someraincoatedlovers writes:
Hearts grow fonder

>> Pop-noir sextet the Dears get their happy ending

by LORRAINE CARPENTER

Excerpts:

...Murray Lightburn: Our first headline gig at London’s Barfly sells out, as do many shows after that. I meet the House of the Love, and My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields is at our gig in February. I cross my fingers for Johnny Marr to show up in Manchester after a journalist tells me Johnny is a fan. He is, unfortunately, a no-show. But, next thing I know, the phone is ringing with a his-people-calling-our-people personal invitation to open for Morrissey in Toronto. In tears, I shake Morrissey’s hand backstage at the Hummingbird Centre. He basically reminds me to use the force. Those aren’t his exact words, but you get the picture.

Following shows with Morrissey in NYC and L.A., a write-up in Rolling Stone, and offers (which are all turned down) to tour in Russia and with Duran Duran and REM…

ML: In Brussels, Natalia [Yanchak: keyboardist, backup singer, common-law wife] finds out she is pregnant. That means I’m going to be a dad. We tell the band in Australia. Everyone is excited. Then I find us on the cover of a magazine with the quote, “If Morrissey is God, I’m Jesus.” Augh. Natalia and I go to Hawaii for a week to chill out.