The Fall

The Fall are an English post-punk band, formed in 1976 in Prestwich, Greater Manchester. With an ever-changing line up, the group essentially consists of its founder and only constant member, Mark E. Smith. The singer is famously dismissive of musicians and when asked about the high turnover of Fall members said "if it's me and your granny on bongos, then it's [the] Fall".[1]  First associated with the late 1970s punk movement, the band's music has evolved through numerous stylistic changes, often concurrently with changes in the group's membership. The Fall's music is characterised by repetition and an abrasive guitar-driven sound, and is always underpinned by Smith's typically cryptic lyrics, described by Steve Huey as "abstract poetry filled with complicated wordplay, bone-dry wit, cutting social observations and general misanthropy."[2]

The Fall have released thirty studio albums as of 2013, and more than triple that when live albums and compilations (often against Smith's wishes) are taken into account. While the Fall has never achieved widespread success beyond a minor hits singles in the late 1980s, they have a maintained a strong cult following. They were long associated with BBC disc jockey John Peel, who championed them from early on in their career. Peel described the Fall as his favourite band, whom he said were, "always different... always the same."[3]



Contents
[hide]  *1 History  ==History[ edit] == ===1970s[ edit] === The Fall were formed in Prestwich, Greater Manchester in 1976 by Mark E. Smith, Martin Bramah, Una Baines and Tony Friel. Friel came up with the name "The Fall" after a 1956 novel by Albert Camus.[4] [5]  The original line-up featured Smith on guitar, Bramah on vocals, Baines on drums and Friel on bass guitar, but Smith and Bramah soon switched roles, and Baines switched to keyboards.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1977_gigography_6-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[6]  The band's first drummer was remembered only as "Dave" or "Steve" for thirty-four years,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[7]  until music writer Dave Simpson discovered that he had almost certainly been a man named Steve Ormrod.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-davesimpson_8-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8]  Ormrod was quickly replaced by Karl Burns, at least in part due to political differences with the other members of the group.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-davesimpson_8-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8]
 * 1.1 1970s
 * 1.2 1980–82
 * 1.3 1983
 * 1.4 1984–1989
 * 1.5 1990s
 * 1.6 2000–present
 * 2 Influence
 * 3 Discography
 * 4 References
 * 5 Bibliography
 * 6 External links

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">The four original members of the Fall would meet in order to read their writings to each other and take drugs.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEReynolds2006175.E2.80.9376_9-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[9]  Their musical influences included Can, The Velvet Underground, Captain Beefheart and garage rock bands like The Monks and The Stooges.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEReynolds2006176_10-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[10]  The members were devoted readers, with Smith citing H.P. Lovecraft, Raymond Chandler and Malcolm Lowry among his favourite writers.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[11]  The Fall's music was intentionally raw and repetitive.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEReynolds2006176_10-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[10]  The song "Repetition", declaring that "we've repetition in the music, and we're never going to lose it", served as a manifesto for the Fall's musical philosophy.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-50.2C000_sleevenotes_12-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[12]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">The group played its first concert on 23 May 1977.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1977_gigography_6-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[6]  They recorded material for their debut EP in November 1977.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-50.2C000_sleevenotes_12-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[12]  The session was funded by Buzzcocks manager Richard Boon, who planned to release the EP on his New Hormones label. After discovering that he could not afford to release the EP,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEReynolds2006174_4-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[4]  Boon gave the tapes back to the band. Two tracks, "Stepping Out" and "Last Orders", were released on the compilation Short Circuit: Live at the Electric Circus in June 1978 on Virgin Records, a compilation album recorded at the Manchester venue The Electric Circus in October 1977.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">The Fall's line-up underwent several changes in 1977–78. Smith's girlfriend Kay Carroll became the group's manager and occasional backing vocalist.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEReynolds2006193_5-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-members_13-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[13]  Founding members Tony Friel (who went on to form The Passage) and Una Baines left in December 1977 and March 1978, respectively.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-members_13-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[13]  Jonnie Brown and Eric McGann had brief stints as the Fall's bass guitarist, the latter quitting in disgust at the Fall's van driver wearing a Hawaiian shirt.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-members_13-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[13]  Marc Riley (bass guitar) and Yvonne Pawlett (keyboards) were eventually recruited to the group.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-members_13-3" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[13]  Martin Bramah blamed the dissolution of the original line-up on Smith's style of leadership, together with Carroll's favouring of her partner: "The break-up wasn't so much about the music, though; it was more how we were being treated as people on a daily basis. "<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEReynolds2006193_5-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">The Fall were filmed on 13 February 1978 for the Granada TV show So It Goes, hosted by Tony Wilson, performing "Psycho Mafia", "Industrial Estate" and "Dresden Dolls", featuring the early brief line up of Smith, Bramah, Burns, Baines and McGann. The debut EP, ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bingo-Master%27s_Break-Out! Bingo-Master's Break-Out!]'', was finally released in August 1978 on Step Forward Records. The single "It's the New Thing" followed in November 1978. By this point, influential radio DJ John Peel had begun championing The Fall. The first of their twenty-four Peel Sessions, collected on The Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004 in 2005, took place in May 1978.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[14]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">Their debut album, Live at the Witch Trials, was recorded in one day<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Dragnet_sleevenotes_15-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[15]  and released in March 1979.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Witch_Trials_AllMusic_16-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[16]  Karl Burns quit the group shortly after the album was recorded, and was replaced by Mike Leigh from Rockin' Ricky, a cabaret band. In April 1979, Burns was followed by Martin Bramah, co-writer of most of the songs on Live at the Witch Trials<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Witch_Trials_AllMusic_16-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[16]  and, according to Fall historian Daryl Eslea, "possibly the last true equal to Smith in the group",<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Dragnet_sleevenotes_15-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[15]  who went on to form Blue Orchids with Una Baines.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-17" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[17]  Marc Riley switched from bass guitar to guitar, and Craig Scanlon (guitar) and Steve Hanley (bass guitar), former bandmates of Riley and members of Fall support act Staff 9, joined the group.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Dragnet_sleevenotes_15-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[15]  Hanley's melodic basslines became a vital part of The Fall's music for almost two decades.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-The_Fallen_18-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[18]  Smith praised his playing inMelody Maker: "The most original aspect of The Fall is Steve ... I've never heard a bass player like him ... I don't have to tell him what to play, he just knows. He is the Fall sound."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-19" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[19]  Yvonne Pawlett left in July 1979 to look after her dog. She later appeared in a band called Shy Tots.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-members_13-4" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[13]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">On 30 July 1979, "Rowche Rumble", the Fall's third single, was released featuring the new line up of Smith, Craig Scanlon, Marc Riley, Steve Hanley, Yvonne Pawlett and Mike Leigh.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">Dragnet, the Fall's second album, was recorded on 2–4 August 1979 at Cargo Studios, Rochdale, and was released on 26 October 1979, featuring the stripped-down lineup of Smith, Scanlon, Riley, Hanley and Leigh. Dragnet signalled a sparser, more jagged feel. The studio allegedly complained about the sound quality, fearing it would put other artists off using the facilities. ===1980–82<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">The Fall released their fourth single "Fiery Jack", their last for Step Forward, on 13 January 1980. Mike Leigh's last gig was on Thursday 20 March at Manchester Polytechnic; he apparently left and went back to the cabaret circuit. He later said he left because the band would have to wait for weeks without work while Smith came up with new lyrics, as opposed to regular weekly gigs in cabaret. Paul Hanley, Leigh's replacement and Steve Hanley's younger brother, first played live with The Fall on Friday 21 March at Electric Ballroom, London - he was only 16 and was actually still at school. On 5 May the Totale's Turns LP was released on Rough Trade. This, with the exception of two tracks, was a live album documenting the band during various appearances, with Smith announcing last orders at the bar and berating band members and audience throughout.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">The Fall released their fifth single, "How I Wrote 'Elastic Man'", on 11 July. The single introduced the line up of Mark E. Smith, Craig Scanlon, Marc Riley, Steve Hanley and Paul Hanley. On 17 November the Grotesque LP was released. The album showed a significant improvement in production, which was to continue throughout the period.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">Slates, a 10" EP, was released 24 April 1981 and was their last recording for Rough Trade. During May–July 1981, the Fall toured America with the line up of Mark E. Smith, Craig Scanlon, Marc Riley, Steve Hanley and Karl Burns. U.S. immigration said Paul Hanley was too young to play America's "21 and over" clubs.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">In September Karl Burns appeared as a second drummer with The Fall for the first time, and the 77 – Early Years – 79 Step Forward compilation was released.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">On 13 November The Fall released their sixth single, "Lie Dream of a Casino Soul". Produced by Richard Mazda, recorded at Workhouse Studios in London and released on Kamera Records it featured the line up Mark E. Smith, Craig Scanlon, Marc Riley, Steve Hanley, Paul Hanley and Karl Burns.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">On 8 March 1982 Hex Enduction Hour, also produced by Richard Mazda, was released on Kamera Records, with Live in London 1980, a cassette-only live album, released later in the month on Chaos Tapes.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">The Fall's seventh single was released 19 April 1982 on Kamera, titled "Look, Know".

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">In May 1982 the A Part of America Therein live LP was released on Cottage Records, having been recorded during their last tour of America.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">On 27 September the Room to Live album was released on Kamera.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">Marc Riley's final appearance with the Fall was on 22 December at the Lesser Free Trade Hall, Manchester. He had fallen out with Smith during the Australian tour and was fired before the European tour of spring '83. Riley remains one of the fans most popular ex-members. ===1983<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === Edinburgh, 2011<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">1983 was a year of changes in the Fall camp and marked their return to Rough Trade Records, after being promised better treatment this time around.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">On 7 June, Rough Trade Records issued The Fall's ninth single, "The Man Whose Head Expanded", and on 19 September issued the band's tenth single and double pack "Kicker Conspiracy". Bizarrely, in November Kamera Records issued around two- to three-thousand copies of the planned 1982 single "Marquis Cha Cha", the release date having been put back due to Kamera's financial troubles in late 1982, making it the Fall's eleventh single issue.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">1983 heralded another dramatic change with the arrival of Smith's American girlfriend and later wife, Brix Smith, on guitar. Born Laura Elise Salenger, she was nicknamed after the track "The Guns of Brixton" by The Clash, a favourite song of hers. Brix's tenure in the group marked a shift towards the relatively conventional, with the songs she co-wrote often having strong pop hooks and more orthodox verse-chorus-verse structures. Additionally, Brix's keen sense of fashion gradually influenced the group's members to give more attention to their clothing and styling—but her platinum blond hair and glamorous style were always somewhat at odds to the otherwise working class appearance of The Fall. Brix's first live appearance with the Fall was on Wednesday, 21 September 1983 at the Hellfire Club, Wakefield.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">Perverted by Language, released 5 December, was the group's final album for Rough Trade Records, but the first to feature Brix. Also released in December was the live album In a Hole, recorded during the Fall's tour of New Zealand in 1982, on Flying Nun Records. ===1984–1989<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">This era found The Fall scoring a few modest hits with singles from a string of highly acclaimed albums: The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall (1984), This Nation's Saving Grace (1985), Bend Sinister(1986) and The Frenz Experiment (1988). I Am Kurious, Oranj is notable as the fruit of a ballet project between Smith and dancer Michael Clark. Simon Rogers and later Marcia Schofield played keyboards, and Simon Wolstencroft replaced Burns on drums after This Nation's Saving Grace. Wolstencroft's playing also shifted the group's sound; his drumming was described as "nimble" and "funky" when compared to Burns.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-The_Fallen_18-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[18] ===1990s<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">With Brix's departure in 1989 - both from the band and her marriage to Smith - Bramah returned briefly for 1990's Extricate, the first of The Fall's three albums for Phonogram Records. Bramah and Schofield left in advance of 1991's Shift-Work. Dave Bush joined on keyboards for 1992's Code: Selfish, followed by the band's return to an independent record label for The Infotainment Scan (1993), Middle Class Revolt (1994) and Cerebral Caustic (1995). These albums featured varying degrees of electronica and IDM, courtesy of Bush's keyboards and computers. Caustic saw the unexpected return of Smith's ex-wife Brix, who stayed long enough to record The Light User Syndrome before departing again in 1996. When Dave Bush went to join Elastica, Scanlon was sacked after sixteen years (an unpopular decision which Smith would later regret), 1996 saw the arrival on keyboards, guitars and computers of Julia Nagle for The Light User Syndrome. That year also saw the start of a torrent of compilations of live, demo and alternate versions of songs on The Fall's new label Receiver Records.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">In 1994 and 1996, The Fall played at the Phoenix Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon, England – the 1996 appearance being one of much surprise to many fans as they were not scheduled to play. They followed novelty keyboardist, Margarita Pracatan. The next album, Levitate (1997), toyed with drum and bass and polarised opinion (long-serving drummer Simon Wolstencroft left halfway through the recording sessions, and was replaced - again - by Karl Burns). Steven Wells in the NME (11 October 1997) wrote, "Imagine pop without perimeters. Imagine rock without rules. Imagine art without the wank. If you've never heard The Fall then Levitate will be either the best or the worst record you've ever heard." The group was temporarily reduced to Smith and Nagle when a disastrous U.S. tour ended in April 1998 with a violent onstage row in New York resulted in Smith unplugging the amps during songs and lashing out at the other members, leading Burns to physically shove him off stage. This led to the departure of Hanley (bassist of nineteen years), Burns and guitarist Tommy Crooks. The following day, Smith was arrested and charged with assaulting Nagle in their hotel.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-20" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[20] ===2000–present<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">The Fall achieved another comeback with Smith and Nagle being joined by Neville Wilding on guitar, Karen Leatham on bass guitar (quickly replaced by Adam Halal) and Tom Head on drums. This lineup made albums The Marshall Suite (1999) and The Unutterable (2000). Further rifts followed in 2001, in which the new line-up of Smith, Ben Pritchard (guitar), Ed Blaney (guitar), Jim Watts (bass) and Spencer Birtwistle (drums) released Are You Are Missing Winner to mixed reviews. Spencer Birtwistle was then replaced by Dave Milner on drums in November 2001. September 2002 saw Elena Poulou – Smith's third and current wife – fill the vacant position of keyboards player, and that year Q magazine named the Fall one of "50 Bands to See Before You Die". The Real New Fall LP (reputedly renamed from Country on the Click after an earlier mix of the album appeared on Internet file sharing networks) followed in 2003, with a slightly different mix and some extra tracks for the US version. In 2004 the band released its first career-spanning compilation to positive reviews in June, and a new album, Interim, in November.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">In January 2005, 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 Four TV documentary, The Fall: The Wonderful and Frightening World of Mark E Smith. Later that year, a 97-song box set containing all of the sessions the group recorded for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 programme was issued to widespread acclaim. Their twenty-fifth studio album, entitled Fall Heads Roll, was issued on 3 October 2005, preceded by the single "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" (a cover of a song by The Move) on 6 September 2005 (US) and 19 September 2005 (UK). This was heralded as one of the best Fall albums in years, with the new line up being particularly acclaimed. Perhaps inevitably, Ben Pritchard (guitar), Steve Trafford (bass), Spencer Birtwistle (drums), all of whom played on Fall Heads Roll, left the group somewhat acrimoniously during the group's Summer 2006 tour of the US after just four dates. In a US radio interview, Smith described their departures as "the best thing that ever happened" to The Fall, although it was some months before he confirmed that they would not be returning to the group.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-21" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[21]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">From 9 May 2006, Smith and Poulou were joined by Tim Presley (guitar), Rob Barbato (bass guitar) and Orpheo McCord (drums) who joined them for the remainder of the US tour, a flagship show at Manchester's New Century Hall in June 2006 and an appearance at the Øyafestivalen in Oslo, Norway in August 2006. Presley and Barbato are members of the band Darker My Love while McCord was one half of the experimental duo The Hill. With Barbato and Presley fulfilling Darker My Love commitments back in the US in late August, the first "squad rotation system" of Fall musicians emerged with new members Pete Greenway (guitar) of West Midlands group Pubic Fringe (more recently known as Das Fringe) and Dave Spurr (bass guitar) making their Fall debuts alongside Smith, Poulou and McCord at the Reading and Leeds festivals in August 2006. The musicians appeared in various configurations, usually with two bass players, although on occasion gigs were played with a double-drummer line-up. On 1 June 2007 Presley, Barbato and McCord played their most recent gig with the Fall. Although no official statement by the band was made, they are now assumed to have ceased being part of the band. The lineup of all gigs since has consisted of Smith, Poulou, Spurr, Greenway and Melling. Melling and Spurr played together in the group MotherJohn. In April 2009, The Fall signed with UK-based independent record label Domino Records.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-22" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[22] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-23" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[23]  A new studio album, titled Your Future Our Clutter, was released on 26 April 2010.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-24" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[24]  This was followed in November 2011 by the album Ersatz GB.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-25" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[25]  In March 2012, the band were chosen by Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival he curated in Minehead, England.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-26" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[26]

The Fall performing at Bloomberg Space in London in 2008<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">On 11 October 2012, The Fall played with The Undertones at EPIC-TV in Norwich (Magdalen Street), launching the John Peel Festival of New Music as part of the Norwich Sound and Vision Festival 2012, a fundraiser for the John Peel Centre of Creative Arts in Stowmarket.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">The Fall, now their longest-serving lineup in the group's history, released their thirtieth studio album, Re-Mit, on 13 May 2013.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-27" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[27] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-28" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[28]  In a recent radio interview,<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="line-height:1;white-space:nowrap;">[when?]  Mark E. Smith stated that the group will soon be releasing a six track EP, which he said was titled The Remainderer.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed] ==Influence<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">On the group's influence, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that "The Fall, like many cult bands, inspired a new generation of underground bands, ranging from waves of sound-alike indie rockers in the UK to acts in America and New Zealand, which is only one indication of the size and dedication of their small, devoted fan base."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-29" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[29]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">The Fall have influenced groups and artists such as Pavement<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-30" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[30]  and Happy Mondays.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-31" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[31]  , Guided by Voices, Sonic Youth, Franz Ferdinand,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-32" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[32]  Steve Albini,<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  These New Puritans,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-33" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[33]  LCD Soundsystem,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-34" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[34]  The Long Blondes,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-35" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[35]  The Birthday Party,<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  Meat Puppets,<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  Faith No More,<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  Will Oldham,<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  and Hole.,<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  The Kills,<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  Sonic Youth covered three Fall songs (and "Victoria" by The Kinks, also covered by the Fall) in a 1988 Peel Session, which was released in 1990 as an EP, 4 Tunna Brix, on Sonic Youth's own Goofin' label. The 1990s indie acts Pavement (who recorded a version of "The Classical") and Elastica (Smith contributed vocals to their final EP and album) showed an influence of The Fall, while Suede parodied the band with "Implement Yeah!", a song found on the cassette edition of their 1999 single "Electricity".

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">The Fall is referenced in the Jens Lekman song "Maple Leaves" with the lyrics "And when she talked about her fall, I thought she talked about Mark E. Smith". The Electric Soft Parade album No Need to Be Downhearted is named after a lyric from the Fall song "15 Ways".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-36" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[36]  The German rock band Tocotronic has a song called "Ich hab geträumt ich wäre Pizza essen mit Mark E. Smith" (German for "I've dreamed I ate pizza with Mark E. Smith"). Scottish band Belle and Sebastian also reference The Fall in their song "Nice Day for a Sulk". The Dutch indie band Seedling refers to The Fall in their song "The Upshot", singing, "You make it sound so sexy, as if you're Mark E. Smith from The Fall". U.S. indie singer-songwriter Barbara Manning's song "Mark E. Smith & Brix" describes running into "the man of my dreams" (and his then-wife) while out walking. Homestead/Merge indie rock band Volcano Suns recorded a song called "Sea Cruise". The song is about The Fall attempting to sell records in America. It was written after touring with the Fall. The lyrics "why did the chicken cross the road when there ain't no other side?" refers to the This Nation's Saving Grace tour of 1985. The Jazz Butcher's first single in 1983 was the oxymoronic "Southern Mark Smith". Jeffrey Lewis wrote the song and comic The Legend of The Fall, which is a documentary of The Fall and features in The Fallen (Canongate), Dave Simpson's book tracking down all the ex-members of the group.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">UK indie rock band The Wedding Present are clearly influenced by The Fall: in the song "Take Me!" (from 1989's Bizarro) Gedge explicitly name-drops the band as he recalls a perfect date: "And can you really have stayed 'til three/Orange slices and that Fall LP?"

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302947998px;">In May 2008 the Communication, Cultural and Media Centre at the University of Salford hosted Messing Up the Paintwork: A Conference on the Aesthetics and Politics of Mark E. Smith and The Fall. Papers from the conference were published in 2010. ==Discography<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == Main article: The Fall discography;Studio albums