Sun. 15 Mar	MES Q&A at the Huddersfield Literature Festival. Postponed to Sunday, 14 June.
Tue. 31 Mar	The Junction, Cambridge. Advance tickets (£18 + fees) from ticketline, wegottickets. Support: Bobbie Peru
Wed. 1 Apr	Koko, Camden Town, London. Advance tickets (£20 + fees) from the venue, ticketline, wegottickets, or via cheque (@£20 payable to T.A. Wise) & SAE to "Wise Moves", 26 Lockett Gdns, Trinity, Salford, Manchester M36BJ. Support: Bobbie Peru
Sat. 25 Apr	Electric Ballroom, Camden, London. Part of the Camden Crawl.
Thu. 30 Apr	The Arches, Glasgow (part of the Hinterland Festival)
Wed 10 Jun	HMV Forum, Kentish Town, London. Mojo Honours show with Buzzcocks and John Cooper Clarke. (All three played Vortex on 4 July 1977). Ticket-text or ticketmaster (£17.50)
Sun 14 Jun	MES Q&A at the Lawrence Batley Theater, Huddersfield. See note below.
Sat 18 Jul	Academy 1, Manchester. Tickets (£20 + fees) on sale from Ticketline (01618321111) and the usual outlets. Alan Wise will be selling tickets for face value at the end of next week to people who have ordered from him before. You can also get tickets at cost from the Students' Union. There will be two other acts plus Safi, I think. One guest act will be a comedian and the other musical; one of the acts has "special guest" status. Also, Alan wants fans to know that the venue has had an overhaul and is far better than before.
Sat 30 Aug	Beachdown Festival, Devil's Dyke, Brighton.

 

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added 17 May; updated 18 May

Paintwork#2 at the SW1 Gallery, London (near Victoria Station)

Despite Smith's advice to avoid Bert's Mock Art exhibition in London, I went along to the reception on 14 May, where I had a great time talking with lots of people and drinking too much (free beer + Stefan = hazy recall, but cheers in particular to Bert the Curator, Paul Wilson, Claus Castenskiold, Monkiboy, Anthony Frost, Sebastian Cording and Robert the Dice Man).

The SW1 Gallery is a lovely bright space for showing art and the Fall-inspired work was mostly very good indeed. I particularly liked Paul's 85,999 words piece (he's collated and printed all of the Fall studio output as a list of words in alpha order, complete with repetitions and capitalisations (e.g. there are 35 "very"s and 5 "Very"s), Claus's latest paintings, Jowe Head's Lovecraftian "Monster," George Shaw's "Landscape with Stick That Looks Like a Snake," and Rik van Iersel's "Material for Popsongs and Record Sleeves". And of course David Alker & Peter Liddell's "The Fall Collection: The Top 20" album covers on Jacob's cream crackers (@ £950). Someone at the reception, I think he flew in from Jersey for the occasion, bought the lot of Pascal Le Gras's paintings, and a few other pieces sold as well, including a couple of Frost's and a Castenskiold, I think.

The next night, with live entertainment, was equally good. Monkiboy, who's worked with Globo in Norwich on their TNSG project, began things with a selection of TNSG CD bonus tracks on acoustic guitar. He was BRILLIANT (Sebastian - please don't forget to send me your video!). Then we had Herb Diamante, aka John Godbert, painter of the Live at the Witch Trials, dressed extravagantly and performing original material solo with background tape in cabaret style, complete with glass of red wine and giant rubber centipede. Jowe Head and the Demimonde finished the proceedings, and they were wonderful too, warm, engaging and funny. Four Fall songs - Winter, Mr. Pharmacist, Dice Man & Choc-Stock.

Again many thanks to Bert for curating and to the gallery for exhibiting, and to Ian for putting up with me in Waterloo. As promised on Twitter, here are some photos.

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added 8 May

HEREWITH annual May missive message from I, Mark E. Smith
on this day of celebration/reformation:

ANOTHER year has passed - rapidly for some, too slowly for I,
one-legged yet again.
And yet, things re: The Fall improve, our new label, although young, are coping just about with 'The Fall".
Yea, in a Castleford studio built on gravel the group cracked down some odd things.
The main concern to avoid the much-ripped off already 'Imperial'.
Our next record will be something that scum like that choke on.
We will not be playing 'I.O.W.' 'FEST' either but will play the Mojo sick-trio.

STICK ENEMIES IN FRONT OF DAYTIME T.V.
AVOID GERMAN-BERT'S MOCK ART EXHIBITION IN L.S.W.

I love you all but i cannot embrace you all/
-As of last year,
your dearest pal-

MARK E. SMITH
for 'The Fall'
2009

As I type this in the swirling gales of consequence I wish you, my pals, all the very best.
MAY THEIR INSIDIOUS RAPPINGS DISINTEGRATE INTO THE FOREGROUND
.

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added 8 May

Martin Bramah's latest band, Factory Star, featuring Steve and Paul Hanley, played the Chorlton in Manchester (not Leeds) last night, supporting the mighty Calvin Party. Sorry I didn't hear about it in time to announce on the Fall news. The set included Rebellious Jukebox and Hilary.

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added 3 May

San Francisco has its own Fall-related group exhibition -- "I Am Kurious Orange" -- at David Cunningham Projects, 1928 Folsom Street. It runs through the end of May.

There's a preview on this blog.

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added 3 May

Another of those MES soundbite interviews; from The Observer of 3 May:

This Much I Know
Mark E Smith, singer, 52, Manchester

My earliest memory is learning to read Muffin the Mule when I was about three.

My first ambition in life was just to leave school and get my own place to live. Not to knock my family, but it was a crowded house. When I was 14 I used to have a calendar on my wall, crossing the days off until I was 15, because the school leaving age was 15. Then three months before I turned 15 they changed the leaving age to 16.

When I was 18 the vision was to make music that didn't exist, because everything else was so unsatisfactory.

Manchester was pretty grey in the 70s. I liked them days. It's turning touristy now. I can't keep pace with it. I work away a lot and every time I come back there's some new monstrosity of a building sprung up.

I'm not really a Mancunian, I'm more Salford.

You can spot the BBC employees who move up to Manchester. They walk in the corner shop, these children's TV presenters in stripey jumpers: "Oh, you're Mark E Smith, my brother had one of your records, I've just moved up here and it's wonderful!" They soon learn.

A lot of groups nowadays all have the same idea. They all want to be The Beatles. The Fall were never like that. Not one of us has got the same taste in music. It seems to work.

I took up snuff when the smoking ban came in, otherwise I get aggressive when I can't smoke. I'll have a meeting at 10am and get really aggressive by midday. Snuff does the trick.

All this knife crime stuff makes me laugh. When I was 14 I was taught how to use a knife in the army cadets. But in the gangs I was in, anyone who used a knife was a coward, because they couldn't use their fists.

If I could change one law I would reverse the smoking ban immediately. I was in a pub last Saturday night, just having a quiet pint, and this fella gets his baby out and changes its nappy on the table next to me. That would have never happened before the smoking ban.

I do feel like an outsider, but I don't lose any sleep over it.

I don't like being told what a safe drinking limit is. They just want us to stay in and eat turnips. Eat fresh Jamie Oliver food and not drink.

I'm comfortable with my age. People always said I'm a 12-year-old lad going on 60. I've never understood people worrying about age. I've got mates who have turned 40 panicking, having a nervous breakdown. So what? My granddad was 40 at Dunkirk.

I think the kids of today are all right. They're saints compared to my generation. My generation were all psychopaths. I feel a bit sorry for kids today. They don't get to hang around on the corner or go up on the moor drinking cider. They have to be in by 10pm.

I'm not sure the economic situation is as bad as they make out. What is the problem with house prices falling? I know plenty of kids who can't afford a house.

Manchester is more expensive than Los Angeles in my experience, but London is ridiculous. I don't know where London gets its economic ideas from.

Do I have any regrets? What kind of question is that? What's your biggest regret? Asking me that?

After I'm gone people will say, who's going to pay for the round?

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added 1 May; updated 6 May

Thursday, 30 April   The Arches, Glasgow

Strange Town / Wolf Kidult Man / Cowboy George / My Door Is Never / I've Been Duped / 50 Year Old Man / Bury // White Lightning

Short gig (ca. 40min). Reviews on the message board.

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added 26 April; updated 6 May

Saturday, 25 April    Electric Ballroom, Camden, London

Strange Town / Wolf Kidult Man / Cowboy George / 50 Year Old Man / Funnel of Love / Bury / Reformation / Latch Key Kid

MES was on his feet again. Reviews on the message board, and thanks as always to Mark for the setlist.

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added 26 April

Longhorn, longhorn breed.

Nazi cattle invade Britain. From ananova.com:

Cattle brought back from extinction by Hitler have achieved what he never could - by invading England.

A herd of aurochs, legendary beasts seen as symbols of Nazi might, is grazing in Devon, according to The Sun.

It is the first time they have set hoof here in 4,000 years when the last ones to roam Britain were killed.

The cattle, prized for their 6ft horns, were hunted to extinction in the rest of Europe four centuries ago.

Hitler ordered his top genetics experts to "resurrect" them because they featured heavily in German mythology.

Using domesticated breeds descended from the wild animals, they were "bred back" just before the Second World War.

Dairy farmer Derek Gow, who has imported nine cows and four bulls to his farm at Lifton, Devon, said: "The aurochs were wild bulls.

"Young men hunted them as preparation for battle, and also for their 6ft horns which were used as drinking vessels and war horns."

His specimens, from Belgium, are officially called Heck cattle, the surname of the geneticist brothers who led the experiments.

See also articles on timesonline, independent + guardian.

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added 8 April

Steve Hanley and Marc Riley are doing a DJ set as "The Fall (out) DJ's" tomorrow night (Thursday, 9 April) at the South Nightclub on South King Street, Manchester. Also live music from the Strays. From 10pm. £5, or you can buy a four-night "weekender" ticket for £10 from skiddle.com.

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added 3 April; updated 10 April

update 10 April : Domino's press release:

We are proud to announce that Domino will be working with one of the UK’s most singular and legendary talents – The Fall.

The group will be heading to the studio imminently, somewhere in the north of England, to record an album. This will be their first recordings for the label.

There are no firm release plans as yet but there is a strong possibility the record will be out towards the end of 2009.

3 April : It's official -- The Fall has signed to Domino Records. M.E.S. spoke with the Quietus yesterday and confirmed the deal. He says the next album will be out in June. No more Von Südenfed, however.

More on the Quietus's site, including a few photos of the Koko gig.

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added 2 April

Wednesday, 1 April    Koko, London

Hot Cake / My Door Is Never / Wolf Kidult Man / Fall Sound / 50 Year-Old Man / Funnel of Love / Chino Splashback / Latch Key Kid / I've Been Duped / Carry Bag Man / Reformation // White Lightning / Blindness

Reviews on the message board and the NME, and some great photos by epidemic_27. Thanks to Mark for the setlist.

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added 2 April

Michael Stewart, director of the Huddersfield Literature Festival, has rescheduled the MES Q&A for Sunday, 14 June. Here's his note to ticket holders:

Dear Ticket Holder,

I am delighted to inform you that the Mark E Smith in conversation event has now been rescheduled. All tickets from the previous event are still valid.

The new date for this event is Sunday 14 June 2009 at 7.30pm, in order to allow for Mark to make a full recovery. The location is the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield which is just over the road from Saint Paul’s Hall where the event was originally intended to be. It’s a state of the art space with a fully licensed bar. The previous event sold out, but as this is a bigger space, there will be extra tickets available from the box office: 01484 430528. I will arrange for free parking at the university.

I do hope you will be able to make this date – it’s going to be a great evening. If, however you can’t make this date and want a refund, please contact the box office on: 01484 430528.

Thank you once again for your patience and understanding. Hope to see you all there.

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added 2 April

Claus Castenskiold has a few of his signed PBL posters left for sale. Here's his note:

I still have The Fall 'Perverted By Language- Tour Posters' available for sale. I was wondering if you would place another notice on the (Un)Official The Fall website, for the month of April only. The posters are thick paper stock 30" x 24", in color. Each poster is hand signed by the artist. The price is $ 20.00 USD for each poster (including shipping) in the US. The price for one poster to Europe is $25.00 (shipping included). The posters are sent in thick sturdy tubes. Payment options are; E-check, Paypal, or other pre arranged payment.

This is the last time the posters will be available at this price. Orders can be placed with Claus at clauscastenskiold@yahoo.com. If using Paypal, the account is clauscastenskiold@yahoo.com.

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added 1 April; updated 4 April

Tuesday, 31 March    The Junction, Cambridge

Hot Cake / My Door Is Never / Wolf Kidult Man / Fall Sound / Chino Splashback / 50 Year-Old Man / Funnel of Love / I've Been Duped / Latch Key Kid / Reformation / Carry Bag Man / Blindness

There are positive reviews on the message board, and Marcus emailed one:

Comedian Frank Skinner was in the audience for The Fall's minor triumph over adversity at the Cambridge Junction. The band came on stage late, at 10.35, with Elena looking like she still had her overnight bag on her shoulder. MES was in a wheelchair for most of the 65 minute gig, scooting around the stage and fiddling with Pete and Dave's amps. He managed to haul himself to his feet two or three times, but looked precariously balanced as he clung to amp stacks for support. A grinning Elena stood aside for his wheelchair as he played an improvised keyboard solo during the final song, Blindness.

The band was on good form, although there was obvious confusion during at least one of the occasions when MES wheeled himself away and continued singing from behind a closed door by the side of the stage.

The set list included Fall Sound, My Door is Never, Wolf Kidult Man, Latch Key Kid, I've Been Duped, Fifty Year Old Man, Reformation, Carry Bag Man and Blindness. No encores.

The gig made the BBC site (if they're reading, Smith broke his hip before the 2004 US tour, not while on it). Thanks to Michael and Stephen for the setlist.

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added 1 April

John Robb has finished his book on Manchester music, "The North Will Rise Again: Manchester Music City 1978-2008". It includes an interview with M.E.S. and will be in the shops later this month (28 April according to the NME).

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added 25 March; updated 1 April

The latest Paintwork#2 press release from Praxis Hagen. You can also see a few images taking part on The Quietus. Since the press release they've added John Godbert to the line-up (painter of LATWT cover).

Paintwork#2 : The Fall Exhibition
15 - 29 May 2009
SW1 Gallery, London (near Victoria Station)
www.sw1gallery.co.uk

gallery hours:
Tuesday - Friday: 12.00 - 20.00
Saturday: 12.00 - 18.00

14th May 2009: 19.00 - 22.00: opening reception

15th May 2009; live music with
Globo http://www.globo.org.uk/
Simon Armitage http://www.simonarmitage.com
Jowe Head http://www.televisionpersonalities.co.uk/jowenews.htm

19th May @ 18.00
Film: The Monks - The Transatlantic Feedback
http://www.playloud.org/themonks.html

Paintwork#2 is a unique collection of artists who are so divers that they normally would never exhibit together. Their only link in this exhibition is The Fall-gruppe and the more the visitor gets into this exhibition it transcends into a portrait of more than one generation; a portrait of time, music and art from the seventies till 2009. No retrospective, work in progress.

It is an experiment: can this exhibition reflect and express the power of this rock-group? We think it can. We are impressed of the quality of the artists who came across The Fall in the last decades. And impressed of their dedication to work for this exhibition. They will almost all come to the opening.

One of the first visual artists working for The Fall was Mark E. Smith´s sister Suzanne Smith who did early covers („Grotesque“ (1980, „There´s a Ghost in the House“ „Hit the North“ 1987) and Claus Castenskiold from Los Angeles who did in the 80´s covers like „Perverted by Language“ (1983). He knew Brix Smith from College and met The Fall in the states. His expressive wild surrealism stamped The Fall´s look in the 80´s.

Anthony Frost from the artist dynasty in Penzance became a good friend of Mark E. Smith. The abstract painter is a bone-hard fan of The Fall and Captain Beefheart. Numerous of his paintings have Fall-titles or quotes. He did the cover of „Extricate“ (1990) and the last record „Imperial Wax Solvent“ (2008). „On the Extricate-cover my painting is upside down, that´s Mark´s way to make it a Fall-cover“ Frost laughs.

No one did more Fall-covers than Pascal Le Gras. „He is ahead of his time“ Mark E.Smith once said about the french artist. Since the 90´s he gives the Parisien the platform to publish his reduced, repetitive, colourful, naive and touching paintings and collages on more than 20 Fall-records and CDs.

Almost the antidot of the expressive painters of the first 30 years is George Shaw. Mark E. Smith is a fan of his romantic and realistic paintings of north-english suburbs where he was raised himself. He used one painting on the inner-sleeve of the record „Reformation“ (2007): In his 50th year he gave a glance into his soul – introverted, quiet and slightly melancholic. The front-cover of „Reformation“ almost looks like a sacral church window. It was made by mosaik-artist Mark Kennedy who is an old mate of Mark E. Smith from Manchester.

What has Simon Armitage to do with The Fall? „Nothing!“ Mark E. Smith would say. But he is a fan and will use the exhibition to perform with his band The Scaremongers at the 15th of may. He wrote essays about Anthony Frost and was certainly influenced by The Fall.

Knud Odde from Kopenhagen wasn´t influenced by The Fall at all when he released his first record with The Sods on the Stepforward records label only weeks before The Fall made their debut on the same label 1978. With Sort Sol he became a Grammy-prize honoured rock-legend in denmark – fulltime painter since 2001 he did some MES-portraits and organized readings with Mark.

Rik van Iersel organized an art-festival with Mark E. Smith in Eindhoven, called a whole exhibition with huge canvasses „The 27 points“ named after the double LP of The Fall and gave numerous of his paintings titles compiled of Fall-quotes. A dedicated and creative fan and artist who tried for the last decades to combine visual art and music.

When painter Paul Housley opened his exhibition in Manchester „I Mancunian“ (2001) he showed a portrait of Mark E. Smith. The portrayed singer came himself and was reported to have been pleased by the work of the fellow Mancunian. The modern semi-realistic painter and friend of George Shaw recently had a solo-exhibition in London.

If you want to write like Mark E. Smith, for whatever reason, you come across the work of Paul Wilson. It didn´t take the graphic designer long to develop the Mark E. Smith computer font, but thousands [well, maybe a few dozen... ed.] of Fall fans have downloaded the font from Fall online and write their correspondence in the handwriting of Mark E. Smith – who is not amused.

To tell „The Story of The Fall“ Jeffrey Lewis combined his talents and dylanesquely shows comics while singing about a „strange and driven man“. The anti-folk star from New York knows the life on the live-tour and always knew The Fall who were setting the pace.

He was asked to be the bassist of The Fall but refused to jump on the bandwagon: But Jowe Head an independent upstart with the Swell Maps in the late 70´s still likes The Fall and plays covers on stage. His painting „Food Chain“ was used on the cover of the tribute sampler „Perverted by Mark E.“

Savage Pencil didn´t like The Fall for a long time. Because he never got his money for the cover „Lie dream of a casino soul“. With thousands of publications Savage Pencil is now one of most well known cartoonists in the UK.

Michael Pollard is a photographer from Manchester. He knows and worked with The Fall since the early days, his work was used on the album „This Nation´s Saving Grace“.

Only a brief contact with The Fall had New York based photographer, filmmaker and Fall-fan Robert Palumbo. When he heard that The Fall were in town, he called the record-company and asked if he could take some pictures. Mark checked his website and made jokes about Palumbo´s photos of african refugees: „That´s me“ he chuckled when he saw the photo of an albino boy. Record company Narnack took six pictures and named them after the members of The Fall on the American edition of „Fall Heads Roll“. MES was not amused.

For Tommy Crooks „The Fall are the best British band ever, including The Beatles.“ The artist from Dundee did the cover of „Levitate“ and „Masquerade“ and lasted about a year as a guitarist before that setup imploded on stage in New York´s Brownies 1998. Mark went to jail that night and is still not amused.

David Alker and Peter Liddell from Manchester never met Mark E. Smith and don´t go to concerts. They are no fans of The Fall at all. The concept artists reconstruct popular culture and painted album covers on cream crackers, used the image of the band as a code.

Whoever went to the concerts in the last years came across Safy Sniper. The Berlin-based video artist worked as the support act and did live video-scratching before The Fall came on stage.

“Less a group, more an experiment“ ist the motto of Globo from Norwich. The three-piece art-band recently recorded a cover of the record „This Nation´s Saving Grace“ from 1985. The DVD of the making of and a live perfomance in Norwich will be shown and they will perform „This Nation´s Saving Grace“ live 15th of may.

Elaine Will once wanted to illustrate every Fall-song. She did a lot of illustrations for the fanzine „Pseud mag“ and her work was used in the second book with Fall-lyrics: vII edited by David Luff (R.I.P).

Cartoonist Harley Richardson once applied to play in The Fall: „It was a mistake“ the Londoner says, „they never take fans.“

Concept artist, curator, painter: Dave Muller from Los Angeles is well known in the international art-world for his work with pop-culture references. As a part of a bigger installation he painted the rigde of the record „Perverted by Language“

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added 25 March

Maurice Leahy:

Dublin is to host its FIRST EVER Fall tribute night. An array of bands will be covering Fall tracks with spoken word, video and dance performances in between. The night will be rounded off by DJs and all for a mere 5 euro. It promises to be a very exciting night and not one to be missed by Fall fans and the curious alike.

It's on 7 May at the Twisted Pepper. Starts at 9 p.m.

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added 23 March

There's an interview with Safi Sniper in issue 3 of Wheel Me Out.

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added 16 March

A message from Michael Stewart to ticket holders for the M.E.S. appearance at the Huddersfield Literature Festival:

It is with great regret that last night’s event, the finale of the 4th Huddersfield Literature Festival, Mark E Smith in conversation with me the Festival Director, has had to be postponed. As most of you are probably aware, Mark broke his hip four weeks ago but felt better last week and was very much looking forward to the event.

Unfortunately, at four thirty in the afternoon on the Sunday of the event, I received a phone call from his wife Elena to say they were unable to get Mark out of bed as he was in too much pain. Mark really was very upset that he wasn’t able to make it and he sends his sincerest apologies to all his fans.

The good news is that the event will happen as soon as we are able to reschedule it. Please do keep hold of your tickets and we will contact you within the next 14 days with another date. If, however you do want a refund, please contact the box office on: 01484 430528. I would please ask you, if you can, to hold on to your tickets for the time being until we can give you a definite date.

I send you all my most sincere apologies for postponing last night’s event, but with such short notice I was unable to contact you personally. I do hope you understand.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. We will be in touch soon and we will post up a notice on our website as soon as we know: www.litfest.org.uk

Kindest regards,

Michael Stewart
Festival Director

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added 13 March

The Fall News awaits confirmation, but it appears likely that the group is signing to Domino. Very good news if it proves true.

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added 13 March

David Lloyd is involved in a new magazine called Chimp, "a publication that is not sanitised and tells you all you need to know about Manchester." Issue 2 will include an interview with M.E.S., and there's a short preview on the Cricket365 site.

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added 13 March

Globo will be performing their re-working of "This Nation's Saving Grace" at Norwich Arts Centre on Friday, 20 March.

It's being filmed for a DVD release and the irrepressible DJ78 will be playing The Fall on vinyl all night in the bar.

Tickets are £5 from 01603 660352. More info at www.globo.org.uk

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updated 13 March

Monks screenings in Brighton and Leeds:

Brighton:

Toby of the Consortium is screening the excellent Monks documentary "The Transatlantic Feedback" at the Duke of York's Cinema, along with a live performance by The Sticks. It's on Saturday, 4 April, from 11pm - 1am.

Leeds:

Thursday 23rd April, 7pm
Saturday 25th April, 11pm

 

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