"A lot of people have lumped us in with punk, but I've never aligned myself with it. I didn't want to be part of a scene, never have. And I knew it wasn't going to last. Once that quick statement was over, most of the main players couldn't handle the fall-out: they were like a bunch of shell-shocked army majors stuck in time, endlessly repeating their once-successful war cries. When you're dealing in slogans like the Clash and the Pistols, it's hard to keep that shit fresh." An extract from Mark E. Smith's new autobiography. Bonus: long, rambling, exceedingly pointless 4-part interview with Ian Svenonius (Nation of Ulysses).(previously)
posted by nasreddin on Apr 14, 2008 - 29 comments

For the last year, the Vice TV program Soft Focus has presented an assortment of "discussions about art, culture, politics, personal history, personal feelings, fashion, and the like" with a series of noteworthy musicians. Host Ian Svenonius manages to wrangle dialogue with of some of the music world's most colorful and idiosyncratic characters: The Fall's Mark E. Smith, My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields, The Happy Mondays' Shaun Ryder, Crass' Penny Rimbaud, Throbbing Gristle/Psychic TV's Genesis P. Orridge, Cat Power's Chan Marshall, Thee Headcoats' Billy Childish, The Specials' Terry Hall, Andrew WK, Fugazi's Ian Mackaye, and Palace/Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's Will Oldham. [more inside]
posted by Item on Jan 27, 2008 - 21 comments

"In January 2005, Mark E. Smith and The Fall (described as 'one of the most enigmatic, idiosyncratic and chaotic garage bands of the last 30 years') were the subject of a BBC 4 TV documentary, The Fall: The Wonderful and Frightening World of Mark E. Smith." parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
posted by Item on Jun 17, 2007 - 22 comments

Mark E Smith reads the football results.
posted by johnny novak on Oct 27, 2006 - 30 comments