The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise

(Paperback, Main)

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The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise is the extraordinary story, in her own words, of Brix Smith Start. Best known for her work in The Fall at the time when they were perhaps the most powerful and influential anti-authoritarian postpunk band in the world -- This Nation's Saving Grace, The Wonderful and Frightening World Of ... -- Brix spent ten years in the band before a violent disintegration led to her exit and the end of her marriage with Mark E Smith. But Brix's story is much more than rock 'n' roll highs and lows in one of the most radically dysfunctional bands around.

Growing up in the Hollywood Hills in the '60s in a dilapidated pink mansion her life has taken her from luxury to destitution, from the cover of the NME to waitressing in California, via the industrial wasteland of Manchester in the 1980s. What emerges is a story of constant reinvention, jubilant highs and depressive ebbs; a singular journey of a teenage American girl on a collision course with English radicalism on her way to mid-life success on TV and in fashion. Too bizarre, extreme and unlikely to exist in the pages of fiction, The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise could only exist in the pages of a memoir.

Reviews

"She's one of those people who knows everyone and tells you everything - which makes for a vibrant, entertaining read, even when peppered with darker moments." - Glamour UK

"Brix Smith-Start's new memoir charts a remarkable journey [...] While her incredible story of career and life highs and lows beggars belief, it's also universal - this is a woman who's lived a full life, grown from her mistakes and learned to trust her gut. That's a lesson all of us can learn from." - Red

"The Rise, the Fall, and the Rise has satisfying quantities of rock 'n' roll filth but also a remarkably unspoilt sweetness of spirit. [The] book is lively, fresh and funny." - The Telegraph

"Smith-Start's hard-won account of the best and worst [indie] has to offer." - GQ

Author Bio

Brix Smith Start is a songwriter and guitarist best known for her work with The Fall and The Adult Net. In recent years she has worked as a tv presenter and in fashion as the owner of a string of boutiques with her husband, Philip Start.