RA: The Art of Production: 808 State (January 26, 2023) - Morrissey mention

A tiny mention of Morrissey in this expansive interview with Graham Massey of 808 State. Relevant section:

There's echoes of what people like Cabaret Voltaire were doing across the Pennines, experimenting with tape loops and guitars in an attic.

Yeah. A lot of Sheffield bands are unique, and Manchester was like that too. Each band in Manchester had its own identity. No one was particularly following a trend post-Buzzcocks and all that kind of thing. A few streets away from where we are now is 50 Newton Street, where the New Hormones label had their office. The most important thing in that office was the photocopier, and the person in charge of that photocopier was Steven Morrissey.
 
A tiny mention of Morrissey in this expansive interview with Graham Massey of 808 State. Relevant section:

There's echoes of what people like Cabaret Voltaire were doing across the Pennines, experimenting with tape loops and guitars in an attic.

Yeah. A lot of Sheffield bands are unique, and Manchester was like that too. Each band in Manchester had its own identity. No one was particularly following a trend post-Buzzcocks and all that kind of thing. A few streets away from where we are now is 50 Newton Street, where the New Hormones label had their office. The most important thing in that office was the photocopier, and the person in charge of that photocopier was Steven Morrissey.
He was in charge of the copier?
 
He was in charge of the copier?

Steve Diggle from Buzzcocks also mentioned Morrissey being in the New Hormones office

The New Hormones office was like a homeless people's drop in centre. Total strangers drifted in off the street...... People were constantly using the phone and helping themselves to petty cash. Morrissey was always in there on the f***ing phone....''
 
Love how Morrissey was a kind of Forrest Gump figure in the late 70s Manchester music scene. Always there in the background.
 
Steve Diggle from Buzzcocks also mentioned Morrissey being in the New Hormones office

The New Hormones office was like a homeless people's drop in centre. Total strangers drifted in off the street...... People were constantly using the phone and helping themselves to petty cash. Morrissey was always in there on the f***ing phone....''
I can’t believe I’ve missed this. Or at least I don’t remember it. Like someone said, he was always there in the background. Little would they know he would turn out to be one of the most enduring Mancunian icons of all time. He’s up there with Ian and Liam (and/or Noel) in terms of cultural significance and endurance.
 
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I can’t believe I’ve missed this. Or at least I don’t remember it. Like someone said, he was always there in the background. Little would they know he would turn out to be one of the most enduring Mancunian icons of all time. He’s up there with Ian and Liam (and/or Noel) in terms of cultural significance and endurance.

Morrissey also penned a letter to NME about Buzzcocks.

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1978: Morrissey in charge of the photocopier

2023: Sam in charge of Photoshop

I guess it runs in the family?
I think Moz progressed to 'Head of Communications' in the 80s & 90s when fax machines were all the rage. Always at the forefront where technology is concerned, our Moz. :)
 
He’s always been a master at prose. What a letter that is. 🙌🏻
The best thing about it is that it could have been written last week. His style never changed at all, I love it.
 
I can’t believe I’ve missed this. Or at least I don’t remember it. Like someone said, he was always there in the background. Little would they know he would turn out to be one of the most enduring Mancunian icons of all time. He’s up there with Ian and Liam (and/or Noel) in terms of cultural significance and endurance.
It is they who are up there with him, surely?
 
The best thing about it is that it could have been written last week. His style never changed at all, I love it.
You are absolutely correct. That’s fantastic.
 
It is they who are up there with him, surely?
I don’t know. Ian especially is on a different level. But these are the Mancunians that to me are the most culturally significant, enduring. They are the faces of the Manchester pop music scene. They are what most people think of when they think of Manchester and its music scene.
 
Steve Diggle from Buzzcocks also mentioned Morrissey being in the New Hormones office

The New Hormones office was like a homeless people's drop in centre. Total strangers drifted in off the street...... People were constantly using the phone and helping themselves to petty cash. Morrissey was always in there on the f***ing phone....''
I thought our Moz hated fax machines, telephones, e-mail and other hi-tech cutting-edge inventions such as photocopiers and Ouija boards. And now we learn that all along he was pushing buttons and possibly even feeding paper into a strange machine that could have chewed up his microphone hand. What else don't we know about our mysterious musical maestro?
 
Morrissey also penned a letter to NME about Buzzcocks.

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Haha pure Moz. I haven't read that one in ages. 'Nasty little brat' would be a good name for a Moz album. I'd say our Moz was a woefully wilful vigorous vagabond as a young lad, causing untold calamities like a fusion of Dennis The Menace, Minnie The Minx, Beryl The Peril, and Gnasher from The Beano. As far from Walter The Softie as you could get.

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I don’t know. Ian especially is on a different level. But these are the Mancunians that to me are the most culturally significant, enduring. They are the faces of the Manchester pop music scene. They are what most people think of when they think of Manchester and its music scene.
Interesting. And it’s entirely possible, I guess, that it’s now only a particular age demographic that tends to see Morrissey as the consummate Mancunian front man.
 
Love how Morrissey was a kind of Forrest Gump figure in the late 70s Manchester music scene. Always there in the background.
I love this description, so accurate. He was also reviewing gigs for the Record Mirror around the same time and trying to get involved with Slaughter & the Dogs. I always wondered what really happened there - supposedly he auditioned & didn't get the job, but they've since said that's not true and that he didn't audition at all? Maybe it's just Manc mythology at this point.

I remember Johnny once saying that their 'meeting' (how he'd come to hear about Moz as a local name / lyricist and been pushed in his direction) was one of Morrissey's favourite stories and how he'd get Johnny to tell it to him over and over again. I never knew until Autobio that Moz was also pushed towards Johnny before that day - but it didn't happen because he just couldn't face knocking on a stranger's door. When you consider that, it was really inevitable that they met.
 

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