Mark E Smith Q+A

AG: How do the various producers who have been entrusted
with your work differ?

MES: As a journalist you will know very little about recording and
production work, so probably best you mind your own business.

AG: No need for that, is there… you’ve cited sixties garage
bands, rockabilly and dub reggae among others before,
so what musical influences can we look forward to in
the forthcoming Fall album?

MES: A lot of “X Factor” stuff, I’ve also got a gas mask and I’m frequently
in Yorkshire.

AG: OK, say you were the programme controller who could
put a new panel of judges on “X Factor”, who would
you choose?

MES: I think “X Factor” is akin to a fascist organisation, and I would
actually erase it.

AG: So you wouldn’t choose a panel at all?

MES: No, I wouldn’t. I don’t think it’s right.

AG: Are there any DJs you’d give the remotest chance of
continuing John Peel’s work?

MES: Only one I can think of is Dennis Matthews on 103.6 FM – the
unsigned show, I think.

AG: What was the last City game you attended?

MES: It was the last ‘stand up’ game – either Shrewsbury or Barnsley.

AG: Will you ever drink in the Kings Arms again?

MES: Kings Arms? Where’s that?

AG: Do you bar pubs yourself or not that fussy?

MES: If I don’t like a pub, obviously I don’t go back. Why would I?

AG: Do you ever pick up a guitar or keyboard?

MES: I go to the shop, get some clay and some plasticine and
mold it into what I want.

AG: Any regrets over the treatment of specific past members of
the group?

MES: No. I love them all. I miss them. I dream about them
every night.

AG: What was the last City game you attended.

MES: It was the last “stand up” game – it’s either Shrewsbury
or Barnsley.

AG: What’s been The Fall’s worst support group?

MES: They’ve all been good.

AG: Your sister told us the group’s name refers to autumn in
American, so is it nothing to do with Catholicism and does it
really matter who came up with it?

MES: I wouldn’t hold any store by what anyone says to you.

AG: What about titles pinched by Super Furries like "Touch
Sensitive"?

MES: I didn’t even know about that!

AG: What makes you pick one encore, say "Carrier Bag Man" over
say "Gut of the Quantifier"?

MES: It’s a personal choice, at the time, that depends on the
venue we are playing and the location we’re in.

AG: Do you have any words for the University of East Anglia lot
that ‘reworked’ “Hex Enduction Hour”?

MES: Now I didn’t know about that! What’s that all about?
Am I very against symposiums? The most horrible thing
about it is that none of them consult me, or write to me
about any of these things – like the University of East Anglia
lot, they din’t consult me. It makes you feel like you should
be dead or something.

AG: As fans of “Black Monks Theme”, are there any covers
of The Fall you have actually liked?

MES: Yeah. I liked the cover of the Fall’s first LP, it’s a nice bit of artwork.

AG: Have you ever put one of your squirrel victims in a
pie?

AG: Have you ever put one of your squirrel victims in a

pie?

MES: You’re obviously referring to that issue created by a journalist from

Brighton, who in my opinion is a mad man – whose father hated

seagulls! Allegedly, if a seagull shit on his dad’s car his dad got so

incensed he’d drive up and down the front desperately trying to run

a few over in recompense whilst muttering how they were vermin,

like squirrels with wings. That interview created a bit of a stir, but

I think anyone with a minute amount of intelligence saw through it

immediately and just laughed. I know some people did take it a bit

too seriously, but I’ve not actually got anything against squirrels in

person. Just shows you about the press.

AG: Do you find can you avoid the ‘PC’ crowd easily enough

or did you deliberately pick a recording studio in

Chorlton once to take the fight to their doorstep?

MES: Ha! Nothing so deep. We just wanted to do some rehearsal and

put the bed of a few tracks down and Airtight Studios managed to

move things around to accommodate and suit our schedule. Simple

as that.

AG: Having heard John Cooper Clarke tell the Frank

Chickens “it’s all about the Irwell”, can you sum up

the biggest differences between Salfordians and

Mancunians?

MES: Good question! There is a big difference yeah. I feel Salford is a

city within a city, that Mancs are part-timers and Salfordians are

clever people. I think Salfordians have got intelligence whereas

Mancunians I think are more prepared to be factory workers.

AG: Anything you’d like to add for the people of either city

about your next album?

MES: Not really. If they buy it I hope they like it. But it’s not just about

that is it –I know Manchester like to tag themselves to The Fall, but

at the end of the day The Fall are worldwide. So I hope everyone

likes the record – when we’ve finished it.

Thanks to Tim Baxter for his refereeing skills