Mathangi Arulpragasam: No. No, no.
Mark E. Smith: No, definitely not.
Arulpragasam: I don’t have a place.
Smith: The only problem I have is what to leave out.
Arulpragasam: Watch the ads on the telly, they tell you that buying clothes or a mobile phone is supposed to change your life, make you a happier person.
•••
Smith: That sounds ridiculous, but it’s the truth.
Arulpragasam: Social reality didn’t really exist there; it just stopped at theory.
Smith: All these people were walking around in black stockings and torn Union Jacks and spiky hair.
Arulpragasam: It’s not considered a profession, but something you do when you’re a little bit stupid, and dumber than the rest.
Smith: They’re quite different. It seems to be a lot tamer now.
•••
Arulpragasam: That’s how you feel as a teenager.
Smith: Some of it’s prose, some of it’s just snatches.
Arulpragasam: Oh my God, that’s hard.
Smith: We used to get attacked onstage by punks. They said, “Where can we get your tape?”
Arulpragasam: [Laughs] You are gonna have to watch this space to see how it evolves.