events effect Manchester ?
No, not really. People of Asian decent seemed to be a bit more nervous. All others took out their trash as usual and didn’t think about it.
Do events like these precipitate in your music or your lyrics, or do you separate between The Fall and what’s happening in the world ?
Sometimes things like these do influence me. But what happened in London didn’t surprise me that much.
What motivates you to compose your lyrics ?
Well, I write every day. It’s a very common activity for me.
Just to name an example: With the musicians of ‘Mouse on Mars’ you’re in a band called ‘Von Südenfed’. At the record, which was released in may, there’s a song named ‘Speach Contamination / German Fear of Österreich’. What do you think Germans fear of Austria ?
Actually this song title has no sense at all. The others said, I couldn’t name a song like this. And I told them: You do your things, I do mine. (laughs)
So the title of this song is just an example for your preference for absurd humour ?
Indeed, it’s a joke. The other two lads always had these serious titles to suggest. So I just had to contradict. But the Germans I met so far always found the title very funny. But now I remember why I named this song the way I did! We were on tour in Germany and Austria and played some gigs with Berlin band Doc Schoko. It was strange: Those guys had always been very professional, you could really drink with them. But as we played in Vienna, they got very nervous and unbalanced.
On The Fall’s last record there’s the song ‘Das Boat’. On ‘Tromatic Reflexxions’ by Von Südenfed’ there’s not only this mentioned song (Speach Contamination). You also use the line ‘It fits well to your new skirt’. Obviously you’re doing your jokes with german language.
No, not really. It’s more like this: You’re on tour in a foreign country. The roadies and the members of the band always try to learn some sentences in the respective language. Of course that’s funny. Cause everyone who hears that, thinks they’re idiots. How does that sound if I – as an English – say ‘ich’ or ‘mein’ (what means ‘I’ or ‘mine’- VB) in german ? I always write down some sentences in the actual language into a notebook for the crew, so they know how to order their breakfast. Sometimes I write some very wrong stuff (laughs). But say: How did you like The Fall’s recent record ‘Reformation Post TLC’ ?
‘Immer anders, immer gleich!’ John Peel’s statement about your band still hits the truth. The Fall never really disappointed me.
You’re one of the few!
Do you really think so ?
No, no. But to be honest, I don’t really care whether people like my music.
Do you use a computer ?
No, not at all. I was interested in computers in 1984, when they entered everyone’s homes. I couldn’t really get warm with computers, so I gave mine away.
So you don’t download music from the internet. What do you think about people getting your music from the internet ?
I never really worried about this. There are about 100 different records by The Fall, not to count the bootlegs. Why should I prosecute someone, who copies these records ? In the 80s there were several bands who sued people just because they copied records to tapes. But you can’t prevent or forbid this. People want the music. And they’re too many. You can’t catch them all.
Facing The Fall’s 100 records: what would you suggest a newbie for a start?
‘Hex Enduction Hour’ would be quite good. And of course our latest record ‘Reformation Post TLC’. And ‘Fall Heads Roll’ from 2005.
With your publishings you influenced quite a lot of musicians and writers. At the International Festival in Manchester recently the book ‘ Perverted by Language: Fiction inspired by The Fall’ had been introduced. The authors of all those short-stories referred to you. Are you flattered by this ?
It’s a horrible book. It’s been presented at the festival. But we declared very distinctly that it’s got nothing to do with me.
When will your own book, the autobiography ‘Renegade: The Lives and Tales of Mark E. Smith’, be published ?
It’s goin’ to be released in September. It is really good.
What can we expect ? A typical Rock’n‘Roll biography ?
The original concept was to write the book like the biography of a soccer player. Like: ‘I can really remember my first match for Liverpool’. But this idea didn’t stand the test. There already are books about The Fall. But they’re crap. I wanted to clear up several things with this autobiography.
You have released this incredible amount of records. You are established as one of the most important figures of underground-music. Nevertheless you were flat broke in 2000.
Yeah, that’s right. Fortunately I’m a bit better now financially. But its a very weird contradiction: You’re on the front pages of many music magazines, but don’t even own an egg. You can’t live on positive record reviews. But it was also my own fault. I signed wrong contracts. Of course I could bother about all those Fall-bootlegs other people earn their money on. But I prefer to make music and lyrics. In addition I would need about 8 employees to get all the money people owe me. That’d be a real full time-job.
Would you as an author and musician still say you’re working-class, where you came from ?
It’s always up and down with The Fall. In the meantime I enjoy the advantages of age. I live at the same house for 25 years now. The situation in Britain is really strange. The government was successful making people believe they belong to the middle-class.
When you were a teenager you had a job in the docks. Could you have imagined a life staying at this job ?
I think I’d be better off in this job nowadays (laughs). At least regarding the money. My father was a plumber. You earn more money as a plumber than as a psychiatrist.
About 30 years ago, august 1977, when you and The Fall were at the beginning of your career, Elvis Presley died. Was this a remarkable event for you and the band ?
I remember the day when Elvis died. We played at a Punk-Club in Manchester. It must have been our 2nd or 3rd gig at all. We just finished and left the stage when someone announced that Elvis died. All those bastards hooted and applauded. So we went back on stage and said: ‘This is for Elvis!’ And we played a Rockabilly-number. People spit at us and threw bottles. It’s quite funny how times change. Half the people who were at this concert now work for television, are music journalists, or play in their own bands. Nowadays they all say Elvis had been a great influence on them. Well, people tend to paraphrase history.
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