Bear with me if you're asked some questions you've already been asked; you haven't be given much press in the States so far. Some standard political questions: Have you been satisfied with Warner Brothers' treatment of the band in the states so far?
Quite the reverse—we've had no satisfaction whatsoever. They've not really supported us on any level. And even on this current tour that we're doing, they were quite against it—because they thought it was too ambitious, they thought the venues were far too ambitious in size. They seemed quite certain that we could only possibly appear on a very tiny, club level. And we've proved them wrong and they're quite shocked, and once again they're tongue-tied. But I can't really be hesitant about the opinions that I have of Sire--because I do feel quite bitter about the way we've been treated. I feel we were signed originally as a gesture of hipdom on their part, and that was really it. And they had no intentions of the Smiths ever meaning anything on a mass level. And they still don't. And they've made several marketing disasters, which have really been quite crippling to us in personal ways. For instance, the release of the last single, "How Soon Is Now" was released in an abhorrent sleeve—and the time and the dedication that we put into sleeves and artwork, it was tearful when we finally saw the record. And also they released the album Meat Is Murder with the track "How Soon Is Now" unlisted, without printing the lyrics. They released the cassette without the track "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore," which is absolutely central to our new stage performances. And also we can discuss a video they made.
I was going to ask; that had nothing to do with the band, correct?
No, it had absolutely nothing to do with the Smiths—but quite naturally we were swamped with letters from very distressed American friends saying, "Why on earth did you make this foul video?" And of course it must be understood that Sire made that video, and we saw the video and we said to Sire, "You can't possibly release this…this degrading video." And they said, "Well maybe you shouldn't really be on our label." It was quite disastrous--and it need hardly be mentioned that they also listed the video under the title "How Soon Is Soon," which...where does one begin, really?
