The many ways Mark E. Smith fired members of The Fall
Every post-punk and indie-rock outfit to have emerged in the last four decades has – consciously or not – drawn inspiration from the prolific Manchester band The Fall. You can hear their legacy weaving through the sounds of 1990s American slacker rockers like Pavement to current British post-punk heavyweights such as Yard Act and Shame.
The Fall was formed in 1976, with lead vocalist Mark E. Smith’s sardonic, northern drawl defining the band’s sound. Often speaking or screeching his witty, observational lyrics rather than singing, Smith’s distinctive delivery has been replicated countless times by bands desperate to reach the levels of acclaim lauded on The Fall, yet none seem to come close. The band were active until Smith’s death in 2018, aged 60. During its tenure, 66 members came and went, with Smith always remaining. He once quipped, “If it’s me and your granny on bongos, it’s The Fall.”
With Smith in charge of his bandmates, The Fall became quite the “dictatorship” (in the words of guitarist/songwriter Brix Smith), resulting in an unstable lineup that never stayed consistent for long. The band was initially formed by Smith, Martin Bramah, Tony Friel and Una Baines, although the latter two departed in 1977 and 1978, respectively. Bramah quit in 1979 due to an unsteady relationship with the domineering Smith, although he eventually came back in 1989.
However, his time with The Fall was cut short when he was fired just one year later due to his affair with keyboardist Marcia Schofield, who was also chucked from the group. Smith was no stranger to firing members if he deemed it necessary, with one of the most notorious instances coming in 1983 when Marc Riley was dismissed after five years in the band. The alleged reason for his firing was partly attributed to Smith witnessing Riley dancing to Deep Purple.
He reportedly told Riley, “Get in the hotel, and stay there till I tell you. You don’t need to be dancing to ‘Smoke on the Water’.” The pair had a tumultuous relationship, and they apparently got involved in a punch-up after Smith also caught him dancing to The Clash in an Australian nightclub. Riley explained, “That had been bubbling under for a while. He had all the power and the purse strings in the band. We were being treated as hired hands. We were all a bit hacked off. I was the most vocal about it.”
Another brutal firing came when Smith got rid of Craig Scanlon, who had played guitar with the band for 16 years. According to Craig Simpson’s book The Fallen: Life in and Out of Britain’s Most Insane Group, one reason Smith fired him was due to his “slovenly appearance”.
Plenty of other members were fired over the years, whether that be due to personal or creative differences, leading The Fall to become one of the most unstable yet successful bands of their time. He even fired and rehired Karl Burns on nine different occasions, not without a few physical altercations in between, including an on-stage fight.
These were just a few reasons for Smith’s notorious reputation, which was also defined by his penchant for delivering cutting remarks in interviews about – well, basically anything you can think of.
