"The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise" by Brix Smith Start - Morrissey mentions

Thanks to Uncleskinny for providing the main excerpts:

Mark had been losing patience with Rough Trade and decided we had to look for a new record label. There were a few reasons Mark had soured on them, but the main one was that The Smiths had arrived. This was a huge bone of contention. When he was younger, Morrissey used to write Mark long, fawning letters. Mark has them all saved. Morrissey was obsessed with The Fall and Mark. Mark would never call him Morrissey and would refer to him by his first name, Steven. The rumour was that they named themselves The Smiths after Mark, and that they loved The Fall so much they wanted to be on Rough Trade. One of their first gigs was supporting us.
...
It never even dawned on me that our smoking may have set off the alarm. As we were hurrying down the stairs to evacuate the hotel I ran into Morrissey. By this point I was having a full-blown anxiety attack, bordering on panic. The alarm was blaring and I was desperate to find Mark. I asked him, ‘Have you seen Mark?’ Morrissey responded in a dry, mean tone: ‘He’s probably upstairs, burning up in the fire.’ He thought it was funny, but I had no sense of humour right then. I was really worried about Mark’s wellbeing. I never spoke to Morrissey again. He was always so unfriendly, prickly and weird, whereas Johnny Marr was the loveliest, most friendly, genuine person.


A friend told me there are some mentions of Morrissey in The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise by Brix Smith Start (released July 15, 2016). Has anyone read the book?

39290_the_rise_the_fall_the_rise_by_brix_smith_start.jpg
 
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I want to get the Brix book and her name is pronounced "bricks" as used to build a house (this is for the person who didn't know how to say her name) . She was such a blessing to The Fall and really tried to make them a "popular" group. It's a shame that Mark made her 2nd go in the band such a awful, hated experience . She still made good music with them, right up till she finally left for good. The first half of "Light User Syndrome" album/CD is one of the best line up of songs The Fall has ever produced . Just the right amount of Brix in certain songs to make them enjoyable !
 
this makes me feel like i should find out who he is

grab a torch and knapsack filled with your favorite halva and enjoy your journey into the wonderful and frightening world of the mighty Fall !

:rock::thumb::guitar::)
 
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References to Morrissey and The Smiths

"The Smiths are known for putting some of their best work on B-sides, but The Fall had been doing that since the 1970s."

"Mark had been losing patience with Rough Trade and decided we had to look for a new record label. There were a few reasons Mark had soured on them, but the main one was that The Smiths had arrived. This was a huge bone of contention. When he was younger, Morrissey used to write Mark long, fawning letters. Mark has them all saved. Morrissey was obsessed with The Fall and Mark.
Mark would never call him Morrissey and would refer to him by his first name, Steven. The rumour was that they named themselves The Smiths after Mark, and that they loved The Fall so much they wanted to be on Rough Trade. One of their first gigs was supporting us. There was a real buzz around them, and Rough Trade were in a complete tizzy over them. I wasn’t privy to the record company politics, and I didn’t know exactly what was going on. But Mark started to get really paranoid and kick up a fuss. He believed that Rough Trade were putting all their money into The Smiths. Maybe that’s true – and quite rightly so, as it certainly paid off for them.
Grant Showbiz, who had worked with The Fall for a long time, both as a producer and front-of-house soundman, defected to do sound for The Smiths on tour. Mark was not thrilled about these upstarts poaching Grant, but he moved on, and we found another soundperson."

"I bought a navy second-hand BMW 3 Series. Johnny Marr drove a BMW and I thought we should have one too. It was ridiculous. We were in competition with The Smiths, although they weren’t even aware of it."

"The single had been produced by Grant Showbiz, who, happily, was back on the scene since the break-up of The Smiths. Grant was a lovely person, who also had the talent to simply get along with Mark; Grant Showbiz had been with The Fall during so many incarnations, it was like going back to the womb. Grant was like family – working with him was different, but it was familiar and lovely too. I trusted Grant, and still do.
He regaled us with stories about The Smiths’ ultra-PC tours. He told us about how a crew person once joked, ‘What do you call a dog with wings?’ The punchline was: ‘Linda McCartney.’ He was summarily dismissed. Everybody was forced to be vegetarian. If you ate meat, you were fired. I heard lots of stories later about crew members sneaking off for a burger or steak and chips."

"Since The Smiths had split up, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce were playing with all sorts of people in Manchester. Funky Si was friends with them. Johnny Marr was off working with Talking Heads, and Morrissey was being Morrissey. I recruited Rourke, Joyce and their ex-secondary guitarist, Craig Gannon, to play the first and only Adult Net show.
The Adult Net was always a changing
cast of characters, and I knew that getting the remaining Smiths would be a massive coup. I thought Craig Gannon was an exquisite talent, and I loved how he played guitar.
We played at the ICA in London. It was a packed house; the rest of The Smiths as my backing band was a major part of the draw."

"Mark was surprisingly indifferent about me playing with The Smiths. He couldn’t have cared less about the backing band. But I suspect my getting a deal with Phonogram, plus a lucrative publishing contract with BMG, ate away at his ego."

"In July 1986 we played the Festival of the Tenth Summer at Manchester G-Mex, a celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Sex Pistols’ now legendary gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall, organised by Factory Records. On the bill were New Order, The Smiths, The Fall, OMD, Pete Shelley and the Buzzcocks, Cabaret Voltaire, Luxuria, John Cale, John Cooper Clarke and Margi Clarke. It was compèred and hosted by Paul Morley and Bill Grundy. I was extremely excited to be playing. To share a stage with the Buzzcocks, New Order and John Cale was a teenage fantasy come true. Not only that, the bands were all put up in the Britannia Hotel and given day-rooms to hang out in. I remember once hanging around with a bunch of people, including members of The Fall and Johnny Marr, and there was stuff being smoked. The fire alarm went off and we all had to evacuate. I was sure the Britannia was on fire. It never even dawned on me that our smoking may have set off the alarm. As we were hurrying down the stairs to evacuate the hotel I ran into Morrissey. By this point I was having a full-blown anxiety attack, bordering on panic. The alarm was blaring and I was desperate to find Mark. I asked him, ‘Have you seen Mark?’ Morrissey responded in a dry, mean tone: ‘He’s probably upstairs, burning up in the fire.’ He thought it was funny, but I had no sense of humour right then. I was really worried about Mark’s wellbeing. I never spoke to Morrissey again. He was always so unfriendly, prickly and weird, whereas Johnny Marr was the loveliest, most friendly, genuine person."

Bitch
 
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References to Morrissey and The Smiths

"The Smiths are known for putting some of their best work on B-sides, but The Fall had been doing that since the 1970s."

"Mark had been losing patience with Rough Trade and decided we had to look for a new record label. There were a few reasons Mark had soured on them, but the main one was that The Smiths had arrived. This was a huge bone of contention. When he was younger, Morrissey used to write Mark long, fawning letters. Mark has them all saved. Morrissey was obsessed with The Fall and Mark.
Mark would never call him Morrissey and would refer to him by his first name, Steven. The rumour was that they named themselves The Smiths after Mark, and that they loved The Fall so much they wanted to be on Rough Trade. One of their first gigs was supporting us. There was a real buzz around them, and Rough Trade were in a complete tizzy over them. I wasn’t privy to the record company politics, and I didn’t know exactly what was going on. But Mark started to get really paranoid and kick up a fuss. He believed that Rough Trade were putting all their money into The Smiths. Maybe that’s true – and quite rightly so, as it certainly paid off for them.
Grant Showbiz, who had worked with The Fall for a long time, both as a producer and front-of-house soundman, defected to do sound for The Smiths on tour. Mark was not thrilled about these upstarts poaching Grant, but he moved on, and we found another soundperson."

"I bought a navy second-hand BMW 3 Series. Johnny Marr drove a BMW and I thought we should have one too. It was ridiculous. We were in competition with The Smiths, although they weren’t even aware of it."

"The single had been produced by Grant Showbiz, who, happily, was back on the scene since the break-up of The Smiths. Grant was a lovely person, who also had the talent to simply get along with Mark; Grant Showbiz had been with The Fall during so many incarnations, it was like going back to the womb. Grant was like family – working with him was different, but it was familiar and lovely too. I trusted Grant, and still do.
He regaled us with stories about The Smiths’ ultra-PC tours. He told us about how a crew person once joked, ‘What do you call a dog with wings?’ The punchline was: ‘Linda McCartney.’ He was summarily dismissed. Everybody was forced to be vegetarian. If you ate meat, you were fired. I heard lots of stories later about crew members sneaking off for a burger or steak and chips."

"Since The Smiths had split up, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce were playing with all sorts of people in Manchester. Funky Si was friends with them. Johnny Marr was off working with Talking Heads, and Morrissey was being Morrissey. I recruited Rourke, Joyce and their ex-secondary guitarist, Craig Gannon, to play the first and only Adult Net show.
The Adult Net was always a changing
cast of characters, and I knew that getting the remaining Smiths would be a massive coup. I thought Craig Gannon was an exquisite talent, and I loved how he played guitar.
We played at the ICA in London. It was a packed house; the rest of The Smiths as my backing band was a major part of the draw."

"Mark was surprisingly indifferent about me playing with The Smiths. He couldn’t have cared less about the backing band. But I suspect my getting a deal with Phonogram, plus a lucrative publishing contract with BMG, ate away at his ego."

"In July 1986 we played the Festival of the Tenth Summer at Manchester G-Mex, a celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Sex Pistols’ now legendary gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall, organised by Factory Records. On the bill were New Order, The Smiths, The Fall, OMD, Pete Shelley and the Buzzcocks, Cabaret Voltaire, Luxuria, John Cale, John Cooper Clarke and Margi Clarke. It was compèred and hosted by Paul Morley and Bill Grundy. I was extremely excited to be playing. To share a stage with the Buzzcocks, New Order and John Cale was a teenage fantasy come true. Not only that, the bands were all put up in the Britannia Hotel and given day-rooms to hang out in. I remember once hanging around with a bunch of people, including members of The Fall and Johnny Marr, and there was stuff being smoked. The fire alarm went off and we all had to evacuate. I was sure the Britannia was on fire. It never even dawned on me that our smoking may have set off the alarm. As we were hurrying down the stairs to evacuate the hotel I ran into Morrissey. By this point I was having a full-blown anxiety attack, bordering on panic. The alarm was blaring and I was desperate to find Mark. I asked him, ‘Have you seen Mark?’ Morrissey responded in a dry, mean tone: ‘He’s probably upstairs, burning up in the fire.’ He thought it was funny, but I had no sense of humour right then. I was really worried about Mark’s wellbeing. I never spoke to Morrissey again. He was always so unfriendly, prickly and weird, whereas Johnny Marr was the loveliest, most friendly, genuine person."

Bitch

well, 'Bitch' is a little rough and undeserved I feel.

' The Adult Net was always a changing
cast of characters, and I knew that getting the remaining Smiths would be a massive coup. I thought Craig Gannon was an exquisite talent, and I loved how he played guitar.
We played at the ICA in London. It was a packed house; the rest of The Smiths as my backing band was a major part of the draw." '

At least they were all 'Smiths' ! ;)
 
References to Morrissey and The Smiths

"The Smiths are known for putting some of their best work on B-sides, but The Fall had been doing that since the 1970s."

"Mark had been losing patience with Rough Trade and decided we had to look for a new record label. There were a few reasons Mark had soured on them, but the main one was that The Smiths had arrived. This was a huge bone of contention. When he was younger, Morrissey used to write Mark long, fawning letters. Mark has them all saved. Morrissey was obsessed with The Fall and Mark.
Mark would never call him Morrissey and would refer to him by his first name, Steven. The rumour was that they named themselves The Smiths after Mark, and that they loved The Fall so much they wanted to be on Rough Trade. One of their first gigs was supporting us. There was a real buzz around them, and Rough Trade were in a complete tizzy over them. I wasn’t privy to the record company politics, and I didn’t know exactly what was going on. But Mark started to get really paranoid and kick up a fuss. He believed that Rough Trade were putting all their money into The Smiths. Maybe that’s true – and quite rightly so, as it certainly paid off for them.
Grant Showbiz, who had worked with The Fall for a long time, both as a producer and front-of-house soundman, defected to do sound for The Smiths on tour. Mark was not thrilled about these upstarts poaching Grant, but he moved on, and we found another soundperson."

"I bought a navy second-hand BMW 3 Series. Johnny Marr drove a BMW and I thought we should have one too. It was ridiculous. We were in competition with The Smiths, although they weren’t even aware of it."

"The single had been produced by Grant Showbiz, who, happily, was back on the scene since the break-up of The Smiths. Grant was a lovely person, who also had the talent to simply get along with Mark; Grant Showbiz had been with The Fall during so many incarnations, it was like going back to the womb. Grant was like family – working with him was different, but it was familiar and lovely too. I trusted Grant, and still do.
He regaled us with stories about The Smiths’ ultra-PC tours. He told us about how a crew person once joked, ‘What do you call a dog with wings?’ The punchline was: ‘Linda McCartney.’ He was summarily dismissed. Everybody was forced to be vegetarian. If you ate meat, you were fired. I heard lots of stories later about crew members sneaking off for a burger or steak and chips."

"Since The Smiths had split up, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce were playing with all sorts of people in Manchester. Funky Si was friends with them. Johnny Marr was off working with Talking Heads, and Morrissey was being Morrissey. I recruited Rourke, Joyce and their ex-secondary guitarist, Craig Gannon, to play the first and only Adult Net show.
The Adult Net was always a changing
cast of characters, and I knew that getting the remaining Smiths would be a massive coup. I thought Craig Gannon was an exquisite talent, and I loved how he played guitar.
We played at the ICA in London. It was a packed house; the rest of The Smiths as my backing band was a major part of the draw."

"Mark was surprisingly indifferent about me playing with The Smiths. He couldn’t have cared less about the backing band. But I suspect my getting a deal with Phonogram, plus a lucrative publishing contract with BMG, ate away at his ego."

"In July 1986 we played the Festival of the Tenth Summer at Manchester G-Mex, a celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Sex Pistols’ now legendary gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall, organised by Factory Records. On the bill were New Order, The Smiths, The Fall, OMD, Pete Shelley and the Buzzcocks, Cabaret Voltaire, Luxuria, John Cale, John Cooper Clarke and Margi Clarke. It was compèred and hosted by Paul Morley and Bill Grundy. I was extremely excited to be playing. To share a stage with the Buzzcocks, New Order and John Cale was a teenage fantasy come true. Not only that, the bands were all put up in the Britannia Hotel and given day-rooms to hang out in. I remember once hanging around with a bunch of people, including members of The Fall and Johnny Marr, and there was stuff being smoked. The fire alarm went off and we all had to evacuate. I was sure the Britannia was on fire. It never even dawned on me that our smoking may have set off the alarm. As we were hurrying down the stairs to evacuate the hotel I ran into Morrissey. By this point I was having a full-blown anxiety attack, bordering on panic. The alarm was blaring and I was desperate to find Mark. I asked him, ‘Have you seen Mark?’ Morrissey responded in a dry, mean tone: ‘He’s probably upstairs, burning up in the fire.’ He thought it was funny, but I had no sense of humour right then. I was really worried about Mark’s wellbeing. I never spoke to Morrissey again. He was always so unfriendly, prickly and weird, whereas Johnny Marr was the loveliest, most friendly, genuine person."

Bitch

Buzzcocks didn't play at the Tenth Summer gig as they had split up in 81, it was a Pete Shelley solo set?

It was a fantastic day I even enjoyed OMD!

Here is the audio of The Smiths set from the gig for anyone interested.

 
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well, 'Bitch' is a little rough and undeserved I feel.

' The Adult Net was always a changing
cast of characters, and I knew that getting the remaining Smiths would be a massive coup. I thought Craig Gannon was an exquisite talent, and I loved how he played guitar.
We played at the ICA in London. It was a packed house; the rest of The Smiths as my backing band was a major part of the draw." '

At least they were all 'Smiths' ! ;)

It's very understandable the fascination with The Fall and the influence of Mark E Smith on Morrissey is very clear. Why is the author so mean with The Smiths and Morrissey?
 
It's very understandable the fascination with The Fall and the influence of Mark E Smith on Morrissey is very clear. Why is the author so mean with The Smiths and Morrissey?

They were jealous.
And there was a kind of feeling he had stolen their show.
 
It's very understandable the fascination with The Fall and the influence of Mark E Smith on Morrissey is very clear. Why is the author so mean with The Smiths and Morrissey?

I don't feel she's being 'mean', she's just being frank and honest. She is admitting a lot in what she is saying, knowing very well that she and the Fall were wrong in their views of the Smiths, and looking like asses for being jealous of them. As far as her comments towards M and the 'hotel fire alarm' incident, well, she just didn't find that kind of humor or the way he dealt with that situation to be acceptable. So be it.
 
They were jealous.
And there was a kind of feeling he had stolen their show.

I'm sure all the bands were jealous of the other. Especially if on the same label and worrying that the label is paying more attention to another band and not yours.

Brix was there and Mark more than likely talked shit about ALL the bands... even his own ! So why did she pick on the Smiths ? Maybe it makes a better read than picking on a lesser act. I don't know, I've only read the carefully chosen excerpts posted here.
 
I'm sure all the bands were jealous of the other. Especially if on the same label and worrying that the label is paying more attention to another band and not yours.

Brix was there and Mark more than likely talked shit about ALL the bands... even his own ! So why did she pick on the Smiths ? Maybe it makes a better read than picking on a lesser act. I don't know, I've only read the carefully chosen excerpts posted here.

They were more jealous at The Smiths and especially Moz than at the other bands, not only cause they were on the same label but also cause he saw that they were greater, better and touched upon an audience reaction he wanted himself to have.

I don't blame him. He is a clever bastard and anyone in the same situation would feel bad about it and it is only human to have that feelings.
 
They were more jealous at The Smiths and especially Moz than at the other bands, not only cause they were on the same label but also cause he saw that they were greater, better and touched upon an audience reaction he wanted himself to have.

I don't blame him. He is a clever bastard and anyone in the same situation would feel bad about it and it is only human to have that feelings.

maybe, sounds plausible for any person fronting a band.

and yes 'it is only human to have those feelings' but looking back I'm sure M.E.S can see the amazing body of work that he has achieved and would now feel silly to have had those feelings in the first place (that's IF he had them or was just taking the piss:cool:).

But when one is young, striving and being better than others that one perceives as their competition is a part of ones motivation in pursuing ones dreams/goals. Clear headed reasoning and kindness towards others usually goes out the door.
 

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