Johnny Marr interview by Simon Hattenstone in The Guardian; extract from memoir

It's a big, wide-ranging interview and the book extract is revealing. Tons of stuff to interest folk here. Should have it up within an hour or two, when I get back.

**EDIT** Here we go. Don't say I never give you anything. I find the last page the most revealing and interesting.

**FURTHER EDIT** - weblink here...

Johnny Marr: ‘The conversation about re-forming the Smiths came out of the blue' - The Guardian
By Simon Hattenstone
It’s 29 years since the Smiths split up, and founding member Johnny Marr isn’t angry any more. So what happened when he and Morrissey met for a drink?

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Media coverage:

• Johnny Marr reveals he met with Morrissey to discuss reforming The Smiths - Manchester Evening News. Link posted by Famous when dead.
• Johnny Marr opens up about the reasons behind The Smiths’ split - NME. Link from Rene.
• Marr: The Smiths almost re-formed in 2008 - BBC News
  
• Johnny Marr Reveals Morrissey Talked Smiths Reunion in 2008 - Rolling Stone
  

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[Anonymous]

"Was Joyce justified in bringing the court case? “Mike had a right to do it. I don’t think he should have done because we had an agreement. Looking back, I would have done things differently. I’d make sure you don’t move a muscle without a contract – for everybody’s benefit. Young people aren’t good at doing that kind of thing, and we had to pay the price for it.” Would he still regard the 10% Joyce and Rourke were paid as a fair deal? “I would be more generous,” he says. “But it wasn’t a band of equals. Thirty-odd years later I think anyone can see that.”

Everybody saw it. However when your name is Morrissey and you've been dropping your trousers to the establishment for years, it becomes a matter of payback and not justice. Everybody saw it. Everybody knows.

 

[Anonymous]

No - this is the first time anyone has spoken about the pair of them meeting, let alone discussing a potential reunion that Morrissey was briefly up for in 2008.

Interestingly, Marr describes how: Suddenly we were talking about the possibility of the band re-forming, and in that moment it seemed that with the right intention it could actually be done and might even be great. I would still work with the Cribs on our album, and Morrissey also had an album due out.

So, 2008 - that album was 'Years of Refusal', and finally the album title makes sense (Morrissey studiously avoided answering questions on what the album title meant at the time). It would have been a great ironic title for Morrissey to have put out an album called 'Years of Refusal', then follow it up a year or two later with the Smiths reunion he'd been refusing for so long everyone had given up hope.

Instead, we got a huge gap, then 'World Peace is None of Your Business'. Of course, there's no way of knowing how a reunion would have turned out in reality, but I can't help thinking we got the shitty end of the deal there.

Does make sense that YOR, was named with reforming the Smiths the target. I do love the song Years of refusal, and the homespun philosophy bit is aimed at who?

 

[Anonymous]

Johnny made it sound like replacing Joyce wouldn't be to difficult either.

Matt Walker would be more than capable

 

[Anonymous]

Happy Anniversary to Uncle and Aunt Skinny and Mr. and Mrs. Surface.

 

[Anonymous]

Matt Walker would be more than capable

There are probably thousands of drummers who would be more than capable. But only one of them was the actual drummer in The Smiths.

 

[kissmyshadestoo]

Thanks for posting this. I think Johnny would like a reunion but Morrissey has ZERO interest.

 

[Uncleskinny]

Thanks for posting this. I think Johnny would like a reunion but Morrissey has ZERO interest.

Money Changes Everything

 

[nicky wire's legs]

i had no idea mozzer liked the sauce so much. hmm.

 

[nicky wire's legs]

Moz looks like the coolest man on Earth in the first photo.

um.. helloooooo? he always looks like the coolest man on earth

 

[Thewlis]

Thanks for posting this. I think Johnny would like a reunion but Morrissey has ZERO interest.

Of course Johnny wants it much more than Moz, because he has a lot more to gain from it. Given these circumstances he should have come with a good offer and Moz would have considered it, but apparantly he didn't.
It certainly isn't going to happen now anymore.

 

[Musician]

Of course Johnny wants it much more than Moz, because he has a lot more to gain from it. Given these circumstances he should have come with a good offer and Moz would have considered it, but apparantly he didn't.
It certainly isn't going to happen now anymore.

And again: what suggests all these? Apart from what YOU read into the lines.

 

[gordyboy9]

theres three sides to every story.theres your version,theres my version,and then theres the truth.

 

[gordyboy9]

looks like jonnys a bit of a bruce lee fan as well.thats something they both have in common.

 

[Anonymous]

There are probably thousands of drummers who would be more than capable. But only one of them was the actual drummer in The Smiths.

Spot on ! If Steve and Johnny ever agree to reform The Smiths they're gonna have to grow a pair of bollocks because if there's no Joyce it's not The Smiths.

Benny-the-British-Butcher

 

[caramel sea salt]

Am I the only one who wouldn't want a Smiths reunion?

I wouldn't want them to become some sort of nostalgia act, and I'm afraid if they recorded new material together that it would turn out anticlimactic - like when Brett Anderson and Bernard Butler got back together and made the underwhelming "Here Come the Tears". Either way, I think I would be disappointed.

I want to remember The Smiths the way they were.

Also, what a decent, likeable person Johnny Marr is.

 

[SuedeMoz]

I always felt Johnny hitched his wagon to Morrissey's. What happened to the big vision Johnny? The poetry? Without Morrissey's lyrics and melodies you would have ended up playing middling sings with no passion and sprinkling your set with some great covers. Oh that's what you are doing.

I think that's unfair - I think they needed each other equally. Morrissey certainly hadn't achieved much before Johnny.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for posting this. I think Johnny would like a reunion but Morrissey has ZERO interest.

Agreed

 

[Quando quando quando]

There are probably thousands of drummers who would be more than capable. But only one of them was the actual drummer in The Smiths.

Why audition thousands of drummers if you have Matt Walker?
You are deliberately postponing the event of the century!
You ARE responsible for this!

 

[Anonymous]

Does make sense that YOR, was named with reforming the Smiths the target. I do love the song Years of refusal, and the homespun philosophy bit is aimed at who?

Recording/mixing on 'Years of Refusal' had already been completed 3 months before the Moz/Marr pub reunion meeting in late August 2008. So, whilst 'I'm OK By Myself' could possibly have been written with Johnny in mind, it can't have been written as a 'f*** you' response from Morrissey changing his mind after that meeting, as the dates don't match up. That song could have theoretically been about anyone (Marr? Alain Whyte? Jake? Peter Hogg?), or no-one, or a mixture of influences that happened to make for a good song.

I guess the timing was just all wrong for a Smiths reunion. Marr was busy with the Cribs, and Moz was just about to release a record. By the time he'd spent a few years on the road touring for it, the moment had obviously passed and the old distrust settled back in again. I've heard more than one person pass along rumours that Morrissey would have done it, if the reunion happened immediately, but was pissed off when Johnny wanted to complete dates with the Cribs first. Who knows if that's true, but I think Moz is pretty insecure, and it would certainly be in keeping if the old Smiths' era jealousy of Marr running off to play with other people put those seeds of doubt back in Moz's mind.

 

[Anonymous]

There are probably thousands of drummers who would be more than capable. But only one of them was the actual drummer in The Smiths.

Damn right. If Funky Si isn't involved, count me out. No Simon Wolstencroft = no The Smiths.