THE National’s acerbic cartoonist Greg Moodie has teamed up with one of Scotland’s most prolific comedy songwriters for a new book all about The Fall.
Both Greg Moodie and Tommy Mackay are huge fans of the legendary band, and have collaborated on a new book, 40 Odd Years Of The Fall, a track-by-track account of the 500 plus songs released by the Mark E Smith-led outfit over the last four decades.
Mackay, who was named Fife Comedian of the Year in 2011, and who runs the Daily Reckless website, first began cataloguing the group’s output one song per day back in 2006, creating the popular fan site, The Story of The Fall.
It was after Smith’s death earlier this year that he decided to turn his work into a book.
Mackay said: “I started cataloguing Fall songs because I had a music blog and thought it would be a novel approach.
“I made the move from website so people could have a substantial physical resource they could cross reference easily, plus Greg’s illustrations are a massive bonus with arch allusions to the songs.”
Moodie has created 42 brand new Fall-inspired illustrations especially for the book.
“Tommy had been chipping away at this project since 2006, but I didn’t know anything about it until this time last year when he said he had an entire book’s worth,” he said.
“I thought doing a song-by-song account in micro detail was a genius idea and exactly the sort of indy book I’d like to publish. But I also figured I could make it even better by illustrating it.
“So I listened to every single Fall track and started collaging Fall references for each year. It ended up being a great opportunity for me to flex my design muscles and produce something a little different to what people might expect, either from me or from a Fall book.”
To make the book a reality, Mackay and Moodie have taken to crowd sourcing website Indiegogo in a bid to find the £7500 needed for printing and publishing.
So far, they’re almost halfway there.
Those who chuck the project a fiver will get access to a digital copy of the book, those who chip in £20 will get a hard copy straight from the first print run.
But anyone willing to pay £50 for a top perk will receive a a limited edition set of four signed A3+ watercolour paper art prints by Moodie.
Smith, who formed the Fall in 1976, died in January this year.
The often bad tempered frontman was the only constant band member.
Over the years, according to Wikipedia, there have been 66 different members of the Fall, a third of them lasting less than a year.
Last year, shortly before his death, the Fall released their 32nd studio album, New Facts Emerge.
You can donate to Mackay and Moodie’s fundraiser at www.igg.me/at/40oddyears/x.
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