Even some of the most devoted Fall fans will argue that Von Sudenfed, Mark E Smith’s collaboration with German electronic duo Mouse On Mars, is among his finest work. It was therefore understandable that your friends at the Quietus (who, you might have noticed, are rather partial to the goings on of the great MES) were intrigued that both The Fall and Mouse On Mars were on the bill at this weekend’s Field Day Festival. Might a rendition of ‘Fledermaus Can’t Get It’ be on the cards on Saturday? "We thought about it, but the thing is once you play at these festivals there are a lot of distractions and not enough time," Mouse On Mars’ Jan St Werner told us last week. "We need to be part of the tug or war and other things. It’s a bit of a time thing and how the mood is, we definitely want to see The Fall play, but we’ll see."
Perhaps Mouse On Mars could have a tug of war with the Fall instead? "I can really imagine Mark conducting the tug of war," St Werner laughs. Surely his drummer and current bassist are pretty touch guys? "I know, but we know Dave ["The Eagle" Spurr] because he helped us out on a couple of Von Sudenfed gigs. I think the problem is more one of manpower because we’re playing a duo, and there are five people in The Fall. Maybe we can do Von Sudenfed versus The Fall, then we’d have a chance. The Fall guys, they can’t beat Mark – I’m sure that’s forbidden."
And now the important question – will there be another Von Sudenfed record? "We’re all keen to do it, it’s just the time side of things," says St Werner. "We want to finish the Mouse On Mars album, then we definitely want to do this orchestral thing, get that ready. It’s not impossible, Andy, will there be more Von Sudenfed? [muffled voice in the background] We both hope so."
For Field Day tickets and line-up information, visit their website
