Brix Smith
Jul. 9th, 2011 10:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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rocknroll_n_blues_queensBack to The Fall again !!
Honestly, we could run a series on "Women who have been in The Fall" -- the band have been through dozens of line-ups.
But the Brix Smith era (1983-1989) happens to be my favourite. She was the guitarist. She also had her own project called The Adult Net.
The Fall
1983 heralded another dramatic change with the arrival of Smith's American girlfriend and later wife, Brix Smith on guitar. Born Laura Elise Salenger, she was nicknamed after the track "The Guns of Brixton" by The Clash, a favourite song of hers. Brix's tenure in the group marked a shift towards the relatively conventional, with the songs she co-wrote often having strong pop hooks and more orthodox verse-chorus-verse structures. Additionally, Brix's keen sense of fashion gradually influenced the group's members to give more attention to their clothing and styling—but her platinum blond hair and glamorous style were always somewhat at odds to the otherwise working class appearance of the Fall. Brix's first live appearance with The Fall was on Wednesday, 21 September 1983 at the Hellfire Club, Wakefield.
...
She first appeared on the Perverted by Language album... She divorced Smith and left The Fall in 1989. She temporarily rejoined the group for Cerebral Caustic (1995) and The Light User Syndrome (1996).
Adult Net
In 1985, Brix started her side project, The Adult Net, with fellow Fall member, Simon Rogers, and other contributors (including Mark E. Smith). The band released four singles for The Fall's then label Beggars Banquet Records in 1985 and 1986, starting with a cover of Strawberry Alarm Clock's "Incense and Peppermints".
After three years and an album recorded with members of The Smiths, The Adult Net released The Honey Tangle in 1989 on Phonogram Records. This line up included Brix along with musicians including Craig Gannon, The The member James Eller and Blondie drummer Clem Burke.
Solo & Other Projects
After leaving The Fall and disbanding The Adult Net, Brix went on to tour with The Bangles. She became romantically-involved with violinist Nigel Kennedy, and they collaborated on a cover of Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" which was released as a single in 1993 on Nettwerk.
In 1994, Brix had auditioned for Hole after the death of bassist Kristen Pfaff, but she decided she didn't want to commit to being in the band full-time.
In 1997, she released the Happy Unbirthday EP on Strangelove. The EP is a collaboration with Marty Willson-Piper and includes a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity".
In 2007, Brix put out her first solo LP Neurotica which is available as a digital download on Loser Friendly Records.
Brix quote from the booklet in the "Omnibus Edition" of This Nation's Saving Grace:
Cruiser's Creek was my best work ever and L.A. was my best song ever. That, for me, is the end of it. I'm most proud of those two moments.
Side note:
Funny how Mark says The Fall was formed in 1979, which excludes the period when Una Baines was in the band. I suppose after that point The Fall wasn't a band as such, but the poetry of Mark E. Smith + his backing band. The initial line-up was probably more collaborative, since Baines contributed lyrics and commented in the BBC documentary The Wonderful and Frightening World of Mark E. Smith that the band members were all equal during the early period.
In this interview Brix remarks that being in The Fall was like working for somebody. The Adult Net gave her more freedom and expressed a "pure" element of her personality.
I’m not having people slag off Brix. Her contribution was amazing – she took the band by the neck and fucking organised it. What I hated with the Brix thing was they blamed it all on her just because she’s a bloody woman but it was my decision. I rule The Fall.
— Mark E Smith, interview with Stephen Dalton, Vox, June 1991
& I'll throw in something from the period when she briefly re-joined the band in the mid-nineties: The Birthday (cover of a song by The Idle Race). Featuring Lucy Rimmer on vocals... the only Fall song that doesn't feature Mark on vocals!
Honestly, we could run a series on "Women who have been in The Fall" -- the band have been through dozens of line-ups.
But the Brix Smith era (1983-1989) happens to be my favourite. She was the guitarist. She also had her own project called The Adult Net.
The Fall
1983 heralded another dramatic change with the arrival of Smith's American girlfriend and later wife, Brix Smith on guitar. Born Laura Elise Salenger, she was nicknamed after the track "The Guns of Brixton" by The Clash, a favourite song of hers. Brix's tenure in the group marked a shift towards the relatively conventional, with the songs she co-wrote often having strong pop hooks and more orthodox verse-chorus-verse structures. Additionally, Brix's keen sense of fashion gradually influenced the group's members to give more attention to their clothing and styling—but her platinum blond hair and glamorous style were always somewhat at odds to the otherwise working class appearance of the Fall. Brix's first live appearance with The Fall was on Wednesday, 21 September 1983 at the Hellfire Club, Wakefield.
...
She first appeared on the Perverted by Language album... She divorced Smith and left The Fall in 1989. She temporarily rejoined the group for Cerebral Caustic (1995) and The Light User Syndrome (1996).
Adult Net
In 1985, Brix started her side project, The Adult Net, with fellow Fall member, Simon Rogers, and other contributors (including Mark E. Smith). The band released four singles for The Fall's then label Beggars Banquet Records in 1985 and 1986, starting with a cover of Strawberry Alarm Clock's "Incense and Peppermints".
After three years and an album recorded with members of The Smiths, The Adult Net released The Honey Tangle in 1989 on Phonogram Records. This line up included Brix along with musicians including Craig Gannon, The The member James Eller and Blondie drummer Clem Burke.
Solo & Other Projects
After leaving The Fall and disbanding The Adult Net, Brix went on to tour with The Bangles. She became romantically-involved with violinist Nigel Kennedy, and they collaborated on a cover of Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" which was released as a single in 1993 on Nettwerk.
In 1994, Brix had auditioned for Hole after the death of bassist Kristen Pfaff, but she decided she didn't want to commit to being in the band full-time.
In 1997, she released the Happy Unbirthday EP on Strangelove. The EP is a collaboration with Marty Willson-Piper and includes a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity".
In 2007, Brix put out her first solo LP Neurotica which is available as a digital download on Loser Friendly Records.
Brix quote from the booklet in the "Omnibus Edition" of This Nation's Saving Grace:
Cruiser's Creek was my best work ever and L.A. was my best song ever. That, for me, is the end of it. I'm most proud of those two moments.
Side note:
Funny how Mark says The Fall was formed in 1979, which excludes the period when Una Baines was in the band. I suppose after that point The Fall wasn't a band as such, but the poetry of Mark E. Smith + his backing band. The initial line-up was probably more collaborative, since Baines contributed lyrics and commented in the BBC documentary The Wonderful and Frightening World of Mark E. Smith that the band members were all equal during the early period.
In this interview Brix remarks that being in The Fall was like working for somebody. The Adult Net gave her more freedom and expressed a "pure" element of her personality.
I’m not having people slag off Brix. Her contribution was amazing – she took the band by the neck and fucking organised it. What I hated with the Brix thing was they blamed it all on her just because she’s a bloody woman but it was my decision. I rule The Fall.
— Mark E Smith, interview with Stephen Dalton, Vox, June 1991
& I'll throw in something from the period when she briefly re-joined the band in the mid-nineties: The Birthday (cover of a song by The Idle Race). Featuring Lucy Rimmer on vocals... the only Fall song that doesn't feature Mark on vocals!
