Craig Scanlon c.1980

Craig Scanlon (born 7 December 1960) is a British guitarist, best known as a member of The Fall between 1979 and 1995. During this period he co-wrote over 120 of the group's songs; Mark E. Smith excepted, this tally is unmatched by any other musician to have passed through the group.

Career

Scanlon joined the band following the departure of previous guitarist Martin Bramah. He and guitarist Marc Riley had previously played together in The Sirens before Riley joined The Fall. Scanlon and bassist Steve Hanley then formed Staff 9 who supported The Fall several times. Scanlon and Hanley would form The Fall's musical backbone throughout the 1980's and well into the 1990's. In 1992, in an interview with Volume magazine (issue 4), Mark E. Smith described the duo as "fuckin' hard as nails...very super-intelligent fellows, but they're really reticent....I just love them to death. Jesuit lads, you know....Steve and Craig are brilliant".

However, in the mid 90's, Scanlon's relationship with Smith deteriorated, culminating in Smith wiping his contributions from the group's 1995 single "The Chiselers". He was sacked shortly afterwards, though there are differing opinions as to how this came about. Steve Hanley told Simon Ford that Smith sacked the whole group, informing them that if they wanted their jobs back, they would have to ask him; Scanlon refused. In 1996, Smith told Sunday Times journalist Stewart Lee, that Scanlon had been "trying to play jazz or Sonic Youth-style stuff over good simple songs that he'd written himself." However, Smith later publicly regretted the dismissal, telling Q "it was a bad decision...I do miss him". Smith continued "one thing I don't do is have people back. I've done it before and it's a real mistake." However, it was long rumoured that Smith had invited Scanlon to return in 2001; a story confirmed by Scanlon in his only known interview since leaving the group, conducted by Dave Simpson for The Guardian in 2006.

Scanlon is widely believed not to have played music since leaving the band; rumours that he had been invited to join Elastica have never been properly substantiated but he is certainly not known to have undertaken any professional engagement as a musician since his departure from The Fall.

As Dave Simpson notes in his Guardian article, Scanlon remains a firm favourite with the group's fan base.

References