2019-07-01_Uncut_UK

92 • uNCuT• juLY 2019

LIVEATTHE

WITCHTRIALS

STEPFORWARD, 1979

Following 1978 singles“Bingo

Master’sBreak-Out!”and“It’sThe

NewThing”,TheFall’sdebutlays

downkeytrademarks:repetitive

rhythmsanda hailstormofcaustic

lyricalimagery

MARTIN

BRAMAH

[G u I TA R] :We

hada fewcrap

songstostart

with.“StenGun

Rock”wasa

Clash-typetrackthatwewere

sensibleenoughnottorecord.

“VariousTimes”– theB-sideof

“It’sTheNewThing”– wasan

earlytemplate,justbefore...Witch

Tr ial swasrecorded.Thelyricsare

reallygreat.A shortstory/science-

fictionnovelina song,withthat

weirdness.Markquicklybecame

verygoodatthat.

KAYCARROLL[GuITAR]:[NME’s]

DannyBakerputusintouchwith

StepForward.Theybookeda studio

fortwoweeksbutMarklosthis

voice,sowehadtodothewhole

albumintwodays.Talkabout

stress,butthatgottheedgeMark

liked.Therewerea lotofadopted

orsingleparentpeopleintheearly

Fall.That’swhywegravitated

togetherandMarkwasalmostlike

a fatherfigure.

BRAMAH:Wewerea veryintense

littleclique,completelycrazy,

doingdrugs.YvonnePawlett

[keyboards] walkedintothatasa

17-year-oldcompleteinnocentand

dida brilliantjob.On“Music

Scene”,abouttheauthoritarian

handofthemusicbusiness,the

studioengineersaretellingusto

stopplaying.It wassofunny,we

usedit.Thealbumtitlemeans“live”

asina breakingnewsreportfrom

thescene....WitchTrialswasa nod

tothePendlewitches,andouridea

ofourselvesashavinga strangeand

dangerousvisionoftheworldthat

mightgetusburntatthestake.

GROTESQuE

(AFTERTHEGRAMME)

ROUGHTRADE, 1980

Withanamphetaminereferencein

thetitle,TheFall’smightythirdmixes

northernrockabillyandSmith’s

spleneticvisionsofEngland’s

“grotesquepeasants”

STEVEHANLEY

[BASS]:Craig

[Scanlon,

guitar] andI

foundourfeet

withDragnet

[ 1979 ], but

byGrotesque, Craigwaswriting

a lotandwewereallreallyfiring.

MarkkepttellingmethatGeoff

Traviswantedtoreplaceuswith

sessionmusicians,butthatmight

havebeenmindgames,tokeepus

onourtoes.

PAuLHANLEY[DRuMS]:We

recorded“PayYourRates”and

“ContainerDrivers”inGrant

Showbiz’sstudioinLondon,a tiny

cellarwiththecontrolroomina van

outside.Markplayedsomegreat

guitaron“PayYourRates”.We

recordedtherestinCargo,

Rochdale,withGeoff

TravisandMayo

Thompson.Markwas

inventingcharacters:

RomaneTotale,

J Temperance,real

TwilightZonestuff.

STEVEHANLEY:“WMC

Blob59”is Kaysinging.

Markhadwrittenthis

supposedlyreally

melodicsongbutit

soundslikeherecordedit

inhisshoe.Hewasoff

thewalllikethat.

CARROLL:He’dsitdownandwrite,

reallyfast.Hegotideasfromthe

ForesterspubinPrestwich,amazing

observations.Heusedwordsasa

rhythm.He’dsingsomethingand

thenthenexttimeyouheardit he’d

changedit.Often,Markhadthe

musicinhishead,andwouldhumit

orsingit tothemusicians.Hewas

tryingtodocumenta greytimein

thenorth.Theworkingclassesfelt

invisible,andMarkshonea light

ontohowwewereliving.The

Beatlesdidthatbuttheyportrayed

usashappy.Markshonea

searchlightandasked,“Why?”

HEXENDuCTIONHOuR

K AM E RA , 1982

RecordedattheRegalCinemain

HitchinandduringanIcelandic

jaunt,...WitchTrialsdrummerKarl

Burnsreturnsin a two-drummer

lineup.ThiscapturesTheFallat

theirmostlaceratingandvoodoo,

although“JawboneAndThe

AirRifle”is amongtheirmost

melodictunes

UNcUT

clASSic

P HANLEY: Hex... is

very dense, like the

air coming out of a

balloon. I was just

17 and they had this

35-date US tour, and

Mark said I couldn’t

work in America until I was 21. He

might have thought I wouldn’t

handle it, and run off to join a cult

like that bloke [Jeremy Spencer] in

Fleetwood Mac. So Karl did the tour,

there was a compromise and we

both stayed in the lineup, playing

different things, like a lead and

rhythm guitar, but on drums. There’s

a myth we tore down the doors of an

abandoned cinema to record, but it

was a studio, easily big enough for

two drummers. We recorded some of

the songs on the stage.

S HANLEY: “Jawbone And The Air

Rifle” sounds different because it

was older: we’d been trying to play it

for two years. The “Where are the

obligatory niggers?” line in “The

Classical” supposedly cost us a deal

with Motown.

“I

CAN’T imagine anyone producing a body of work like this

again,” says bassist Steve Hanley, who appeared on more

Fall albums – 18 – than anybody bar singer Mark E Smith,

before exiting after an onstage punch-up in 1998. “When

I left I thought that would be it, but he kept it going for

another 20 years. Amazing.”

Through 31 studio albums, 50-odd musicians and innumerable record

labels, the music kept evolving, taking in post-punk, krautrock, northern

rockabilly, electronics and a kazoo. The Fall were never mainstream – but

bythetimeSmith’sdeathinJanuary 2018 madethenationalnews,this

reveredgroupoccupieda uniquepositioninBritishculture.

“TheFallarelikea musicalRorschachtest,”saysBrixSmithStart,the

group’s1980s-eraguitarist.“Ittapsintosomethingdeepineverybody’s

psyche,likemagick,sothemusichasstoodthetestoftime.”

DAVESI M PSON

Wonderful and frightening highlights

from the Prestwich absurdists’ catalogue

The Fall at Hurrah’s

nightclub, New York,

April 1979: (c/wise

from top left) Marc

Riley, Karl Burns, Steve

Hanley, Craig Scanlon

and Mark E Smith

Marcia reSnick/Getty iMaGeS