Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr
Johnny Marris an English musician, songwriter and singer. Between 1982 and 1987 he was the guitarist and – with Morrissey – co-songwriter of The Smiths, an English rock band formed in Manchester. Critics have called them the most important alternative rock band to emerge from the British independent music scene of the 1980s. Q magazine's Simon Goddard argued in 2007 that the Smiths were "the most influential British guitar group of the decade" and the "first indie outsiders to achieve...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionMusician
Date of Birth31 October 1963
thinking years ideas
I haven't been walking around for years with some burning desire to do a solo record. If I had, maybe I'd have made a record that was experimental. Usually, the idea of a solo record is to get some weird stuff out of your system, but I don't think like that. I wasn't interested in making something that was a hard listen - maybe I'll get around to that some other time. I wanted it to sound effortless, not like I was trying to reinvent the wheel.
thinking guitar people
I met my manager when I was 17, when I didn't have enough money to buy a set of guitar strings. There are not very many people who are looking out for you and being in business with you when you're at that stage. And it's not in my nature to think that success as a musician makes you any different from anybody else.
night thinking cities
Don't get me wrong, I think "Portlandia" is really funny, and quite brilliant, but I like to be in a city where I can hang out in Powell's Bookstore most nights and go out with my friends in a liberal, relaxed atmosphere. I wish more cities were like that.
new-york cat thinking
I can show bands how to produce themselves. In the same way, many bands think you cant make it without some fat cat in London or New York to manage you. Thats just crap. All you need is someone a bit older than you with a bit of business nous whom you trust.
animal thinking rocks
I am very proud of the fact that 20 years on people tell me they became a vegetarian as a result of 'Meat is Murder'. “I think that is quite literally rock music changing someone's life - it's certainly changing the life of animals. It is one of the things I am most proud of.
andy great musical playing respected unusual
Andy Rourke and I had been playing together from 14 or 15, and we had a very great musical chemistry. Andy's just a very respected and unusual musician.
band chance check corner festivals great heard
Festivals are great because you get to just walk around the corner and see a new band that you've heard but not had the chance to check out.
played
I've almost never played the 'Smiths' records, once they've gone out. I was always like that and probably always will be.
band committed felt join needed passionate somewhere
I would join a band, learn from that band and be committed and passionate and bring my thing to the band. Then, when I felt like we were going to repeat ourselves, and I needed to learn more, I would go somewhere else.
record
You can grow up without having to conform, stop going to shows, stop having a record collection, start being politically iffy.
follow fortunate good lightning love mess recognize
I think good artists know when they're on a roll, and they recognize when lightning is striking. It's a very fortunate thing to have that inspiration and not to overanalyze it or mess with it; you just follow it if you love what you do.
nick players time
Nick Zinner has been one of my favorite guitar players for a long time.
decent emotion million minute notes per respect sing sort together tune
No one has any respect for someone who can play a million notes per minute but can't put together a decent tune that someone can sing to or feel some sort of emotion from.
ask experience people reforming tells
My experience tells me, unfortunately, that so many people ask the question about 'The Smiths' reforming without really caring about the answer. They just really want to ask the question.