And a letter, from p.32:
From AU #7 (Aug/Sep 78?)
And a letter, from p.32:
"The Fall are a rock'n roll band, Mr. Angry! It's our primary objective!
That's what I think seperates us from the bands we are classified with (Subway
Sect, Magazine - aargh!). We love it. We dig the beat. I think that's where
all these up and coming middle-class bands fall (!) down. They sort of run
before they can walk..."A.U." in general builds me up. It's one of the only
papers I can identify with. The U.K. press is all gloomy and shallow. You're
not elitist, non rock n' roll Devo pseuds. You like us and the Dogs
and I think that's great.." Mark Smith, Manchester
N.B. Dave Angry was Dave McCullough's nom-de-plume at the time.
From AU #9 (early 1979?)
Mark Smith writes:
1/ HEY! YOU ARABS!
Personnel changes in rock bands - a fascinating glimpse into their unreal
world! A while back I tried to compile some kind of history for myself. But
history is horseshit as its dominated by future & present. eg. in 1896
wrote a book called "The S.S." about a gang of black-uniformed thugs who
rampage Europe killing people - get this - thinking they're purifying
the human race. So what. Anyway, personnel-wise the band's history was thus:
Xmas '77 - 'He wants to be a musician + study music sheets. He quit'. Easter
'77 - 'She quit - freak-out'. Xmas '78 - 'he want to be a musician + get
crowd reaction. He quit.' - dog shit.
Did you know?
That when the Russians took Berlin in '45 they found 2000 hari-karied Buddhist
monks in German uniforms?
2/ LOCAL NEWS
(Mark Franker private 'tec working for wrong side. Just back from assignment
on black pilgrimage from Chorazina).
Won the pools last week so we went to the Factory. Only venue left around
here and I have a sneaky feeling it won't be around much longer. But there's
no-one to blame except bands and kids (is there ever?). Manchester seems
obsessed with its own image. Tarted-up people shout: 'Hey! Mark Smith!' Reply:
'Hey! Justin Hairdo! Bill Glossop!' Was entertained by crass 'Fall'-type
bands 1 year late with real musicians this time round. Miserable buggers!
The Factory and the Manchester Musicians' Collective. The former frightened
of spades, the latter by anyone who says 'Boo!' My spies went to one Collective
meeting where the proposal was to buy their venue's manager more drinks to
pacify him into still letting them use said venue. Awe-inspiring, eh? Think
it's time for thr psycho mafia to visit them.
The big hole in the new wave economics was the old 'your own record label/record'
lie. It's only rich kids who have that kind of dough! Let's face it! The
other alternative is good guys painted black like your own Hooley-baby, +
that's why you should love him. Otherwise its the same middle-class bastards
still running everything, as Lennon said, approximately.
3/ RECORD NEWS
"Take No Prisoners" - Lou Reed (Expensive) In which Lou caps his renaissance
started on "Coney Island" and achieves everything he set out to in '67. His
band make Ian Dury's present hit-making dabbling in Coleman and other
u-stroke-ground black music look timid. Watch Nick Kent squirm out of admitting
he was wrong (+ even more verbal diarhoea - like that preceeding paragraph!).
4/ BAND NEWS
'Wilful Damage' are the only M/cr band doing anything positive once they
drop punk influence. Come across like the best of 'The Worst' with touch
of Zappa + rock'n'roll. Also watch for 'Staff 9' (you'll probably hear something
presswise c.1982 - an artist forecasting the future! The only
good guage!)
Mark Smith