The Smiths

From Morrissey-solo Wiki
The Smiths
THE SMITHS
Members Morrissey
Johnny Marr
Andy Rourke
Mike Joyce
Past Members Dale Hibbert
Craig Gannon
Years Active 1982-1987
Record Labels Rough Trade Records (UK), Sire Records (US)
Associated Acts Sandie Shaw, Kirsty Maccoll
Official Website Unknown

Formation

1983-1987

Break-Up

Post Careers

Morrissey

Johnny Marr

After Marr left the Smiths in August 1987, he was very briefly an official member of the Pretenders. In late 1987, he toured with the band and appeared on the single "Windows of the World" b/w "1969". He then left the Pretenders, and recorded and toured with The The from 1988 through 1994, recording two albums with the group. He simultaneously formed Electronic with New Order's Bernard Sumner. Electronic were intermittently active throughout the 1990s, releasing their final album in 1999. In 1992 he recorded a cover version of Ennio Morricone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly for the NME compilation Ruby Trax together with Billy Duffy. Fellow Manchester band Happy Mondays also once tried to court him to be a member of their band, which did not work out.[14]

He has also worked as a session musician and writing collaborator for artists including Pet Shop Boys, Billy Bragg, Black Grape, Jane Birkin, Talking Heads, and Beck. Marr played guitar on several Pet Shop Boys songs; he continues to have guest appearances on their albums, with his most significant contribution on Release (2002). The only remix that Johnny Marr has ever done was for the Pet Shop Boys—it was a mix of his favourite track from their 1987 album, Actually, called "I Want to Wake Up," and was released as the b-side to 1993's "Can You Forgive Her?" He later worked as a guest musician on the Oasis album Heathen Chemistry. He also joined Oasis on stage at a gig in 2001, playing "Champagne Supernova" and "I Am the Walrus".

In 2000 Johnny recruited drummer Zak Starkey (son of Ringo Starr), Cavewaves guitarist Lee Spencer and ex-Kula Shaker bassist Alonza Bevan for his new project Johnny Marr and the Healers. The band had taken two years to come together as Marr had wanted members to be chosen "by chemistry". Their debut album Boomslang was released in 2003, with all lyrics and lead vocals by Marr. A second album was originally scheduled for release in April 2005, and a short tour was expected soon after, but Marr has since stated that the band is on the "side burner" for the time being (Manchester Evening News, May 2007). Drummer Starkey is currently involved with the Who, and Bevan has regrouped with Kula Shaker. In 2011, Johnny began performing with the Healers again. The new Healers line up consists of James Doviak on guitar, Max James on bass and Andy Knowles on drums.

In 2001, Marr performed two Smiths songs and music by others with a supergroup called 7 Worlds Collide consisting of members from Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Split Enz and others, assembled by Neil Finn of Split Enz and Crowded House in 2001. A second set of concerts took place in December 2008/January 2009, and an album of new studio material titled The Sun Came Out was released in August 2009 to raise money for Oxfam. In addition to his work as a recording artist, Marr has worked as a record producer. In 2006, he began work with Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock on songs that eventually were featured on the band's 2007 release, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. The band subsequently announced that Marr was a fully fledged member, and the reformed line-up toured extensively throughout 2006–07.[15] During 2008, when Modest Mouse opened for R.E.M. during their summer tour of the United States, Marr would come on stage during the encore of R.E.M.'s set, for "Fall on Me" and, toward the end of the tour, "Man on the Moon". Johnny Marr and R.E.M.'s guitarist Peter Buck have often been compared by alternative music fans as having a similar guitar style.[citation needed]

While with Modest Mouse, Marr was named an Honorary Patron of the University Philosophical Society, Trinity College, Dublin.[citation needed]

The new album reached number one on the American Billboard charts in late March 2007. For Marr this is the first time he has had a number one record in the US. The highest chart position before that was with Electronic, who made the Top 40 in the singles chart with "Getting Away With It".[16]

In 2007 Marr was appointed as a Visiting Professor in Music at the University of Salford, where he delivered an inaugural lecture (on 4th November 2008), and a series of workshops and masterclasses to students on the BA (Hons) Popular Music and Recording programme. In January 2008, Marr was reported to have been contributing his skill and experience to a secret songwriting session with Wakefield indie group The Cribs. Sources revealed that they worked together for a week at Moolah Rouge recording studio in Stockport – a favourite haunt of Bolton's Badly Drawn Boy, Damon Gough and fellow northern indie heroes I Am Kloot – and had penned a number of new songs.[18] He also played at the Glasgow Barrowlands, Manchester Academy, Oxford Academy, Bristol Carling Academy, Leeds University, Cardiff University and Brixton Carling Academy with the Cribs on the NME Awards Tour. On 23 February 2008, XFM reported that Marr was to become a full member of the Cribs. On 28 February 2008, he also played onstage with the Cribs at NME Big Gig at the O2. Marr also played along with the Cribs at the Reading & Leeds Festival 2008, singer Ryan Jarman introduced Johnny as the newest member of the band, "Johnny Jarman". In 2009 Marr recorded an album with the band titled Ignore the Ignorant, which was released on 7 September.[19] On Soccer AM in 9 September he explained he met up with the Cribs' bass player in Portland and it has gone from strength to strength. He says the Cribs latest album, Ignore the Ignorant, which came out last year, is "as good as anything I've done".[20]

On April 2011 it was confirmed that Marr would no longer be part of the band.[21] Marr, who had been understood to officially leave the band in January, released a statement in which he affirmed that he would be working on solo material "over the next year or so."

In the late 2007, Marr's daughter Sonny performed backing vocals on the track "Even a Child" on Crowded House's album Time on Earth, on which her father Johnny played guitars.

Marr played a large role in making the score for the 2010 science-fiction/drama film Inception, which was written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Using a 12-string-guitar, he produced repetitive, simple melancholic tones that became a character theme for the protagonist, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. "I kept coming up with this phrase ‘churned-up,'" Marr said, "You’ve got this character who all the way through the film has this underlying turmoil." Longtime composer Hans Zimmer penned soundtrack.[23] On 13 July 2010, Marr performed with an orchestra for a live internet broadcast of the soundtrack.[citation needed]

In 2011, Marr worked on the Nuevo Noir movie The Big Bang.


Andy Rourke

Immediately after the break-up, Rourke and Smiths drummer Mike Joyce played with Sinéad O'Connor – Rourke (but not Joyce) appears on the album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (1990). Along with Craig Gannon, they provided the rhythm section for two singles by former Smiths singer Morrissey – "Interesting Drug" and "The Last of the Famous International Playboys" (both 1989). Rourke also played bass on Morrissey's "November Spawned a Monster" and "Piccadilly Palare" (both 1990) and composed the music for Morrissey's songs "Yes, I Am Blind" (the B-side of "Ouija Board, Ouija Board", 1989); "Girl Least Likely To" (a B-side on the 12-inch single of "November Spawned a Monster"; also released as a bonus track on the 1997 reissue of Viva Hate); and "Get Off the Stage" (the B-side of "Piccadilly Palare").

Rourke has also played and recorded with The Pretenders (appearing on some of the tracks on 1994's Last of the Independents); Killing Joke, Badly Drawn Boy (with whom Rourke toured for two years), Aziz Ibrahim (formerly of The Stone Roses), and ex-Oasis guitarist Bonehead as Moondog One, which also included Mike Joyce and Craig Gannon. Rourke also played bass for Ian Brown, both on tour and on Brown's album The World Is Yours.

In March 1989, Rourke and Mike Joyce started legal proceedings against Morrissey and Marr over royalties (see The Smiths for details). While Joyce continued with the action, Rourke settled out of court for £83,000.[3]

Rourke, his then-manager Nova Rehman, his production company, Great Northern Productions, and others organised Manchester v Cancer, a serious of concerts to benefit cancer research, later known simply as Versus Cancer. The initiative was prompted when Rehman's father and sister were diagnosed with the disease. The first Manchester v Cancer concert took place in January 2006. It featured a reunion between Rourke and his former Smiths bandmate Johnny Marr, who performed one song together. The second Mancehster v Cancer concert took place in March 2007. Rourke performed with former Oasis guitarist Bonehead's band Elektrik Milk. Rourke was less involved in organising the third concert in February 2008 or the fourth in December 2009.

Rourke formed Freebass with bass players Mani (ex-The Stone Roses) and Peter Hook (ex-New Order) in 2007 and remained active in the group until August 2010. Early in 2009, he relocated to New York City,[4] where he has a program on East Village Radio and works as a club DJ with Olé Koretsky under the name Jetlag. A selection of the duo's remixes can be heard at Soundcloud.


Mike Joyce

Immediately after the break-up of the band, Joyce and Smiths bassist Andy Rourke played with Sinéad O'Connor. They, along with Craig Gannon, also provided the rhythm section for two singles by Smiths' singer Morrissey – "Interesting Drug" and "The Last of the Famous International Playboys" and their b-sides. Work with Suede, Buzzcocks, Public Image Limited, Julian Cope, P. P. Arnold and Pete Wylie followed throughout the 1990s.

Joyce, Rourke, and Gannon reunited to work on a project with fellow Manchester musician Aziz Ibrahim (formerly of The Stone Roses), ex-Oasis guitarist Bonehead (as Moondog One), and Vinny Peculiar.

In 1989, Joyce and Andy Rourke sued former Smiths' colleagues Johnny Marr and Steven Morrissey for an equal share of performance and recording royalties (see The Smiths for more detail). He won the case, recovering around £1 million from Morrissey and Marr. He was not invited to the Manchester v Cancer benefit concert organised by Andy Rourke in January 2006 because Johnny Marr was playing.

In July 2007, Joyce along with former bandmate Andy Rourke released Inside The Smiths, a DVD which chronicled their experiences of being in the band. Both speak highly of both Morrissey and Marr in the film and convey how special they believed The Smiths were and still are to them.

In October 2007 Joyce toured the UK playing drums for Vinny Peculiar with Bonehead on bass guitar.

Joyce was a member of Manchester band Autokat. In February 2009, Joyce took his radio show Alternative Therapy to Manchester Radio online. In April 2010, the show moved to East Village Radio, as Mike Joyce's Coalition Chart Show.

Mike has been working in FM/Internet radio broadcasting for the past 7 years, alongside his worldwide club djing career.

His show ‘Alternative Therapy’ began broadcasting in 2006 on 96.2 The Revolution (along side Mani, Clint Boon and Martin Coogan. The station was taken over by Steve Penk in 2008 and Mike took his show to Manchester Radio Online, which achieved an audience of 5 figures.

The success of Mike’s show caught the attention of Jon Tattersall from The Official Charts Company. (www.theofficialcharts.com), who approached him to present The Coalition Independent Chart Show.

The chart features a whole host of bands Mike likes and has invited on for interviews/sessions but there was a lack of facilities at MRO. Then he was offered the facility to record interviews and sessions at Blueprint Studio’s in Manchester. After discussions, Mike decided to take the chart show to East Village Radio, New York’s hippest station.

After 2 successful years at EVR, Mike was approached by Beatwolf Radio with a view to being the manager/content director of the station. Never shirking a challenge, Mike set about contacting music heads around the world to join him in the venture and Beatwolf Radio was born.

As well as presenting, “Alternative Therapy” a show Mike has been presenting since 2005, Mike will be presenting, The Official Record Store Chart. This will reflect sales of albums from the just approaching 100 independent record retailers right across the country who participate in Record Store Day UK, including pioneering shops such as Rough Trade, Eastern Bloc, Rounder Records, Rise, Jumbo, Sound It Out and Avalanche.

Every week Mike will be cherry picking great new releases from the top twenty singles and albums chart.

He also DJs in clubs around the world.

Joyce v Morrissey/Marr

Discography

Studio Albums

Compilations

Live Albums

Singles





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