Johnny Marr's Faith in the Healers
Friday, January 17, 2003; Page WE06
By Mark Jenkins
© 2003 The Washington Post Company

NOT many rock idols wait until they're 39 to front their first band, but it's not as if Johnny Marr has been goofing off. Just in the last three years, the British guitarist has played, toured, produced or written songs with Oasis, Beck, Neil Finn, Beth Orton and Haven while also making "Boomslang," the first album by Johnny Marr & the Healers. In fact, he's been working overtime ever since he introduced himself to Stephen Patrick Morrissey two decades ago in Manchester, their home town.

The result was the Smiths, perhaps the most celebrated cult band of the '80s. When that quartet split after four studio albums, Marr withdrew a bit. He was interested in more "music and performing, and less of a circus," he says by phone from Manchester. "It was the drama and the politics I wanted to avoid."

Marr began a long stint as a sideman and a collaborator, first by joining The The, "probably my favorite band in the world at that time. I'd already had a strong friendship with [The The singer-songwriter] Matt Johnson, and I was really knocked out by his albums. So it was totally logical for me to do that. All I wanted to do at that time was play innovative guitar and not really have any pressure of running a group."

[ Read more on Washington Post ]

Johnny Marr newsletter - January 2003
19 Jan 2003 16:56:16 -0000

Here's some fresh news on Johnny Marr + The Healers:

JOHNNY MARR WASHINGTON POST FEATURE
The US newspaper The Washington Post has an article up online about Johnny. Written by Mark Jenkins it features a phone interview the newspaper had with Johnny. To read the article, point your browser to: The Washington Post.

JOHNNY MARR COVERSTORY IN GUITAR PLAYER MAGAZINE and more
The US magazine Guitar Player Magazine has Johnny on the cover for this month's issue! The magazine features an into deep article with Johnny and of course lots of guitar info. We'll be posting the complete interview once it's off the news stands. Also ready to be read Side-Line Magazine issue 42 featuring an interview with Johnny. Both magazines can be ordered online, so don't hesitate to check them out! We are currently preparing an extensive list of media Johnny has been doing promotion for in the last two months, stay tuned for more info.

SPECIAL ACOUSTIC SET IN SAN FRANCISCO
To celebrate their 7th aniversary, the San Francisco based nightclub Popscene has invited Johnny Marr over for a short acoustic set on January 30th. Be there!

EXTRA TOURDATES ADDED
Three extra dates in Australia and one in the USA have been added to the tour! Check our toursection online to know more!

Johnny Marr: Marr's attacks Johnny Marr is the only member of The Smiths to have moved on from their bitter, infighting past. With a new group and new songs, he's back on the warpath, he tells Fiona Sturges 10 January 2003 Manchester, one bitterly cold December morning. The former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr is sipping on a cup of herbal tea in a slightly grimy bar in the middle of town. It's clear he's a regular since, midway through our conversation, the barman hands him a pile of post. He's a boisterous interviewee, cracking jokes at his own expense, and seems a million miles away from the sour-faced grouch that 20 years of publicity shots would have you believe. Some things never change, though. Marr's hair is still jet black and, over a characteristically kaleidoscopic shirt, he wears a thick cardigan. Well, style was never The Smiths' strong point. Now 39, Marr has been in and out of bands since he was a teenager. During his five-year tenure with The Smiths he was hailed as one of the greatest guitarists of his generation; since leaving them at the tender age of 23 he's never been short of work. After a brief session with The Pretenders and a stint with Matt Johnson's band The The, he formed the indie-dance group Electronic with New Order's Bernard Sumner. In the last few years he's played with Beth Orton, Beck, Burt Jansch, Lisa Germano and has toured with Neil Finn. Yet it's taken him until now, exactly two decades into his career, to form his own band, the Healers. So what took him so long? "I never wanted to do it before," he explains with a shrug. "When I was in The Smiths or The The or Electronic I was never standing at the side of the stage wishing that I was in the middle. I was doing exactly what I wanted. But by the last Electronic album I found I was on a roll with the songs I was writing. When I go back and listen to that record I realise some of them could have been Healers tracks. Even then, I was moving back towards rock music." Marr says he was aiming for a "melodic, hypnotic yet energetic" sound with the Healers. While this is a fair description, it's a sound that may not sit comfortably with Smiths fans weaned on gentler, more melodic guitar stylings. He confesses that he had to temper his desire to rock out while recording the album. "Obviously I feel that for me to try and do something that sounded like The Strokes or The White Stripes or The Vines would be incredibly undignified. But neither do I want to repeat what I've done before. I don't want to be the guy who forms his signature sound at 23 and then relies on it for the rest of his career. I would hate to become a parody of myself." Along with Marr the Healers are the drummer Zak Starkey (offspring of Ringo Starr) and Alonza Bevan (offspring of the abominable retro-rockers Kula Shaker). Starkey and Marr met by chance three years ago in a New York hotel. "We got into the same lift. I had no idea who he was but we were both in running shoes and, as we discovered, we were both in bands so we already had things in common. When he said he was playing drums with The Who the penny suddenly dropped. A soon as we got back to England we started to play together and I immediately felt like I was 16 again. I felt a real chemistry between us. It was only then that I thought 'It's worth forming a group with this'." It's not the first Marr project to be a product of chemistry. The Smiths could never have existed without the Morrissey-Marr songwriting partnership, while in Electronic he had Sumner as his foil. Yet, however much he may feel a bond with Starkey, the Healers is still primarily Marr's band. "I wouldn't have done it without the others but since I write the songs and I sing them I guess that makes me the big cheese," he grins. Ah yes, the singing. It's not easy to imagine Marr, a man who always seemed so comfortable lurking in the shadows, behind a microphone. For a long time, Marr couldn't imagine it either. "I got hold of tapes by a couple of singers but when I played them to Zak and Alonza they didn't like them," he says. "I think their words were 'these guys are too normal and your voice is weird. We think you should do it'." Looking back on his childhood, Marr says he was a "quiet and introverted kid" and cannot remember a time when he wasn't listening to music. When his parents moved over from Ireland as teenagers they brought box-loads of American records with them and used to invite friends and family members to their home in the Manchester suburb of Wythenshawe to dance around to the Everly Brothers. "I don't remember why I became obsessed with the guitar but I was and every year I was given a slightly bigger one to play," recalls Marr. "Getting a proper guitar coincided with my discovery of glam rock, in particular T-Rex. Those two things changed me forever." I'm surprised to find Marr happy to talk about his days with The Smiths – in old interviews he's seemed reluctant to rake over the past – although since I have already confessed to being a sad, slavering fan it's possible he's just indulging me. Either way, he still adores the music he made with them – "It's stood the test of time. I'm really proud of that" – and it seems he harbours no lasting grudges against Morrissey. "If you think Smiths fans were obsessive, you should have seen what me and Morrissey were like. We were absolutely in love with what we were doing. We were really high on the band and high on our relationship – the two of us were always walking three feet off the ground. It was an incredible and very intense friendship. Of course it had its down side but it had to be that way because of the sort of people we were and the environment we created. The negative elements were so small and insignificant compared with the positives." If Marr has any regrets, they stem from the years after The Smiths' split when relations between band members descended into a "silly soap opera" of back-biting and public slanging matches. "On the occasions where I've been dragged into it, it makes me embarrassed to have been in the band," he says grimly. "They're like a bunch of bitchy schoolgirls who should know better." The in-fighting reached a head in 1996 with a highly publicised court case over royalties during which Morrissey and Marr were ordered to pay the drummer Mike Joyce £1.25m in back earnings by a judge who, it was reported, had never heard of Top Of The Tops, let alone The Smiths. However, Marr accepted the judgment but Morrissey appealed against it. "It tied me up for a couple of years while I was trying to make a record," remembers Marr. "It's really hard because it weighs you down and puts you off the whole business of making music. I had no respect for the court case at all including my own side. Morrissey kept fighting it and fighting it and the consequences are still affecting me to this day. The drummer has now decided that, since Morrissey won't pay, he can exercise his legal right to get me to pay Morrissey's debt. It's a struggle to be positive with that hanging over me." Despite the on-going saga, of all The Smiths' members Marr is the only one who seems to have moved on. And while Morrissey, who has since defected to the US, remains an enduring source of fascination to Smiths fans Marr, at least, still has his reputation intact. When I ask if it's a lot to live up to, he replies: "Not really. Over the years I've been compared to these huge icons. People often ask me what I think about that and the answer is that I just don't. It's not my job to assess how important and unimportant I am or where I fit into the bigger picture. I would be a complete prat if I thought in those terms. It's to do with choices made at the time and instinct. I've been living this life since I was 14 so I don't know anything else." The single 'Bangin' On' by Johnny Marr and the Healers is out on iMusic on 20 January. The album 'Boomslang' is out on 3 February

Johnny Marr newsletter 1/2003
13 Jan 2003 20:55:12 -0000

Here we are with some fresh and exciting news for you all! But first of all, a Happy New year to you all!

NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHED
The new version of the Official Johnny Marr website is online! On the website you'll be informed with the latest news from Johnny Marr + The Healers and we will be providing again some extra service, see below for more info!

MESSAGEBOARD ONLINE
A very own Johnny Marr + The Healers messageboard is now available for your eyes only! bbs.artistdirect.com

Q+A SECTION BACK ONLINE
The most popular section of the former version of the Johnny Marr site is now back again! And even better, we are now again accepting questions from you all. Before mailing us, please read the previous Q+A sessions so we don't get questions that have been answered before. You can now find the first 8 sessions that took place in the past.

INSIGHT SECTION
In this section we will be presenting you interviews with people who have been of an influence for Johnny Marr, or just simply people who Johnny respects. The line-up will range from musicians Johnny Marr has worked with in the past, with whom he might work in the future, or just musicians who he appreciates. As you will soon notice, there's not just one insight but many to come. Stay tuned as we'll launch the first interview. And for the quick ones, we'll be announcing the interviews in our newsletter, so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss the best bits first!

JAPANESE + AUSTRALIAN TOURDATES
Japanese and Australian tourdates have been added in the tour section!

Ex-Smiths Guitarist Follows Dream Snake, Finds His Voice
01.06.2003

British pop artist Johnny Marr, co-founder of '80s rock group the Smiths, was in a colorful headspace when he decided to start a new band three years ago. He had accomplished everything he wanted to with his electro-pop group Electronic and he was interested in expanding his musical and mental horizons.

He aimed to get away from computerized music and explore more organic rock terrain, and in his extracurricular life he was tapping into a wealth of otherworldly stimuli including religion, parapsychology, psychic phenomena and philosophy, which helped guide his path.

"I was kind of into the Jim Morrison vibe, only without the beard and the organ," he said. "I've done the zone-out thing in Arizona for the last five or six years, and I've been going to séances and checking out a lot of esoteric stuff. I've seen tables shaking and candles moving from one part of the room to another — all these things I haven't quite gotten my head around yet."

Much of Johnny Marr and the Healers' debut album, Boomslang, reflects Marr's openness to such new experiences. The band's name is a reference to a book by Russian psychic philosopher Madame Blavatsky, and the album title came to Marr in a vision.

"I had a dream about a talking snake, which said, 'I am Boomslang, I am Boomslang. I wanna go up, I wanna go up,' " said Marr. "It seemed to go on all night, and I woke up thinking, 'Well, that was pretty weird, even for me.' So I went on the Internet and lo and behold, there was a snake called Boomslang."

Songs like "The Last Ride," "You Are the Magic" and "Need It" bubble over with loose rhythmic grooves, echoey guitars and sedated vocals that vibe with Marr's open-minded consciousness. Musically, the songs have more in common with the soporific pulse of '90s Manchester, England, bands like Stone Roses and Charlatans UK than with the sulky androgynous pop of the Smiths.

"I'm interested in investigating so-called 'white rhythms' — something that can make you dance and hit you physically but isn't directly close to James Brown or Funkadelic," said Marr, who plays guitar and sings on Boomslang. "Sometimes it's too easy to get on a Bootsy [Collins] vibe, and I can appreciate that, but it's not where I'm coming from culturally."

Assisting Marr in his quest for sonic transcendence are ex-Kula Shaker bassist Alonza Bevan and Ringo Starr's son Zak Starkey on drums.

"The chemistry with these guys is amazing," Marr said. "In a perfect world, we'd all be Healers and my name wouldn't be in front of it, but everyone around me convinced me that it would be silly not to put my name on it. It would be like Patti Smith calling her group the Shoes."

Originally, Marr planned to hire a lead vocalist for the band, so he sang on a batch of tunes in his studio and gave the recordings to various singers. Then he listened to their tapes and chose a frontman for the Healers. But when he played the seemingly lucky crooner's demo for Began and Starkey, they balked.

"They snuck off to a cafe, then came back and said they thought what I was doing was more interesting," said Marr. "They used the key words. They said it was odd, quirky and messed up, and that's what I was looking for. It was nice because from the time I was 16 I've done music, and the aesthetic and the vocal and lyrical content has always been an unknown for me because it came out of someone else's mind. It would be like I did the landscape and then somebody else put the subject right in the center of it. With this record, I was able to paint the complete picture."

Johnny Marr and the Healers tour dates, according to their publicist:

• 1/15 - Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell's
• 1/16 - Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell's
• 1/17 - Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell's
• 1/18 - Philadelphia, PA @ North Star
• 1/20 - Washington, DC @ Black Cat
• 1/21 - New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
• 1/22 - New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
• 1/24 - Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
• 1/26 - Toronto, ON @ Lee's Palace
• 1/27 - Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
• 1/28 - Chicago, IL @ Double Door
• 2/1 - San Francisco, CA @ Bimbo's 365 Club
• 2/3 - West Hollywood, CA @ The Troubadour

—Jon Wiederhorn

Guitar Player (Feb 2003), cover photo by Stephanie Pfriender-Stylander

GUITAR PLAYER
#398 (vol 37 no 2)
Feb 2003
www.guitarplayer.com

"Healer's Touch" (7 pages)
written by Barry Cleveland
photos by Stephanie Pfriender-Stylander
transcribed by Vu

Johnny Marr's Magic Fingers

Manchester wunderkind Johnny Marr achieved critical acclaim and commercial success while still a teen. As the guitarist and musical director for The Smiths, Marr brought a fresh approach to playing an arranging that ran counter to the post-punk primitivism and neo-disco synthpop that dominated the British music scene in the early '80s. Marr's work with The Smiths was multifaceted, but its hallmarks were interlocking layers of shimmering chords and single-note lines that created harmonic richness while occupying minimal sonic space. Preferring crystalline Gretsch, Rickenbacker, and acoustic guitar tones to the increasingly overdriven and processed sounds of his contemporaries, Marr's approach owed more to Motown, the British Invasion, Nils Lofgren, and Neil Young, than to the Sex Pistols or Gary Numan.

Between 1982 and 1987, Marr and Smiths' singer/lyricist Morrissey wrote more than 80 songs - more than a few of which became hits in England and throughout the world. Through perhaps best known for their singles, The Smiths' crowning achievement was the now-classic The Queen is Dead, which many British critics and music fans feel surpasses Sergeant Pepper as the greatest pop album ever recorded. Throughout it all, Marr vociferously denounced the macho posturing typical of rock "guitar heroes," while simultaneously inspiring legions of imitators.

When Marr left The Smiths, rather than forming his own band, he opted to record and perform with dozens of major artists, including the Pretenders, the The, Bryan Ferry, Billy Bragg, Talking Heads, Pet Shop Boys, Kirsty MacColl, Bert Jansch, Beth Orton, Neil Finn, Oasis, and Beck. Marr also record three critically acclaimed electro-dance albums with guitarist/synthesist Bernard Sumner (Joy Division, New Order) under the name Electronic.

In 1997, Marr crossed paths with drummer Zak Starkey (son of Ringo and current drummer for the Who) with whom he formed an immediate bond. Shortly thereafter, the two started jamming informally, and they were so pleased with the results that Starkey convinced the guitarist to put together a band. They enlisted former Kula Shaker bassist Alonza Bevin, and began working on new material as Johnny Marr and the Healers - with Marr writing all of the lyrics and ultimately handling the vocals.

Marr's original concept was to have a percussion-driven group with a heavy tribal sound, and, to that end, he added guitarist Adam Grey, keyboardist Lee Spencer, and percussionist Liz Bonney. The six-piece group did a series of live shows, but when it came to recording Marr found the unit too unwieldy, so he reverted back to the original trio (with some production assistance from Spencer). The resulting album, Boomslang [iMusic], has a decidedly heavier and more psychedelic feel to it than Marr's previous work; but, fear not, his pop sensibilities remain keen and this guitar is as vibrant as ever.

Some people have expressed surprise at how heavy your new music is, even going so far as to label your sound "anti-Smiths". The Smiths had a distinctive sound that anything that doesn't sound exactly like it could be described as "anti". However, I feel that there are some cuts on Boomslang that do sound like some of The Smiths records. It was unintentional, but it actually makes perfect sense, because the last stage of making the record was asking myself, "is this a natural record, or is there some agenda that's holding back something natural?" I certainly have tried to avoid having exactly the same sound that I had 20 years ago, but, at the same time, there are some things that I do that come very naturally, and I didn't want some sort of agenda to get in the way.

For example, I initially wanted to go for more of a classic sound, where there wasn't a lot of layering. But I enjoy layering - and I think I do it fairly well - so I decided that it was okay to put a few more little colors here and there. And because of that, naturally it contains echoes of some of The Smiths' records.

[ Read more on Guitar Player (Feb 03) ]

Side-Line Magazine (Dec 2002)

Johnny Marr interview in Side-Line magazine !
Sat, 04 Jan 2003 16:44:06

Issue 42 of the Belgium based english written magazine Side-Line features an interview with Johnny Marr, made in December 2002 in Brussels. To be released on January 5th this issue is now also available for purchase online!

You can order the magazine online for 6 euros, shipment included worldwide through this link: www.paypal.com

This issue furthermore includes exclusive interviews with Andy Fletcher (Depeche Mode), DAF (the legendaric electronic outfit are back!), Client (the project managed by Andy Fletcher), Juno Reactor and many, many more!

All the best from Brussels,
Side-Line magazine

Johnny Marr newsletter edition 1
7 Nov 2002 18:58:18 -0000
© Copyright Jmarr 2001, 2002 http://www.jmarr.com

Hi, the first edition of the new Johnny Marr newsletter is a fact! While a brand new website is in the making, keep on checking www.jmarr.com in the next weeks, we can now announce this fine news:

• Johnny Marr + the Healers - Debut album 'Boomslang' - 3rd February 2003
• Single 'Bangin' On' - 20th January 2003

Johnny Marr + the healers release their debut album, "Boomslang", on the 3rd February through iMUSIC. The album is preceded by the single "Bangin' On", released 20th January. The album was written and produced by Johnny Marr at his Clear Studio in Manchester. Johnny Marr comments on what influenced the album "We tried to get into what was best about us as individuals, I wanted to do a Johnny Marr thing but not consciously look back. We tried to find what was in us naturally. We didn't try to emulate any particular bands as such but kept all the things we like about modern music, rock or otherwise."

At eighteen, Johnny Marr founded The Smiths, who were recently hailed as the greatest band of all time in the NME. Five years and seven albums later, they were history, both literally and figuratively. Marr continued to perform, playing with The The, Electronic, Beth Orton, Oasis and Beck amongst numerous others. On the healers album Johnny comments, "It sometimes sounds like The Smiths, it would wouldn't it! It's a move forward hopefully". He also adds "I try to keep myself curious and interesting, otherwise life's wasted and I wouldn' t feel I had anything to say. The way the music comes out is just how I sound these days." The Healers are; Johnny Marr (Vocals, Guitar), Alonza Bevan (Bass), Zak Starkey (Drums). They plan to tour the UK early next year.

News Bites: Boston Music Awards, Aerosmith, Beth Orton, Ryan Adams, Eagles, Dandy Warhols, & More
April 12, 2002, 1:30 pm PT

(excerpt)

Singer-songwriter Beth Orton will hit the road in support of her forthcoming Heavenly/Astralwerks effort, Daybreaker, beginning May 20 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The 17-date tour wraps up in Washington, D.C., on June 15. Meanwhile, Daybreaker is nicely packed with several notable guest appearances. Ryan Adams, Chemical Brothers, Emmylou Harris, and ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr all lend a helping hand, while Everything but the Girl's Ben Watt co-mixed the album with Andy Bradfield (Bjork, Craig Armstrong). Daybreaker hits stores on July 30. (Kevin Raub)

New album completed Pet Shop Boys' new album is now completed. New York mixer/engineer Michael Brauer finished mixing on Saturday (November 3) and he and Neil and Chris compiled the album yesterday (November 5). Of 14 tracks mixed, 11 have been chosen for the new album, as yet untitled. Guitarist Johnny Marr plays on nine of the tracks, along with percussionist Jodie Linscott. The album is planned to be released in March next year, preceded by a single.

PET SHOP BOYS NEW ALBUM RECORDING MARR-ED

PET SHOP BOYS have completed their new album, which features SMITHS guitarist JOHNNY MARR on nine tracks.

The veteran pop duo completed the finishing touches to the as-yet-untitled record on Monday (November 5), according to a posting on the group's official website, www.petshopboys.co.uk.

Fourteen tracks have been completed, nine of which feature Marr on guitar. 11 are set to feature on the record, which is due for release in March 2002.

Marr has been working with a variety of musicians in recent months. As well as contributing to the studio sessions with Beth Orton, he has helped record solo material with Oasis vocalist Liam Gallagher, and has also produced the forthcoming album by upcoming Manchester guitar band Haven.

image courtesy of Amazon.co.uk

THE LAST RIDE 01 Oct 01 CD & 7" £4.99 Label: Big East The Last Ride Need It Long Gone ASIN: B00005Q3X0 Catalogue Number: PCFC01CDS

1st single: 'The Last Ride' b/w 'Need It' & 'Long Gone' (cd & limited-edition 7")
OUT NOW!

2nd single: 'Contact'
Out sometime before the end of 2001.

Tour: Early 2002.

Album: 'Boomslang'
Out Spring 2002.

All releases are on Johnny's own label Pacific (distributed by 3mv/Pinnacle in the UK) [according to Amazon, it's released by "Big East"]

Healers New Single
Johnny Marr's band, The Healers will be releasing a single in Europe on Monday 1st October. The single features three tracks: The Last Ride, Need It and Long Gone.

Not much happening apart from Johnny Marr appearing again onstage with ex-Crowded House frontman, Neil Finn on the last show of his UK tour at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. Johnny was on stage for most of Neils set, at the encore he played 'This Charming Man' and 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out'. If anyone has any recordings of this then please drop me a line.

It looks like there will be a Healers tour during the summer. If anyone out there managed to catch the band on the last couple of gigs will be looking forward to more!

Check out a review of the Manchester Apollo gig from last week at: http://designermagazine.tripod.com

According to his official web-site, We were informed that Johnny Marr has signed a publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing. The deal is covering Johnny's back catalogue and future writing. Beware, this is NOT a record deal. Publishing protects authors for those not too familiar with record business. The initial contact between Johnny and A&R Darryl Watts happened when they met on Haven's rehearsal. Haven is a Manchester band managed by Joe Moss. The man is quite impressed with the band himself. Joe Moss strikes again!!

Neil Finn (left) with rockers Sebastian Steinberg (rear) and Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr.Picture / David White

Finn extravaganza a team effort
03.04.2001 By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(excerpt)

Also among the ring-ins were Radiohead's Ed O'Brien (the lanky guitarist helping turn Suffer Never into a thrilling guitar boilover) and Phil Selway (on no-nonsense drums).

Stage left was Johnny Marr (the onetime Smiths guitarist curiously looking like Neil Finn in a Liam Gallagher wig), who contributed some lovely six-string jangle, harmonica and let the Smiths song There Is A Light That Never Goes Out be resurrected with Neil Finn on lead vocals.

Less well-known, but no less valuable, were Sebastian Steinberg (on electric and double bass) and Lisa Germano, who, when she wasn't playing anything else (violin, keyboards, guitar), offered gorgeous harmonies to the likes of Finn's Turn and Run and sang her own haunting number (possible titled) Cry Cry Wolf.

BALLAD OF A FINN MAN

NEIL FINN kicked off his five-night AUCKLAND residency last night with guest appearances from PEARL JAM frontman EDDIE VEDDER, guitarist ED O'BRIEN and drummer PHIL SELWAY from RADIOHEAD and former SMITHS guitarist JOHNNY MARR.

During the two-hour set at St James venue, Finn sang a version of The Smiths' 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out'.

LIAM'S NEW OASIS SONGS MARRED

LIAM GALLAGER has collaborated with ex-SMITHS guitarist JOHNNY MARR on a batch of new OASIS songs, which he describes as "better than anything on fucking 'REVOLVER'."

Speaking in an interview with UK magazine Mojo, Gallagher said he has written a number of songs "as good as John Lennon's" for consideration on the next Oasis album. He said: "I just wanted to put them down - just to get them out. I went in the studio the other week with Johnny Marr, and Noel came down one day and played drums. We just fucked about and I just said 'This is how I think we should record these days. Do it in a fucking week, instead of spending a month in the pub and a month arguing'. Everyone was like, 'Yeah, right, you wouldn't be able to do that'. So I done it. Ten songs in a week, all done, mixed, the fucking lot, all ready to go. And they're just my songs and they're fucking classics.

"They're as good as John Lennon's. The best I've done ever. Andy Bell's playing drums, Gem's on bass, Johnny Marr's playing guitar and it's really good. We'll just keep writing and writing until we're ready to record. We don't know when we're going to put another album out, but we're gonna keep writing - there are four songwriters in Oasis now instead of one, all of them are good?"

Gallagher said the track 'Song Bird', "is better than anything on fucking 'Revolver'". However, unlike his last offering, 'Little James' on 'Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants', "they're not pop music". He continued: "There's probably one pop song - just two chords all the way through, the melody's great. The rest are proper dark, weird shit. People will probably hate them. But it's better than anything Radiohead are doing."

Noel said the songwriting process has become "difficult lately" for him, because "I don't want to write songs about the break-up of my marriage." He said: "Oasis don't do angst, we're more an anthemic, celebratory group. So I don't know really what I want to write at the moment."

Noel also revealed details of three songs - 'Revival', "which is a bit like 'Louie Louie' but a bit more Sex Pistols", 'Shout It Out Loud', "which is your basic Neil Young meets Pink Floyd meets Oasis, a bit of an anthem, a bit of a flag-waver" and 'She Is Love', which is "a bit like The Monkees or The Byrds" .

Gallagher claimed the songs aren't "blueprints for an album", adding each member wanted Oasis to take a different direction. He said: "Liam wants to make 'Double Fantasy', Gem wants to make a T-Rex record and Andy's into Buffalo Springfield...we really want to make a rock 'n' roll record and they're not rock 'n' roll songs. So it's a case of demoing as many songs as we can until somebody says 'We've not had a record out for two years, let's go and fucking do something'. Hopefully we'll get to the point where we've got 15 'Search and Destroy''s!"

Oasis will play a series of live shows in South America in the New Year, including a slot at the Rock In Rio festival. It is also anticipated the band will also undertake a tour with the Black Crowes next year.

Oasis-Marr Collaboration: False?
December 18, 2000

The giant beast we call "Oasis" is rearing its ugly head again. This time, brother Liam Gallagher is saying he and the band have teamed up with ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr for a group of about 10 new Oasis tracks recorded recently. But according to Ignition management (the management company for both Marr and Oasis), there is no collaboration in the works. According to NME.com, the news came from an interview with Liam in the U.K. magazine, Mojo. A spokesperson for Oasis had also heard nothing of the collaboration. In the Mojo interview, Liam also reportedly expounded upon the near-genius level of his newly-penned songs. What do I mean by that? I mean that Liam said the new songs he'd written, especially the track "Song Bird," were "better than anything on fucking Revolver." Revolver was a Beatles record. A very, very good one at that. OK, then. Liam went on to say in the interview that Oasis and Marr had been in the studio together recently, and had laid down and mixed 10 new tracks in a single week, adding, "They're as good as John Lennon's. The best I've done ever." He went on to say that most of the new material couldn't be categorized as pop songs, rather darker, "weird shit," "better than anything Radiohead are doing." Lofty statements, but that's nothing new. Oasis recently wrapped up a massive world tour plagued by inner strife and familial turmoil and the hurling of objects at the band, but the boys came out unscathed and even released a DVD/VHS and live album, entitled Familiar to Millions, recently. The band is slated to play a string on gigs in South America early next year, including the Rock in Rio Festival. Oasis' latest studio album, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants was released in early 2000. Also look for Oasis to hit the road for a big co-headlining tour of North America with the Black Crowes next year. As for Johnny Marr, well, he and New Order frontman Bernard Sumner recently released a third LP, Twisted Tenderness, from their collaborative supergroup, Electronic, on KOCH Records. Marr also plays in his newly-formed hard rock outfit, the Healers. Check here for Spin.com's interview with Marr this past September.

(Marr was not mentioned, but just interesting to note.)

So you've put the album back, or is it just the album with come when it comes?
"There wasn't a date. I've written six songs, and I think four would be considered for an Oasis record. He's (Gem) written one, that's five. Liam's written a few, so we'll probably get one or two out of that. But as it stands we've not got enough good songs for a record. Over the next six months is probably when we'll start writing. It will come out when it comes out - it's not a contest for us any more. It doesn't matter when we put records out, as long as we keep doing it once in a while."

Johnny Marr to produce Oasis album?
Mary O' Meara reports that according to the new January issue of Q magazine Johnny is producing the new/next Oasis album. It said he's done 10 tracks with Liam and Gem Archer. No official news reached us concerning this.

The Healers

Oct 11, 2000 Rumor has it ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr will make his U.S. debut with his new band, the Healers, at a very high-profile American festival in early 2001. Not much more can be said at press time, but if you're out and about in California next spring, don't be surprised if Marr and Co. share the bill with several big-name music acts in the desert...

Johnny teamed up with Noel Gallagher, Gem Archer & three Cornershop members, at London's Air Studio on Sept9 to cover The Beatles "Tomorrow Never Knows". The song aired Sept30 on 'Shine On', as part of Channel 4's 'John Lennon Tribute Night'

[07 September 2000]
>> Johnny Marr's guitar stolen
Last night following a performance by Johnny Marr's Healers at the Scala in London a 1964 Cherry Red Gibson SG guitar belonging to Johnny was stolen.

A spokesperson for Johnny's management said "Johnny is very upset at the loss of one of his favourite guitars. However, we have passed on to the police video footage from the venue showing the thief leaving with the guitar. We have also alerted all the UK's music shops to be on the look out for the guitar. We are confident that the thief will be tracked down. Johnny is only concerned that his guitar is returned safely so if anyone knows anything about this could they please contact our office on 44 20 7298 6000. A reward will be given for information leading to the safe recovery of the instrument."

JOHNNY'S EVENING MARRED BY GUITAR THEFT
7 September 2000
Johnny Marr - "Very upset", apparently

JOHNNY MARR has offered a reward for information leading to the safe return of one of his favourite guitars, stolen after his show at LONDON SCALA last night (September 6).

The former Smiths guitarist noticed his 1964 Cherry Red Gibson SG was missing shortly after he had finished what was his first ever London show with new band Johnny Marr's Healers.

A spokesperson for Ignition, Marr's management company told nme.com that Johnny was "very upset" at the theft of one his favourite guitars but that video footage of the thief leaving with the instrument had been passed to the police and that all music shops in the UK have been put on alert.

They added: "Johnny is only concerned that his guitar is returned safely so if anyone knows anything about this could they please contact our office on 44 20 7298 6000. A reward will be given for information leading to the safe recovery of the instrument."

posted Sept 7th:

have you seen this guitar?

Johnny's Cherry Red 1964 Gibson SG guitar was stolen following last night's performance at the Scala in London. A spokesperson for Johnny's management (Ignition) had his to say...

"Johnny is very upset at the loss of one of his favorite guitars. However, we have passed on to the police video footage from the venue showing the thief leaving with the guitar. We have also alerted all the UK's music shops to be on the look out for the guitar. We are confident that the thief will be tracked down."

"Johnny is only concerned that his guitar is returned safely so if anyone knows anything about this could they please contact our office on 44 20 7298 6000. A reward will be given for information leading to the safe recovery of the instrument."

Heaven knows, he's a lot less miserable now
4 September 2000

After the Smiths' demise, Johnny Marr took 13 years to form his own band: the Healers. Why so long, asks Eddi Fiegel, and are you really on lead vocals?

Johnny Marr is not your typical pop star – neither in person nor on paper. For one of the major British rock heroes of his generation, Marr's career has veered dangerously far from what is considered the norm. As guitarist extraordinaire and, with Morrissey, one half of the creative songwriting team behind The Smiths – arguably the most socially and musically significant band of the 1980s – everyone expected both Morrissey and Marr to initiate new solo projects following the band's demise in 1987. And Morrissey duly did.

Marr, however, proceeded to spend the next decade playing with an assortment of outfits including Bryan Ferry, The Pretenders, The The and Kirsty MacColl. He also recorded three albums with Electronic – the guitars-with-beats supergroup Marr formed with New Order's Bernard Sumner.

Now, a mere 13 years after it was expected of him, at the age of 36 Marr has formed a new group, The Healers, with Marr himself not only on guitar, but also on lead vocals. The obvious question is: why has he waited so long? As one would expect, the answer lies partly with the circumstances of The Smiths' break-up. Perhaps more importantly, it also lies in the very thing that informs everything Marr has done, from his career decisions to the way he plays guitar: his relationship with the music.

Over the course of two hours, he expounds freely on his hallowed sense of his own musical vocation. What's more, for someone who in the past has been notoriously reluctant to be interviewed, Marr seems keen to talk, his manner a mixture of gentle earthiness and impassioned eloquence.

Whereas most rock musicians will often readily admit to having joined a band primarily to improve their status – particularly with the opposite sex – Marr's reasons were always purely musical. "I was fortunate in that I was able to follow this insatiable drive for music. Because the thing that takes up most teenage boys' hormones – finding a girl – was taken care of with me, 'cause I'd found the girl for me [his wife Angie whom he first met at the age of 15 and with whom he's had two children]."

"When I first started buying records", he continues, "I didn't so much just listen to them as study them. That's what made me different to a lot of other guitar players, 'cause I didn't just sit there and go 'What's the guitar player doing?' and emulate them. I wanted to play the whole record. That's why I play the way I do.

"And that's why I've done what I've done over the last x [sic] years. Had I been told when I was 16 that I was going to be playing guitar for Beck [as Marr did a year ago on an, as yet, unreleased track, I would have just been punching the air. Instead, I had to deal with the outside world going 'What are you doing?' And I'm like: have you ever heard of 'have guitar, will travel'?"

But why a new band now? "It was only when the time felt right. Only when I started writing songs and jamming with Zak [Starkey, son of Ringo and now drummer with The Healers]. It was like, well, we might as well be a band. And also the idea of being in a band felt good."

Clearly, with the exception of Electronic, the idea of being in his own band had not felt good previously. On the break-up of The Smiths he explains: "I just felt that everything was rotten. The relationship between the members of the band was rotten; I didn't like myself very much and I liked the others less. It was paranoid and egocentric, a ship with two captains, each going in a different direction."

Marr was also wary of creating something that might have reflected the more negative emotions that emerged in the aftermath of The Smiths. "There were a lot of feelings of bitterness, sadness, frustration and confusion, and had I formed my own group directly after The Smiths, it's feasible that that would have come out in the work. And I would hate to have that legacy.

"In that particular climate we would have been judged terribly as well, so really it was just unthinkable. Plus, the big thing was that I ended up being in the band that I really really wanted to be in. Which was The The."

Surely Marr's not suggesting that, while in the most revered independent group of his day, he was secretly hankering to be in the, albeit excellent, The The? "Yeah, I was," he deadpans. "The truth is that had Matt Johnson and had I not been so skint, I would have been in The The instead of The Smiths. I met Matt before I met Morrissey and it was just one of those meetings that you have all too rarely in life where you find a soulmate."

Visibly relieved to be no longer talking about The Smiths, Marr begins telling me about The Healers, whose name was inspired by the book The Secret Doctrine by 19th-century medium Helena Blavatsky. (He later confesses that "the bottom line is, I know a great name for a rock'n'roll band when I see one".) And judging by the promo, "The Last Ride", taken from the studio sessions Marr is currently finishing, a rock'n'roll band The Healers most certainly are.

On the basis of this track, which Marr tells me is fairly typical, The Healers are dramatically heavier than anything fans of the Smiths' lighter tunes might expect. Having said that, half-close your ears to the opening fade-up riff and it could almost segue into "What Difference Does It Make". But the reverie is soon shattered by a pounding, driving onslaught of psychedelic, fuzz-fuelled rock. And yes, Johnny Marr can sing.

"One of my ideas for the band," says Marr, "is to do something that's heavy, and go against this corporate musical tide. You find yourself being delivered air-brushed, short, sharp, naff pop, and your intelligence is being under-estimated. I don't have a three-minute attention span and I find it interesting that young people are again going back to music that is just for music's sake – longer songs and darker melodies. I think Nirvana proved it."

Comparisons will undoubtedly be made to Marr's long-standing chums and erstwhile protégés Oasis (Marr gave Noel Gallagher one of his own treasured guitars early on in the band's career and recommended the combo to his management company). Marr may also have to defend himself against accusations of those dirty words "Progressive Rock". This doesn't remotely worry him. "The one ambition I have with this band is to have a set list with five songs on it. We'll be lucky if we get to the third!" he laughs.

Alongside Marr and Starkey in The Healers are percussionist Liz Bonney – a 23-year-old veteran of 12-hour-long percussion jams in Eastern Australia, ex-Kula Shaker bassist Alonza Bevan, ex-William Orbit collaborator Lee Spencer on synth and guitarist Adam Gray.

Marr had also found a singer, but after much discussion the band insisted that he sing himself. "They told me that I had to do it because, although this guy had a classically good voice, what I was doing was more interesting. In the end, I found the notion quite liberating."

Although Marr describes The Healers as "more cerebral than the stuff that I'm known for", those in search of the urgent, shimmering, blisteringly passionate Marr guitar which was such an integral part of The Smiths will not be entirely disappointed. Because the feelings which have always fuelled that passion remain unchanged.

"Music's my way of connecting with existence and the real world, because, without wanting to sound angsty, I do feel like a bit of a square peg in a round hole. I did as a kid and I think I still do now. But I think there's some sort of need to make sense of the world, because otherwise I'd either be too idealistic, too poetic or too cynical to deal with life." He pauses for a moment. "So I do it through music."

Johnny Marr's Healers: Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth (0239 286 3911), Tuesday; Scala, N1 (020 7833 2022), Wednesday. An album is expected next year.

August 15, 2000
Johnny Marr's Healers covered "Woman Like You" for inclusion on the upcoming Bert Jansch tribute album 'People On The Highway' (Market Square). It will get a UK release Sept 4th, you can order it at amazon.co.uk The US release will be sometime in Oct (not sure of exact date yet) on a label called DNA(?) The 2cd 26 song compilation comes with a fully-illustrated 20 page booklet with notes by the artists and an intro by Colin Harper, whose biography of Jansch was published in the UK this month.

Bert Jansch Crimson Moon

Scottish folkie returns with Bernard Butler and Johnny Marr in tow

Bert Jansch's latest outing features the veteran troubadour receiving a little hip enhancement from fellow guitarists Bernard Butler and Johnny Marr, although given the pair's recent less than stellar career curves one has to wonder quite who is helping who. In fact, Jansch has always been capable of producing his peerless mix of bluesy-folk on his own, as he proves on Caledonia which finds the singer/songwriter aided only by Makoto Sakamoto's atmospheric percussion. To be fair, Butler and Marr do more than enough on the epic Fool's Mate to remind everyone why they were famous in the first place, although Suede/Smiths completists with a morbid fear of hey-nonny-nonny-ness may care to give this a wide berth.

August 2000
***
Clark Collis

MARR ATTACKS!
Sweet Johnny - Ready to rock London again

JOHNNY MARR's HEALERS have announced details of their debut LONDON show for September.

In addition to their previously announced gig at the Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms on September 5, the band follow with a one-off date at the London Scala the following night (6). Tickets for the show are available now, priced £10. Call the NME 24-Hour Ticketline on 0870 1 663 663. Calls are charged at national standard rate.

As well as Marr on guitar and vocals, the band also features ex-Kula Shaker bassist Alonza Bevan and Ringo Starr's son Zak Starkey on drums.

The band previously supported Oasis on their stadium shows in Bolton and London earlier this month.

Johnny Marr Proves His Best Is Still Ahead At Sheffield Show
July 17, 2000, 2:10 pm PT

When Johnny Marr first left the Smiths, the world was waiting for him to form his own band, which is a very good reason to delay the event by 13 years.

In between the Smiths and the Healers lie all manner of collaborations: Bryan Ferry, the Pretenders, an album and tour with The The, and most rewardingly, a partnership with New Order's Bernard Sumner in Electronic.

However, Marr's creative urges have never quite been allowed to run riot in a full-blown solo project until now, and riot is the word. Heavier than a neutron bomb over Manchester, Marr's Healers are easily the most vicious, loud and searing outfit he's ever been involved with, as evidenced by their show at Sheffield Leadmill in England on Friday (July 14). Anyone struggling to find parallels between this band and the Smiths will stumble exasperated towards the later, rockier tracks like "London" and the title track of The Queen Is Dead, but the turbo-driven sound of the Healers is unprecedented in the man's career.

A truer indication of where Marr is at now comes in the explosive, hard-as-granite encore of "I Need Somebody," from the Stooges' Raw Power, apparently Marr's favourite album of all time.

However, with perhaps a nod to the close-knit nature of early Smiths, Marr has chosen cohorts for personal and musical chemistry more than technical expertise, and has picked a potent mixture of seasoned players and hungry gunslingers. Ringo Starr's son, Zak Starkey, pounds the drums; bassist Alonza Bevan was picked up on the rebound from the ill-fated, critically-reviled Kula Shaker. Keyboardist Lee Spencer -- when you can hear him -- is a synth-squiggling Eno character, hyperactive percussionist Liz Bonney provides a colourful diversion, and sunglassed Adam Gray looks like a refugee from 1970's glam stars Mud but is actually from the unknown Manc band, Ya Ya's. Marr's vision is some sort of Mexican glam rock reggae -- a wild fusion of Eno, Iggy, Carlos Santana, and the Wailers. Amazingly, some of the time this is exactly how they sound.

Those gentler Smiths chiming guitar sounds seem light years away -- although "Last Ride" contains tantalizing echoes of "How Soon Is Now" -- as Marr pours sounds like molten metal. Looking remarkably unweathered (hair teased back into the Keith Richards tousle of his mid-'80s incarnation) it's odd to see Marr as a frontman, but the guise suits him. His voice is vaguely reminiscent of Gerry Rafferty, and at 36, he certainly doesn't lack for charisma. If it's slightly frustrating that some of the songs echo those Marr has influenced (the Charlatans, Oasis), this is inevitable given his back catalogue.

Far more intriguingly, a particularly outstanding closing 15-minutes shows that Marr's legendary creativity is still intact. One song virtually invents glam reggae, another updates Hawkwind, and the awesome percussive-guitar-harmonica groove of "Need It" manages to recall "Sympathy for the Devil," "Lust for Life," and -- yes -- "The Queen Is Dead."

It's not like the old days anymore, but there's plenty here to suggest Johnny Marr's best times are definitely not all behind him.

-- Dave Simpson