page_title: The Fall (band)
section_title: 2001–2017: later years
hierarchical_section_title: The Fall (band) / History / 2001–2017: later years
caption_attribution_description: English: Edinburgh, 2011
context_page_description: The Fall were an English post-punk group, formed in 1976 in Prestwich, Greater Manchester. They underwent many line-up changes, with vocalist and founder Mark E. Smith as the only constant member. The Fall's long-term musicians included drummers Paul Hanley and Karl Burns; guitarists Marc Riley, Craig Scanlon and Brix Smith; and bassist Steve Hanley, whose melodic, circular bass lines are widely credited with shaping the band's sound from early 1980s albums such as Hex Enduction Hour to the late 1990s.
  First associated with the late 1970s punk movement, the Fall's music underwent numerous stylistic changes, often concurrently with changes in the group's lineup. Nonetheless, their music has generally been characterised by an abrasive, repetitive guitar-driven sound, tense bass and drum rhythms, and Smith's caustic lyrics, described by critic Simon Reynolds as "a kind of Northern English magic realism that mixed industrial grime with the unearthly and uncanny, voiced through a unique, one-note delivery somewhere between amphetamine-spiked rant and alcohol-addled yarn."
context_section_description: Further rifts within the band followed in 2001, which led to a new line-up of Smith, Ben Pritchard (guitar), Ed Blaney (guitar), Jim Watts (bass), and Spencer Birtwistle (drums) releasing Are You Are Missing Winner that year to mixed reviews. Spencer Birtwistle was replaced by Dave Milner on drums in November 2001. September 2002 saw Elena Poulou – Smith's third wife – fill the vacant position of keyboards player, and that year Q magazine named the Fall one of "50 Bands to See Before You Die". The Real New Fall LP (renamed from Country on the Click after an earlier mix of the album appeared on Internet file sharing networks) followed in 2003, with a slightly different mix and some extra tracks for the US version, after which Jim Watts was sacked (replaced by Steve Trafford) and Milner was replaced by a returning Spencer Birtwistle. In 2004 the band released its first career-spanning compilation to positive reviews in June, and a new album, Interim, in November.
  In January 2005, the Fall were the subject of a BBC Four TV documentary, The Fall: The Wonderful and Frightening World of Mark E Smith. Their twenty-fifth studio album, entitled Fall Heads Roll, was issued on 3 October 2005. The guitarist, bassist, and drummer all left the group acrimoniously during the US summer 2006 tour after just four dates. In a US radio interview, Smith described their departures as "the best thing that ever happened" to the Fall, although it was some months before he confirmed that they would not be returning.
  Early in 2007 the Fall released the Reformation Post TLC album, recorded with the same lineup that salvaged the 2006 US tour. Yet another lineup released Imperial Wax Solvent, in 2008; this lineup would hold for the following three albums, and the core of Peter Greenway (guitar), David Spurr (bass), and Keiron Melling (drums) for the remainder of the band's existence. In April 2009, the Fall signed with UK-based independent record label Domino Records. A new studio album, titled Your Future Our Clutter, was released on 26 April 2010. This was followed in November 2011 by the album Ersatz GB. In March 2012, the band were chosen by Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival he curated in Minehead, England. The Fall released their twenty-ninth studio album, Re-Mit, in 2013.
  In 2014, former members Brix Smith Start, Steve Hanley and Paul Hanley formed a new group called Brix & the Extricated. In addition to new original material, the group also performs songs that the members had written or co-written during their tenure with The Fall. Smith Start and Steve Hanley also both released autobiographies covering their tenures with The Fall around this time frame; 2016's The Rise, The Fall & The Rise and 2014's The Big Midweek: Life Inside The Fall, respectively.
  The Fall's thirtieth album, Sub-Lingual Tablet, was released in 2015. This would be Elena Poulou's last album with the band: in a 2016 interview with Mojo Magazine, Smith announced that she had resigned; they would divorce that year. The Fall's thirty-first and final studio album, New Facts Emerge, was recorded as a four-piece and released in July 2017. Michael Clapham joined in May 2017 on keyboards, but never recorded with the band. Following Smith's death, Greenway, Spurr and Melling recruited singer and guitarist Sam Curran to form a new band, Imperial Wax.
caption: Edinburgh, 2011
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