mark e smith of the fall drops an autobiography
The man who has led The Fall for 32 years, a man of much notoriety Mark E Smith, has his book Renegade: The Lives and Tales of Mark E Smith, published on April 24th in the UK. No USA release date is available. There’s an extract on the Guardian’s web site which gives you a taste of what to expect. Here’s an excerpt:
I couldn’t afford to go to college; went for about three months but I never had any money. Looking back, I never liked college anyway - I educated myself better. But my dad was good like that. His philosophy was: “Look, if you’ve got a fiver in your pocket on a Friday night you’re made.” Real English working class - what you once thought of as a handicap comes in really useful later on when you’re down on your luck or the band’s got no money. I’ll never forget that.
Fred, my grandad, was another pragmatist. He had a big plumbing shop in Salford near Strangeways prison on this green hillock. Eighteen apprentices. His idea of a good time was reading a book on plumbing, on how to dispose of shit.
He’d stand outside Strangeways and recruit ex-prisoners, get them making lathes and pipes. At the time they were recruiting for the army and he’d say, “You’ve got a choice - you either go to Ireland or you come with me.”
I bump into them when I’m in Manchester sometimes - fellows who are about 55. They just come up and say, “You’re Fred’s grandson, aren’t you?” and I’ll be thinking, “Oh fucking hell. What are they going to say now?” But they’re really complimentary - they say things like, “Your grandad met me outside Strangeways one Wednesday afternoon, and he turned my life around.” Different times then, different people, unlike the ungrateful musicians I employ.
© 2008 Mark E Smith. Extracted from Renegade: The Lives and Tales of Mark E Smith, to be published by Viking on April 24. Thanks to Dave Candler for the tip.