WEBVTT - Ep 49: Johnny Marr 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:21.680 Loud and Quiet presents Midnight Chats. 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:29.120 Good evening, everyone, It's midnight on a Thursday night. Once again, 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:33.360 welcome to the interview podcast by Loud and Quiet Midnight Chats. 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:37.520 This is number forty nine of our podcast, so thank 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:40.800 you for downloading it. Maybe it's your first time, maybe 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:43.839 you haven't listened to the previous forty eight. I've got 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:47.560 a feeling due to tonight's guest that might be the case. 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:51.960 We might be picking up some new listeners. Hopefully you 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:54.240 won't be a one off listener. If that is you, 0:00:54.520 --> 0:00:58.240 please do check out our previous episodes. I feel like 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:02.080 we've had some really good guests on recently, but throughout 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:04.120 from the beginning, really we've been very lucky with the 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:07.680 people that have wanted to come on our podcast. So yeah, 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:10.520 if this is your first time here, please do check 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:14.760 it out. You can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher or 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:18.800 any of the Android apps, and you can also listen 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:21.119 to all of these on Loud and Quiet dot com 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:24.440 as well. Loud and Quiet is our magazine that we 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:30.160 make a music magazine that is completely independent and we 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:35.559 attempt at least to cover new interesting artists from cover 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:40.319 to cover. We also feature some more established artists, which 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:45.360 include tonight's guest. Now I'm not going to just pretend 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:47.720 that this is just some other guests. This is just 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:53.440 another one for me, at least it really isn't. Johnny 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:58.280 Marr is a man who I he's I mean, there's 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:01.120 no other way to say. He's a very big hero 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:05.200 of mine. And there aren't many people that I've wanted 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:08.840 to meet more than Johnny Marr. And We've come close 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:11.160 a few times on a few different things that Loud 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:15.640 and Quiet in the magazine and a few different interview 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:18.840 ideas we've had and it's just not happened. So to 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:22.520 meet him to do the podcast was a real treat 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:27.520 for me. And I hope that I don't embarrass myself 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:30.600 in the conversation you're about to hear. I don't think 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:33.080 I do. I think I managed to keep a lid 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:37.240 on my excitement. Johnny made that very easy for me. 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:40.600 He was as nice as I'd heard a lot of people. 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:44.160 He's got a bit of a reputation for being a 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:48.720 bloody good guy actually, and he really was not a 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:52.800 preening rock star, which you know, he could very easily 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:56.000 be just a very down to earth guy from Manchester 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:58.440 who just also happens to have been in one of 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:02.359 the most important indie bands all time, So I hope 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:04.280 you enjoy it as much as I did doing it. 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:08.560 We've also today released aur new issue of the magazine. 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:11.680 The Dune issue of Loud and Quiet is in stores now, 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:16.000 and Johnny's in the magazine as well, so if you 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:19.480 are particularly a Johnny mar fan, please do pick up 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:23.040 a copy of the magazine. The cover feature is with 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:27.520 the Internet, but Johnny's in there talking about being a 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:30.640 sixteen year old and what he remembers about being sixteen. 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:33.839 You can pick up a copy of that from any 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:36.400 of our stockists across the whole of the UK. A 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:38.760 list of those are on loudon quiet dot com. You 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:41.680 can also order a copy. If you're listening outside of 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:44.160 the UK, or you can't get to your nearest store 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:46.840 to pick up a copy, please do order a copy 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:50.400 on our page there, and you can also subscribe to 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:54.080 the magazine as well without further ado. Then it's a 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:58.320 complete honor of mine to say that guest number forty 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:02.200 nine on Midnight Chat by Loud and Quiet is Johnny Marr. 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:27.960 I think it was the start of last year, we 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:32.640 had Ryan Adams on this podcast who he's a big 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:36.400 fan of yours, and at that time I was listening 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:38.160 to Set the Boy Free. I was listened to the 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:43.480 audio book version of it, and I thought, and because 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:45.640 I knew he was a big fan, I thought, that's good. 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:48.200 I've got that in my back pocket if this conversations 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:50.800 going bad, because he can be a bit of a 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:55.800 tricky customer sometimes, so I'd heard and I used it 0:04:55.880 --> 0:04:59.800 up quite quickly the whole I'm listening to Johnny Mar's autobiography. 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:03.880 But it didn't go as well as I hoped. 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:06.200 I thought we were going to then bond over this book, 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:09.920 you know, but he actually just seemed to be quite 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:12.159 annoyed at the fact that I was listening to it 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:13.200 rather than reading it. 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:16.200 Wow, well, I don't care, he was like, I'm not 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:18.320 annoyed by it. Yeah, he was gone on him. 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:20.440 Yeah, I think it didn't count. 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:23.560 I kind of offended his sensibilities and purity of it. 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:25.920 Yeah, sweet, Yeah, it was quite nice in a way. 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:28.400 He was sticking up for you and thinking, this guy's 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:30.640 written this book, so like, how dare you just take 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:31.400 this easy option? 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:33.560 But I loved the book. I thought it was great. 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:35.839 I flew through it. 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:41.160 Was it as cathartic as people say or presume writing autobiography. 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:45.720 Is, you know, I was once it had been done, 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:52.000 I was sort of expecting some kind of catharsis and 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:54.760 as almost as a payback, you know what I mean. 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:58.000 You expect it because you hear about this great cathartic 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:05.560 stuff that happens, and it didn't. Really the process was. 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:08.599 It took me nine months to do it, which given 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:12.240 that it's a proper book and my friends who've written 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:15.520 similar books, I've taken two and a half years, and 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:17.800 that's you know, that's not shirking it, or two years 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:20.360 or whatever to do a similar kind of book. I 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:22.839 was aware when I got to seven months in that 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:25.920 I was really crunching it and getting really stuck in. 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:27.680 You know, I was doing five six hours a day, 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:31.200 and sometimes inspiration had strike and I'd worked really late 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:34.159 at night, so I was pretty I was pretty burnt 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:36.080 out by the time I finished it, to be honest, 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:39.640 you know, nine months to write your life story and 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:42.200 try and do it properly is quite a sort of 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:46.080 compressed time. But I'd still be doing it now if 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:49.400 I hadn't done it that way. So it was mind crunching, 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:52.760 and it was a little like I'd imagine it was 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:55.039 a little like working on a dissertation every day for 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:58.039 nine months, pretty much every day, right, So it was 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:05.200 that intensive. Things came up during the writing of it 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:08.200 that without I don't want to make it sound more 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:11.360 dramatic than it was, but some things actually, you know, 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:16.840 made me feel immense joy and were very very easy 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:20.640 in the telling of it. My days with Modest Mouse, 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:22.480 or you know, hanging out with my mates in the 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:26.120 record shops, stealing record covers. My mate Malku was this 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:30.800 amazing shoplifter. Those kind of things I'd forgotten about, and 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:33.400 as they came up, you know, I felt, oh, it's 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:36.200 a really really warm feeling. But then there were other 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:40.160 things that actually just pissed me off and made me 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:42.800 kind of I carried around for a few days that 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:47.640 kind of made me angry. I didn't realize my school. 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:50.560 I'm not someone whose bangs on about how torturous my 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:52.760 school was, and I actually thought in my school days, 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:56.440 secondary school as a teenager would be really a bit 0:07:56.440 --> 0:07:58.960 of a breeze to write about. But when I started 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:02.720 uncovering what that experience was like, you know, this kind 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:04.960 of anger came out in me, that this sort of 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:09.679 resentment that had really withheld or just forgotten about. Of course, 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:12.200 you know, writing about the Smith's, the ending of the 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:19.960 Smith's brought up some real sadness, you know, looking at it, 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:23.720 not just because it's so important to people, and I 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:25.440 realized that that was going to be the kind of 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:28.160 thing that most people were interested in, but you know, 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:30.560 looking at it from an adult, a much more mature 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:35.920 person's advantage point that you know, that made me sad. Really, 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:41.200 I didn't want to pour too much syrupy kind of 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:44.520 emotion on it in the writing of it. I wanted 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:47.160 to keep the book a consistent tone and not too 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:50.600 much of a drag. But yeah, that you know, so 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:55.400 that was a drag, but it was sad. But that's 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:59.000 what happened during the writing of the book. And I 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:03.360 think it's not like there's Catharsis going on. But I 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:07.240 think I'm now in the process of post book, having 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:11.000 literally written the chapters of my life and released it. 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:16.200 I think I'm going through that now really, and we're 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:21.040 you know right now that my new album, third solo 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:25.559 album called The Comedy is coming out and I'm starting 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:33.120 to realize that the autobiographical songs, they're not confessional by 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:35.679 any means, because it's I find that a little much, 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:39.200 But I think they're kind of a result of having 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:44.400 written the book. I think, yeah, I'm sort of in 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:47.320 the process of this record coming out now, I'm seeing 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:53.720 that the new album was was it like a blank page? Really, 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:57.920 I went into it with no preconceptions and no not 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:06.199 really a certain definite agenda. And that's been really, really 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:08.079 good for me. I think it's been really good for 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:11.079 the record. I think it's made it's what's made this record, 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:15.679 amongst other things, but it's made this record a step 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:18.120 up from the other records. I think. I'm happy with 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:22.560 the others book. What gives it its extra dimension is 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:26.400 this that there's a new emotional quality in it, which 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:28.000 I think I wouldn't have done and not written in 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:30.679 the book. That's a quicker version. 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:35.800 Because you kind of essentially packaged up, boxed up like 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:39.840 your life from birth until you know, two years ago 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:43.320 kind of thing and drawn some kind of line in 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:43.640 the sand. 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:47.199 But do you are you generally? Are you a nostalgic 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:49.320 person anyway? Have you always been nostalgia. 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:51.599 Not in the slightest. I am pathologically the opposite. I 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:54.360 run a mile from any kind of nostalgia. 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:56.400 I'm not surprised to hear that. I feel like. 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:02.600 Not all musicians, but I think most musicians can't. An 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:05.800 artist can't really afford to be nostalgic. I mean, it 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:07.719 depends what type of musician you are, I guess, but 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:11.640 if you're always wanting to create something new, do you 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:11.840 know what? 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:14.160 It's funny you should mention that, because I was thinking 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:17.440 that pretty much the same thing only last week in 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:23.600 that as about how I'm not a nostalgic person and 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:30.079 how I was imagining how say visual artists like painters, 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:32.800 particularly David Hotney, seems to come up quite a lot 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:34.920 in my interviews, but I seem to cite him quite 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:37.200 a lot. But I really admire the fact that he's 0:11:37.240 --> 0:11:39.400 in his eighties and he's still going forward, and he's 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:44.719 still more importantly, still doing really good work. And I've 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:47.480 got a couple of friends who are artists, once a 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:50.679 sculpture and an other ones an artist, and I can't 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:57.120 really imagine them finding much worth in looking back, other 0:11:57.200 --> 0:11:59.760 than to tell some tales out a dinner party or 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:02.760 around in you know, in a bar or something like 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:06.280 telling the odd Tale, but it actually informing your work, 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:10.400 any nostalgia, and actually just even informing your kind of life. 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:13.640 I don't see any point in it, I actually other 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:16.080 than the retelling of a nice tale. 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:20.360 Yeah, I suppose the problem is being Johnny Marr and 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:24.240 having done all the things you've done, and I'm aware 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:26.040 of the fact that I'm doing it right now. People 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:28.200 kind of want to ask you about things that have happened, 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:30.680 not not just like thinks, you know, like good You've 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:32.760 got good tales. That's one of the great things about 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:36.679 the book is there's so many good, kind of incidental 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:39.400 little side notes and little stories and things. 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:41.440 I understand, you know what. I understand that really because 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:43.839 I'm a fan as well, so you know, as I'm 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:47.040 a fan of you know, if I would love to 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:49.840 hear lou Read telling some stories I didn't know about, 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:52.280 not just a Velvet Underground, but maybe what happened money 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:55.760 was doing Transformer or Burlin. I think maybe that might 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:57.839 be the slight difference, so in that I don't want 0:12:57.840 --> 0:12:59.920 to hear just about the Velvet Underground. I quite like 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:03.200 to hear about his journey as a person. But no, 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:07.480 I think I'm alright with that. You know, as I've 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:12.520 got older, I remember, you know occasionally when you'd read 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:15.800 some old motown star putting out a record in the 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:18.560 nineties or whatever, and they'd get really touchy with the 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:21.480 journalists because they just want to talk about now and 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:26.800 you think, I don't think, Oh, I don't really, I 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:28.920 don't really want to turn into that. But I think 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:31.800 the important part, and this is where it becomes quite subjective, 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:35.800 is is, yeah, you've got to make music and be 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:39.440 doing something that is, if not as interesting, at least 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:41.000 interesting to talk about. Yeah. 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:41.760 Yeah, yeah, sure. 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:45.800 So you've got to keep yourself not not current, but 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:50.840 just interested in things, and but just be doing interesting work. 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:52.640 Then I think, can I have an interesting sort of 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:55.440 opinions and insights and then you can balance some of 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:58.800 that old stuff. Yeah, because you don't just be something 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:01.760 a bit cool about just trotting out the old war stories. 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:03.440 That's the other thing about writing your book. You don't 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:05.280 Once you've written a book, you don't have to bother 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:07.280 your mates with these old war stories anymore. 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:08.640 Yeah, it's all in the book. 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:10.920 You just say, look, read it, Yeah, heard it. 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:15.880 Do you mind if I ask you one story in 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:20.120 the book, That's what There was one sign anecdote that 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:23.840 for some reason stuck with me, which is the story 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:27.160 that you tell in it of giving this guitar that 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:30.560 Pete Townsend had given to you to Noel Gallagher. Yeah, 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:34.400 and he broke it. Yeah, and then you gate so then, 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:37.520 but he was on tour somewhere. I might have this, 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:41.560 I might have remembered this incorrectly. But Sea's on tour. 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:46.080 You've given him this Lesbel guitar. Yeah, Pete Townsend go 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:47.560 to you, he breaks it. 0:14:47.920 --> 0:14:50.600 Yeah, however in a fight on stage, okay, right, it's it, 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:51.960 and Liam with it. No, he's it in one of 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:52.880 the audiences. 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:55.440 Okay, right, and he tells you. He calls you and says, 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:58.280 I've broken that guitar. And then you sent him a 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:00.000 lespuel that you used on The Queen's Dead. 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:01.720 Yeah. 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:03.440 I wrote The Queen's Dead on it. And I know 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:06.720 it's sober and a bunch of Really. 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:09.880 I mean, that's a very nice thing for you to do, 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:12.720 as supposed to just say, well, I know why you 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:14.600 Why have you done that to my guitar? 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:18.920 I guess it was quite generous. He yeah, I know, 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:24.680 I was drinking a lot back in the However, I'm 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:28.400 gonna disclaim it. I've not ever regretted it. I've never 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:32.480 regretted it. And Noel, you know, we both those guitars. 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:35.200 There is guitars. You know, as far as I'm concerned, 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:36.440 I gave him those guitars. 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:38.360 He's still got them. 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:40.400 He's still got them. Yeah. And when I played on 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:44.040 an Oasis song in I don't know, two thousand and something, 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:49.280 his guitar Teck, who was formerly my guitar Tech, handed 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:50.920 me that guitar that I did on the Queen is 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:53.040 Dead to do the solo on, which was a nice 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:56.840 little symbolic kind of gesture. The thing about it is that, 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:00.080 you know, he loves that he's got those guitars, and 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:04.440 I was really happy to to do that for that reason, 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:07.400 and also he really needed helping out back in the day. 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:09.520 You know, they were really skinned and he was someone 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:12.160 I really liked. I had no idea that Oasis, I 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:14.400 mean who did. Yeah, no one had any idea that 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:16.480 Oasis were going to one day play three nights at 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:20.360 Wembley Stadium and be this enormous kind of phenomena. There 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:22.720 could have just been some band who never got out 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:24.360 of the board walk. I still would have gave him 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:26.880 the guitar. I just liked him, you know. 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:32.960 But yeah, so who who's sending you guitars? Then in 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:36.080 my mind there's like because no Gallagher I think does 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:38.520 pretty well from other guitarist guitar I know, like Paul 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:39.680 Weller sends him guitars. 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:40.040 He does. 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:43.200 Yeah, But is it just Nol's kind of getting them 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:45.520 all or do you? In my mind there's this kind 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:48.880 of club of you know, rock guitarists who trade things 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:50.640 because anyone has anyone sent you one that. 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:53.800 I've gifted quite a lot of guitars over the years, 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:56.040 and it really means something to me. You know. Bernard 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:59.880 Butler has got the twelve string that I used on 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.960 that I used on Strange Ways and in eighty seven 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:09.480 with the Smiths, and he really treasures that guitar because 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:11.240 it's also a really good guitar, you know, And I 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:14.520 know that I know that he he used that, and 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:16.840 I just wanted to do that. When I met Bernard, 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:19.679 I really respected him and I knew that he understood 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:23.439 what I was doing back in the in the old days. 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:27.040 It's a bit of a tradition. Really, it's it's a 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:31.680 kind of there's a there's a thing amongst country musicians 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:34.600 if you give someone their guitar, it's it's like the 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:39.080 ultimate sign of respect, you know. And you know, I've 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:42.560 I've owned quite a lot of the years. So but 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:47.280 it's a very good question because I did notice for 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:51.240 many a day who was giving me a guitar? 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:52.640 Yeah, where's yours coming from? 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:57.600 Well? Mine? Actually, the over the recent years, I've been 0:17:57.680 --> 0:17:59.800 sort of gifted a few nice guitars, you know. So 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:04.720 The Edge sent me a guitar about a few years ago, 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:07.280 just out of the blue, which is really really really nice. 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:14.480 And and recently Ed O'Brien from Radiohead sent me his guitar. 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:19.680 And do they come with notes on saying, just like 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:20.360 kind I. 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:24.040 Know they always coming with always coming notes. And no 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:27.760 Rogers gave me, okay a guitar, which is which is 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:32.840 fair enough because I gave him one, and Christy Hin 0:18:32.880 --> 0:18:35.840 gave me a guitar recently. This is all quite recently actually. 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:38.200 Okay, so you'll get your you're cashing in now, you're 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:42.199 getting them back now my pension. Yeah, there must be 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:46.359 some that you have. There must be instruments that you 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:51.200 have that you're almost kind of spinal tap about, like, oh, 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:54.080 you can't even touch that one, let alone have it. 0:18:54.640 --> 0:19:00.199 Yeah, Well, there's a there's a very well known own 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:03.159 read Gibson three five five that I used in the 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:07.040 Smith's days, which actually wasn't right throughout the Smith's career, 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:09.800 but there was a lot of quite well known photograph 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:12.159 take and there's a famous one of me smoking a 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:15.480 fag with opening the opening the guitar case, and the 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:18.240 guitar is pretty much as big as I am. I 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:23.080 was so tiny, and and that's got quite a good 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:25.200 story to which I've you know, I've been asked to 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:29.480 tell a few times about when Seymour Stein from Sire 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:33.159 Records he bought that for me when the Smith signed 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:37.800 Sir in nineteen eighty three, and that inspired Noel and 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:39.920 then and it inspired Bernard Butler and stuff. So I'm 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:41.920 very proud of I'm actually really proud of the fact 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:45.040 it's inspired two guitar players that I really like mates. 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:48.359 But that's you know, over the years, that's become like 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:52.360 a a pretty treasured guitar. And I know Ryan Adams 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:55.480 likes this red Port red Less Paul rather that I 0:19:55.560 --> 0:19:58.600 used to that I started using in nineteen eighty five, 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:01.200 and he's got very good taste that because not a lot, 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:03.159 not everyone picks up on that guitar. And it's a 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:06.360 really really great guitar. I mean that is very very important. 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:09.120 So like a lot of guitar players, I could would 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:14.600 be here for hours. But yeah, there's a there's a 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:16.440 few really important ones that I've kept. 0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:20.040 You were a great footballers as a kid and played 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:22.399 you trialed at Man City. 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:23.879 Right, yeah, not in the forest as well. 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:28.080 Yeah, retrospectively, do you think you would have had the 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:31.600 temperament to be a professional footballer? Would that have suited 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:33.000 you if it had gone that way? 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:36.439 No? No, you know I didn't even back then, to 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:38.960 be honest with you, because when I when I played 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:42.960 for City juniors and went for those trials and you know, 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:45.439 people up my mum and dads and stuff. I mean 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:47.359 I knew the jig was up because I was like 0:20:47.480 --> 0:20:51.320 so into not just playing the guitar, but you know 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:53.840 I was. I was staying out all night, was staying 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:57.119 up all night, you know, And you know I always 0:20:57.200 --> 0:20:59.639 joked about I was the only footballer with eyeliner on 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:01.960 the pitch, which is true, but that was sort of 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:04.919 symbolic of my kind of commitment to you know, I 0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:07.480 was just really getting in deep into the life of musician, 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:13.199 you know, you know, I wanted to take drugs and 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:16.560 and stay up all night writing songs. I mean, it 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:19.720 was completely the opposite of what a fifteen year old 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:21.840 boy should be focusing on if he's going to be 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:26.679 any kind of a you know. It was just happened 0:21:26.720 --> 0:21:28.879 at the time when I was really discovering all of 0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:31.960 this stuff, so internally I knew like, oh man, I 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:33.639 mean if you asked me a couple of years earlier, 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:36.000 like now, academies and all of that, when they get 0:21:36.040 --> 0:21:38.640 you at eight nine, ten, might have been a little 0:21:38.680 --> 0:21:43.520 bit different. I mean, I'm such a musician. Yeah, you know, 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:48.560 I'm such a musician. It's I can't really imagine it. 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:51.280 It's hard to I I as a kid grow I 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:54.320 grew up in Essex and football was life, you know, 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:57.360 as a small boy. As everyone ever in my tower, 0:21:57.359 --> 0:21:59.600 it's all about football. And I loved football. I loved 0:21:59.640 --> 0:22:02.879 playing football and I do miss it. But what happened 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:06.000 was I think I got into music and I only 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:09.040 had enough room to obsess as much as I obsessed 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:12.399 over music. I had one had to choose, you know, 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:13.720 I felt like I had to choose. 0:22:13.760 --> 0:22:15.280 Like it's a full. 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:17.160 Time job, hasn't it been? Even being a football fan 0:22:17.280 --> 0:22:19.080 is a full time job of knowing everything. 0:22:19.440 --> 0:22:21.640 What you might be talking about there is like I mean, 0:22:21.640 --> 0:22:23.879 in my case, it was very you know defined I 0:22:23.920 --> 0:22:25.960 am going to be a musician, and I mean I 0:22:26.040 --> 0:22:28.600 always wanted to be a musician from being a little child. 0:22:28.640 --> 0:22:31.639 But I am going to write. I was learning about 0:22:31.720 --> 0:22:34.920 how to put a band together, you know, finding mussal rooms. 0:22:34.920 --> 0:22:36.800 And it wasn't just about you know, staying up and 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:40.439 taking drugs of like, okay, leave school. I have to 0:22:40.520 --> 0:22:42.719 leave school. You know. My older mates who are in bands, 0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:45.359 they're going in virgin records and looking for a bass 0:22:45.400 --> 0:22:47.359 player and all of that. Okay, I have to be 0:22:47.480 --> 0:22:51.040 like that. So it was all aspects of that. But 0:22:51.080 --> 0:22:53.359 I think what you're talking about really is commitment to 0:22:55.040 --> 0:22:58.840 almost commitment to a vocation. Yeah, you know when you 0:22:59.240 --> 0:23:01.320 in my case it was me musician, your case being 0:23:01.359 --> 0:23:04.800 a writer of getting your magazine together, and people have 0:23:04.840 --> 0:23:10.840 got all these different stories. When you get a clear 0:23:11.920 --> 0:23:18.560 inclination and a vision or a path at a young 0:23:18.600 --> 0:23:21.600 age of what you might be a to achieve or 0:23:21.640 --> 0:23:24.960 an obsession. Say it's it's not only is it very powerful, 0:23:25.000 --> 0:23:29.479 it's actually really quite unusual. And you're very, very lucky 0:23:30.040 --> 0:23:32.959 to have that, because we all know that most people 0:23:33.080 --> 0:23:34.760 don't really know what they did want to do until 0:23:34.760 --> 0:23:37.720 the twenty two, twenty seven or whatever. You fall into 0:23:37.840 --> 0:23:41.960 your your occupation from trial and error, and that's kind 0:23:42.000 --> 0:23:46.280 of the way it should be. But I it was 0:23:46.359 --> 0:23:49.479 so hell bent on doing what I now am doing it, 0:23:51.440 --> 0:23:55.719 and you know, it took a lot of work, you know, 0:23:55.960 --> 0:24:00.320 like I didn't know I was going to quote quote 0:24:00.560 --> 0:24:03.360 make it. You know, I just knew whether I made 0:24:03.359 --> 0:24:04.919 it or not, I just knew I was going to 0:24:04.960 --> 0:24:06.439 give it a go, and I really wanted to do 0:24:06.520 --> 0:24:10.200 it in spite of you know what people read about 0:24:10.200 --> 0:24:12.199 me being so self assured, and a lot of that 0:24:12.320 --> 0:24:19.760 was Bravardo frankly, you know, but I just had such 0:24:19.800 --> 0:24:22.240 a love of what was what I wanted to do. 0:24:23.400 --> 0:24:27.320 And I see it occasionally with other when I've seen 0:24:27.359 --> 0:24:33.560 it with other young people, it's very rare. Whether you 0:24:33.600 --> 0:24:36.880 want to be in clothes or fashion, or do makeup 0:24:37.200 --> 0:24:43.160 or be an artist, or whatever. I almost think it's 0:24:43.400 --> 0:24:45.679 really bad for you if you don't honor it. Yeah, 0:24:46.240 --> 0:24:48.600 I think it's psychically bad for you and spiritually bad 0:24:48.680 --> 0:24:52.000 for you. Whatever that means. You have to be better 0:24:52.040 --> 0:24:54.800 to be a starving writer or a starving artist than 0:24:54.920 --> 0:25:01.439 a working call center person emotional and mentally. You just 0:25:01.440 --> 0:25:06.040 got to do try and do what you love. So yeah, 0:25:06.080 --> 0:25:08.159 so football was a good idea, but you know, I was, 0:25:08.200 --> 0:25:11.320 I was really I was starting to kind of like 0:25:11.680 --> 0:25:13.320 get elbowed off the picture more ways. 0:25:15.400 --> 0:25:18.160 So the new album come the comment called the comment 0:25:18.240 --> 0:25:21.959 sorry is I mean, it's your first since the book. 0:25:22.440 --> 0:25:24.240 I was going to ask if the book affected a bit, 0:25:24.400 --> 0:25:27.040 but you've probably said that it has. It's got a 0:25:27.160 --> 0:25:30.000 very definite it's got a theme to it. It's not necessary. 0:25:30.119 --> 0:25:32.120 I mean, would you call it a concept record or. 0:25:32.080 --> 0:25:34.280 No, I wouldn't call it a concept record, just simply 0:25:34.320 --> 0:25:38.719 because of the connotations of that phrase. Really, it conjures 0:25:38.840 --> 0:25:43.040 up kind of prog rock cuds us up a cover 0:25:43.160 --> 0:25:46.440 with wizards on it, and you know, stood on grassy Knolls, 0:25:46.520 --> 0:25:51.080 you know. But but I'm pleased to say that there 0:25:51.119 --> 0:25:57.320 are a few concepts that run through a quite a 0:25:57.320 --> 0:26:00.680 few of the songs or a concept that runs through 0:26:01.119 --> 0:26:04.520 quite a few of the songs, because I say, I'm 0:26:04.520 --> 0:26:10.200 pleased because I think I'm getting better as a writer, 0:26:11.520 --> 0:26:17.399 being able to execute songs with concepts. Really, I mean 0:26:17.400 --> 0:26:23.919 the concept being and that because I like to just 0:26:24.040 --> 0:26:29.320 instinctively sing about the outside world more than my inner 0:26:29.520 --> 0:26:32.400 feelings and thoughts, just because I think, you know, it's 0:26:32.440 --> 0:26:35.640 kind of a good thing to write songs about and 0:26:35.720 --> 0:26:39.159 the outside world. For the last couple of years, the 0:26:39.160 --> 0:26:42.280 one that I live in anyway, has been so affected 0:26:42.320 --> 0:26:47.280 by the political climate, specifically that I had to sing 0:26:47.320 --> 0:26:50.679 about an alternative kind of world because I to be 0:26:50.920 --> 0:26:53.040 you know, basic about it. I just didn't feel like 0:26:53.080 --> 0:26:55.639 those people deserve being in my head or my songs. 0:26:55.960 --> 0:26:58.880 The politicians are around at the moment, I just had 0:26:59.000 --> 0:27:01.560 enough of them. I thought, well, I have to kind 0:27:01.560 --> 0:27:04.760 of live with the consequences of you being in power. 0:27:05.359 --> 0:27:07.840 I'm not gonna I'm not going to have you in 0:27:07.880 --> 0:27:13.120 habit my record. And then that got me thinking about anyway, 0:27:13.119 --> 0:27:19.399 about how I was escaping into my life as a 0:27:19.480 --> 0:27:23.320 musician and an artist. But also it'd be quite good 0:27:23.400 --> 0:27:27.040 for what I remember that it's a good thing that 0:27:27.160 --> 0:27:31.679 rock music can be an escape for the listener too. 0:27:32.200 --> 0:27:34.040 And I don't know about anyone else, but it was 0:27:34.040 --> 0:27:35.720 almost something that i'd forgotten in a way. 0:27:35.880 --> 0:27:37.080 Yeah, just that. 0:27:37.160 --> 0:27:40.840 Purely that escapism into you know, it doesn't have to 0:27:40.880 --> 0:27:44.040 be very fairy kind of nonsense, but it can be 0:27:44.080 --> 0:27:47.200 songs about sex, drugs, or rock and roll or whatever. 0:27:47.880 --> 0:27:50.040 And it was almost a sort of active defiance that 0:27:50.320 --> 0:27:52.960 when Brexit happened and Trump got in, et cetera, et cetera, 0:27:53.760 --> 0:27:56.760 I was thinking, you know what, man, I'm just really 0:27:56.760 --> 0:27:59.280 going to try to avoid writing about these fuckers. I 0:27:59.320 --> 0:28:00.240 really am. 0:28:00.640 --> 0:28:03.439 That's actually quite a powerful way of dealing with it, 0:28:03.480 --> 0:28:07.800 I feel, because it's funny how maybe ten years ago, 0:28:08.119 --> 0:28:12.720 the kind of criticism of music at that time seemed 0:28:12.720 --> 0:28:15.520 to be, oh, no one writes political songs anymore, that's right, 0:28:15.640 --> 0:28:19.560 And today, in the last year and a half, it 0:28:19.760 --> 0:28:21.680 feels like we're kind of getting to a point where 0:28:21.920 --> 0:28:24.480 where the opinion is more like, oh God, here's another 0:28:24.560 --> 0:28:28.600 political kind of song. Not not because that's not needed 0:28:29.480 --> 0:28:32.160 or valid it, but it kind of wears you down, 0:28:32.240 --> 0:28:35.200 isn't it. And I think we are now kind of 0:28:35.200 --> 0:28:38.000 swinging back towards the idea of thinking like, oh, let's 0:28:38.120 --> 0:28:41.240 just have a bit of escapism, and as you say, 0:28:41.360 --> 0:28:44.400 not give them, not give them the time, you know. 0:28:44.560 --> 0:28:46.240 In the energy and the energy. 0:28:46.000 --> 0:28:48.280 Because it's not like we're all walking around with you know, 0:28:48.320 --> 0:28:50.480 with our heads in the sounds like ostriches. You know, 0:28:50.760 --> 0:28:54.440 I'm not that person. I wouldn't be that irresponsible. I 0:28:54.440 --> 0:28:59.000 couldn't if I tried, you know, just ignore it. But yeah, 0:28:59.040 --> 0:29:01.600 it was just an I just was like, no, man, 0:29:01.600 --> 0:29:03.600 I'll be damned if I'm going to have you occupy 0:29:03.680 --> 0:29:06.320 my artistic mind as well as my sort of day 0:29:06.360 --> 0:29:11.400 to day living experience, and same with the audience. And 0:29:11.400 --> 0:29:16.360 I also thought that I'm very, very very fortunate to 0:29:16.400 --> 0:29:18.560 get up on the stage and sing and play the 0:29:18.600 --> 0:29:24.480 guitar and have people support that and have people's ear 0:29:24.600 --> 0:29:30.080 to do that, and that should be my job. You know, 0:29:30.320 --> 0:29:33.600 in this day and age, that's not a walk in 0:29:33.640 --> 0:29:35.640 the park. You have to songs don't just you know, 0:29:35.800 --> 0:29:38.520 fall out of the sky. You know some of them do, 0:29:38.640 --> 0:29:40.800 but you know, they don't just happen. You have to 0:29:40.840 --> 0:29:43.200 apply yourself and work out writing decent songs that your 0:29:43.200 --> 0:29:45.880 audience want to hear. So you know, it's not a 0:29:45.960 --> 0:29:48.440 doddle but I thought that should really be enough for 0:29:48.480 --> 0:29:50.880 the audience. If I get up and do for people, 0:29:51.560 --> 0:29:53.920 particularly for the people who are interested in what I do. 0:29:54.360 --> 0:29:56.080 If I get up there and play good guitar that 0:29:56.120 --> 0:29:58.680 they like and come up with decent songs and do 0:29:58.720 --> 0:30:01.640 good shows, that's my protest in a way. 0:30:01.760 --> 0:30:05.120 Yeah, in terms of like the lyrics, this is your 0:30:05.160 --> 0:30:07.920 third solo album. Yeah, how easy for you is it 0:30:07.960 --> 0:30:10.320 writing lyrics? I know, like, obviously playing the guitar is 0:30:10.360 --> 0:30:14.160 something that really nut comes naturally to you on that actually, 0:30:14.160 --> 0:30:17.480 do you feel that playing the guitar is a natural 0:30:17.840 --> 0:30:23.320 gift in the sense that I'm always interested to know if, like, 0:30:23.840 --> 0:30:27.600 can people learn it to the extent I think I 0:30:27.640 --> 0:30:29.400 personally think you can learn the guitar a bit or 0:30:29.440 --> 0:30:32.800 a piano or anything. Anyone can learn it. Yeah, But 0:30:32.840 --> 0:30:35.760 there is a difference between learning it and mimicking it 0:30:36.200 --> 0:30:40.520 and actually being this kind of feeling seeing a guitarist 0:30:40.520 --> 0:30:42.200 and you think, oh, that's like that gift, that's what 0:30:42.320 --> 0:30:45.160 they're That sounds a bit like Hammy and Hippie. But 0:30:45.640 --> 0:30:48.600 when you see Jimmy Hendrix playing guitar, yeah, you know that. 0:30:48.720 --> 0:30:51.920 However much anyone else tries to do that. They can't 0:30:51.960 --> 0:30:54.680 do that, that's just in him kind of thing. Do 0:30:54.720 --> 0:30:56.280 you feel the same, Do you feel that with the 0:30:56.280 --> 0:30:58.320 guitar with you, like it was just in you to 0:30:58.320 --> 0:30:59.560 be able to play the guitar that way? 0:30:59.640 --> 0:31:05.440 You know, you know, false modesty aside. I do, because 0:31:05.960 --> 0:31:10.360 I'll tell you why, Because there's been there's times in 0:31:10.360 --> 0:31:13.280 my life when I can be quite cavalier about it even, 0:31:13.840 --> 0:31:19.280 you know, and I try not to do that so much. 0:31:21.280 --> 0:31:23.560 The fact that I started off so early as a kid, 0:31:24.280 --> 0:31:29.959 and I'm not I'm not like this crazy wizzy technical player, 0:31:30.000 --> 0:31:33.160 but what I do comes very easy to me, you know, 0:31:33.400 --> 0:31:37.200 and it helps being completely obsessed about the instrument and 0:31:37.240 --> 0:31:41.840 obsessed about playing it. But it does come really naturally 0:31:41.840 --> 0:31:44.120 to me, you know, And it came naturally to me 0:31:44.160 --> 0:31:47.880 when I was starting out the basic obvious things when 0:31:47.920 --> 0:31:50.240 you're seven or eight, trying to hold down on a 0:31:50.280 --> 0:31:53.959 really crappy acoustic whold chords down, which is physically very difficult, 0:31:54.160 --> 0:31:56.200 and it hurting your fingers. 0:31:55.920 --> 0:31:59.280 Yeah, and indenting your fingers and for the first time, yeah. 0:31:59.200 --> 0:32:01.560 All of that stuff that people know trying to learn 0:32:01.600 --> 0:32:05.440 the guitar, all that happened to me. But I completely. 0:32:06.000 --> 0:32:08.720 So it happened, but I ignored it. I was like, well, 0:32:08.840 --> 0:32:10.840 you know, this will go away in two weeks because 0:32:12.200 --> 0:32:18.600 this hurdle was tiny. The joy that I was getting 0:32:18.600 --> 0:32:22.040 from just plunking away and was so much greater than 0:32:22.080 --> 0:32:25.920 any kind of you know, discomfort. And in a way 0:32:27.040 --> 0:32:29.600 I almost hadn't there. You know, it's kind of sound ridiculous, 0:32:29.600 --> 0:32:32.440 but when I was getting the calousis on my fingers, 0:32:32.480 --> 0:32:34.360 they were like my battle scars in a way. Really 0:32:34.360 --> 0:32:36.360 I loved it. Yeah, and other people know what I'm 0:32:36.400 --> 0:32:38.480 talking about there, And I loved all those hours of 0:32:38.520 --> 0:32:41.120 putting it that I put into it. So playing the 0:32:41.120 --> 0:32:45.160 guitar was always came really easy. When you're that interested 0:32:45.200 --> 0:32:46.880 in something, it's quite easy. 0:32:47.080 --> 0:32:47.400 Sure. 0:32:48.000 --> 0:32:51.000 And how about the lyrics then, now that now that 0:32:51.000 --> 0:32:55.160 that's you as well? Yeah, and especially having been in 0:32:55.240 --> 0:32:57.760 a you know, a group with such a lyricist as 0:32:57.760 --> 0:33:00.040 Morris it, Yeah, I mean do you do you do 0:33:00.080 --> 0:33:02.320 you find it easy to writing lyrics anyway? And do 0:33:02.360 --> 0:33:06.320 you feel any pressure from the groups you've been in 0:33:06.320 --> 0:33:09.760 where the lyrics have been of a kind of insane. 0:33:09.400 --> 0:33:14.120 Some are easy, some are difficult, some are really difficult 0:33:14.240 --> 0:33:17.240 because you have to really get into crafting them. So 0:33:17.280 --> 0:33:22.200 it's a lot of work and the but you know, 0:33:22.280 --> 0:33:27.880 the pressure that I feel for writing lyrics is comes 0:33:28.160 --> 0:33:33.479 entirely from the apprenticeship, is the best way of putting it. 0:33:34.440 --> 0:33:37.640 That I add as a fourteen and fifteen year old 0:33:37.840 --> 0:33:43.080 around some adults and older kids who were very discerning, 0:33:44.160 --> 0:33:47.960 so that let's say, quality control if you like, went 0:33:48.080 --> 0:33:51.640 into me. Then fourteen fifteen, it didn't go into me 0:33:52.240 --> 0:33:55.200 because because I was in the Smiths, I understand what 0:33:55.200 --> 0:34:02.840 you're saying, and Morrissey particularly being very revered, it hasn't 0:34:02.960 --> 0:34:06.920 played into it doesn't affect. In other words, I'm when 0:34:06.960 --> 0:34:08.840 I write lyrics, I'm not going does this measure up 0:34:08.880 --> 0:34:11.320 to the Smiths? I'm kind of going, does this measure 0:34:11.440 --> 0:34:15.120 up to the person I was what I twigged at 0:34:15.160 --> 0:34:20.239 fourteen fifteen about decent writing. That's gone with me all 0:34:20.239 --> 0:34:23.920 the way through the Smiths, through the other Neil Tennant, 0:34:24.920 --> 0:34:30.240 Isaac Brock, modest Mouse, Everyone've worked with, whether it's Beck 0:34:30.440 --> 0:34:33.479 or Neil Finn on and on, all these different people 0:34:33.480 --> 0:34:38.239 I have worked with. That journey started at fourteen fifteen when 0:34:38.280 --> 0:34:41.919 I was like, oh right, okay, Lou Reed's really really 0:34:41.960 --> 0:34:46.400 good and Ray Davis is really good and started measuring 0:34:46.400 --> 0:34:50.359 that up, and I iced to measure Morrissey up against that, right, 0:34:50.840 --> 0:34:54.760 And I used to really love David Bowie's more surreal 0:34:55.160 --> 0:34:58.120 early seventies lyrics and the kind of androgynists and surreal 0:34:58.200 --> 0:35:03.280 ones driving Saturday and you know, are you Pretty Things 0:35:03.280 --> 0:35:05.879 and all and kooks and just all of that Onnky Dory, 0:35:06.120 --> 0:35:12.200 ziggy lad insane period and that criteria if you like, 0:35:12.239 --> 0:35:15.200 and that bar is It's something that's been set over 0:35:15.360 --> 0:35:17.759 all of my life. Really, Debbie Harry. I think he's 0:35:17.800 --> 0:35:21.120 a really great lyricist of kind of pop and new 0:35:21.160 --> 0:35:26.239 wave music. And so if I'm competing with anyone and 0:35:26.320 --> 0:35:27.319 competing with all of that. 0:35:27.600 --> 0:35:30.160 Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you work with a 0:35:30.200 --> 0:35:31.200 band and you have a band. 0:35:31.760 --> 0:35:32.000 Yeah. 0:35:32.200 --> 0:35:36.240 Still, but it is different, isn't it? Being releasing records 0:35:36.280 --> 0:35:38.120 as Johnny Marr as a solo artist. 0:35:38.920 --> 0:35:40.440 How are you enjoying it? Just generally? 0:35:41.600 --> 0:35:45.680 Well, today, as we speak, it's the release of my 0:35:45.800 --> 0:35:51.040 first single, which is called high Hello. And because I 0:35:51.120 --> 0:35:56.839 was such absolutely not at eight or nine about seven 0:35:56.880 --> 0:35:58.960 inch singles, I just thought they were the greatest thing 0:35:59.000 --> 0:36:00.719 in the world. I thought they were better and football. 0:36:00.800 --> 0:36:03.720 I thought they were better, and I mean, I love clothes, 0:36:03.800 --> 0:36:06.400 I love football, and I was even really loved girls 0:36:06.440 --> 0:36:08.480 in that young age, and I loved a lot of things, 0:36:08.520 --> 0:36:12.959 but a record and what it did was really up there, 0:36:13.120 --> 0:36:15.360 really really up there, which is why fans will know. 0:36:15.400 --> 0:36:17.600 I've got this forty five tattoo on my arm right 0:36:19.040 --> 0:36:23.839 And so days like today when my single, I still 0:36:23.840 --> 0:36:25.600 think of it as a single and it will exist 0:36:25.600 --> 0:36:27.239 on seven inches. I mean, I'm not like some old 0:36:27.320 --> 0:36:31.839 retro daddy kind of vibe, but you know, but it's 0:36:31.880 --> 0:36:34.080 not a retro thing. It's more like it's the release 0:36:34.120 --> 0:36:37.560 of my lead single from the record. I can't wipe 0:36:37.640 --> 0:36:42.560 out all that forty odd years of love and this 0:36:42.600 --> 0:36:45.520 thing that's been in my life, so being you know, 0:36:45.560 --> 0:36:48.040 so putting out a Johnny Marr single, and I really 0:36:48.120 --> 0:36:51.120 like the single as well, is a you've asked me 0:36:51.360 --> 0:36:53.480 a good time because it's you know today, it feels 0:36:53.520 --> 0:36:55.920 really really good. So I'm really enjoying it. It's a 0:36:56.000 --> 0:36:58.880 very rewarding thing. Fans are hearing it for the first time. 0:36:59.160 --> 0:37:01.640 One of the upside of social media is that you 0:37:01.719 --> 0:37:05.840 get that absolute reaction. Particularly it's a good reaction. Yeah, yeah, 0:37:05.920 --> 0:37:07.920 straight away, you know, from fans, so you know that 0:37:07.960 --> 0:37:11.239 they're hearing this record, so that that never diminishes for me. 0:37:11.239 --> 0:37:17.239 I think it's really exciting. Other aspects of it. You know, 0:37:17.400 --> 0:37:22.240 running a band is not only takes a lot of energy, 0:37:22.280 --> 0:37:28.120 it's very very costly, and it's a it's it's you know, 0:37:28.200 --> 0:37:30.440 it's I want to say it's a business because it's 0:37:30.480 --> 0:37:31.840 a lot more than a business, but it is a 0:37:31.840 --> 0:37:34.040 business and you have to get out there and you know, 0:37:34.120 --> 0:37:35.520 you have to get out and roll your sleeves up 0:37:35.560 --> 0:37:38.640 and do it. It's you know, being the boss of on 0:37:38.680 --> 0:37:41.520 the road. It's not enormous, but I have no twelve 0:37:41.640 --> 0:37:45.080 fourteen to fifteen people and that brings a sort of 0:37:45.400 --> 0:37:48.920 kind of pressure. But I'm always going to be doing 0:37:48.920 --> 0:37:50.600 it anyway, so I might as well be trying to, like, 0:37:50.640 --> 0:37:52.680 you know, employ people while go while I do it. 0:37:52.800 --> 0:37:55.319 Sure, I think I probably know the answer to this. 0:37:55.440 --> 0:37:58.880 But would you consider playing back in another band? 0:38:02.040 --> 0:38:05.920 Yeah? I might actually, Yeah, Yeah, that's been yeah, my 0:38:06.320 --> 0:38:08.120 I mean I love my my band and I love 0:38:08.160 --> 0:38:13.919 what I'm doing. But Neil Finn recently joined Fleetwood. Yeah 0:38:13.960 --> 0:38:17.360 what's that about that? Neil's my mate and I was like, 0:38:18.080 --> 0:38:21.160 I was trying to imagine that conversation, and I was like, well, 0:38:21.320 --> 0:38:25.239 first off, well done fleet with Matt. Yeah, because I 0:38:25.280 --> 0:38:27.239 know some people are a little like I'm not really 0:38:27.239 --> 0:38:31.239 seeing that, but I mean, it's a no brainer for Fleetwood, Matt, 0:38:31.280 --> 0:38:33.960 because Neil's like a great singer and a great guitar 0:38:34.000 --> 0:38:34.960 player and a great writer. 0:38:35.320 --> 0:38:35.800 Yeah. 0:38:35.880 --> 0:38:37.719 So if Lindsay Buckingham is not going to go in it, 0:38:37.760 --> 0:38:39.239 you could do a lot worse and have Neil Finn 0:38:39.280 --> 0:38:39.759 in your band. 0:38:39.840 --> 0:38:41.880 Would you have taken the Fleetwood Mac gig? 0:38:42.880 --> 0:38:46.239 I wouldn't have suited my my thing. I don't know 0:38:46.239 --> 0:38:49.080 what band I joined. For years now, I've been saying 0:38:49.360 --> 0:38:51.320 I'm sort of done with being in other people's bands. 0:38:51.320 --> 0:38:55.520 I'm really done with it. But you know I was. 0:38:56.120 --> 0:39:00.799 I was tempted to rejoin the Sure great and a play, 0:39:01.040 --> 0:39:04.399 very very tempted. But you know, both Matt and I 0:39:04.440 --> 0:39:07.440 know that you know he wouldn't well, he wouldn't want 0:39:07.440 --> 0:39:08.719 to get in the way of me making my own 0:39:08.760 --> 0:39:12.520 records if that's what I love at the moment. So yeah, 0:39:12.600 --> 0:39:14.600 but that was a real temptation. I always say that 0:39:14.640 --> 0:39:16.840 modest Mouse still really tempt me to go back there. 0:39:16.719 --> 0:39:17.920 You know, Yeah, do they ever? 0:39:18.840 --> 0:39:20.640 Yeah? I think the doors do they ever? Was kind 0:39:20.640 --> 0:39:21.000 of a job? 0:39:21.120 --> 0:39:22.920 Yeah, okay, right, yeah, it's there when you need it. 0:39:23.040 --> 0:39:26.160 I remember when you joined the Cribs in two thousand 0:39:26.160 --> 0:39:29.560 and eight. Yeah, And I mean, I don't know if 0:39:29.600 --> 0:39:32.719 you if social media was around then, I'm sure, and 0:39:32.840 --> 0:39:36.000 you know, the feeling of things, I'm sure get back 0:39:36.040 --> 0:39:38.640 to people however, but for me, it felt like a 0:39:38.640 --> 0:39:41.520 lot of people kind of didn't really get why you 0:39:41.560 --> 0:39:44.520 were doing it. Yeah, and to the extent that some 0:39:44.600 --> 0:39:46.080 were kind of a bit like annoyed. 0:39:46.560 --> 0:39:47.839 I kind of understood that. 0:39:48.080 --> 0:39:52.120 I think people thought, like, this is Johnny Marr, Why 0:39:52.400 --> 0:39:54.000 why is he doing I don't think they could have 0:39:54.280 --> 0:39:57.560 grasped the fact that Johnny Marr, everything you've done, everything 0:39:57.560 --> 0:40:01.560 you've achieved, legendary guitarists, all of these things, and you're 0:40:01.640 --> 0:40:03.360 kind of going to go out on the road with 0:40:03.440 --> 0:40:06.279 the Cribs, who at that time were playing kind of 0:40:06.920 --> 0:40:09.000 you know, medium sized venues, but it was back on 0:40:09.080 --> 0:40:11.680 the kind of circuit and stuff. I suppose the thing 0:40:11.719 --> 0:40:14.200 that I think that it showed or took from it, 0:40:14.239 --> 0:40:17.640 I guess was that you're asked still someone who just 0:40:17.680 --> 0:40:23.640 wants to play music essentially. And also it kind of 0:40:23.719 --> 0:40:26.640 gave me this impression that you are kind of void 0:40:26.680 --> 0:40:29.360 of ego because a lot of people. I think the 0:40:29.360 --> 0:40:32.920 reason people were surprised was because most people wouldn't do that. 0:40:32.960 --> 0:40:35.240 They would be like, oh, I'm done all that and 0:40:35.239 --> 0:40:38.160 and kind of feel like they are above being in 0:40:38.200 --> 0:40:40.960 a band, Like you know, Nil Finn joining Fleetwood Mac. 0:40:41.080 --> 0:40:43.480 That's a no brainer there. 0:40:43.280 --> 0:40:44.440 On a par aren't they. 0:40:44.640 --> 0:40:47.160 But you're a Smith's guitarist and suddenly you're playing in 0:40:47.560 --> 0:40:52.520 the cribs. Is it like that that idea of like 0:40:52.840 --> 0:40:55.799 you being kind of egoless in that in that way? 0:40:55.960 --> 0:40:56.200 Is that? 0:40:56.239 --> 0:40:58.279 Does that ring true in a way? 0:40:58.360 --> 0:41:02.600 Yeah, It's an interesting that because one of the things 0:41:02.600 --> 0:41:06.240 about writing the book that happened as I was writing 0:41:06.280 --> 0:41:09.480 it I didn't realize going into it was that being 0:41:10.760 --> 0:41:15.600 able to explain my motivation for being in Modest Mouse 0:41:16.080 --> 0:41:20.760 and being in the cribs and how it happens was 0:41:21.840 --> 0:41:24.120 the book was a really good opportunity for people to 0:41:24.400 --> 0:41:27.279 understand my process there, because from the outside, why would 0:41:27.320 --> 0:41:33.279 you understand those sort of kind of things. But one 0:41:33.320 --> 0:41:40.200 aspect of this, right is that that people probably wouldn't 0:41:40.239 --> 0:41:45.440 get is that when So in both cases with Modest 0:41:45.440 --> 0:41:48.719 Mouse and the Cribs, so I get together to do 0:41:48.880 --> 0:41:51.440 some tracks, right, which is you know, And in the 0:41:51.440 --> 0:41:53.480 case of the Cribs, it was Ryan said to me, 0:41:53.880 --> 0:41:56.239 let's do a record like a single I think he 0:41:56.360 --> 0:41:59.520 made at forty five and like an EP right Cribs 0:41:59.560 --> 0:42:01.560 and Johnny, and I thought, well that would be I 0:42:01.560 --> 0:42:04.480 could see that that's a good thing. Within minutes, I thought, yeah, 0:42:04.600 --> 0:42:10.600 out of forty five would be kind of cool. Right. So, I, 0:42:10.719 --> 0:42:13.360 from being a kid, like to be a little bit prepared, 0:42:13.400 --> 0:42:15.439 so I never go into a kind of writing thing 0:42:15.520 --> 0:42:19.640 without anything really, you know, collaborating with someone else. That is, 0:42:19.760 --> 0:42:21.520 I always have to have a few riffs. That's been 0:42:21.560 --> 0:42:23.600 in me since been about fifteen, since I went up. 0:42:23.600 --> 0:42:25.239 We used to because I used to as a kid. 0:42:25.440 --> 0:42:27.279 I got so sick of people ask him how to 0:42:27.320 --> 0:42:28.839 go and jam with him, and I'd go in there 0:42:28.880 --> 0:42:30.640 and everyone's looking at each other like what we're going 0:42:30.719 --> 0:42:34.680 to play? Stoned like just playing an e chord for 0:42:34.719 --> 0:42:37.640 twenty minutes, and I was like, this is so boring. 0:42:37.680 --> 0:42:40.720 So I from even back in those days, I was like, Okay, 0:42:40.719 --> 0:42:42.960 we'll do a bit of homework and have a couple 0:42:42.960 --> 0:42:46.920 of ideas when you go in there. So I had 0:42:46.960 --> 0:42:50.520 a couple of riffs when I went over to Portland 0:42:50.520 --> 0:42:53.280 to play with Modest Mouse, and then when I started 0:42:53.440 --> 0:42:55.040 with the Cribs, We're like, okay, well we'll do this. 0:42:55.120 --> 0:42:56.839 Let's see where we go with this. We'll do this EP. 0:42:57.600 --> 0:42:59.799 And I had a couple of these rifts, right, So 0:43:00.040 --> 0:43:02.520 we started playing, we set up our gain, we started playing, 0:43:03.200 --> 0:43:05.640 and these songs came out really quickly. It's like, okay, 0:43:05.800 --> 0:43:10.359 now again from being fourteen fifteen, this apprenticeship that bad, 0:43:10.440 --> 0:43:15.239 I go, well, this isn't really that usual that they 0:43:15.280 --> 0:43:18.759 happen so quickly, and they're really rocking. Okay, I know 0:43:18.920 --> 0:43:21.040 when chemistry is good. Right, So, oh right, we'll come 0:43:21.040 --> 0:43:24.040 back and what we're going to do tomorrow, Let's see 0:43:24.080 --> 0:43:26.520 what happens. So we do some more. So we just 0:43:26.560 --> 0:43:28.000 got on a roll with me in the Cribs. So 0:43:28.280 --> 0:43:33.960 after about five days we had about six seven instrumental 0:43:34.480 --> 0:43:38.040 great pieces of music. So like wow, wow, okay, well 0:43:38.120 --> 0:43:41.680 let's just make an album's worth. Similar kind of story 0:43:41.680 --> 0:43:45.480 happened with Modest Mouse, right, And so then what happens 0:43:45.560 --> 0:43:48.279 is you go because we're all record freaks. And this 0:43:48.360 --> 0:43:51.000 is the bit that people who are outside of what 0:43:51.280 --> 0:43:54.600 I do particularly anyway, won't get. All of us were 0:43:54.600 --> 0:43:59.080 egolests at that point, because we all go this, let's 0:43:59.160 --> 0:44:02.480 make a record. We kind of in the background, the 0:44:02.560 --> 0:44:05.680 cribs now hung on. We're bringing Johnny Marain to our band, 0:44:05.719 --> 0:44:08.200 and I go, I'm being in the cribs now the 0:44:08.239 --> 0:44:11.759 outside world, but that's only a little bit of your consideration. 0:44:12.239 --> 0:44:19.399 Your altruistic, genuine musician ship just takes over and goes, 0:44:19.520 --> 0:44:23.200 this is happening. Let's just carry on. So then what 0:44:23.200 --> 0:44:26.080 happens is you're arranged to make a record, and all right, 0:44:26.160 --> 0:44:29.360 the outside world and the radio and journalist might be 0:44:29.400 --> 0:44:31.200 talking to you about it. So this is what i'ms 0:44:31.239 --> 0:44:34.800 in my mind. Anyway, I get really attached to the music. 0:44:36.320 --> 0:44:38.719 I obsessed about it. I think all that middle ages 0:44:38.800 --> 0:44:40.799 round we need to change the key, or I think 0:44:40.840 --> 0:44:43.400 the singing needs to or we need we should the 0:44:43.400 --> 0:44:46.040 intro isn't right. That then takes over my life, and 0:44:46.080 --> 0:44:48.920 it's been that way from being a kid. I'm swimming 0:44:49.000 --> 0:44:51.959 in these songs that I have to finish. I don't 0:44:51.960 --> 0:44:55.280 care what you know, what it looks like on Jiles 0:44:55.280 --> 0:44:58.040 Holland or what. I don't care about that. So I'm like, 0:44:58.400 --> 0:45:02.760 this work has to reach fruished. So I make a record, 0:45:02.760 --> 0:45:04.960 and then by what's happened. By the time you make 0:45:05.000 --> 0:45:07.640 a record, you've been playing together for a few months, 0:45:07.760 --> 0:45:10.839 you go out to la or Portland or whatever, you 0:45:10.840 --> 0:45:13.080 go through intense pressure. It's not right we have to 0:45:13.120 --> 0:45:15.640 recut that the drummer's broken his arm. You go through 0:45:15.719 --> 0:45:19.239 this real bonding that if you were to bail, it 0:45:19.280 --> 0:45:22.000 would just be weird. Yeah, because you've sort of it's 0:45:22.040 --> 0:45:24.640 like being in the army or something, or on the rigs. 0:45:24.640 --> 0:45:28.120 You've become this it's more about it's actually the opposite 0:45:28.160 --> 0:45:31.680 of what people think. It's it's the opposite of flitting around. 0:45:32.000 --> 0:45:36.560 You become really loyal friends. Yeah, so you kind of 0:45:36.680 --> 0:45:38.279 So if I were to turn out of mod't Mouse 0:45:38.320 --> 0:45:40.960 and say, you know, this thing we've slaved over for 0:45:41.000 --> 0:45:43.680 a year and that we've really crunched down and all that, well, 0:45:44.400 --> 0:45:46.200 by I'm off. 0:45:45.960 --> 0:45:49.000 Now I've just realized I'm Johnny mar I'm. 0:45:48.880 --> 0:45:53.040 Above this or whatever, it would just be rude. And 0:45:53.640 --> 0:45:56.680 it also, you know, all the people we've mentioned I 0:45:56.800 --> 0:46:01.000 really respect you know, I really respect him and just 0:46:01.080 --> 0:46:03.840 to you know, complete the picture. In the case of 0:46:03.840 --> 0:46:07.799 the Cribs, for instance, I really respected them as a 0:46:07.840 --> 0:46:10.520 modern what I say, I call a street band, say 0:46:10.680 --> 0:46:15.359 in the before I even knew them, I regarded them 0:46:15.400 --> 0:46:22.600 as being in a lineage of Buzzcox, you know British 0:46:22.600 --> 0:46:25.600 bands X Ray Spex Smith's. I know Smeths have gone 0:46:25.640 --> 0:46:32.800 on to have a massive legacy, but good street punk 0:46:32.880 --> 0:46:36.040 rock band and I know how to do that. And 0:46:36.920 --> 0:46:41.040 I thought, all right, I want to experience being in 0:46:41.080 --> 0:46:42.960 the modern version. I want to know the reality. It 0:46:42.960 --> 0:46:44.719 would be good for me as a musician in a way. 0:46:44.719 --> 0:46:46.680 It's a little bit like a stand up getting back 0:46:46.719 --> 0:46:49.760 and getting in front of crowds and clubs and stuff. 0:46:49.840 --> 0:46:52.799 And I just thought they were they were great, and 0:46:52.840 --> 0:46:57.160 I really loved the Garmans. I loved the family and 0:46:58.160 --> 0:47:01.080 I thought they were these are the best modern British 0:47:01.080 --> 0:47:03.279 band around and I'm going to have invited me to 0:47:03.320 --> 0:47:04.640 be in it. So I'm going to join this band, 0:47:04.680 --> 0:47:06.839 and I'm going to be in it and get back 0:47:06.880 --> 0:47:08.880 in touch with what it's like being in a in 0:47:08.960 --> 0:47:13.799 a young, happening band. So that's what that's the way 0:47:13.880 --> 0:47:17.880 I think, really, yeah, I'm not very careery despite what 0:47:17.920 --> 0:47:18.840 people may think. 0:47:19.280 --> 0:47:22.440 Well, by having that attitude is how you've ended up 0:47:23.160 --> 0:47:26.040 kind of. It's the reason why we can sit here 0:47:26.040 --> 0:47:28.319 and not just talk about the Smiths and get your 0:47:28.320 --> 0:47:30.080 old war stories that are now in your book. Is 0:47:30.120 --> 0:47:33.560 the reason why your your book has more to it. 0:47:33.640 --> 0:47:36.920 Then flick to the pages of the Smiths and then 0:47:37.280 --> 0:47:39.880 and then it's going to trail off, you know, and 0:47:39.960 --> 0:47:42.120 in that in that time, you you know, you went 0:47:42.160 --> 0:47:45.200 straight from straight from the Smiths to working with talking heads, 0:47:46.440 --> 0:47:49.480 as we've mentioned, pet shop boys, Bernard some with electronic, 0:47:50.040 --> 0:47:53.279 Matt Johnson with the the The list kind of goes 0:47:53.360 --> 0:47:57.080 on and on. But there's one name. I was looking 0:47:57.320 --> 0:48:01.640 at your Wikipedia page yesterday because I'm a great journalist, 0:48:01.640 --> 0:48:05.240 and that's where we get all that facts. A Girl's 0:48:05.239 --> 0:48:07.760 Allowed song. You played on A Girl's Alloud song? Yeah, 0:48:07.800 --> 0:48:08.920 on their final album. 0:48:09.000 --> 0:48:11.360 I think I played on two, did you Yeah? 0:48:11.520 --> 0:48:13.200 The one that the one that I wrote down was 0:48:13.239 --> 0:48:15.000 called roll back the Rivers in time. 0:48:15.040 --> 0:48:16.239 Maybe I just played on that one. 0:48:16.320 --> 0:48:18.840 I don't know, from out of control? 0:48:19.160 --> 0:48:20.880 Why why not? 0:48:21.520 --> 0:48:22.439 I wasn't gonna say why. 0:48:23.080 --> 0:48:25.080 I was going to say why, but not just why 0:48:25.360 --> 0:48:27.640 I was going to say, I imagine you get offered 0:48:27.680 --> 0:48:31.080 a lot of kind of jobs for one of a 0:48:31.080 --> 0:48:34.560 better word, a lot of kind of writing gigs, and 0:48:34.560 --> 0:48:36.640 and that can be from anything from something like the Cribs, 0:48:36.640 --> 0:48:40.600 but also to like you know, pop stars and songwriting 0:48:40.760 --> 0:48:42.319 and you know, ghost writing and all that. 0:48:42.320 --> 0:48:42.880 Kind of stuff. 0:48:43.640 --> 0:48:46.560 What was it about Girls Allowed or that or that 0:48:46.719 --> 0:48:48.640 offer that you were like, yeah, I'll do that, I'll 0:48:48.680 --> 0:48:49.040 take that. 0:48:49.600 --> 0:48:52.040 Well, you know, it's a kind of I wish it 0:48:52.120 --> 0:48:55.120 was a better story, but uh, pet Shop I was 0:48:55.120 --> 0:48:59.000 working on a pet Shop Boys album and their producer 0:48:59.239 --> 0:49:06.000 was working simultaneously on this Girl's Allowed stuff. And I'd 0:49:06.120 --> 0:49:09.319 made the comment that a couple of their records have 0:49:09.320 --> 0:49:13.200 got really good guitar parts on which they do, and. 0:49:13.280 --> 0:49:19.279 He sounders the Underground's got that. 0:49:17.160 --> 0:49:18.680 That, and then there's another one that's got like a 0:49:18.719 --> 0:49:22.120 really great acoustic thing on it. So I think that's 0:49:22.120 --> 0:49:24.600 a fair comment. I love pop music. I won't say 0:49:24.640 --> 0:49:28.120 I'm a fan of Girls Allowed, but I made that comment, 0:49:28.200 --> 0:49:30.320 and I think he saw that as an open door really, 0:49:30.840 --> 0:49:34.680 and so we said, look tomorrow, before you start with 0:49:34.760 --> 0:49:38.080 Neil and Chris, will you play on these tracks? And 0:49:38.920 --> 0:49:41.480 do you know what, I'm just a great joiner in 0:49:41.560 --> 0:49:46.600 her had I mean I might have, I probably would 0:49:46.640 --> 0:49:49.200 have like not done that. I would have you know, 0:49:49.880 --> 0:49:51.919 I thought about legacy and all that, I probably would 0:49:52.000 --> 0:49:53.680 not have done it. There's a part of me as 0:49:53.719 --> 0:49:58.040 well which is so perverse that I quite fancied it. 0:49:58.760 --> 0:50:01.800 You know, I've got such a stick from certain parts 0:50:01.840 --> 0:50:05.080 of the music press when I left the Smiths that 0:50:05.840 --> 0:50:09.600 there's a sort of irking and you know, people think 0:50:09.600 --> 0:50:13.560 I'm a nice guy and stuff, probably, but irking some people, 0:50:13.920 --> 0:50:17.560 particularly the indie militia. I can't sometimes it's just so 0:50:17.960 --> 0:50:21.640 there's such a delicious opportunity, and it's not You're not 0:50:21.640 --> 0:50:25.759 going to get much better opportunity than to pissing the 0:50:25.760 --> 0:50:29.000 indie militia off than to play on a girl's aloud track. 0:50:29.520 --> 0:50:32.560 So I thought, all right, fuck it, I'll just do it. No, 0:50:32.560 --> 0:50:40.200 no one's going to know. 0:50:44.160 --> 0:50:47.760 Midnight Chats is a Loud and Quiet podcast. Music courtesy 0:50:47.760 --> 0:50:51.279 of gold Panda. Search Midnight Chats on iTunes for more 0:50:51.320 --> 0:50:54.960 episodes and to subscribe. For more information, visit Loud and 0:50:55.080 --> 0:50:57.840 Quiet dot com.