Ed Biknell / MK feud in 2000

[herlock]

Since we talk in another thread about the evolution of MK's music and approach... I remember that the STP album caused the break-up between Ed Biknell, DS and MK's manager so far, and Mark. Does anybody know the exact circumstances ? I vaguely read that Ed wanted to make a DS come-back, while MK strongly opposed... here is my take on it, with an (almost) imaginary dialogue
EB: Hey Mark, just listened to your latest album, it is AWSOME ! It is what OES should have been in the first place ! The true successor to BIA ! WII is the ideal single, the new MFN, better than CE ! STP is the new TR! PR is even better than YAYF! and I was speechless listening to SAN! People will be as hysterical as for SOS! And SB will be a killer played live !! I'm so excited !
MK: I'm glad you like it.
EB: Now, Mark, Let's get down to the business; I know you once said you did'nt want to hear about DS for at least 10 years; well, we are almost there, it has been 9 years; I trust you've had a good rest; with this album, we can start it all over again and make a stunning DS come back !
MK: No.
EB: Are you crazy ? Your fan club does know your name, but the masses don't! they never heard about Mark Knopfler, like it or not! they want Dire Straits! I'm not asking for much, keep everything, just change the name on the cover ! I''ll do it for you ! We'll sell 20 million of units ! come on, man !
MK: Which part of "no" did you not understand, Ed ?
EB: Fine! Go and play in front of 3 get-a-lifer kids and 5 old ladies if you like! but without me ! I have to make a living ! I did not bother you for the past 10 years ! I let you indulge in charity concerts and weddings! I did not say a word when you wasted the GH opportunity in 96 with a ridiculous 4-month baby tour! I

[Waterline Man]

ha ha very good herlock - he would have got the Whitney Houston thing right anyway

[Pottel]

mm, i remember something about mark entering ed's office with his motor helmet still on and firing him on the spot.
reason? no clue.

[Waterline Man]

mm, i remember something about mark entering ed's office with his motor helmet still on and firing him on the spot.
reason? no clue.

Maybe he found out Ed was the guy who ate the sausages - was it sausages? (was that during the OES tour?)

[Pottel]

lol, ..
"you will never eatfrom my sausages again, you ARE FIRED!"

[herlock]

) LOL. The saussages story was reported by Phil Palmer, yes it happened during the OES tour. He said the thing, which could have just been amusing, got out of proportion because Mark wanted to fire the guilty one. Must have been under a lot of pressure back then, to overreact like this, like a diva which I am sure Mark is not... it seems that he never fired anybody, people who could not cope with him left by themselves: his own brother David, Pick Whiters, Hal Lindes; seems that Jack Sonni, Terry Williams, Chad Cromwell, and Jim Cox all left for personal reasons rather than because of a quarrel, and John Illsley and Alan Clark only left because of Dire Sraits's death.

As for Ed... maybe Ed started to work on reforming DS behing Mark's back, and Mark got enraged once he found out ?

[Tally]

As for me, I always thought that it was announced to Chad that he needn't come back after abandoning them in the middle of a tour, when Danny worked out so great. Obviously, this is pure guesswork.

[sweetsurrender]

herlock,

you have a good imagination and it's very funny !!

Phil Palmer 's book on Mark is quite controversial, isn't it ?

[superval99]

herlock,

you have a good imagination and it's very funny !!

Phil Palmer 's book on Mark is quite controversial, isn't it ?

Sweetsurrender,   It was Myles Palmer who wrote the book on Mark.  It is quite entertaining, but has a lot of inaccuracies.   Some interesting photos!   

[sweetsurrender]

val, ooop, I goofed there.  Thanks for correcting.  I was thinking about getting the book. 

[Jules]

The reason behind that was that MK wanted to change his music style into what it is right now, and Ed wanted that MM remained MK, or in other words, the Dire Straits frontman instead the country-celtic-folk songwriter he is right now. Also there were many fights between them regarding how STP should sound, as far as I know the track list was changed at least three times.

The helmet moment happened after a discussion about the promotion MK should do for STP, Ed wanted to do something big, like in DS times to make his solo career bigger, as when Sting or Phil Collins left Police or Genesis to start a very succesful solo career, but MK wasn

[herlock]

Thanks jbaent for all these detais. May I ask how you know about them ?
Your conclusion is a bit black & white, isn't ? Life tought me that people tend to be grey instead of all white or all black...
Maybe one of the reasons I am fascinated by MK is precisely his human complexity. What kind of man really is he ?
The rock star in the stadiums, or the intimate artist who renounced the dark side of the force ?
The humble, self-effacing man who never talks about himself, or the tyran/diva who only wants "yes men", gets enraged about saussages, or fire his long-time best friend on the spot ?
The open, tolerant man who was against the Napter lawsuit, or the "finger or death" ?
I guess he is all of that. One foot in the light side, one foot in the dark side. At least, somebody who left the dark side on his own initiative
What strikes me is his relationship with his brother: I understand their quarell in 1980, Mark was the most talented, but David wanted his songs to see the light and not live in his brother'shadow.... but then, in 1983, Mark plays on David's debut album, so the 2 brothers seemed reconciled, yet, over the years they never got close again. How could this be ?? is it because of the overcommercialisation of DS starting 1985 ? Yet, Mark's solo career is much closer to David's intimate music crafting, why this turn did not get them to get closer ? If Roger Waters and David Gilmour, who had been "trowing their toys at each other for 20 years" as RW said, could reconcile, why cant' 2 brothers of an otherwise united family can't reconcile 30 years later ??

[Tally]

MK should pursue whatever direction he desires because that will keep him going in the long run. As for the actual music, I think that STP is his best album so I wouldn't say that Ed was "wrong". Probably he wanted MK to play stadiums 

[Jules]

I read several interviews, and I also have a very good friend who lived in Chelsea for many years, pretty close to where Ed and Mark lived at that time (in the same street), he saw Ed once and they had a very nice chat, apparently Ed is a person who likes to talk, and he doesn

[herlock]

Thanks for all these details, very interesting.

Actually, isn't to Mark's credit that he did not want to pursue a big music career, meaning touring on a large scale, in other words, doing DS just without DS' name ? That he fired his old friend because he did not want him to drag him into this direction, but kept him as a friend on a personal level ? I've seen much, much, much worse in the corporate environment...

In other words, Mark finally agreed with his brother David about what music is about; the only difference being, before that, Mark took time to make money in the dark side of the music world. Maybe the reason why they still don't talk to each other ?