Remembering Mark E. Smith: A Classic Interview From The Hot Press Archives

Since 1979, The Fall have been spitting, spluttering and kicking against the pricks over the course of a whopping thirty-four albums. Rightly regarded as one of the few living institutions in English alternative rock, The Fall have been chaired every step of the way by the ingeniously eccentric Mark E Smith. Framed for being occasionally difficult and unpredictable as much as for his half-sung, half-spoken vocal delivery, Mr. Smith appears to be in fine fettle when we meet, reputedly fresh from his third wedding and on his best behaviour.

Smith has orchestrated yet another epic Fall record entitled The Unutterable, easily one of the group’s finest in recent years, or in the words of Fall Producer Grant Showbiz: “The best thing they’ve done in at least a decade.” Smith is delighted that The Unutterable is receiving a healthy reaction and picking up radio airplay. “It’s good because I think we’ve been taken a bit for granted for the previous two years,” says Mark. “We’ve been building up this new group which took about eighteen months. I did half of it, and funnily enough we went back to a fella who did us in 1980, Grant Showbiz- and I hadn’t seen him in about fifteen years! He’s been doing The Smiths and Billy Bragg and all that crap in between. I was dodgy about the idea at the start but he hasn’t changed much. He’s a bit sounder actually!

The back to basics with Mr Showbiz approach see’s The Unutterable put thee focus back on Mr Smith’s unmistakable vocal and lyrical strengths. Political commentary rears in 'Sons of Temperance', a stylish punky, trash number depicting a crypto-fascist state in which sobriety is compulsory, and 'Devolute', which appears to be a comment on the devolution process in Scotland and Wales.

“That is a bit of a random poem really,” chips in Mr Smith. “That was going on at the time but I had all these bits of random prose and I multi-tracked it up and put it all together and that’s that really. It wasn’t supposed to be any particular comment”

So what did Smith make of the Peter Mandelson affair? “He was on here the other day and there was a big religious protest outside” commented Smith. “It was dead funny. There was all these buses blocking the main road. All the Jesus freaks were outside protesting and there was all these backpackers around. They were all holding hands and all that. It freaked me out a bit.”

Why was there a religious protest against Peter Mandelson … ?

“Oh Mandelson! I thought you said Marilyn Manson!” cackles Smith. “Sorry, his gig as in Salford the other night!”

Amidst much hysteria, the conversation flies off several different directions at the same time. Was it intentional to theme the record with such biting social commentaries?

“The latter part of it yeah, but three quarters of it was well structured by the so-called new boys in the group. And the rest was me trying to get back into a prose style. They (the new band) are very good and very enthusiastic. They’re a different generation from me. They’re about ten years younger and I find that a very good thing. It’s very refreshing for me. You have to curb their punk rock instincts! They know about computers and digital and all that. I tend to stand behind the booth and shout at them. Half the group is based in London now. That’s all good for me ‘cause I don’t see them so much. The last group was a pretty local Salford thing, but we got sick of each other and blah, blah, blah. I would stay here, but I don’t, or never did, consider myself part of the Manchester scene. I’ve seen them all come and go, from The Rolling Stones to Badly Drawn Boy to whoever.”

What exactly happened on that last Irish tour where Smith reputedly sacked the entire band prior to playing The Empire in Belfast?

“That was the beginning of the end of the old line up,” replies Smith. “It was a good thing actually. I don’t know exactly what happened there. There was a lot of shit going down. It came to a head about three months later. I don’t blame Ireland for any of that! I always like playing Cork, it’s an insane part of the world. A taxi driver once ran over my foot in Ireland. I don’t remember where though.”

Finally, according to an interview on the internet, Smith once said he wanted The Fall to be in “the most hated band in the country.” Does he still harbour such lofty ambitions? “Are you sure that was me? …No I don’t think so. Maybe I said that a few years ago but I can’t remember ever saying that!”