Former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr says he feels “free from the leash” after finally dropping the “baggage” he once felt for people expecting him to play a certain way.
Speaking to Sky News about the release of his double album Fever Dreams Pts 1-4, the musician – who is widely considered one of the greatest contemporary guitarists of our time – explained that he finally feels free to write whatever songs he likes. now.
“I think you’re reaching a certain point in your career and life, where maybe at a certain age, you know, you’ll drop your luggage, hopefully.
It’s easier said than done when your former bandmate is Stephen Morrissey, who recently posted a grim open letter asking Mar to stop mentioning his name in interviews.
Image: Mar says his working-class Irish roots have influenced his work ethic
Ironically, given how Marr admits that he spent decades trying to actively distance himself from how he sounded in the Smiths days in collaboration with The Cribs, Modest Mouse and others like Bernard Sumner of New Order, just for to name a few.
“Nobody really wants to be branded with ‘this is your sound – you play the Rickenbacker guitar and you’ll always stay that way,'” he jokes.
“Who knows, in the future I may turn left and do something shocking, but I feel a little off the leash with this album.”
While others were busy baking sourdough, for Mar the product of the block was 16 new songs, his fourth solo album.
“I wouldn’t write about vaccinations and store closures or anything like that. But pretty quickly, when we got into it, the feeling in society and about being human and what time meant, and all those aspects of what that period did for us definitely played out in the songs. “
He is still struggling, he says, on how little he feels that Downing Street has done to help the live music industry during the pandemic.
Image: Mar collaborates on film scores – including working with Billy Isle for No Time To Die
“People in the arts and especially musicians and festivals were left to turn around and see what would happen, you know, there was no protection there. So you appreciated them a little. “
Most recently, Mar has collaborated on film scores with composer Hans Zimmer – including working with Billy Ailish on the latest Bond, No Time to Die.
“Hans and a few other friends of mine with whom I have collaborated, we all tend to be something of workaholics, so we understand each other.
“We are very similar in this respect. I think it’s probably just as important to come from a working class family, an Irish working class family, to have a work ethic. “
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