Priest: Brethren, we are called upon to pay the last tributes of respect to brothers and sisters who have now gone. Places once filled are now vacant. Chairs once occupied are now empty. Hands, whose helpful clasp cheered us in days gone by, are folding in everlasting rest. It is fitting, therefore, that we should pause, no matter how engrossing our duties, and pay to our departed brothers and sisters the tribute due their memory.
Suggested music: Hey! Luciani by The Fall
Brother scribe, the roll call.
Steve aka Dave (the unknown drummer, 1976) No longer with us
Tony Friel (bass, 1976 December 1977) No longer with us
Una Baines (keyboards, 1976 March 1978) No longer with us
Martin Bramah (guitar/backing vocals, 1976 April 1979; July 1989 July 1990) No longer with us
Karl Burns (drums/guitar/bass/keyboards) (May 1977 December 1978; October 1981 June 1986; January 1993 December 1996; May 1997 April 1998) No longer with us
Kay Carroll (backing vocals, management 1977 April 1983) No longer with us
Jonnie Brown (bass, January March 1978) No longer with us
Eric McGann aka Rick Goldstraw aka Eric Echo aka Eric the Ferret (bass, March June 1978) No longer with us
Yvonne Pawlett (keyboards, May 1978 June 1979) No longer with us
Steve Davies (percussion/drums, 30 May 1978 and again in June 1980) No longer with us
Marc Riley (guitar, then bass, June 1978 December 1982) No longer with us
Steve Hanley (bass, April 1979 April 1998) No longer with us
Craig Scanlon (guitar, April 1979 December 1995) No longer with us
Mike Leigh (drums, January 1979 March 1980) No longer with us
Dave Tucker (clarinet, 19801) No longer with us
Paul Hanley (drums, March 1980 March 1985) No longer with us
Brix Smith (guitar/backing vocals, September 1983 July 1989; August 1994 October 1996) No longer with us
Simon Rogers (bass/keyboards/guitar, March 1985 October 1986) No longer with us
Simon Wolstencroft (drums/keyboards, June 1986 August 1997) No longer with us
Marcia Schofield (keyboards, October 1986 July 1990) No longer with us
Charlotte Bill (flute/oboe, 1990) No longer with us
Kenny Brady (violin/keyboards, July 1990 June 1991) No longer with us
Dave Bush (keyboards, August 1991 November 1995) No longer with us
Julia Nagle (keyboards/guitar, November 1995 August 2001) No longer with us
Adrian Flanagan (guitar, December 1996 February 1997) No longer with us
Keir Stewart (guitar, early 1997) No longer with us
Tommy Crooks (guitar, August 1997 April 1998) No longer with us
Kate Themen (drums, April May 1998) No longer with us
Stuart Estell (guitar, 30 April 1998) No longer with us
Karen Leatham (bass, August 1998 December 1998) No longer with us
Tom Head aka Thomas Patrick Murphy (drums, August 1998 November 2000) No longer with us
Neville Wilding (guitar, November 1998 February 2001) No longer with us
Adam Helal (bass, December 1998 February 2001) No longer with us
Nick Dewey (drums, 27 August 1999) No longer with us
Steve Evets (backing vocals/bass, 20002) No longer with us
Ed Blaney (guitar/backing vocals/management/brokering, 20004) No longer with us
Spencer Birtwistle (drums, November 2000 November 2001; July 2004 May 2006) No longer with us
Ben Pritchard (guitar, February 2001 May 2006) No longer with us
Jim Watts (guitar/bass/keyboards/computers, February 2001 March 2003; July December 2004) No longer with us
Brian Fanning (guitar, mid to late 2001) No longer with us
Dave Milner (drums/backing vocals, November 2001 June 2004) No longer with us
Ruth Daniel (keyboards, 22 September 2002) No longer with us
Simon Archer (bass, April 2003 April 2004) No longer with us
Steven Trafford (bass, April 2004 May 2006) No longer with us
Chris Evans (drums, 3 December 2004) No longer with us
Mark Edward Smith (vocals, 1976 to date) Still with us. ALWAYS with us.
This book documents a two-year period (20057) which I spent tracking
down the dozens of people who had once played in The Fall. By the
time the journey was over, what I refer to as the current line-up had also
departed, joining the ranks of The Fallen.
I t was a Tuesday morning in December, and I was ringing people in Rotherham, all of them called Brown.
Hello, I began, for the fifth time that day, Im trying to trace Jonnie Brown who used to play in The Fall. I know he came from Rotherham and wondered if you might be a relative.
The Who? asked the latest Mr Brown on the end of the line.
No. The Fall the band from Salford. Jonnie played bass for three weeks in 1978.
Is this some kind of joke?
First I had become an internet stalker, now I was a telephone pest, all because of The Fall. Why was I doing this?
It started on 4 September 2005 when I drove to Manchester to interview Mark E Smith. I am a journalist and Ive been interviewing pop stars for years but this encounter was different. Before the interview, even casual observers seemed to have a cautioning word. Youd better take a crash helmet, joked one mate, aware of Smiths colourful reputation in particular, stubbing a cigarette out on a pesky journalists forehead. Days before my interview, I received a call from the papers photographer, who found the singer so blotto at the photo session hed come away with hundreds of shots of the venerable vocalist having to be held upright by bewildered passers-by.
Id met Smith years before, in 1981. I had approached the notoriously opinionated frontman on the steps of Leeds University, where The Fall were about to play. Considering that even then he had a spiky public image, Smith was surprisingly polite, but I didnt get the autograph I craved. Neither of us could produce a pen instead the singer rather charmingly took a bite mark out of my ticket, leaving a lasting impression of his 1981 dental work and a DNA sample which remains in my possession in case any Fall-mad scientists ever wish to make a clone of Mark E Smith.
As I drove the 70 miles along the M62 to the interview, passing signs for Smiths beloved Prestwich and Salford, something nagged at me all the way. What had happened in the intervening 24 years to transform the cheery ticket chomper into a character with a life seemingly as unique as his songbook and one of the true legends of British music?
If youre reading this, theres every chance you know a lot about The Fall. But if not, you should know the following:
The Fall are one of the most revered and influential bands in British pop, one who more than most lend themselves to obsession.
In John Peels Record Box which contained the late DJs favourite records Fall records had an entire section to themselves. Peel called them The Mighty Fall: the band against which all others are judged. Their audiences still include fans who dont follow other bands, who never listen to anything else. Smiths inspired, social sci-fi songs are beloved of everyone from comedians Frank Skinner (who uses 1981 Fall song Jaw Bone and the Air Rifle to open his TV show) and Stewart Lee, to the designer Calvin Klein, artist Grayson Perry, and authors Irvine Welsh and the late Philip K Dick. Musicians and music critics love them, too. Julian Cope estimates he saw them 28 times in 1978 alone. David Bowie, Bo Diddley, Thom Yorke and Alex Kapranos all claim to be fans, and Fall albums still regularly receive rave reviews for their paint-stripping riffs, blood-racing rhythms and what one writer has called their head-turning quality a hail of one-liners, withering put-downs and bewildering images.