The FALL are arguably the most enigmatic, idiosyncratic and chaotic band of their generation – an acknowledged influence on The Smiths, The Happy Mondays, Nirvana and Franz Ferdinand. And Mark E Smith is The Fall.
Since the band's 1979 inception, close to 50 members have come and gone, the majority sacked by its notoriously confrontational frontman, who is a true enigma among adoring rock journos, musicians and indie fans alike.
"That would be about right,
" chuckles the Salford-born ex-docker, before attempting some sort of skewed explanation as to his band's rotating line-up. "My grandfather, he used to stand outside the local prison and hire lads coming out to work in his mill. That's kind of how I recruit members. It's like, 'You're on bass, lad, so get cracking'. Seems to work quite well, mind."
The Mancunian, who brings his band to the Queen's Hall on Sunday, recently released an autobiography called Renegade: The Gospel According To Mark E Smith – a riveting book that reveals the man behind the myth.
"It's not your usual 'Mark Edward Smith was born to a working-class family in Salford in 1957, blah, blah, blah'," he says in a mock voice. "Nah, it's not like that at all. It's stories from the tour bus, lots of nice little anecdotes, a few jokes thrown in - that sort of thing.
"It's mostly about my music career," he continues, "because that's what people want to read. Nobody really cares about the other stuff, that's the bits you skip in biographies ... Or at least I do."
A former Edinburgh resident, Smith is still a frequent visitor to the city, and played two nights in a row at the Liquid Room only last year.
Despite looking every inch of his 50 years, there was little in the way of nostalgia from the singer that night, with only Wrong Place, Right Time from 1988's I Am Kurious Oranj, Theme from Sparta FC from 2003's Country On The Click, and a version of Fall favourite White Lightning offered as an olive branch to fans desperate for oldies.
Smith may not be one for crowd-pleasing, but that's why the Fall remain such an interesting proposition.
Expect more of the same on Sunday.
• The Fall, Queen's Hall, Clerk Street, Sunday, 7pm, £18, 0131-668 3456The full article contains 396 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
