The Fallen : Searching for the missing members of The Fall

The Fall are one of the world's most iconic groups, led for the last thirty years by the inimitable and enigmatic Mark E. Smith. They have released nearly thirty studio albums, with in excess of fifty musicians passing through their ranks. They are The Fallen; this is their story.

Dave Simpson has spent two years of his life tracking down everyone who has ever played in The Fall. The resultant book is full of hilarious and shocking anecdotes about life in one of the country's most intense and insane bands. It is also a biography in reflection of Mark E. Smith, a man who runs his group like a football team, for whom no one member is greater than the Fall.

Featuring a host of new interviews, this is a fascinating insight for all of The Fall's devoted fanbase, which famously included John Peel, and anyone who has ever been curious about the group, and interested in the post-punk cultural landscape of Britain.

Praise for The Fallen:

‘A great book—a f***ing amazingly great book…It's a simple but excellent concept for a book, and one that Simpson…doesn't back down from pursuing to the bitter end…Absolutely brilliant. It has made me race back to all 554 Fall songs and put them on repeat as I, too, fall once more in thrall to the oblique, contrary charm of Mark E. Smith and his band of undervalued troubadours.’

Everett True, Guardian Unlimited

'Three decades of personal stories, of social change, shifting cultural landscapes and musical minimum wage slavery, seen through the eyes of a random collection of people whose only constant is that at some point, for some reason, they were members o The Fall. A Canterbury Tales for the mp3 generation.'

Stewart Lee

‘The Fallen is…embellished with Simpson’s Nick Hornby-like autobiographical reflections…It’s a thoroughly enjoyable and unconventional way of tackling this most unconventional of bands. Simpson write[s] about rock music…with informed irreverence.’

Weekend Press