62 - The Fall with Funky Si

62 - The Fall with Funky Si

Author: Rock n Roll Book Club May 3, 2025 Duration: 50:49

In this episode of Music Maps, we welcome back Simon Wolstencroft, the former drummer of The Fall. His book You Can Drum But You Can't Hide is out now on Route Publishing.


Funky Si joined The Fall in 1986 after his previous band The Weeds had opened for them. Following a meeting at Mark E. Smith's house in Prestwich it became official.


'Hey Luciani' becomes the first Fall track he works on with producer Ian Broudie in Amazon Studios in Liverpool & his first gig follows at Folkestone Leas Cliff Hall in June 1986.


Sessions for the Bend Sinister album follow with John Leckie at Abbey Road, followed by Simon's first US tour. A one off gig with U2 at Elland Road in Leeds follows & non-album single There’s a Ghost In My House becomes the highest charting Fall single to date shortly after.


Hit The North follows close behind in October of 1987 & the next album is The Frenz Experiment in 1988, with I Am Kurious Oranj & Shift Work albums following.


With their commercial peak in the view mirror, Simon's final gigs with The Fall take place in 1997 & he leaves the band shortly after.



It takes anything from 5 to 40 hours to prepare each episode of Music Maps - if you’d like to make a contribution to help us cover the costs & time of producing these episodes for you, you can do so at this link: ko-fi.com/musicmaps



It is hugely important for us to get positive reviews & star ratings - if you have enjoyed Music Maps & can spare the time to do either we would hugely appreciate it. 



You can see our upcoming live events here: https://rocknrollbookclub.co.uk/live/



Instagram: @rocknrollbookclube17


Blue Sky: @musicmaps.bsky.social


X: @simonmusicmaps


Facebook: E17rockbookclub



Hosted by Mark Hart & Simon Cardwell

Written & Produced by Simon Cardwell

Edited, mixed & spruced up by Andy Maxwell 




Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.


The Music Maps Podcast from the Rock n Roll Book Club isn't your typical music show. It's an audio expedition where geography is the guide. Every episode starts with a specific location-a city, a venue, a forgotten roadside attraction-and uses that place as a launchpad to explore the sounds, stories, and scenes connected to it. You might find yourself deep in the blues clubs of Chicago one week and tracing the underground punk threads of a small European town the next. The conversations are wide-ranging, connecting the dots between iconic artists and obscure movements, all anchored to a point on the map. Listening to this podcast feels like adding a new, richly detailed pin to a global atlas of musical influence. It’s about the context behind the chords and the cultural soil from which genres grow. The result is a continuously evolving, deeply human portrait of how music and place are inextricably linked, one fascinating destination at a time.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Music Maps Podcast
Podcast Episodes
89 - Live 8 with Paul Vallely [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:18:56
This week we travel back 20 years to 2005 with writer Paul Vallely to hear about Live 8, the G8 summit, Bob Geldof & Bono & more. So it starts in 1997 with the landslide general election win for Tony Blair & New Labour.…
88 - R.E.M. Twin Tone Records, Big Star & more with Peter Jesperson [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:07:07
We are joined by Peter Jesperson as he tells us about his time spent with R.E.M. & his role in Twin Tone Records in the twin cities of Minneapolis/St.Paul. We also squeeze in a couple of stories about his time around Ale…
87 - The Wild Swans with Paul Simpson (Liverpool) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:10:53
This week we get to talk about one of the best music books of recent years Revolutionary Spirit by Paul Simpson. Paul was born in Liverpool but grew up in Lancashire alongside future members of Echo & the Bunnymen - Les…
86 - Donovan [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:34
It is truly a pleasure to welcome Donovan to Music Maps - a true legend of the 60s. His book The Hurdy Gurdy Man is available on Penguin. We start with his early life in Glasgow in the 1950s & the family relocate to Hatf…
85 - The Everly Brothers with Barry Mazor [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:06:43
This week we travel back to the 1950's & 60's to hear all about one of the most influential acts of all time The Everly Brothers with biographer Barry Mazor. Don & Phil's Dad Ike was a musician & the brothers are already…
84 - The Raincoats with Audrey Golden [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:33
This week we discover the history of The Raincoats - formed by Gina Birch & Ana De Silva in 1977 after they meet at Hornsey Art College in London. The Sex Pistols & The Slits are influences on the burgeoning band & they…
82 - Blur with Dave Rowntree (Colchester) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:17
Join us & take a trip to Essex as we focus in on the early years of Blur with drummer Dave Rowntree. His new photograph book is called No One You Know: Early Blur Photos. We begin in Colchester where a young Dave meets f…
81 - The Bay City Rollers with Stuart 'Woody' Wood (Edinburgh) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:33
This week we travel north of the border to talk about the history of the Bay City Rollers, one of a handful of British bands to have a number 1 single in the UK & the US. Stuart ‘Woody’ Wood is our guest & he tells us ab…