Una Baines

Last updated

Una Baines
BornApril 1957 (age 67)
Manchester, Lancashire, England
Genres Post-punk, new wave
OccupationKeyboardist
Instrument Keyboard
Years active1977–present

Una Baines (born April 1957, Manchester, Lancashire, England) is best known as the keyboard player in the first line-up of British post-punk/new wave band the Fall. [1] Her feminist viewpoint helped shape the band's early political stance and she was one of the very few Fall members, other than frontman Mark E. Smith, who contributed lyrics to the group’s songs.

Contents

Career

Baines grew up in the Collyhurst district of Manchester. Her mother was Irish, her father was British (Mancunian). She met Smith at college, but both left after finding studying financially difficult. After a stint working as an office clerk, Baines began training as a psychiatric nurse. She rented a flat on Kingswood Road in Prestwich, which became a meeting place for the four friends (Baines, Smith, Martin Bramah and Tony Friel) who would go on to form the band, inspired by seeing the Sex Pistols play in Manchester.

Baines was originally going to be the drummer in the group but realised that she would be unlikely to be able to afford a drum kit. Instead, she started saving up for a keyboard. Baines did not play at the band's first gig on 23 May 1977, as she had applied for a bank loan to enable her to buy a keyboard, and it had not arrived in time. She made her debut at the Fall's second gig, on 3 June 1977, in Manchester. Apparently, she played the National Anthem on her keyboard (a cheap model called the "Snoopy") at one point during the set, although no recordings of the gig exist.

Two songs from the band's 2 October 1977 appearance at Manchester's Electric Circus venue were recorded, and released on the 10-inch LP Short Circuit: Live at the Electric Circus with the remainder of the set on master tape being stored in Virgin's archive. Baines also played on the band's first recording session, on 9 November 1977 at Indigo Studios in Manchester. Three of the songs were later released as the band's first single, "Bingo-Master's Break-Out!" in August 1978 – after Baines had left the band. The fourth song recorded in this session was "Frightened" which was re-recorded for Live At The Witch Trials ; however, this early version has never been released and is believed to be lost.

Baines left the Fall in March 1978, having played a little over 20 gigs with the group. She went on to form Blue Orchids with Martin Bramah, when he quit the Fall in 1979. Blue Orchids released their first single in 1980 and their first album, The Greatest Hit (Money Mountain) , in 1982. After a brief stint as Nico's backing band on a European tour, they split in 1982, briefly reforming in 1985. Baines then formed a predominantly female band called the Fates, who released the album Furia on Baines' own Taboo label in late 1985.

In 2002, an article revealed that Baines was working at a community centre in Whalley Range, South Manchester, where she was in the process of setting up a female musicians' collective. More recently, she was interviewed on the 2005 BBC TV documentary The Fall: The Wonderful and Frightening World of Mark E Smith.

In 2015 Baines worked with Australian comic book artist Keith McDougall (artist) to produce I'll Be Your Mirror, a graphic memoir with the first issue focusing on her teenage relationship with Mark E. Smith. [2] [3] [4]

In 2016 Una continues to work in music with a predominantly female 8-piece group called Poppycock, for which she writes the songs, plays keyboards and occasional guitar and vocal.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Fall (band)</span> English post-punk band

The Fall were an English post-punk group, formed in 1976 in Prestwich, Greater Manchester. They underwent many line-up changes, with vocalist and founder Mark E. Smith as the only constant member. The Fall's long-term musicians included drummers Paul Hanley, Simon Wolstencroft and Karl Burns; guitarists Craig Scanlon, Marc Riley, and Brix Smith; and bassist Steve Hanley, whose melodic, circular bass lines are widely credited with shaping the band's sound from early 1980s albums such as Hex Enduction Hour to the late 1990s.

Manchester's music scene produced successful bands in the 1960s including the Hollies, the Bee Gees and Herman's Hermits. After the punk rock era, Manchester produced popular bands including Joy Division, New Order, The Smiths and Simply Red. In the late 1980s, the ecstasy-fuelled dance club scene played a part in the rise of Madchester with bands like the Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets and Happy Mondays. In the 1990s, Manchester saw the rise of Britpop bands, notably Oasis.

<i>Live at the Witch Trials</i> 1979 studio album by The Fall

Live at the Witch Trials is the debut studio album by the Fall. It was released on 16 March 1979 through record label Step-Forward. It is not, despite its title, a live album and was recorded in a studio in a single day and mixed by producer Bob Sargeant.

<i>Liverpool 78</i> 2001 live album by The Fall

Liverpool 78 is a live album by the Fall, first released on 4 June 2001. These tracks have subsequently been reissued as part of an expanded Live at the Witch Trials. The recording has historic interest but the sound quality is very poor.

<i>Dragnet</i> (album) 1979 studio album by the Fall

Dragnet is the second studio album by English post-punk band the Fall, released on 26 October 1979 through Step-Forward Records. Appearing less than eight months after its predecessor, Live at the Witch Trials,Dragnet established at an early stage two key patterns characteristic of the group's future: that of high productivity and that of a regular turnover of group members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Love</span> Welsh indie band

Helen Love are an indie band from Wales whose music is a combination of punk rock, bubblegum pop and disco dance music. The band was formed in 1992 by Helen Love with Sheena, Roxy, and Mark (keyboards). Current members are Helen, Sheena and Ricardo Autobahn.

Blue Orchids are an English post-punk band formed in Manchester in 1979, when Martin Bramah left the Fall, after playing on the band's debut album Live at the Witch Trials. Christened by Salford-based punk poet John Cooper Clarke the band recorded for Rough Trade and acted as backing band for the Velvet Underground's Nico before a 25-year period of intermittent activity and fluctuating line-ups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karl Burns</span> British musician (born 1958)

Karl Burns is a British musician best known as the drummer for the Fall, featuring in many incarnations of the band between 1977 and 1998.

<i>Extricate</i> 1990 studio album by The Fall

Extricate is the 12th album by English post-punk band the Fall. It was made immediately after bandleader Mark E. Smith divorced guitarist Brix Smith. Brix's departure helped define the sound of this album: her background vocals and relatively pop-oriented guitar, which had become mainstays of The Fall, are noticeably absent in this release. In one of the more unusual events in the group's career, she was replaced by founding former member Martin Bramah, who had previously left the group in 1979 to form his own group Blue Orchids.

<i>Live 1977</i> Live album by The Fall

Live 1977 is a live album by the Fall, first released in March 2000. Although the sound quality is poor and live documents of the Fall are plentiful, this album is of particular note as it is the earliest available recording of the group performing, apart from two tracks on the Short Circuit: Live at the Electric Circus compilation. It dates from December 1977, about six weeks after the group had recorded their debut single "Bingo-Master's Break-Out!". It is the only release on which the early song "Hey! Fascist" may be heard, though it was reworked as "Hey! Student" and released on Middle Class Revolt 17 years later. Live 1977 also contains very early versions of the 1984 single and "Oh! Brother" and the song "Cop It", later found on The Wonderful and Frightening World Of... but retitled "Copped It". The group's reworking of "Louie Louie", with John the Postman, is featured only on this recording. This was Tony Friel's last performance with the band. After a couple of short-stay replacements, his place as bassist was taken by Marc Riley.

Jon the Postman was an English punk rock singer from Manchester. Among his various jobs, the best known was that of a postman, hence the nickname.

Martin Beddington, better known by his stage name Martin Bramah, is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known as a founding member of the Fall, Blue Orchids, Thirst, and Factory Star.

Stephen Garvey is an English musician who is known for being the bass guitarist of the punk band Buzzcocks, forming part of the classic line-up of the group, from 1977 to 1981, and, again, from 1989 to 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Teardrops (UK band)</span>

The Teardrops were an English punk/new wave band formed in Manchester, England, in 1978. The founders and always the core of this band were Trevor Wain, John Key and Jimmy Donnelly with various good friends from the Prestwich music scene:- Buzzcocks bassist Steve Garvey, members of The Fall; Martin Bramah, Karl Burns and Tony Friel and former member of V2 Ian Nance, as well as occasional contributions from Dave Brisbane, Helen Harbrook, Dave Price and Rick Goldstraw.

Tony Friel is an English bass guitarist, known for his role in different new wave bands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Factory Star</span>

Factory Star are an English post-punk group, formed in Manchester in December 2008. The group was formed by singer/songwriter/guitarist Martin Bramah. Factory Star began life as Bramah, Tim Lyons (bass) and Brian Benson (drums). In April 2009 they were replaced by Steve Hanley (bass), Paul Hanley (drums), and John Paul Moran of Gnod & Rapid Pig (Keys). Bramah had two stints in The Fall - 1976 to '79 and '89 to '90 - and fronted several incarnations of Blue Orchids from 1979 - 2005. The Hanley brothers were also previously members of The Fall - Steve from 1979 to '98 and Paul from 1980 to '85. They got in touch with Bramah through Dave Simpson, thanks to Simpson's book The Fallen. The band performed in Anglesey on New Year's Eve in 2008, playing tracks from Bramah's solo album The Battle of Twisted Heel. Their first single "Lucybel" was made available on iTunes in 2009. The band performed a live session and were interviewed by Marc Riley on his BBC 6 Music show in July 2009.

<i>Bingo-Masters Break-Out!</i> 1978 EP by The Fall

Bingo-Master's Break-Out! is the debut EP by English post-punk band The Fall. It was released on 11 August 1978 through record label Step-Forward.

<i>The Greatest Hit (Money Mountain)</i> 1982 studio album by Blue Orchids

The Greatest Hit (Money Mountain) is the debut studio album by English post-punk band Blue Orchids, released in 1982 by Rough Trade Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone Thing</span> 1990 single by The Fall

"Telephone Thing" is a song by British post-punk band the Fall, written by Mark E. Smith with Coldcut members Matt Black and Jonathan More. Produced and mixed by Coldcut, it was released as a single in January 1990 and reached number 58 on the UK singles chart. It also featured on the Fall's twelfth album, Extricate.

References

  1. ↑ "Una Baines – Dealing With a Difficult Man". Punk Girl Diaries. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  2. ↑ "I'll Be Your Mirror". KeithMcDougall.com. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  3. ↑ "Drawn From The Fall: Una Baines' Comic On Dating Mark E Smith". The Quietus. 29 May 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  4. ↑ "I'll Be Your Mirror: Una Baines and Keith McDougall – book review". Louder Than War. Retrieved 3 January 2021.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.