Commentary

We had a few crap songs to start with. “Sten Gun Rock” was a Clash-type track that we were sensible enough not to record.

Martin Bramah, quoted on the making of Live at the Witch Trials in Uncut magazine, July 2019. See Simpson, 2019, p.92.

… “Sten Gun Rock”, like the German machine gun. “Sten Gun Rock, did it cock?” Ha ha ha. Mark was a little Nazi and he couldn’t hide it, but that was the main refrain, a bit of nonsense. We played it in our shows. I remember we supported The Buzzcocks in London, the second gig we did, and we were playing “Sten Gun” then, it was quite like a Clash song. It didn’t stay in the set long, because we didn’t like that stuff.

Bramah, 2016, p.3.

There are only four documented performances of this early song, and only one known recording. Bramah’s memory that it was dropped from the set very quickly is definitely accurate. The Fall supported Buzzcocks at two gigs in London in 1977 (North East London Polytechnic, 25 June and The Vortex, 4 July), and “Sten Gun Rock” appears on the setlists for both gigs. Presumably Bramah has the 25 June gig in mind, but it wasn’t the group’s second gig.

Bramah is also mistaken in describing the Sten Gun as a “German machine gun”. It was British.

“Sten” should really be rendered “STEN”, as the gun’s name is an acronym for it’s chief designers Major Reginald V. Shepherd and Harold J. Turpin and the Enfield factory (but see the notes to the Wikipedia entry for the gun).

Bramah mentions The Clash in the quotation above. The Clash released their song “Tommy Gun” as a single in November 1978. Note also The Damned’s song, “Machine Gun Etiquette” (1979).

“Sten Gun. A scale drawing of the gun and the weapon seen together”. Source: Imperial War Museum” Image: IWM (H 17041)

“Sten Gun. The gun as fired from the hip.” Image: IWM (H 17045)

“Sten Gun Rock” was officially released on disc 5 of the Cherry Red box set, The Fall: 1970s, dated as North West Arts, 23 May 1977. But it’s probably 13 June.

It isn’t possible to make out the lyrics from the recording.

Sources / Links

• Bramah, Martin (2016). The Story of Dragnet. 4pp. Originally offered as a one-off typewritten document as part of the Blue Orchids 2016 PledgeMusic project [Archived]. [Available online via The Fall Online]
• Discogs: The Fall: 1970s (disc 5: North West Arts, Manchester, 23/5/1977 (probably incorrectly dated). Cherry Red: CRCDBOX121.
• The Fall Online Gigography
• Simpson, David (2019). “Album By Album: The Fall”. Uncut, Take 266, July. pp.92-94.
• The Sten Gun: Firepower on the cheap. Available at Beaches of Normandy Tours.
• The Track Record: “Sten Gun Rock”
• Wikipedia: Sten
• Wikipedia: “Tommy Gun” (Clash song, 1978)