The Fall’s outspoken frontman Mark E Smith has told ClashMusic that he has never listened to BBC 6Music.
Founded in 2002, BBC 6Music has dedicated itself to focussing on music outside of the mainstream. Often cited as picking up the baton from John Peel, the station has provided a home for left field and breaking talent.
Famously John Peel’s favourite group, The Fall have been played on BBC 6Music. Hell, the band’s one time bass player Marc Riley even presents a show on the station.
Yet none of this is able to tempt Mark E Smith to turn on his digital radio. “Somewhere down the line I’m obviously going to be asked to support Radio 6. I’ve never fucking listened to it” he explained. “I’ve done interviews with it, and it’s not that I don’t agree with it, but it’s not like Peel or anything. It’s not underground.”
“I remember going down there and being asked to bring me top ten down. They didn’t have anything that I liked. They didn’t have any reggae from 1973; they didn’t have any fucking rave music. So what were they playing?”
The Fall returned earlier this year with their new album ‘Your Future Our Clutter’, their first on new label Domino. Mark E Smith told ClashMusic that sessions for the album took a little longer than usual.
“We were supposed to start in February, but I cracked my leg open so we actually started in April” he explained. “I recorded a lot of it in a wheelchair. It’s probably good to record an LP in ten months for The Fall. It’s usually three or four months.”
Placing it in the band’s legacy Mark E Smith revealed: “‘Imperial Wax Solvent’ was quite successful really, for us, so we wanted to do something a bit different. You’ve got to start worrying when you get in the Top 40.”
Read the entire interview HERE.
