Podcast: Simon Wolstencroft: "Me, Morrissey, and Mark E Smith" (December 7, 2019)




"Drummer Simon Wolstencroft has a great rock n roll story to tell. He turned down the chance to be in The Smiths; made 11 albums with Mark E Smith and The Fall; and later appeared on Top Of The Pops with his old schoolmate Ian Brown of Stone Roses. Oh yeah, and he hid his heroin addiction from friends and colleagues for 20 years.
(Recorded at Joshua Brooks bar, in Manchester)"


Apple:
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podca...and-mark-e-smith/id1463963883?i=1000458957800

Other sources:
https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/adrian-goldbergs-talk-show/e/65853863?autoplay=true



Or MP3 to download:
https://we.tl/t-aUUSgvpyD4

Interesting listen - Morrissey & The Smiths discussed / Johnny and the stolen Lowry!?.

full


Regards,
FWD.
 
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Some nice thoughts & insights here from MJ on that first album. Makes me wonder if he only played on Hand In Glove...jury still out..he doesn't mention production or drum machines, but maybe it's only natural that he wouldn't.




WTF?? to think MOZ had to pay for that horrible alpaca FH Mike sweater.doh:
what an utter disgrace this FH Mike is. of course he could hardly play the drums.:censored:

the other drunk couldnt play either FFS its only now that Moz has a good drummer.:bow:
 
I think that's a reasonable, but maybe too harsh, point, as MJ has stated that, at the time of his joining The Smiths, he wasn't the best drummer around, had limited ability, & improved as he progressed with the band. I have no problem with MJ, but can't help but think the rest of The Smiths were quite generous to him in that regard.

Just one recent fact I've discovered (& have posted elsewhere on this site) he & AR (& Craig Gannon) played on some of Moz's early stuff, including The Bed Took Fire (aka At Amber).

[source http://www.passionsjustlikemine.com/songs/songs-bedtookfire.htm]



Back to SW, I've seen some of his tweets; he does little informative snippets now & again about The Smiths; sort of along the lines of 'this building behind me was where I first met such & such'...all part of the fabric of The Smiths. Interesting.


Balls,inspector. Clean your ears out.
 
if johnny was charged with a crime then he wouldn't be allowed into the good ole usa.
I saw the Lotus Eaters supporting Big Country at Manchester Academy years ago, they were pretty good but a very odd pairing when you consider Big Countries musical style.
must have been a strange night,lotus eaters came n went,first picture of you was a decent single but your right,odd pairing.
 
:straightface:

Le Pews( aka :handpointright::guardsman::handpointleft: ) existence in itself is a continual crime against music FFS.:construction:
 
Everybody’s heading for the BREXIT

ahahahha skinny ahahahahha twat


Hahahahahahahahahahahaha
 


And f*** finan!
 
Yeah, always thought the drums sounded strange on that album, especially ‘Reel’ sounds so mechanical. We do know that Street
used a drum loop for the awesome ‘drumming’ on ‘The Queen is Dead’.


Mike Joyce did not play drums on "This Charming Man". The drums were originally programmed on a Linn Drum Computer, by session drummer Peter Boita under the direction of producer John Porter. Peter Boita then sampled a live drum kit, drum by drum, into an AMS digital reverb unit. His Linn Drum programme then triggered out the sampled sounds of the live drum kit from the AMS.”

https://smiths.fandom.com/wiki/This_Charming_Man


And still even after Morrissey & Marr turned a blind eye to Mikes non-abilities on the drums and kept him on, he still turns around and sues them, ungrateful to say the least.

Morrissey & Marr must've been braindead to work with Mike Joyce for 5 years if he had no ability on drums. Plus Morrissey worked with Joyce after The Smiths. In other words you are talking utter TOSH. Add it to your 50 million other anti-Joyce posts that signify nothing to no one.
 
Mike Joyce DID play on the first Smiths album of course. The quote about This Charming Man is the session version, found on ''Hatful of Hollow'', not the single version.

Unsure about this one. There is a purely mechanical feel to the drumming on the Hatful version, yes. However, that version was recorded at that radio session only 3 days after it was written. So, in Mike's mind, keeping the song simple for the radio session was the way to go. Plus, there's actual nuances in the drumming in this version, like the push/pull rhythm of the 'return the ring' part. Honestly, some of the best work they've ever done is that version of the song. By the way, the Hatful version is BY FAR more melodic and musical than the single ever was. It's amazing that the song was only 3 days old when that was tracked. I think it's much more believable that the Hatful version was NOT done with a drum machine.

The big reason for me to think that the other versions (regular single and New York) were recorded w/a drum machine is the consistent volume, tonality, and repetitiveness of the verse drums. It's way too crisp and symmetrical - quite unvaried for an expensive recording of a song you'd recorded before and played live a bunch of times. Percussion instruments have a unique texture/pressure based tonality to them. Depending on where the heads have been played and how hard, the drum sounds higher or lower in pitch, and softer/louder in volume. Drum machines back then lacked a few things, like volume dynamics and 'touch/feel', leaving you with a consistent, machine-like pulse for a beat. Yes, audio engineers can tweak the sound and make it as punchy as possible, but back then it was easier to record straight through - so I guess Mike wasn't really up for it. However, I'm really glad Johnny and Andy were.

It's a shame they had to use the drum machine at all. They should've just cleaned up the Hatful version, which featured young Morrissey, Johnny, and Andy (wow on the Hatful Charming) in their very early prime. Same exact thing with the Still Ill and What Difference..? versions on the first LP. The Hatful versions were immensely better.
 
Being in the Fall those years must have been awful. Mark was a nose picking obnoxious sewer of a person. Im surprised to hear there was money. Who wasn't in the Fall ? Mark would find misfits on the street and put them in the band. There were 60 members of the Fall. Ten wasted dope years with Mark eating his snots and handfuls of speed. Playing with Nico would have been more uplifting. The Fall were fresh in the 70s.
I never knew that he mourned passing on the Smiths so dearly for so long. Mark E peeing his pants was daily. Gross.
 
Having a child has given many junkies their lives back. It's an only way out for many.
 
I wish I could hear a lot more about Andy's house in those days. History making. Would love to really know. What records? Parents? Brothers? I love them all.
 
Being in the Fall those years must have been awful. Mark was a nose picking obnoxious sewer of a person. Im surprised to hear there was money. Who wasn't in the Fall ? Mark would find misfits on the street and put them in the band. There were 60 members of the Fall. Ten wasted dope years with Mark eating his snots and handfuls of speed. Playing with Nico would have been more uplifting. The Fall were fresh in the 70s.
I never knew that he mourned passing on the Smiths so dearly for so long. Mark E peeing his pants was daily. Gross.

You talk a lot of wind
 

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