An A-Z of The Fall - D

 

D is for...

Daft Punk

‘Cowboy George’ features the unlikely scenario of The Fall sampling Daft Punk: the distorted robotic voice that appears nine seconds in is taken from the French electro duo’s 2001 single, ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger’.

Daily Mirror

The death of John Peel in 2004 raised the The Fall's public profile considerably, as many mainstream media obituaries referred to Peel’s love of the group. As a result, the release of Fall Heads Roll generated more column inches than had been the case for many years. Even the Daily Mirror reviewed it:

‘The late John Peel’s favourite band are, as ever, masterminded by Mark E Smith who now looks like a scary toothless gargoyle. But the group’s ferocious blend of lo-fi intrigue and brain-busting underground rock is as strong as ever. Peel is no doubt smiling down.’

Ruth Daniel

One of the 'in-The-Fall-for-a-day' club. Recruited by Ed Blaney, Daniel played keyboards for part of the 2002 Blackburn gig captured on the Touch Sensitive DVD.

Nick Dewey 

Another member of the 'in-The-Fall-for-a-day' club. 

At the 1999 Reading Festival, a bust-up with Tom Head resulted in Smith sacking the drummer. Neville Wilding persuaded Dewey (ex-member of shoegaze band Revolver and at the time part of The Chemical Brothers’ management) to perform with them, even though he hadn’t played drums for several years.

‘Dewey found himself being led on to a tour bus with blacked-out windows. Mark E Smith was on one of the tour bus benches, shirt off, passed out… Wilding tried to wake Smith and couldn’t rouse him, so punched him in the face. After two or three blows, Smith finally woke up to be informed by Wilding, “Mark, this is Nick. He’s going to be playing drums for us.”’

The bootleg of the gig shows that Dewey performed heroically. The drums are (understandably) generally plodding and generic, but taking into account that he had only a couple of hours to prepare for a set of unfamiliar songs, it’s incredible how well he keeps it together. 

Diary of a Madman

MES made a brief appearance in a Jerry Sadowitz sketch show called The Pall Bearer's Revue in 1992, but his first proper screen role was in Diary of a Madman, a bewildering ten-minute piece that appeared on BBC2 in 1997. Based on a 19th century Russian short story and starring Smith’s friend Steve Evets, Smith’s appearance (at 6:56) lasts around 30 seconds and mainly consists of him repeating the word ‘name’. 

Domino

Your Future Our Clutter was released in 2010 (as part of a one-album deal) on Domino records, an independent label responsible for recent high-profile releases such as The Arctic Monkey's Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not and Franz Ferdinand's eponymous debut. The label rejected the first version of the album, sending it back for more work; this was referenced in 'Bury': 'a new way of recording / a chain round the neck'.

John Doran 

Doran is a music journalist and co-founder (along with Luke Turner) of music and culture website The Quietus. He has written innumerable Fall reviews and  articles (including a thorough and thoughtful piece on 'The Classical's troublesome lyric). In 2013, he interviewed MES for Noisey’s ‘British Masters’ series (Noisey is an off-shoot of Vice).

In the interview, we learn that Smith considers Black Francis a 'dickhead'; Smith also asserts that vampirism 'is a crime, at the end of the day'. Doran's question, 'Have you been watching the Great British Bake-Off?' (Doran described this as 'the riskiest interview gambit I've ever gone with on a whim') leads Smith into a rambling but entertaining diatribe about cookery programmes, which is then broadened to take in property shows ('should be banned... that's an estate agent's job') and reminiscences about daytime TV shows like Crown Court. 

D.O.S.E.

Smith first collaborated with Jason Barron and Simon Spencer aka D.O.S.E. in 1996 on the 'Plug Myself In' single. Barron did some production and engineering on Levitate and The Marshall Suite. Spencer (alongside Keir Stewart) started production work on Levitate but was dismissed by Smith. He played keyboards at The Fall’s pair of gigs at Jilly’s Rockworld in Manchester in May 1997.

Duran Duran

During the recording of The Frenz Experiment at Abbey Road, the groups were briefly interrupted by Duran Duran taking a studio tour. Steve Hanley: ‘in they float on a cloud of sweet fragrance and wealthy confidence’. 

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