FESTIVAL
alling and laughing
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Three years after conquering the Fringe with ‘I am Curious Orange‘. pop‘s resident miserable bastard Mark E. Smith is back — with a very different excursion into dance culture. James Haliburton wonders what it all means.
It 's springtime but I still miss your
': streets at dawn/A nd in the morning
walking your bridges home. These are the words of Mark E. Smith on the melancholy ‘Edinburgh ? Man‘ from The Fall‘s Shift-Work album. After residing in the capital for some time. the high cost of living finally sent him back to his beloved Manchester. For one night. though. he will be back in Edinburgh co-hosting ‘Dream‘ at Millionaires with regular DJ and sometime Fall fiddler Kenny Brady. So has pop’s most miserable man forsaken the joys of anti-stupidity and intellectualism-hating for the hedonism of becoming a club kid‘.’ I‘ve been to Millies a few times. it‘s a cool place. When I was living up
there I went along once or twice. But I‘m not really a club sort ofperson.‘ Fair enough. no clubs. What The Fall are doing at the moment is rehearsing for their appearance at the Reading Festival. and Smith is undergoing the tortuous task of
coming up with the next album. ‘I
find prose writing sort of easy. you know. poetry an‘ that. but getting it constructed with the bloody music is the problem.‘ he groans.
‘It‘s a bit more literal actually. a bit more words.’ he says of the new material. ‘Look. ldon‘t want to come on like the rest with the clichés. but I take my work seriously. There's all this talk in the record industry of ‘don‘t do this. don‘t do that‘ — it's always been the same for The Fall.‘
It seems that after all these years record companies still put commercial pressures on the band; even although l’honogram who handle Smith’s Cog Sinister label. and the Fonatana label were. according to Pere Ubu‘s David Thomas. keen for Pere Ubu to do their‘weird stuff‘.
This is not a suggestion to which Smith takes kindly. ‘I think that's patronisation. to be honest. And anybody that likes Pere Ubu is deranged in my book. Do you like them? Nah. record companies give
you all the shit ‘be yourself‘. then you be yourselfand they go ‘make a hit‘.
Smith has never been one to glorify the pleasures of his hometown. but with the recent Manchester hype he has been decidedly vocal. Now that l the scene seems to be imploding in a I frenzy ofwell-publicised
drug-related violence. he is even
more unimpressed. and typically i clear about the origins of the i problem: ‘It‘s worse than you think. actually. they don‘t report halfofit. God‘s honest truth. It‘s the stupid idiots walking around. scallies basically. It’s been totally romanticised. llow'l‘he Hacienda can turnaround and say ‘We had to close down because of the violence‘ when they were bloody glorifying it. Anthony bloody Wilson an' that. If you‘re gonna use outlaw chic. you’re gonna get the comeback.’
There will be no such problems at Millionaires next week however. just a crowd curious as to what the name Mark E. Smith on a club llyer can possibly mean. ‘Yeah. I'm curious too'. he ends mysteriously.
Mark E. Smith presents Dream at Edinburgh 's Millionaires on Thursday 29 August. Guest DJs will include the mighty Jamm M Cs.
l Bootsy. Luke and Gareth.
10.3(lpm-3am. Jazz. world, ICOla-CluhEdinburgh's [80088.mck, first trendy under-18s club ChOCOlale for. oh . . . ages and ages. biscuits 0! 90".. ' Softdrinkswith hardbeat Whatevertype
HIT LIST
I The UN Club All the way from Brighton. the L'nited Notions Organisation bring you six wildly varied club nights. Something to please everyone. no doubt.
The (.‘alton Studios. Sun—Fri during the Festival. llpm—4am.
I Tattoo No. not that Tattoo. This is an altogether more groovy experience. ('urrently Edinburgh’s trendiest club — dress up. it's time to get funky.
The Designer Frames (iallery. every night during the Festival. I I [pm—4am.
I Millionaires Ask any Edinburgh clubberorclub f runner where they go when everything else is over and you'll get the same reply. Millies. You really have to go. l lonest. M on—Sat during the Festival. l()pm—()am
Fri. Sat; 1 [pm-4am
M on— Thurs.
I Playtime-1 Billed asthe . Festival rave. this is nine hours of hardcore action with big name DJs plus l’As.
The Venue. 25 Aug only. 8pm—4am.
I Wildlile As Edinburgh‘s club kids know. this is the name to look out for ifit's a good night you‘re looking for. A cosmopolitan crowd. and eclectic dance sounds. Edinburgh Dungeon. Shandwiek I’laee. 24/1 ug only. .200 tickets on sale in the ('in ( 'afe
I The Mambo Club Scotland's only regular world music extravaganza. with Sir Ossie on the wheels of steel.
.N'elworks .3 and 3. every night during the Festival.
b
Clubs
ot clubber you are, there's something
here toryou.
extracts.
'l he Designer Frames Gallery. every Friday and Saturday during the Festival. 7pm» I 1 pm.
I The Mambo lnn‘l‘he ‘Mutha of all ( 'lubs' moves north from its Brixton base to lunk up the festival with a Mystic Mambo Mix. ()h. and there's the Kool ('ale ()le. .\'o holds barred. no peace forthe wicked. no 1 problem. as they say. l The Playhouse Studios. every Night during the I Festival. Ilpmr 4am. ‘
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_ _ . __J The List .33 — 2‘) August NW 55