A dusty bit of information from the archive:
"About ten years ago I was working for a magazine and an interview was arranged with Mike Joyce. A journalist and I were dispatched up to his house in the more well off suburbs of Manchester. Mike is very friendly and a great guy to hang out with. The journo is talked into a jam with Mike in his studio basement.
After this we are sitting in his kitchen having a coffee and Mikes appears with a battered ghetto blaster and a cardboard box of cassettes. We look inside and are amazed by the contents of this box. With his characteristic enthusiasm he pulls a tape out and sticks it into the ageing player that looks like it might 'eat' every cassette you put into it. The sounds that come out are familiar but we can't quite place them. Mike grins and says "This is the Smiths first rehearsal" That amazing sound isn't quite there Moz's voice is slightly different that confidence is not fully developed, the rhythm section sound more like they want to be in a funk outfit. Only Marr's guitar sounds pretty polished. Overall though its quite impressive for the first ever time of playing together. There must be 30+ tapes in the box they obviously recorded a lot of gigs, there's also some outtakes and studio run-throughs. Lets hope that some of these finally see the light of day.."
I forget which TV documentary actually filmed him with the box of tapes, but the first rehearsal would be good or perhaps
A Matter Of Opinion et al.
I think we all know he had a hand in the audio bits used in Granada's
These Things Take Time and he tried to share in the early 2000's, posting the following on his site after issues arose:
"AUDIO NEWS
Statement From Mike Joyce
Hello People...
Due to the legal implications of putting up the Smiths tracks. I am currently
seeking advice as to the best way to get these tracks heard. I will keep you
informed of any progress. Sorry About the delay.
Love and Peace
Mike
P.S. There is only one factor in this that is stopping me from putting these tracks
up on this site. I'm sure you all know what/who that is.....
Find here.... some never before heard gems from the past..............
watch this space ! as new tracks will be added over the coming months"
Unfortunately, nothing more was heard until now.
This could be promising, or his tapes could just be oxidising away
Regards,
FWD
Edit: seeing the whole Twitter picture would have helped:
View attachment 52843
So that's '82 and he's said this further:
Fingers crossed...