UNCUT: What are your memories of The Fall’s very first Peel session in 1978? RILEY: I didn’t play on it, I came along as a roadie. That was when the bass player, Eric Ferret, left the band because we brought along a bloke on congas. This was Mark’s ruse to up the session fee by bringing along...
UNCUT: What are your memories of The Fall’s very first Peel session in 1978?
RILEY: I didn’t play on it, I came along as a roadie. That was when the bass player, Eric Ferret, left the band because we brought along a bloke on congas. This was Mark’s ruse to up the session fee by bringing along extra musicians. Anyway, Eric saw these congas in the back of the van and said he wasn’t going. But this was after he’d stopped playing halfway through a gig and Mark threw a chair at him, so I think his days were numbered. The next session after that, which is still my favourite, I joined on bass.
Do you have any contact with Mark E Smith these days?
We don’t see each other, no, though we half made up at a friend’s birthday party a few years ago. We’d both had a few drinks and it was like ‘”life’s too short”, we had a great night. He might tell you different, of course. But I was booted out of The Fall in 1983 so I’m probably not the best person to comment on Mark E Smith!