Dynamic - Issue #7, June 2018

A JOHNNY MARR FANZINE JUNE2018

CONTENTS

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THE ROMANTICISM OF JOHNNY MARR

By MJ Zander

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THE CREATIVE MUSE

By Jonny Hughes

14

HITTING THE HEART OF JOHNNY MARR An exclusive DYNAMIC interview

26

CALL THE COMET: THE DYNAMIC REVIEW

By Adi Harrold

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MARR-MATES Alison Moore on friendship in the Johnny Marr fandom

36

THERE’S A LIGHT Karima Dardak on one of Johnny’s biggest heroes, Rory Gallagher

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“I SAY GOODBYE TO THEM AND ME: JOHNNY MARR, POSTHUMAN

By Brontë Schiltz

48

SOUND FOUNDATIONS Gabe Echazabal on the guitarists that influenced Johnny’s sound

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JOHNNY MARR IS...

Ryan Walker on what makes Johnny a national treasure

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SINGLES CLUB Siobhan O’Driscoll on Johnny Marr and the importance of the 7” single

69

SPEAKING OUT, REACHING OUT Katey Lovell on ‘The Priest’

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SET THE GIRL FREE Personal experiences of a first Johnny Marr gig, by Linda Poulnott

80

3 THINGS: A MINI - INTERVIEW WITH JOHNNY MARR

82

SHOPPING FOR RECORDS WITH THE ANGEL OF RADNESS ON YOUR SHOULDER A regular column with resident music connoiseur Andy Campbell

86

HERE COMES OUR CHARITY Kathey Norton on Johnny’s philanthropic endeavours

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SONG SPOTLIGHT: GETTING AWAY WITH IT

By Linda Poulnott

100

MARR- WIN: A THEORY OF EVOLUTION

By Dave Medley

102

CALL THE COMET: A TRACK BY TRACK REVIEW 12 fans dissect the new album

106

REAL ARMS AROUND ME Stephen Vaughn looks back to Electric Picnic, 2013

112

UPSTARTS L.M. on Johnny’s band memberships

116

LET TERS TO JOHNNY Fan-penned notes of love and gratitude

Live reviews 32

DUBLIN, 12 MAY 2018 by Gavin Wynne

52 72

LONDON, 16 MAY 2018 by Susan Hansen STOCKHOLM, 18 MAY 2018 by Brian O’Grady

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LOS ANGELES, 5 & 6 JUNE 2018 by Gabe Echazabal DYNAMIC | Page 3

During the 18th century, a new movement began in philosophy, literature, art, and music. It was a reaction against the sterility of the evolving modern age. It was called Romanticism. The Romantics based their creations on imagination and emotion, injecting a strong sense of the self and an appreciation for the common man. The Romantics looked to express themselves, not only within, but also without. The Romantics eventually gave way to the modern, but their influence remained and it appears to be making a gradual return to the arts, especially in music.

Johnny Marr

is one the artists leading the way.

The Smiths, knew he was a romantic. With Marr’s revolutionary style of songwriting, his youthful confidence, and bold experimentation, The Smiths could hardly have been anything else, but Romantic.

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Marr,

even from his early days with

the romanticism of johnny marr

R

omanticism is about nature, freedom of imagination and individual expression. It is about seeing the world as it should be, rather than accepting it for the way it is, something Marr has always articulated in his music. Where there was a youthful anxiety haunting the music of The Smiths, Marr’s solo offerings show the anxiety is still there, but this mature version of Johnny Marr is ready to take it on. Johnny’s vocals have a somewhat innocent optimism, backed by a man who knows better than to believe in it. Marr gives the listener permission to be anxious but hopeful, confident but willing to accept the consequences, but mostly, Johnny inspires the listener to take their own path, to experiment and never conform. Marr tells us we can “be a part of the story,” without getting lost in it,” we need to “open doors” and “push the button to a higher plane.”

Johnny Marr’s releases The Messenger and Playland create a soundscape that encourages thoughtful

introspection, alive with the Romantic spirit.

With songs like “Candidate,” “Messenger,” and “European Me,” Marr weaves contemplative lyrics into music with a touch of melancholy and creates something sublime. Marr has mastered making these songs personal to each listener. Marr is encouraging one to dig beneath the surface and discover the message within, just like Byron and Shelley before him. Marr’s songs aren’t about his interpretation as much as they are about the listener’s. You can take anyone of Marr’s compositions and find something to connect with, even if it is just the music itself.

Marr’s songs are complex without being busy, lush and comforting one moment and fearlessly jolting us out of that comfort zone in the next. It is a blending of opposites that come together to create a bigger picture.

Johnny Marr’s romanticism isn’t surprising as he continues to be aware of and influenced by his surroundings. In a 2012 interview, he described his DYNAMIC | Page 5

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Marr gives the listener permission to be anxious but

hopeful, confident but willing to accept the consequences, but mostly, Johnny inspires

the listener to take their own path, to experiment and never conform.

affection for his hometown of Manchester, referring to it as “still kind of romantic,” and that romanticism has become an integral part of Marr’s creative process.

Marr is going back to one of the core ideologies of Romanticism, the individual. As everyone else is struggling to get out of the box, Marr tells us it’s ok to stay in it as long as we are willing “to see in it something.” Escaping the box just means building a bigger one that no one ever really escapes. Marr encourages the listener to think and “get out of your mind” rather than out of the box.

As society becomes more commercialized, spending “cash for fantasy,” purchasing mass produced toys and gadgets, the originality of ideas are slowly slipping away, along with the originality of ourselves. This is why artists like Johnny Marr are so important; they like their Romantic predecessors are fighting against the conformity, not only in music but also as a whole. Society itself is one big “Playland,” But Johnny Marr tells us we don’t always have to play by the rules, and that is very romantic.

By MJ Zander DYNAMIC | Page 7

a e r C t iv e M e h T u One

se

of the things that has to stand out about

any great artist is longevity.

The ability to have

a solitary moment of genius is still rare, but perhaps more common than people think. So, in 1983, had a band called The Smiths fizzled out after a song called This Charming Man stormed into the charts and disappeared into obscurity, we wouldn’t have thought any less of them as a band for bringing two minutes and forty three seconds of joy to our lives. However, this clearly wasn’t the destiny for such talented people.

Thirty five years on, Johnny Marr is still having these moments of genius, quite regularly, and has painted the airwaves a multitude of colours to bring enjoyment to our ears. The question is, how does one keep producing these ideas and turning them into masterpieces known as pop songs?

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A cursory look over the magnificent new autobiography Set The Boy Free is an insight into just how Johnny keeps creating interesting and relevant works of cultural significance. It’s clear from someone who has such an open mind and an interest in challenging themselves can keep their mind ticking over. Quoting Pablo Picasso, he mentions how “Inspiration exists, but it comes to those who it finds working.”

This work ethic, and ability to create consistently good work is driven by the idea of exploration. A further passage in the book talks about how Johnny wrote William It Was Really Nothing, How Soon Is Now, and Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want in a weekend. Now, for most people, imagining and transforming any one of these ideas into a song would be a lifetime achievement, but three in such a short space of time? Sheer determination and an obvious talent.

However, how many people would be satisfied with one good idea over the course of a weekend and stop there? Had Johnny been simply satisfied and not pushed himself, who knows. He could have stopped at one of these songs, rested on his laurels and simply stopped there, depriving the world of two magical moments of music. The creative muse certainly decided to reward this period of hard work. The world is a better place for it!

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It’s this ability to work and look for more that has kept his work moving forwards over the years.

Again, how many people would be simply content to have ploughed on in The Smiths, feeling utterly unfulfilled but financially secure? I am sure Johnny could have adopted a “grin and bear it” attitude, stayed still, and felt creatively stifled – something that many bands do.

By taking chances and delving into territories with Electronic, crossing genres and styles, something he did through The Smiths – rockabilly, funk, glam – but in a more extreme sense by quitting the band to join others, he has been able to stay relevant and keep his ideas fresh. Working with a host of musicians who have helped to challenge him with new styles and surroundings – such as working with Talking Heads – is something to take anyone out of their comfort zone.

Pushing out of a comfort zone really allows you to test yourself. I can imagine it is both exciting and scary as I try to imagine the idea of how it must feel to be an acclaimed guitar player, and then suddenly being taken into an environment where you are working with a director, composer, and full orchestra on scoring a film. Well, that is exactly what happened when Johnny accepted Hans Zimmer’s invitation to play on the Inception soundtrack. I find that incredibly inspiring – when people expect that you should be pigeon holed, or reforming one of your old bands, go and surprise them by working on a Hollywood blockbuster. And then surprise them even more by doing an incredible job while you do it.

Similarly, the bold decision to fly half the way around the world and play with someone you’ve never met in Isaac Brock, in the hope of writing a bunch of songs that could sound good. Once again, fortune favours the brave.

zone really allows you to test yourself.”

N

“Pushing out of a comfort

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This open mindedness and willingness to take chances and make changes is a huge contribution to the artistic process, or so it seems. This is also true of non musical commitments – Johnny openly talks about how he was impacted by meeting people with teetotal, vegan lifestyles and how this has changed his life for the better. Similarly, opening his mind to Aldous Huxley and esoteric ways of thinking around the time of The Healers and ever since have helped create some incredibly interesting themes lyrically and musically in his songs – whether that’s psychogeography in Dynamo, or technology in I Want The Heartbeat, these are genuinely fascinating observations.

I’m sure if you’re reading this fanzine, you’re doing so because you have an interest in Johnny’s work. I am glad people appreciate his body of work, and I would say that anybody who isn’t familiar with him, looking for inspiration in life, should try and understand just why he is so special – constantly evolving, constantly working, constantly pushing forward. That’s a benchmark in life we should all strive to achieve in any form of life. It’s good to acknowledge your past and the things that have helped shape you, make you, and form you – but it’s equally important not to naval gaze, and move forward to do something different, better and challenging.

By Jonny Hughes

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Artwork by Catherine Smith

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Hitting the heart of

johnny MARR

It was Susan Sontag who once said, ‘The greatest effort is to be really where you are, contemporary with yourself, in your life, giving full attention to the world.’ This is an effort, I feel, that Johnny Marr has certainly made, and more so than ever in the five years since first striking out as a solo artist.

Though understandably admired for decades as a guitarist alone, it’s been Johnny’s nascent career as a frontman that has cemented his reputation as one of the most-loved figures in the music industry. Beyond the fealty of his ever-growing fanbase, both the media and his contemporaries are routinely eager to sing his praises. To the press, he’s a man of great warmth and candour; to fellow musicians, an exemplar of enthusiasm and a consummate professional who’s never lost his passion for his art. To all of the above, he’s lauded as, to quote countless admirers, “one of the nicest guys in the universe”. Ebullient as such praise may be, there’s not a hint of puffery about it: these commendations are as sincere as Johnny himself is.

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J

ohnny’s third studio solo album, Call The Comet, hasn’t even hit the shelves at the time of writing, but has already started to receive unequivocally glowing reviews from the press.

Having launched into its production straight after writing and promoting his award-winning autobiography, Set The Boy Free, the anamnesis such a project required gave impetus to Johnny’s desire to return the focus of his work to the present - and beyond.

‘Writing Set The Boy Free was obviously all about looking back, the story so far,’ Johnny explains. ‘When it was done and I went out on the book promotion tour, that too was all about looking back. So when the time came to make Call The Comet, I was pretty eager to think about the present, or the future. I was ready to leave the past in the past.’

The Messenger and Playland drew on the present for inspiration as well, with songs inspired by Johnny’s observations of society.

The media, politics, technology, escapism, hedonism and urban life were recurrent themes.

‘I like to make the lyrics more observational than introspective,’ Johnny told me in an earlier interview a few years ago. Many of the lyrics on Call The Comet are in fact a creative fusion of both; an optimistic imagining of an alternative future to that which seems to realistically await us. In The Messenger and Playland, the characters in Johnny’s songs sought escape through technology, play and urban exploration. This time, they’re seeking another world entirely. I wonder how much of this is also a reflection of a change in Johnny’s attitude, and the atmosphere of his working environment, since the start of his solo career.

‘There is a difference,’ he admits. ‘I probably feel a little bit different, and the world definitely feels different. Being in my new working space DYNAMIC | Page 16

[The Crazy Face Factory] has some influence too, which I like. It’s a very interesting place and quite atmospheric. My environment has always effected me, and I think the record has the sound of the place - plus I always want to do something different from the last thing, change the attitude of the music a bit. The only time haven’t done that was when I wanted Playland to feel like an extension of The Messenger. Call The Comet is different.’

Call The Comet’s two opening tracks, ‘Rise’, and ‘The Tracers’, both tackle the theme of escaping to a new reality head-on. Both convey a sense of urgency combined with optimism and empowerment, both sonically and lyrically.

‘Get ready to run’, the former warns us, while in the latter the protagonist urges their companion to ‘Come with me, evaporate’.

‘The story is that the earth wants to ‘re-set’,’ Johnny says, adding to his explanation that ‘Rise’ is the story of two people living in a futuristic society that popped up after a comet hit. ‘I had the idea about us calling out to some intelligence somewhere, which is where Call The Comet comes from - and isn’t actually that far-fetched when you think about it, as humankind has been doing that forever in the form of religion. The idea of “The Tracers” was of an intelligence more evolved than us, smarter, and probably kinder, certainly wiser… evolved.’

Such an apocalyptic concept as wiping clean the slate of humanity could easily be misconstrued as bleak and fatalist, but there’s far too much optimism in Johnny’s lyrics to feel that that’s the case. ‘Time won’t change us / It ain’t so easy / Rise to forever / New flames got lit’, ‘Rise’ asserts with its soaring vocal, while in ‘The Tracers’, the admission that ‘they know we’ve lost the way’, combined with the belief that ‘Tracers have come for all here’,

“The idea of ‘The Tracers’ was of an intelligence more evolved than us, smarter, and probably kinder, certainly wiser… evolved.”

implies faith in being rescued by the source of intelligence being reached out to. These are the sentiments of a man who knows the world is in trouble, but still believes it’s not too late to save it. What would it take to “fix” our troubled society, I ask?

‘One way would be to fix the ecology, change the sea levels, climate, carbon, oxygen levels... that’s just for a start,’ Johnny begins. ‘How about they banish all political figures to some remote place somewhere? We could do with being taught a lot of things to survive. The characters in “Rise” are facing up to the prospect and about to take on the new world.’ The sense of urgency in Johnny’s words is palpable.

‘The Tracers should hurry, actually. We need them.’

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“The Tracers should hurry, actually. We need them.”

The alternative society envisioned throughout Call The Comet is undoubtedly an improvement on our current one, though it’s telling that Johnny steers clear of describing it as Utopian. Johnny is, after all, a realist. By its very nature, a genuinely Utopian society is downright impossible, owing to the infinite variety of definitions of Utopia humankind can contemplate. One man’s heaven is another man’s hell, and besides - wouldn’t a perfect world be awfully boring? Surely some degree of hardship or discomfort can be beneficial even necessary - in life? Johnny seems to agree.

‘The human condition is probably meant to be challenging and have conflict and all of that in order for us to eventually evolve mentally and DYNAMIC | Page 18

philosophically. We’ll get there in the end, I guess,’ he concedes, then adds wryly: ‘…some, anyway.’

There may be no point striving for Utopia then, but striving for a better world is the point entirely, and the key theme to Call The Comet’s lyrical narratives. What then, I ask Johnny, would his idea of a positive alternative society actually entail?

‘Tolerance for a start; the idea that everyone is allowed to follow their own belief system without being pilloried or killed for it,’ he begins. ‘Unfortunately some beliefs have intolerance built into them, so there’s a problem

right there. Religion is very flawed, isn’t it?’ He pauses for a moment to contemplate further, before continuing: ‘Decent clothes shops. Free art galleries, nutrition, and a home for everyone who needs it...spaces where kids can skate in cities without getting hassled...decent food on trains, lots of jobs for people in public places, decent wages...the list goes on and on…no reality shows involving people singing, or music being murdered of any kind…’

Certainly nobody could accuse Johnny of the latter, especially after hearing Call The Comet.

It’s arguably his most accomplished solo album to date, and if the critical reception so far is anything to judge by, will likely sit alongside The Queen Is Dead, The The’s Mind Bomb and Modest Mouse’s We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank in the near future as one of the definitive highlights of his career. While still employing his trademark style, Johnny’s appetence for innovation has ultimately resulted in a number of tracks that are a departure from those found on Playland and The Messenger: most noticeably ‘Walk Into The Sea’, and ‘New Dominions’. The former is a sweeping, dramatic and deeply emotional piece clearly inspired by his cinematic work with Hans Zimmer, while the latter is, by contrast, a relatively sparse

arrangement with a pulsing, industrial sound and spoken word elements. ‘Walk Into The Sea’ is as Apollonian as ‘New Dominions’ is Dionysian. The former is the Yin to the latter’s Yang. Yet there’s a unifying lyrical theme, one of death and rebirth. ‘Let the slamming waves decide my fate, because hope is all I need’, Johnny insists on ‘Walk Into The Sea’, while in ‘New Dominions’, he seemed unperturbed acknowledging that he ‘won’t go to no paradise after’. Asked if he feels comfortable with his own mortality, his calm, laconic reply of ‘Oh yeah,’ says it all.

‘I don’t believe in heaven and hell in the traditional sense, but I don’t think this is all there is by any means...nah. Humankind is just not that smart, and even with that, we only use a very small part of our brain’s capacity,’ Johnny asserts. ‘To think that our senses and our awareness are the sum total of the achievement of the universe is ridiculous to me. There’s a lot more going on that we don’t know about, and aren’t meant to know about. It would overwhelm us to get an inkling of it - but that’s okay, I like mystery, and as I say, I think we’re probably supposed to be up against ourselves to evolve into something at some point. “New Dominions” touches on that in places,’ he adds.

“The human condition is probably meant to be challenging and have conflict in order for us to eventually evolve, mentally and philosophically” DYNAMIC | Page 19

“To think that our senses and our awareness are the sum total of the achievement of the universe is ridiculous to me. There’s a lot more going on that we don’t know about, and aren’t meant to know about.”

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Though there are clearly recurring themes, Call The Comet isn’t really a concept album. The sensual otherworldliness of ‘Hey Angel’, the frantic escapism of ‘My Eternal’ and the starryeyed soaring beauty of ‘Spiral Cities’ all possess something of the same atmosphere as ‘Rise’, ‘The Tracers’, ‘New Dominions’, and ‘Walk Into The Sea’, but the remaining songs could be more accurately described as either political or personal. The gorgeously catchy, semi-acoustic ‘Day In Day Out’ is the track Johnny confesses to being the most autobiographical on the album.

‘Some songs demand that you put your emotions in, even if it’s not that apparent. “Day In Day Out” is about the predicament of a questing and relentless mind, which can be a blessing, and is often fun, but can sometimes be difficult.

I think some people will know what I’m taking about.’

Sonically, a number of tracks on Call The Comet seem to draw on the atmosphere of the early 80s post-punk and new wave genres. There’s a hint of early Cure about ‘My Eternal’, and ‘Actor Attractor’ sounds like a stunning hybrid of The Sisters of Mercy, Asylum Party and late 80s Depeche Mode. I suggest that such tracks could best be described as “darkwave”, and Johnny agrees - although he never set out to intentionally compose in that style. ‘The truth is that I just followed an atmosphere that I felt around me, and my emotions when I was writing,’ he says. ‘Call The Comet is very much the result of me following my feelings and mining my imagination. Beyond that I don’t know why the music came out the way it did. I followed something.’

The influence of ambient music is also subtly apparent in the album’s overall mood, but most noticeably on ‘Walk Into The Sea’, with its lengthy instrumental intro and gently throbbing

drum line, resembling the rhythmic pulsation of a heartbeat. ‘I like a lot of ambient music,’ Johnny discloses. ‘Early Brian Eno of course, and plenty of obscure things. David Sylvian has done some very good things that have stood the test of time.’

Perhaps unsurprisingly though, considering what a voracious reader Johnny is, Call The Comet’s biggest influences are literary rather than strictly musical. While Johnny has described the album as his own magic realism, he considers the genre itself “too fanciful”, and instead turned to science fiction, poetry and counter-culture classics for inspiration.

‘I’m always delving into all sorts of stuff,’ he explains, then begins to rattle off a list of influential titles: ‘The Ticket That Exploded

by William Burroughs...I Etcetera by Susan Sontag, Autobiography Of Red by Anne Carson...there’s a lot of things I get into. “Spiral Cities” was inspired by a book called The Crystal Chain Letters,’ he adds, referring to the correspondence of a group of expressionist architects led by Bruno Taut in the early 20th century, in which Taut and his contemporaries shared their fantasies of an ideal future through a series of chain letters.

‘I love Joan Didion,’ he continues, ‘and the sixties poet Spike Hawkins. Dave Wallis’ Only Lovers Left Alive, I remembered from a while back and that inspired “New Dominions” a little bit. Not everything goes into my songs though,’ he clarifies. ‘I have a lot of different things going on.’

Science fiction and dystopian fiction in particular have also featured heavily in Johnny’s recent reading lists. ‘I like The Machine Stops by EM Forster. Good story telling and very much ahead of its time. HG Wells is also interesting.

Aside from the fact that his imagination was DYNAMIC | Page 21

“I just followed an atmosphere that I felt around me, and my emotions when I was writing.

Call The Comet is very much the result of me following my feelings and mining my imagination.”

astounding, there’s a psychedelic aspect to the writing. Not in a sixties “trippy-hippy” way; more otherworldly and disconcerting - a bit gothic sometimes, and extremely prescient. It works well in these times. It’s very interesting.

I like Burroughs style, although a lot of the concepts haven’t dated well in the post internet age. Ballard’s ideas were quite brilliant though; completely unique.’

With all this talk of utopias, dystopias, and alternative societies, I must ask Johnny to settle a debate. Does he think Huxley’s (Brave New World) or Orwell’s (1984) vision of the future is the most accurate in our current times?

‘Easy. Brave New World,’ he answers, without hesitation. ‘I think Orwell was on the right track, obviously, but Brave New World is beyond that, and Huxley was tapped into a more universal aspect of the Human Condition. It wasn’t all political.’

For Johnny, his Brave New World is the one he’s forged for himself since the dissolution of a certain seminal 80s band that journalists simply won’t stop asking him about. It’s not DYNAMIC | Page 22

that Johnny isn’t proud of his past, nor that he has any serious regrets about it: it’s just that he’s far more interested in what he’s doing right now. ‘I probably would have missed out on a lot of things,’ he admits, when asked what he thinks would have happened if he’d started out as a solo artist, or launched his solo career much earlier. ‘I see my time playing on different records during the 90s as learning a ton of things I needed to know about making records and writing songs. I also avoided a lot of things I didn’t want to do, such as press attention and all of that. I can’t imagine dealing with any more of that stuff than I already have.

I wouldn’t have wanted to miss out playing in The The or Modest Mouse, movies, or the Cribs shows. I like the way things have gone. It feels right to me.’

He continues, pondering what fans’ reactions would have been if Johnny had gone solo after The Smiths, as his quondam songwriting partner swiftly did. ‘The music would’ve been about the fifth thing people talked and thought about,’ he hypothesises. ‘That isn’t the reason I didn’t form a band though. I just wanted to do things in a different way. So that’s what I did.’

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What the fans at least are talking and thinking about first and foremost right now is Call The Comet - almost to the point of obsession. On social media, the buzz has been unwavering for months, and has only intensified in recent weeks, following a string of exclusive launch shows in the US and Europe, leading up to the album’s release.

‘My audience tend to be really nice people,’ Johnny says, as we’re discussing his engagement with fans on social media. ‘They have a certain shared mentality that makes me quite proud. The fans know what I’m about and social media has made that more obvious and given us a nice dialogue.’ He concedes that there is a dark side to social media, but ‘I don’t engage with or tolerate that stuff’. Fortunately, perhaps as a result of the audience echoing back Johnny’s own kindness and positivity, ‘so far it’s not turned up too much in my own arena.’

‘There’s a really good feeling with the fans,’ he continues, back to focusing on the positives. ‘As you say, they can be very enthusiastic and often very funny.

They’re also quite protective of me, and that is really lovely sometimes. The fans like guitars, and they like melody, and are usually above a lot of the nonsense that the press try to drag us all into about The Smiths this and The Smiths that...blah blah blah. The fans are above all that and are very cool.’

‘If you’re lucky you get near the end of recording a song and think “this is going to be a good one to play live”. Sometimes you think a song will sound good on the radio...someone says “that’s a single”...that kind of thing. When things like that happen, and you hope they do, your mind turns to the audience. It’s when a record is done that I wonder how fans will react to it. That’s always been a thing for me.’

If the overwhelmingly positive reaction from fans so far about Call The Comet is anything to judge by, it’s safe to say Johnny doesn’t have to wonder anymore.

Interview & photographs by Aly Stevenson DYNAMIC | Page 24

Artwork by Riley Langston DYNAMIC | Page 25

Call The Comet An Album Review

A Summers day in England, surprisingly warm and dry, 15th June 2018 instigates an extended walk. Not to admire the pageantry of houses adorned with the cross of St George for football, nor shake ones head ruefully at the demise of a once proud nation to that of a bitter underdog, voting to oust the would be usurpers to our own identity via Brexit, but to stride and lose oneself in the bosom of a constant friend. A reliable force who always provides what the heart and soul desires. Neither loquacious nor acerbic, the tonic we need in these embittered times. A simple walk becomes an inter-galactic rollercoaster as Johnny transports us via his Comet to the further reaches of universal music iconography.

Years have passed since we saw the surreal side of modern life and mechanisation with 2013’s Messenger followed by “Homo Ludens” in the form of 2014’s Playland album. The interim has produced a fine tuning, a honing of ideology and finesse. The interim has provided us with Call the Comet.

Never one to sit back and watch the World go by with respect to constant growth and development, Johnny shows us eloquently and succinctly how years of gun slinging with the likes of The Pretenders, The The, Electronic, Talking Heads, Pet Shop Boys, Oasis, Modest Mouse, The Cribs, Billy Bragg and Hans Zimmer have constructed a back catalogue and sheer ubiquity of talent that denote him as one of the premier artisans of his craft in the modern day.

To describe each song in ones own words is to do a disservice. Each song is personal to the individual. This is the skill of the songwriter, we all have our own definition, our own visions of sights, sounds and emotions that accompany a song and the new album is no exception to that rule. We travel the whole gambit of emotions from song to song with the ever-constant guidance and obvious time and care spent in polishing and adding finesse to each tome.

Futuristic sounds of dystopia, where are we headed? “The Tracers” questions our intentions.

To evaporate? Along with “New Dominions” with its nod to Kraftwerk, and a future Bowie ascribed to so many years ago.

The pace quickens and deepens with the salacious “Hey Angel” sliding up to the microphone, looking us directly in the eye and whispering barely concealed promises. “My Eternal” with throbbing post punk energies and Numanesque overtones, all to a driving beat of Billy Idol’s White wedding.

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Then we are bathed in the luxury of “Spiral Cities” with guitars reminiscent of Edge and the languid touch of Clayton.

“Hi Hello” will, no doubt, become an icon of Marr legend with classic guitar riffs and style as will “Walk into the sea”. A beautifully crafted sales pitch that displays exquisitely all that Johnny has to offer. Beauty in simplicity, accuracy, delicacy. Form follows function.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, “Bug” crashes in thumbing its nose to anyone who would have the audacity to contravene life’s unwritten rules of responsibility, thought and intent. It’s easy to imagine perfectly synchronised Wallabied feet marching to the beat, trampling ignorance and intolerance underfoot.

There are many ways to translate each song and, again, this is the beauty of the work of Johnny. The development of key factors that catch the imagination and spirit leave us wanting more, the positivity and verve, the connection to the person, the man. We all “feel” what is being expressed in the vision but can adapt it to our own preference and direction, an inner narrative where Johnny provides the bare bones for us to work with and adapt. He spoils us.

There’s a wisdom and growth in his vocals, a confidence. Never caustic or overbearing, a mellifluous adjunct to the widescreen effects we are supplied by his guitar work.

A nod to the gentlemen he’s surrounded by, a General is nothing without his best troops, and I don’t think Johnny could have chosen more eruditely and prudently. I’m sure he’s very much aware, from years of experience, that a band is a sum of its parts and to say this band works would be a huge understatement indeed. Hats off gentlemen, you should also be very proud of your endeavours.

So to sum up the album, what can one say? I don’t think a nutshell is possible. This album has charted out the success of a man who strives to better himself, his knowledge and abilities. Surrounds himself with a plethora of talent that can only inspire and promote the search for a thing of beauty.

As I complete my walk, 15000 steps later, I don’t remember much of it. I remember an eclectic ambrosia of musical nourishment par excellence. The main point is…..it’s positive.

Johnny is always positive in his music. We can be too, we should be. Our time here is short so let’s take time to enjoy the gifts we’re given. Do we really have to analyse the future so much? Why not live in the present and make that worthwhile.

Call the Comet is not just the next step up for Johnny, it places him in the pantheon of greats. I, personally, applaud your work sir.

Addendum. And no mention of a certain band from the 80s for comparison. There’s no need.

Johnny has ridden his Comet to a whole new dimension. Comparison is simply irrelevant.

By Adi Harrold DYNAMIC | Page 29

MarrMates

One of those inspirational quotes says that the best friendships must be built on a solid foundation of alcohol, sarcasm, inappropriateness and shenanigans – and I can’t disagree. However what it fails to mention is that you can also base some brilliant friendships on a shared passion for a god-like genius called Johnny Marr!

Over the last four years since joining the fandom that Ory and Aly so ably oversee and nurture I have met (in person and online) a truly eclectic group of people that I would probably never have crossed paths with in any other circumstances.

The conversation threads on the facebook page range from the sublime to the ridiculous – but are always supportive, always positive and always entertaining.

I love the banter and at the end of a long day at work or a gloomy afternoon when I’m at a loose end it always raises my spirits.

What’s more though is that I’ve developed some utterly fantastic friendships that mean a great deal to me – friendships that are absolutely founded on a shared passion for Johnny Marr, but go beyond that too.

One of my most cherished friendships is the one I have with Adi Harrold. Behind the bravado and witty quips is a kind, generous and supportive guy- who moved me beyond words when he drew me the most stunning picture of Johnny and

Alison and Adi

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shipped it over to me. We met up for the first time at Limelight Bar, Belfast and had such a brilliant time at the gig while our respective partners shook their heads as we fondly renamed them #johnnymarrwidows ! Adi has provided a safe pair of ears, and a supportive presence for me and my family – as well as a crushing bear hug whenever we get together in person.

When I stood behind Kirsty Smith in the queue outside Action Records on Record Store Day we passed nothing more than pleasantries (and I secretly hoped that she wasn’t going to break my heart by being the person who snaffled the last copy of the 7” vinyl of “Please, please, please”).

Little did I know then that we’d chat about Johnny via the facebook group and that I’d eventually ask her if she fancied coming to Dublin for the album launch show at the Button Factory with me. Our trip was brilliant: the conversation flowed freely and we came home firm friends for life.

I’m now so excited about the forthcoming autumn tour.

Obviously seeing Johnny perform is utterly thrilling and mesmerising (that goes without saying) but what’s even better is that it’s gonna be a fabulous opportunity to meet up with the friends that I’ve made and to share the experience with them too: the prospect of meeting Keks and her wife in Liverpool and introducing them to my family is bound to be a real highlight. I am a bit worried as to whether Glasgow is really ready for the inevitable shenanigans that will occur when a gathering that includes Catherine Smith and Linda Poulnott takes place though!!!

Finally (at the risk of being really gushing) I consider it to be a genuine honour to regard Aly and Ory as my friends.

Their encouragement and enthusiasm inspires me to be bold and unapologetic for my passion for Johnny Marr – and their generosity and thoughtfulness reminds me that strong and determined women can be kind and warm too.

If you’re looking for the best kind of friendships I’d say you can’t go far wrong if you have a passion for Johnny Marr in common.

By Alison Moore

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REVIEW

The Button Factory 12 May 2018

T

he heat and sweat in the Button Factory felt almost overwhelming, even before

the PA system was silenced, the lights dimmed, and the legendary figure of Johnny Marr appears on the stage. Marr & Co are in town to promote their new album, Call the Comet, which drops in June, and the atmosphere as they appear for their first gig in over two years is near palpable.

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Opening with The Tracers, the first song released from his aforementioned third solo effort, Marr has the audience comfortably within his grasp. This is followed by Smiths fan favourite, Bigmouth Strikes Again, where the Button Factory are treated to a demonstration of why exactly Johnny Marr has been viewed as a sage of the six-string for thirty-five years. Marr, accompanied by his clinically tight backing band, then treats Dublin to a preview of Call the Comet. The songs, typically Marr flavoured energised guitar blended with dystopian and quasi-political lyrical themes, prove popular among the faithful. Hi Hello, which was released the day before the show, sounds as though it will very soon take a comfortable spot among the canon of his career, Smiths an’ all. Marr interacts confidently and familiarly with the crowd, including a well-deserved tribute to the handsome devils that make up the shows’ male population, which shows how comprehensively he has cemented his status as frontman of his own outfit, now that it is three albums deep.

On the same vein, a beautiful facet of the show was the fact that Marr’s solo work has in itself become classic. Among the biggest fanfare of the night was reserved for the arrival of 2014’s impossibly catchy singalong, Easy Money. Also featured were a handful of Smiths and Electronic classics, including his first ever solo rendition of Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me. By the time that we witness arguably the magnum opus of Marr’s career in the form of How Soon Is Now, the swelter of the venue begins to play havoc with Marr’s guitars, leading him to ask the audience for a round of applause for his guitar technician, “who’s having a nervous breakdown”. Moisture aside, the group march back on for a two song encore of Smiths classics. The melancholic anthem of Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want delivers maybe the most poignant point in the evening’s proceedings, with the audience chanting along to the sentimental mantra of the lyrics, before basking in the delicate pinnacle of the guitar outro that made the song so beloved. Closing the night is the jangle-pop ecstasy of You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet Baby, before the lights go back on, the doors are (thankfully) opened, and Marr and band leave the stage, promising to return soon.

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There aren’t many artists with the confidence in both their abilities and the sheer dedication of their fanbase to launch an entire tour built around an unreleased album, but then, there aren’t many artists like Johnny Marr. The feedback to the preview of the new tracks is a promising testament to a solo career nowhere near peaking, while the climatic fever of the reaction to some old classics tells its own story. Don’t miss him when he tours later this year; Johnny Marr, coming to a town near you.

Words by Gavin Wynne Photographs by Tony Burke for Warner Music Ireland

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There’s a Light Us Johnny Marr fans will probably have heard of one of his biggest heroes – the indefatigable and sorely missed musician Rory Gallagher. He was and continues to be an inspiration to many artists such as Johnny Marr (the man himself), Queen, U2, The Police and the Manic Street Preachers. Even the great comedian Bill Hicks was a huge fan.

Rory Gallagher was born, aptly, at the Rock Hospital in Ballyshannon, Donegal, Ireland on the 2nd March 1948. He was a self-taught musician who listened to skiffle and rock ‘n’ roll as a child. At the age of 9, he got his first acoustic guitar and then, aged 15, he purchased the Fender Stratocaster that would become his most-used guitar.

In the early 1960s, Rory joined an Irish showband called The Fontana Showband and was able to tour the country and gain experience of touring life. Then, in the late 1960s he formed a rock trio called Taste.

Taste had a residency at the Marquee Club in London and they also supported big name acts like Cream. Business pressures caused the band to

implode and Rory embarked on a successful solo career.

He released 14 albums, which included his self-titled debut album in 1971 to fan favourite Deuce (1971), live album Irish Tour ’74 right up to his last LP, Fresh Evidence (1990).

His albums had a variety of genres, from rock music to blues to country, folk and jazz.

He was musically gifted and was not only magnificent in playing electric guitar, he could also play acoustic, the mandolin and alto saxophone. He played with sincerity, flair and passion.

To quote Johnny Marr in an interview he did about Rory Gallagher, “His solos are like little concertos….They are just the right side of dexterity, of flash, of showing off.”

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Rory Gallagher onstage, 1978.

Photo © Chris Hakkens

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Watch any of Rory Gallagher’s performances on Youtube and you will be dazzled by his virtuosity and fantastic passion for the music that he played. As well as being a multi-instrumentalist, he also was a brilliant songwriter. His lyrics could be moving, based on his life experiences. Take the lyric from his song A Million Miles Away, “Why ask how I feel? / Well, how does it look to you? / I fell hook, line and sinker, lost my captain and my crew”. His lyrics could also be vignettes about the ‘downs and outs’, battling against adversity.

For example, his song Loanshark Blues has the great lyric, “Give you until Monday, that’s only a day away / I’m down on my knees, got one foot in the grave”. The range of his songs, from poignant ballads to spirited blues to introspective jazz numbers meant that Rory’s back catalogue is always compelling and intriguing, full of verve.

“His solos are like little concertos….They are just the right side of dexterity, of flash, of showing off.”

— JOHNNY MARR

What was most interesting was the respect he garnered from his musical peers and the adoration he got from his fans. There is a rumour that when Jimi Hendrix was asked how it felt to be the best guitarist, his reply was, “I don’t know. Ask Rory Gallagher.” In 1972, Rory was voted Top Guitarist in the annual Melody Maker Readers Poll. The Rolling Stones wanted him to replace Mick Taylor in the 1970s, but Rory politely declined, which is incredible when one thinks about it.

By 1990, Rory Gallagher had played 25 stateside tours. He toured extensively and always gave more than 100%. His shows were electrifying and always energetic. In the documentary Irish Tour ’74 by Tony Palmer, he toured in Ireland during ‘The Troubles’ when there was sectarian violence. He brought joy and passion to the shows he did in Ireland, at a time when other bands were scared to tour Ireland. His shows in Ireland were inspiring to his many fans.

In his final years, as he was always touring, he lived at Chelsea Harbour Hotel. His last album Fresh Evidence showed that he was

still at his peak musically and lyrically. He was uncompromising and forthright in playing his style of blues rock his own way.

Rory Gallagher also collaborated with some big names such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Muddy Waters, Lonnie Donegan, Bert Jansch and the Dubliners.

Sadly, Rory became ill during the 90s and he needed a liver transplant. The operation was a success, but due to an infection, he passed away on 14 June 1995 at King’s College Hospital, London. Rory was immensely talented yet modest, always honest, true to himself and he always gave blistering performances that his fans won’t forget. He truly was one of a kind.

I’ll leave the last word to our very own Johnny: “In between glam and punk, there was only one person who was anti-mansion, anti-roadies, anti-30 guitars on stage, and that was Rory Gallagher.”

By Karima Dardak DYNAMIC | Page 39

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“I say goodbye to them and me”: Johnny Marr, posthuman In 2013, Polity Press published a book by Rosi Braidotti called The Posthuman, in which she outlined a 21st century philosophical and political response to humanism. To put a complicated theory simply, posthumanism focuses on the issues of taking the human (or, rather, Man) as the centre of all things in our current times and eliminating it as a major aspect of our identity, taking into account things like animal rights, technology, and the prejudiced roots of humanism. It just so happens that a pretty hefty amount of the issues she discusses have some kind or relevance to the life and career of Johnny Marr – though this should probably come as no surprise given how in touch with modern life Johnny is!

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ONE OF THE MOST OBVIOUS WAYS OF REJECTING HUMANISM IS BY REJECTING ANTHROPOCENTRISM – THE BELIEF THAT HUMANS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT ANIMALS ON THE PLANET AND THAT THE OTHERS ARE ONLY HERE FOR US. This isn’t just human arrogance – as Braidotti points out, it’s actually part of something more insidious. ‘Advanced capitalism’ has led to ‘the commercialization of planet Earth in all its forms, … the turning of the ecosystem into a planetary apparatus of production’ (7). In other words, animal agriculture and other industries which rely on the exploitation of animals are a product of the same political and economic system that maintains and worsens socioeconomic differences between human beings. In fact, animal agriculture is notorious for being one of the industries with the worst track records of worker exploitation. Johnny is, of course, a vegan, and recently said, on World Vegetarian Day, that the difference he’s made to the lives of people and animals alike as a result of Meat is Murder’s popularity is one of his proudest achievements. In this sense, he perfectly fits the model of the posthuman, prioritising generosity towards other living beings over placing any sense of superiority on his human identity.

Interestingly, veganism is often associated with femininity.

Braidotti references the growing number of ecofeminists who see ‘the destructive side of human individualism that entails selfishness and a misplaced sense of superiority’ which has contributed to the enormous growth of animal industries as being in some ways ‘connected to male privileges and the oppression of women’ (77). She even argues that her ‘situated position as a female of the species makes [her] structurally serviceable and thus closer to the organisms that are willing or unwilling providers of organs or cells than to any notion of the inviolability DYNAMIC | Page 42

and integrity of the human species’, and that women, ‘historically speaking, never quite made it into full humanity’ in the first place (80 – 81). She also mentions the constructed nature of gender, referring to Simone de Beauvoir’s statement that ‘one is not born, one becomes a woman’ as ‘world-changing’ (3). Johnny has also made a habit of defying traditional expectations of masculinity throughout his life and career, from necklaces and earrings in the 1980s to his signature silver nail varnish today, and, of course, his lifelong love of eyeliner. Braidotti also describes advanced capitalism as ‘a spinning machine that actively produces difference for the sake of commodification’ (58) – think, for example, about ‘For Him’ and ‘For Her’ gift sections that tend to pop up in shops around Christmas time. Given that jewellery, makeup and nail varnish are marketed almost exclusively towards women, this is another way in which Johnny rebels against the tendency to divide humans into categories in order for those with higher socioeconomic status to profit.

Johnny’s progressive relationship with gender is also reflected in his work. Braidotti refers to ‘the highly sexualized and deeply gendered relationship of the twentieth century to its industrial technology and machinery’ (106), commenting on the tendency in modernist art to portray technology as feminine and seductive, which, although posthumanist in its humanisation of technology, is also humanist in its devaluation of women. In Dynamo, a love song to a building and a product of his love of modernist architecture, Johnny turns this tendency on its head.

Dynamo explores the relationship between humanity and technology without ever using feminine pronouns or imagery. In this sense, he pays tribute to modernism without relying on objectifying women – ‘a humiliating and demeaning experience for humans in that it

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denies their full humanity and can thus be called truly inhuman at a basic social level’ (106). In rejecting both the idea that humans are the only thing worth making art about and the use of any kind of harmful comparisons between women and human creations, Dynamo is a truly posthuman work of art.

The prejudices which posthumanism rejects are not limited to gender, though.

Braidotti, who was born in Italy and has lived and taught in the Netherlands since 1988, is also very concerned with Eurocentrism – the fact that ‘Europe announces itself as the site of origin of critical reason and self-reflexivity, both qualities resting on the Humanistic norm’ (15). She also argues that ‘world migration DYNAMIC | Page 44

is perceived as a particular threat in Europe precisely because it endangers Europe’s main social infrastructure – the welfare state’ (128).

This is, of course, one of the major reasons for Britain’s ideological separation from Eurocentrism and, following the recent EU referendum, literal separation from Europe.

Ring wing politicians who themselves pose a threat to the welfare state within the UK are notorious for using immigrants from elsewhere in Europe as scapegoats, deliberately stirring up mistrust towards fellow Europeans among British citizens, and particularly, though not exclusively, the British working class. In 2013, Johnny expressed the view that ‘It would be a terrible mistake to shut ourselves off from the rest of Europe. Americans

see us as being part of Europe, which is such a great thing. If we could only understand the way we’re viewed, British people would be really proud. But we’re encouraged to focus on our differences and act like little islanders – I think we are really cutting ourselves off.’

This is the attitude behind European Me, a touching tribute to refugees. Braidotti remarks, and rightly so, that Eurocentrism is dangerous in that ‘In so far as difference spells inferiority, it acquires both essentialist and lethal connotations for people who get branded as ‘others’’ and ‘who are reduced to the less than human status of disposable bodies’ (25). In the current political climate in Britain, though, the category of ‘others’ is extended to included non-British (and especially Eastern) Europeans. In European Me, Johnny artistically expresses a specifically British brand of posthumanism – rather than distancing himself from his European identity, he embraces it, and in doing so, defies the inhumane, anti-immigration attitudes encouraged by the British political right. In a world in which left wing news outlets are actually resorting to trying to convince British citizens to see asylum seekers as they see their friends and families, to identify as a European in Britain in 2016 is to acknowledge the value of other, politically devalued, people. Yet again, Johnny does so beautifully.

In ‘European Me’, Johnny artistically expresses a specifIcally British brand of posthumanism - rather than distancing himself from his European identity, he embraces it, and in doing so, deFies the inhumane, anti-immigration attitudes encouraged by the British political right.

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Johnny does not rely on esoteric terminology to express the ideals that posthumanism is built around; he promotes them in actions and in simple (though poetic) language.

What make’s Johnny’s work and attitudes particularly important is his role as an artist. Braidotti argues that ‘Affirmative politics combines critique with creativity in the pursuit of alternative visions and projects’ (54) and that ‘Art, not unlike critical philosophy, is … an intensive practice that aims at creating new ways of thinking, perceiving and sensing Life’s infinite possibilities’ (107). Johnny produces work which appeals to those who have no interest in dry academia. Maybe most importantly, he does so ‘within an understandable language’ (82) – one of the biggest challenges for posthumanism, being such a deeply theoretical and intellectual movement.

Johnny does not rely on esoteric terminology to express the ideals that posthumanism is built around; he promotes them in actions and in simple (though poetic) language. Coming from a country and working in a time in which enormous inflation of tuition fees and an end to maintenance grants have contributed to university and other educational institutions becoming increasingly inaccessible to those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, the work of people like Johnny, who don’t cater exclusively to an academic elite, are crucial to the progress of posthumanism, which, if it can’t reach the masses, can never succeed or be true to its own aims. Those aims are simple: to involve everyone in a world which ‘is not Huxley’s Brave New World, that is to say a dystopian rendition of the modernist nightmares,’ but, instead, ‘one of the possible worlds we have made for ourselves, and in so far as it is the result of our joint efforts and collective imaginings, it is quite simply the best of all possible posthuman worlds.’ To do this, we have to let go of the idea that anything makes us superior to other human beings, and that being a human being makes us superior to other life on earth – to say goodbye to our human(ist) identity and the ways in which it shapes our views of the world and ourselves. Given that he’s a fan of Aldous Huxley, I can only imagine that that’s a goal Johnny would agree with!

By BrontË Schiltz DYNAMIC | Page 47

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SOUND FOUNDATIONS

By Gabe Echazabal It’s often easy to recognize and identify the origins and the influences from which many musical artists draw their inspiration. But sometimes, those who are able to blend their influences and create a palette all of their own are the far more creative and interesting to follow.

Take Johnny Marr for example; the versatile guitarist/singer/ songwriter who has honed his craft since picking up a guitar in his early, formative years, has never been one to shy away from his unending love and admiration for music. A guitarist and musician who has delved into so many different styles and genres has undoubtedly drawn some inspiration from a wide array of axemen.

While he’s been vocal about how important a role music played in his decision to pursue a career as a professional musician, following is an overview of some of the vast and varied guitarists who have helped Marr carve out his own personal niche by influencing his sound and his style.

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1 2

Scotty Moore- as Elvis Presley’s first lead guitarist throughout his all so important rise to fame in the 1950s, Moore took a backseat to Presley’s larger than life image and the hysteria that followed him wherever he went. But it was Moore’s fluid, seamless, Rockabilly chops that gave so many of Elvis’s early hits their edge. Moore, an accomplished and groundbreaking rarely recognized guitar hero is every bit as worthy of accolades as others who are more often celebrated. Marr’s fascination with Rockabilly no doubt began with the handy work Moore added to so many great Elvis singles, a fact he’s acknowledged and cited in various interviews throughout the years.

James Williamson- theleadguitarist of Detroitproto-punkiconsTheStoogesadded his own bone crushing firepower to those archetypal albums that were so important and laid the groundwork for so many acts that followed them. Without the Stooges, there’d be no Sex Pistols, no Ramones and no Dead Boys. Backing an intense and overly demonstrative frontman like Iggy Pop is no easy task; but Williamson, no slouch in his own right, did plenty to help create the aura of importance and magnitude that surrounds this all too important band in his own way. His presence and his contributions undoubtedly influenced Marr when playing a similar role with The Smiths.

3

Rory Gallagher- the often overlooked and underrated Irish guitar hero hardly ever gets the recognition he so richly deserved. While not as flashy or charismatic as some of the guys who regularly get cited as being one of the greats, Gallagher, first thrilling listeners as part of 1960’s blues/rock trio Taste, is often cited as a vastly overlooked yet greatly influential guitarist. It wasn’t until the 70s, when Rory broke away as a solo artist, that his true magic and mystique really shone. His “Irish Tour ‘74” live album, released in the year cited in its title, is often referred to as essential listening for any aspiring guitarist. Marr has often cited this, one of the few Irish guitar heroes, as being an integral part of his upbringing and his desire to pursue a career as a guitarist, thanks to the massive impact this album in particular made on him.

4

Nile Rodgers- It isn’t only rock or blues guitarists who played a major role in

making an impression on Johnny. Nile Rodgers, the ace producer and arranger who added his own pizzazz to so many hit records for his own act Chic, as well as for the likes of Sister Sledge and Diana Ross, has a guitar style that’s as unique as it is distinctive. His penchant for funk, disco and soul music made hits of so many records for so long, and it spoke clearly to Johnny Marr and his love for those styles of music. While it isn’t easy to name very many guitar heroes who stand out within those genres of music, Rodgers is by far at the head of his class when it comes to significance. As a producer, Nile helped David Bowie, Duran Duran and Daft Punk score some of the biggest hits of their respective careers. It has to be noted that his generosity and his desire to work with so many acts might have very well influenced Johnny to do the same, as he’s always been more than willing to lend his many talents to the records of so many bands, and lay his own brand of magic on the grooves of so many records.

In retrospect, it’s certainly easy to recognize Johnny Marr’s place in music and to give him all the credit he so richly deserves. However, it’s also interesting to know the sources of his inspiration and to go back and listen to those who played an integral part in his musical journey. ✪

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Suggested Listening: 1.

2.

3.

4.

Elvis Presley- “The Sun Sessions” The Stooges- “Raw Power” Rory Gallagher- “ Irish Tour ‘74” Chic- “C’est Chic” DYNAMIC | Page 51

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REVIEW

LONDOn Islington Town Hall

16 May 2018

W

hen Johnny Marr spoke to Shaun Keaveny from BBC Radio 6 Music about Call The Comet, the album was described as “A propelling forward�. Its theme is looking ahead and being optimistic. Taking influence from the futuristic ideas of J.G. Ballard, it explores some darker subjects with positivity and energy.

A master at balancing a varied workload, with an immense career spanning decades, the guitar legend spent the last thirty years documenting not only that he enjoys collaboration but also that he thrives over and under the creative spell of other artists.

For Marr, the collaborative element seems essential to his sense of well-being. He understands how to get on well with people, build strong relationships and friendships. In that sense, and more, he could not be further from the life and approach of his former Smiths song-writing partner. The two seem as if they are from two different planets and from the majority of recent media coverage we are aware of the opposing political views involved.

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T

he beautiful Islington Assembly Hall provides the ideal setting supporting the richness and nuance of the show Marr is about to deliver. Opening its doors in 1930, it has a history and tradition of serving the local community by delivering quality led arts and entertainment.

Curating a balanced setlist by taking songs from the album, present them as if they already are known tracks to all, is an art in itself. Adding to that, the guitarist brings in an appropriate amount of much loved Smiths favourites, designed to evoke a vivid, emotive response, and in many instances even reduce people to tears.

Being completely in his element, his newly acquired change in hair style with the lightbrown highlights, adds a dimension to his fashion, it is complimented by a coloured flowery shirt, a black bomber jacket and jeans. There is energy, positivity and spirit en masse. He seems to be at a Zen like state of mind, comfortable as a solo artist and one hundred percent at ease.

Marr shows us that not only does he have full creative power to handle The Smiths’ material (of course he does), but he also knows better how to achieve full effect and optimal benefit from it.

Kicking off the set with The Tracers sets the tone right, directs and gets the everyone fired up for the night, linking that smoothly and moving straight on to Bigmouth Strikes Again works a right treat.

Vocally, he is more confident than ever before, not afraid to explore the outer limits of his voice nor set himself objectives, the meticulous approach and mastery of his guitar playing come in handy. It is a general characteristic, but it is particularly pronounced on Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me, Getting Away With It and Hey Angel.

As brand new songs, Day In Day Out, New Dominions, Walk Into The Sea go down like warm bread. Rise and Bug have a similar vibe about them and are thematically connected, with Rise notably commenting on the spread of right wing politics.

During the BBC 6 Music interview with Keaveny, Marr spoke about Rise and Spiral Cities, where he also mentioned a creative

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need to “Sing about an imagined world, alternative society” and “Sometimes you come up with a tune that demands you put yourself in those words, it’s about those things. There is an optimism and a sort of idealism.”

If forced to pick one, then musically and aesthetically, the ultimate highlight of the night is to hear Hi Hello played live. It may well have the sound and spirit of There Is A Light That Never Goes Out, but it is entirely shaped and written to the creative brief of Solo Marr, there is a real contemporary sound in place.

With its extensive intro, atmospheric vibe, darker chords and matching vocals, Actor Attractor represents the perfect end to the set with the five minutes and fifty

seconds’ duration allowing plenty of in-depth quality time for immersion in the dark, reflective masterpiece.

Selecting Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want, New Town Velocity and You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Babe as the encore pieces makes for a great finale and is a perfect way to bring the night to a close.

Here is to hoping to Marr is feeling safe in the knowledge that his solo material is strong and loved enough to make him want to continue developing his sound, and it will work optimally as a career longer term. Hopefully, he wants that too. Selfishly speaking, it would be a pity if solo Marr for some reason or other discontinued, now that he is so well into the process of establishing and pushing that side of him.

Words by Susan Hansen Photographs by Sarah Doone

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Johnny Marr is, was, and forever shall be, a deep-seated diamond embedded in the rocks of English culture.

His work, alongside other magnificent, magical, and monumental toys on the shelf, will be a glistening piece of history keeping the current flowing in the bloodline of a musical history where the guitar and the written word, encompassed in a positive, uber-cool, forward thinking trajectory, maintain at the apex of merit and credibility.

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This isn’t an article to simply list a long, endless scrawl of what Marr has accomplished and why it deserves to be sealed in a time-capsule and fed into the earth to swallow as time and space naturally collapse into one, wholesome, living, breathing pulse of nothing. This is a short, sharp and structured nod of the top hat to the 6 string wizard, as a way to salute the sire with silver fingertips flashing bolts of blinding light, and why, alongside other highly-influential dukes of rock and roll, be it Weller, Strummer, Albarn, Cocker, McCulloch, Sumner, Hall, Ferry, Rotten, Bowie, Sioux, Mercury, Lennox, Davies, Townsend; all of which contribute to the unstoppable chronology of 21st century pop music that refuses to fit a standardised mould of manipulation, puppets unwilling to dance below strings, mayhem and magic at every angle of guitar, bass and bombarding drum assault.

Perhaps that completes the bedroom with a shining light in the darkest of drab days‌. (the list falls off the page) and tumbles onto the floor crying to be cradled and caressed with our ever-open arms as a nation of fine, young, adept and adaptable creative cravers who feed on enthusiasm that exists outside the mainstream bubble.

Do we need to make sure that the legacy and the longevity of Johnny Marr becomes more than an artefact encased behind musical museums of schoolboy gawp; but revered as a master of the craft that sits restlessly and recklessly in a small but substantial circle of undoubtedly inspirational pop protectors projecting themselves onto the world at war with itself. Reed, Bowie, Bolan: all sentenced to the ethereal slaughterhouse before their time, for simply being, shining stars. They left their imprint on our popular music cherry-picking pleasures, gutting us with songs of guttural pleasure.

This is not some congratulation piece on thanking the man behind the machine. This is not some spur of the moment, fanboy formulated consciousness stream that suddenly shook me in the night as to why the grail must be handed on golden platitudes to Marr. This is a brief but hopefully impacting piece of personal celebration as to why Johnny Marr exists in a dimension that deserves to have its unique strand of DNA in English pop culture. An article of concise and considered opinion that aims to prove the importance, the power, and the zap and zing of our beloved modernist Manchester who has earned a thick wedge of our attention dedicated to these fabulous, freakish, and vibrantly wild pages; a codex fandom built and imagination powered.

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As a culture, we naturally take pride in our heroes. Like music, it runs thick in our blood, a deep wound that nobody wants to heal for the fear of being normal is a truly terrifying emotion. There’s a certain control over quality; they are ours and nobody else’s. The world is suffocated landscape of puzzlement and endless possibility, frustration and fantasy as to what stretches beyond the horizon of faded stars, oxidized city bridges and rusty bicycles parked at bins. These geographical labyrinths when harmonizing with the sounds of the city allow a moments peace, a chance to charge, to be uplifted. The world is a dangerous, tight, tortured place but the ones that truly shook the manage to provide liberty from those social constraints. Friends, the view from here in our untouchable territories of England where we gazed at Bowie unearthing the alien, a spaceship landing onto the television broadcast like a bolt of heavy, gold lightning piercing the particles that sedate our human brains is one that has a permanent seat in the cinema of chameleons.

The world is place that grabs our hands and turns us upside down, and twists us inside out blinded by prejudice that we, are music fans, are passive morons under government thumb. But the view from this tiny box bedroom in some half-baked, dreary, treadmill of an existence in Leeds is ignited like bullet shot between the eyes when The Sex Pistols shove a boot down the throat of our happy families in 1976, So It Goes explodes and the shrapnel from the black and white, monotone groans of urban life suddenly spark into diamonds. Johnny Marr, is an individual who deserves a seat in this pantheon of pop pioneers, for his work with The Smiths, giving birth to a firesome family of feverish fans that dominant the lonely corners of the globe,

but come bearing weapons of words that grab the heart and strangle the opposing forces that stand in our way. For his work with Electronic, for his work with The The, a countless conundrum of bubbly, blinding triumphs that surely keep the engine running in a car where more than one mind is at the wheel.

As magicians and wizards, as progressive, powder-blue, pop art splattered characters of charisma and charm, the works of Johnny Marr ranging from Smiths to Zimmer and all the bright stars that glisten between those clouds, is an established piece of musical memory unmoveable and unshakable, unparalleled and unprecedented in the heritage of solid gold pop symphonies. 1984, Hamburg, Rockpalast, I witness the spectacle of unsullied live energy as someone who was born decades too late but thinks in speeds of sound, I envisage the venue, I visualise the men before me, the lunacy in the room, bubbling and boiling with feverish enthrallment, The Smiths live in concert still captivates me, not unlike Weller and The Jam at the Electric Circus that spits and scribbles on the rulebook of human touch, punk rock adrenalized the eyes as though born in a bath of strangely coloured pills, veins awake and stomach pulsing like footsteps of entire armies marching the new horizons. This a tree of roots that dig deep into the brain of the earth, from genesis watching Buzzcocks tear through Manchester with a stomach stabbing squeal of modern mechanical power to Elvis Costello and the Attractions channelling murderous gestures of romance and hopelessness into the world, staring into him as he stares out at nothing, an aloneness, an aloofness.

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The endless corridors of unashamed eccentricity is a truly unique treasure trove of ideas, individuals and identities, that manage to capture our imaginations, that swirl something into the heart’s pathetic mixture adding flavour, seduction and spice to a drab, dreamy anatomy. Johnny Marr assisted, and to some extent, invented the formula to arouse and animate such a thought; a marvellous archetype who, alongside our limitless expansion of pop rock reference points, transcended the basic ingredients of the musical nucleus, sliced it open, and in the wake of that action, unleashed an undoubted outpour of sheer pop joy, gleaming in the distance with fury and resonance, rapture and resilience, ecstasy and electricity, cognizant funk and elastic tracks of ethereal reputation. All of which, are traits, we must keep concealed in the riverbanks of our minds our hearts and souls, and understand the necessity to live and breathe what restores balance in the musical zoo. We, as fans, as audiences, can safely say the works of Johnny Marr have direct correlations and coexistences to what runs so thick, so heavy, inbuilt and embedded in our obsession with pop music.

Upon reading Johnny’s autobiography it is clear from the off that he was born a star, the guitar is an extension of his body, some supernatural weapon of wonderment that keeps him light on his toes and quick on his fingertips. It would be naïve in all our musical innocence to assume that the best of the best aren’t born star shaped; they wear sunglasses inside, crash cars into walls, smoke cigarettes like only legends can inhale such an aroma. So as we enter 2017 with so many greats lost, the year of the reaper is one that cannot be forgotten with a stiff drink, a good nights sleep, or a small dosage of strange pills. But the memory of those golden great godlike geniuses your free copy of the NME would have emblazoned on the front cover of the paper-thin sheets of shit; will always be one of permanence, of power, the residual is sharp and strong, and Johnny is someone who will be with us forever, restlessness, solitude and exultation swimming in our blood, all glitter, all glam, all guidance.

By Ryan Walker

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IS NGLES CLUB

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There are some advantages to having instant access to music. You can hear something you like the sound of, Shazam it for identification purposes, find it on You Tube or Soundcloud, even own it within minutes. But I’m not sure it matches the waiting, detective work and sense of anticipation that used to happen in a pre digital/multi-channel age. Back in the day (you know, the one where we went out for hours without a mobile phone and got lumps of coal for Christmas), if you heard a song on the radio and the DJ didn’t tell you the artist/title afterwards you never knew how long it would be until you heard it again. Even if you knew who it was, the chances were that the release date wouldn’t be for a few weeks (apparently this remained the case even if you asked at the record shop if they had it on a daily basis because you’d convinced yourself it must be there somewhere, sorry about that). Still, I’ll bet that those of us appreciating the joys of vinyl a second time round have some very happy memories of making that final purchase and taking it home to let the needle drop for the first time. Albums required a longer wait and significantly more money but the 7” single was achievable and the mainstay of most kids’ collections.

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A new single release was generally accompanied with a slot on the much maligned but universally watched Top of the Pops. Interviewed in The Guardian in 2011, Johnny Marr recalled The Smiths’ debut on TOTP with a memorable performance of ‘This Charming Man’.

teenagers across the country found something new drawing them in and undoubtedly that weekend would have seen them surge to record shops to buy the vinyl and get a further glimpse into their newfound discovery through the as yet unknown B side, ‘Jeane’.

‘At the time, there’d been this question of whether it was cool to go on Top of the Pops, probably from the Clash refusing to do it. But we were a new generation and it felt like there were new rules…plus, when the members of The Smiths were children, Top of the Pops was one of the most important days of the week. Suddenly we found ourselves on it.’

By the early 90s, vinyl records were in danger of being replaced on a mass scale. Clearly easier to carry and store, many felt the advent of the CD single took away the tactile and sound quality of the 7”; even the artwork on the covers was less appreciable because it was so small. And in time, downloads came along and offered only a picture on a screen and virtual ownership.

With ‘Uptown Girl’ in the midst of a 5 week run at number 1, The Smiths made for a fairly dramatic alternative to the mainstream chart. Amongst a flurry of tight guitar riffs and flailing gladioli, DYNAMIC | Page 66

Having reached an all-time low in 2005, vinyl single sales gradually began to rise again and 10 years later were hitting record high levels. The

introduction of Record Store Day has played no small part in promoting vinyl sales and independent record shops. Johnny’s RSD cover of Depeche Mode’s ‘I Feel You’ (backed with a live version of ‘Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want’) sold out its initial and second run. Johnny has also consistently released his solo singles in 7” format, delighting fans with A sides giving a flavour of each album and original B sides which have become firm favourites in their own right – it didn’t take long before requests were out for ‘Psychic Beginner’ and ‘The It Switch’ to be included in live shows despite an impressive catalogue of A sides and album tracks to choose from.

It’s great to see a new generation of vinyl collectors appreciating the format as something tangible that appeals to (*almost) all the senses (*going to say probably best not to eat it). There are memories and emotions that come with buying and playing vinyl that you just don’t get with other formats...which shop did you get it from, who were you with when you checked to see if there was a message etched into the runout groove and wait, you got yours signed? It’s kind of hard to get a download signed - having something physical feels like better value

for money and it’s something you can appreciate for years to come.

The 7” is still a great way to discover new music and build a collection. In the UK, subscription services like Too Pure Singles and Flying Vinyl are becoming increasingly popular as a way for people to access new music in a collectable yet affordable fashion.

And a record shop is still one of the most social retail environments you can find, where there’s no rush to make a purchase because everyone knows how important a decision you’re making. I received a hand written note from my local record shop (Resident, Brighton) with my order for ‘Dynamo’; a nice touch which still makes me smile.

With the 45rpm logo tattooed on his arm, I think Johnny had it right when he said ‘The 7” single, as an entity, is an absolutely powerful, possibly otherworldly object’.

If the guys at Record Store Day are looking for a future ambassador I have a suggestion…

By Siobhan O’Driscoll DYNAMIC | Page 67

Artwork by Adi Harrold

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speaking out, reaching out

The Priest, a unique collaboration between Johnny and actress Maxine Peake released in December, was created to highlight the crisis of homelessness. Filmed in their home city, from the opening scenes where the young protagonist (beautifully played by Molly Weaver) winds her way through the bustling Manchester streets as a quivering heartbeat of a melody plays in the background, the combination of Marr’s haunting music with Peake’s spoken word holds power.

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The opening line of ‘I’m on my way to the Salvation Army, see if I can get something to eat,’ makes clear the plight of the protagonist – this young person has found herself on the fringes of society and is in danger of falling through the gaps. There’s a vulnerability to her – her eye rolls aren’t quite convincing, her hands stuffed protectively in her pockets as she’s offered all manner of drugs (including ‘spice’, which is currently rife on the streets of the UK) by two predatory dealers who see her as an easy target.

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She’s mocked for turning down their offers as she heads to the Sally Army. The following day, with scenes depicting the industrial heritage of the city acting as the backdrop, she passes through the archways, which could be said to be representative of nostrils. It’s a bleak image.

‘Watch out, it’s The Priest’ one man says to the other as they faux-kneel in prayer. As the girl walks away, disinterested, through the tangle of bridges that criss-cross like veins, the music becomes heavier, darker, more oppressive.

She goes to ‘the free food place’, leaning against the oil-coloured doorframe (in much the same way as Johnny leaned against the pillar of the Salford Lads’ Club’s entrance in Stephen Wright’s iconic photograph), and she’s struck by the realisation that four days into life on the street she’s got a ‘street name’. Already she is being stripped of her former identity and it’s being replaced it with a pseudonym she never asked for, nor wanted.

Escaping to the canal, mulling over the dangers of sleeping rough, the girl comes to the conclusion that ‘if someone grabs [her] at night and kills [her] to death it may not be a bad thing’. She is propositioned by a suited man who has missed his train, yet all she wants is to rest. As she huddles for shelter, her exhaustion is echoed by the droopy-eyed silhouette of the archway she has made her home. The pulsating riff beats heavier in the background, the tone grittier as she leaves her unwanted guest to instead walk the night time streets. Walking past the doorway to the theatre she sees two familiar figures curled under blankets on rainslicked pavements. ‘Watch out, it’s The Priest’ comes the rhythmic cry of the repeated refrain.

Seeking solace she sinks to the floor, but her respite is short-lived – the suited man from before reappears to tell her the same story of how he’s missed his train, before assuming that

she’s ‘kitted up’ because of her hunched position.

‘No, I’m just very tired…’ she starts, as he tells her about the coke he had earlier on. She moves again, passing three men loitering outside the grim-looking ‘Club Tropicana’.

Returning to her original spot overlooking the city’s skyline, trains pass behind her like blood cells travelling through a body. The glowing gold of the light shining through the windows suggests a warmth, yet the possibility of escape rattles away. The screen fades to black before the final shot – the girl staring into the darkness behind the prison-like fence.

The haunting blend of Johnny Marr’s melancholic music with the Northern accent of Maxine Peake’s storytelling ensures the end result is a hard-hitting and memorable film about the realities of life on the streets. That the pair wrote The Priest with Joe Gallagher and was based on characters he met soon after becoming homeless in Edinburgh shows their dedication to producing a piece that is honest, raw and representative. It’s fair to say they succeeded on all counts.

By Katey Lovell

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I

t’s over 10 years since Johnny last faced a Stockholm audience; then under a summer sky as part of Modest Mouse’s 2007 tour. Tonight, at Nalen, Stockholm, it’s a far more intimate affair as the house lights subside to bathe the small stage, framed by marble pillars, in blue spotlights.

Walking coolly out to meet the cheers of the packed room, his signature Fender Jaguar hung low, Johnny prowls the stage while flicking atmospheric guitar sounds at his bandmates before kicking into The Tracers, the first single from the upcoming album, Call The Comet. For nearly 2 hours we’re treated to a 21-song set that combines new material with 7 classics from his Smiths and Electronic days.

As a long-time fan (who met the man himself for the first time that afternoon, so this review may be influenced by a daylong feeling of euphoria) the joy comes as much from seeing a man at the top of his game enjoying the view, as it is hearing my idol at work. The inclusion of so many Smiths songs reveals a comfort with a weighty legacy that would cripple many a lesser God. And boy does he enjoy himself, from striking tongue-in-cheek guitar-god poses to making fun of the audience, Johnny easily switches from songs that are pure fun to the songs that make you cry – the highlight for me being the luscious guitar outro to Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me.

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REVIEW

Stockholm Nalen ★ 18 May 2018

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Johnny’s touring guitar of choice these days is exclusively his signature Jaguar; tonight, he uses three of them, and they deliver all the textures we’ve come to love, from the growling purr of Easy Money to the haunting chime of Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want.

The rest of the band delivers a solid canvas for Johnny’s guitar to paint on top of. From a pulsating bass courtesy of Iwan Gronow, to James Doviak’s guitar and keyboard – seriously doesn’t Johnny ever let James strike a guitar pose? Play a solo with his tongue? Lift the headstock above his head just once?

It’s always a tough call for any artist touring a new album, mixing the old and the new, feeding the beast that only wants classics to teasing them with what’s fresh.

It’s a testament to the strength of the new material, that new tracks, Spiral Cities and Hi Hello especially, feel like classics right out of the gate. Even Jeopardy, the B-side to Hi Hello lingers long after with its stalking guitar riff. Many of the new songs reveal nods to earlier points in Johnny’s career, from the Modest Mouse-like loopy jerkiness of Rise, to the Meat is Murder

when my enthusiasm has been killed by a lifeless, note-perfect duplication of a recording. Tonight, I walk away filled with energy, an energy of an artist that enjoys where he is, but is still exploring to see where he might go. Johnny is already three albums into his solo career and if tonight is any indication, there’s a lot more energy to come.

sweep of Hi Hello’s closing outro.

As I leave the venue, I’m reminded of what’s so great and so dangerous with seeing a live act. There have been times

Words

Photographs

by

Brian O’Grady Anthony Harrison by

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Set The Girl Free I can picture myself back in my bedroom in Glasgow, aged 16. It's quite late in the evening and there I am, finishing my homework. Listening to the radio as I work. Suddenly, they play a record by a new band from Manchester. Even back then I was an avid music lover, but I had never heard anything quite like this before. I put down my pen and paper, turning up the volume to focus on listening to this amazing song.

Back in the early 80s, before the age of Shazam, if you heard a song you liked, you had to hope the DJ mentioned the name of track and the group when the record finished. Fortunately he did. I grabbed my pen and scribbled quickly, “THE SMITHS - HAND IN GLOVE”. Next day I was down in my local record shop buying the 7” single, and as the saying goes, the rest is history.

Once I had heard more of their music I had totally fallen in love with The Smiths and, moreover, with Johnny Marr and his guitar. After building up my record collection, the next step was going to see them live in concert. Unfortunately there were 2 pitfalls: one was financial and the other even more serious.... none of my friends liked them. Nowadays, I go to gigs alone without hesitation, however, when I was in my teens it was unthinkable. When I was 19, my boyfriend at the time agreed to go to the Barrowlands in Glasgow with me to see them. Alas, disaster struck and it wasn't to be. On the day of the concert I had a stomach bug and had to cancel my plans. I was devastated. To add to the tragedy of the story, the band split up not long after. So I'd completely missed my chance.

In early 1989 I started working abroad for a Tour Operator. At that point I have to admit that despite still listening to The Smiths, Johnny Marr slipped off my radar a bit. It's difficult for the digital generation to imagine what it was like in a world without internet. To keep track of your favourite artist you needed access to the music press and media. These things weren't available to me while I was on the move and living in Mediterranean hotel bedrooms. Therefore, due to my personal situation and Johnny's constant band changes, our paths never crossed.

I'm going to fast forward to the start of Johnny's solo career, because that's when I really started to rekindle the fan devotion I'd had previously felt. I fell in love with his first album, “The Messenger”, as soon as I heard it. Thanks to technology, even from my home in Italy, I could now listen to all of his latest material and follow interviews, tweets etc. A turning point happened when the Facebook page “Ode to a Godlike Genius” was created. I joined immediately and at last I could share my passion for all things Marr with like-minded people. Then 6 years ago, whilst watching videos of Johnny, I was inspired to take up playing the electric guitar. Something which has become extremely important in my life.

In 2016, Johnny announced that he would be supporting Noel Gallagher at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow.

I bought my concert ticket, arranged my flights and hotel, only to hear that Johnny had been forced to cancel his appearance. It seemed like I was doomed!

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I'm delighted to say that my luck turned around this year and I was able to fly from Napoli to Berlin to see Johnny Marr at the Festsaal Kreuzberg during his “Call The Comet” tour. To say that I was excited would be an understatement. Many of my fellow fans sent me lovely messages wishing me all their best for the big event.

Some even tweeted Johnny to advise him that I would be there to see him for the first time. I was very fortunate to get pole position right under the stage. When he stepped out and he and the band took their positions, my heart skipped a beat. When they burst into “The Tracers” I felt like I was going to explode with sheer joy. Hearing the group live is on a whole different level. They are such a tight, professional group, and the power of the atmosphere and their music absolutely blew me away. The whole experience seemed very surreal.

I've always appreciated the complexity and sheer wizardy of Marr's playing, especially now that I'm a guitarist myself. However, nothing can prepare you for the magic of watching him with his guitar up close. It's simply mesmirising. When Johnny played the solo of “Getting away with it” he stood inches away from me. So much so that he blocked my view of everything and everybody else. I was literally staring right into his guitar. Sorry if I sound corny, but in that moment I had the weird sensation that it was just him and I in the venue and that he was playing just for me. When he played “Last night I dreamt that somebody loved me”and “How soon is now”, I got quite emotional. It seemed only a short time ago since I had been listening to these songs in the 80s, when Johnny and I were both teenagers from “up North”, and I had posters of him on my bedroom wall. Here we were, sharing the same space in Berlin, now both in our 50s. Before I realised what I was doing, I'd reached out and touched his guitar. It was very out of character for me to make such a gesture, but in such an intense moment it felt a natural thing to do. The 16 year old inside me had bubbled to the surface and I had “set the girl free”. 35 years of pent up emotions came flooding out. The touch summed up the connection I felt with Johnny, plus it was a way to check that the situation was actually real and happening. The whole scenario seemed so otherworldly.

I felt very privilaged to be able to hear the fantastic unreleased material from “Call The Comet”. For those who haven't heard it yet, you are in for a treat! Added to the amazing experience was the chance to meet fellow fans in person and share this special moment with them. The only fly in the ointment was the fact that I missed meeting Johnny by minutes. I'd been told that he hadn't been coming out to meet his followers during such an intense and exhausting tour, so I didn't build up my hopes. When everything had finished I chanced my luck and went to

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the back of the venue where his tour bus was waiting. At that point staff told the fans that Johnny had already left by car. After waiting for a while I made the decision to leave. As I was turning the key in my door I received a text to say that he was coming out to talk to fans. Too late! I could have wept. I did send a message to him telling him what an amazing gig it had been and how much I had enjoyed myself. Being the gentleman he is, he sent me a reply saying how glad he was that I'd made it to Berlin and that he was sorry he'd missed me and hoped to meet me on another occasion.

I've been to see a lot of bands over the years but I can honestly say that no gig has left me on such a long lasting high. I was virtually buzzing for days. My partner, friends and colleagues had to endure days of me gushing about my experience. I'm about to continue that buzz as I have just booked a ticket to see Johnny at the Glasgow Barrowlands on the 15th Nov 2018 ! You could say that I'm making up for lost time. How ironic that I will be seeing him in the same venue in which I should have seen the Smiths back then in 1986. I anticipate that it will be a night to remember, as I will be surrounded by so many wonderful people that I've met online who share my enthusiasm and love for Johnny. Together we'll blow the roof off and I'll definitely be “setting the girl free� again !

Words by: Linda

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Comic by Riley Langston

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3 . things A mini interview with Johnny Marr

Three things you’d save first if your studio was on fire: 1. The hard drive 2. Sparkle Jag 3. 1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb amp ...go back for Doviak.

Three historical figures (living or dead) you’d choose to govern your utopian society: 1. Lao Tsu 2. Maxine Peake 3. Bruce Lee

Three songs you’re most proud of having written: 1. Bug 2. Hi Hello 3. Walk Into The Sea

Three pieces of advice you’d give to aspiring musicians: 1. Don’t listen to anyone telling you you’re mad (unless it’s your long term girlfriend or boyfriend who is definitely smarter than you) 2. Do not invite the entire audience “back to The Marriot, room 412.. for a party” just because the show is going well. Unless it’s the bass player’s room.

3. Get it in writing.

Three books you think everybody should read at some point in their lifetime: 1. Notes From The Underground by Dostoyevsky 2. England’s Dreaming by Jon Savage 3. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Three things you’d never be seen dead wearing: 1. Manchester United shirt 2. Crocs 3. Beard

Three things you can’t go on tour without in your luggage: 1. White Tea 2. Headphones 3. Great Trousers

Three things you’d never say to an interviewer: 1. “Who cares about doing new stuff ?”

2. “...and that’s why a laptop is better than a guitar”.

3. “No problem, you can crash here”.

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PART 7

Shopping for music

Angel of Radness

with the

on your shoulders

A regular feature where Andy Campbell takes a look at pop and rock classics discovered through the tutelage of Professor Marr.

This issue’s focus: BLONDIE

The story – related in Set The Boy Free, and a few years ago in The Guardian – of how Johnny and Angie first met at a house party while Blondie’s Parallel Lines was playing, is great: great as a story of first love, of course, but great also because it’s a ringing endorsement for this band. It shows that Blondie made music that both girls and boys could relate to; and in Johnny’s words, it’s never a good sign if there aren’t any girls around. In 2016, Johnny contributed a track to Blondie’s latest LP (and I believe he also played ‘Union City Blue’ on a BBC radio interview around the same time), so in honour of their collaboration, here are some gems from Blondie’s catalogue.

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1

In The Flesh, Blondie, 1976

The word ‘postmodern’ got thrown around too much at uni, to improperly describe a lot of different things, but it aptly describes ‘In The Flesh.’ A perfect pastiche of rock’n’roll waltzes of the early 1960s, in particular The Beatles’ ‘This Boy’ (it even makes use of that phrase, delivered with a knowing wink

by Debbie Harry in the accompanying music video), with a middle-eight that sounds like it came from a Broadway musical. The result is a track that expertly walks the line between genuine emotion and cartoonish displays of it: it’s an aural piece of pop art. Analysis aside, ‘In The Flesh’ works because it is a genuinely moving song – but maybe that’s because it’s too clever a pastiche?

I think I’ll have to leave it to our resident PhD graduate to sort this one out...

2

Victor,

Eat To The Beat, 1979

From the same album as the hits ‘Union City Blue’ and ‘Atomic,’ and the much loved ‘Shayla’ and ‘Slow Motion,’ ‘Victor’ is an oddball of song, the ultimate album track, and a chaotic blast from start to finish. Debbie Harry howls a raspy entreaty to ‘Please don’t leave me alone’ over a galloping beat that would be echoed in The Smiths’ ‘What She Said’ and ‘Rubber Ring,’ with monkish, baritone harmony singing from the band, savage guitar playing and a dramatic, Biblical middle section. It’s simply astonishing. The finest moment is when the chugging rhythm guitar re-enters after that middle section: it’s one of the best things I’ve heard in all of new wave.

3

Europa,

Autoamerican, 1980

It’s not easy to choose only three songs by Blondie, I’ve realised; but I hope that anyone intending to investigate these picks will find that there is a lot to love about them on any of their LPs, including Parallel Lines and Plastic Letters (not mentioned here). ‘Europa’ opens Autoamerican, and is Blondie main man Chris Stein’s magnum opus. It’s epic and heavy, an instrumental track laden with strings and trumpets, with a beautiful Morricone-style guitar line – one of Stein’s best. If ever Blondie were going to rob the Bank of El Paso in a film directed by Sergio Leone, they would have done it set to this. The drama is almost oppressive at times, but utterly beautiful nonetheless.

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Set the boy free 2 Salford lads club sunrise Enriching memories Text melodies falling to page Trekking through Manchester History streets Endless storyboards fretboards Bygone buildings long echo Old masterpieces Youth drifts to written focus Future lights beckon tomorrow Reigning rock royalty Everland playland messenger Electric buzz global darling

- Craig Spence

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here comes our

We

Johnny Marr as the iconic virtuoso guitar player and singer/songwriter we have loved for over 30 years, but he’s also done some pretty amazing things offstage as well. all know

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charity I

n September 2016, Johnny helped open the new ÂŁ8m Brentwood High School and Community College, a school designed for special needs students.

Because Brentwood is registered as a college, the school can accept students age 19 and over to attend, and can accommodate up to 150 students. The old school was limited to only 80 students.

Opening Brentwood was not an overnight venture. It took 10 years in the making to go from a business plan with little support to the state-of-the-art school that it is now, featuring a hydrotherapy pool, disability bikes, a cycle track, food tech room, and an amphitheatre.

For Johnny Marr, getting involved in helping to launch Brentwood was a personal mission. Johnny’s niece, Jodie, is a special needs student at the school.

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council agreed to end support for transportation to the school for students with disabilities, Johnny took up the cause and protested the decision. Thankfully the council reversed the decision and the transportation assistance was restored.

Johnny, visiting with students and even trying out the new disability bikes, was very proud to be on hand for the opening of the school. Even though he’s a man of many accomplishments via his music career, I’m sure that helping to open Brentwood ranks at the top of his list of personal achievements, and the positive impact it will have on Jodie, and the other students attending Brentwood, will be a continued source of pride and joy.

Over the years there have been a variety of charitable efforts and causes to which Johnny Marr has dedicated his time and energy.

In support of Manchester’s MAG (Mines Advisory Group), in 2010, Johnny Marr, along with performers such as Pink and Katy Perry, donated a pair of trainers that he personally customized for an auction to raise money for MAG, a group whose mission is to “help people to be safe from landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO), free from danger, free from fear.”

They state on their website that part of their mission is to find landmines before children do. The shoes were

used to draw a correlation between shoes and how dangerous one wrong step can be when dealing with landmines.

In 2011, Johnny Marr spoke out against animals used for “cruel” sports such as foxhunting and other bloodsports, by supporting League Against Cruel Sports, a charity whose mission is to bring awareness to these acts of cruelty toward animals by conducting investigations, working with police and prosecutors, preparing research and reports, and gaining media coverage to garner support for their efforts. Both Johnny and former Smiths bandmate, Morrissey, have spoken out in support of the group’s efforts. Johnny was quoted as saying, "Sports which involve causing injury to animals are not only cruel but unnecessary and outdated. I'm sure that given the opportunity then the majority of people would choose to outlaw it. I feel that those who think it's ok to abuse animals for so called sport are ignorant."

Also, in July of 2011, Johnny Marr flew to Paris to perform with singer Bryan Ferry for the Love Ball 2011, hosted by fashion designer, Valentino. The event was created to help raise money for the Naked Heart Foundation, a charity with a mission to “help build an inclusive society that is open to people with disabilities and special needs, through play and the creation of free support for disadvantaged families.”

"Sports which involve causing injury to animals are not only cruel but unnecessary and outdated. I'm sure that given the opportunity then the majority of people would choose to outlaw it. I feel that those who think it's ok to abuse animals for so called sport are ignorant."

- Johnny Marr DYNAMIC | Page 88

They work internationally to eliminate the stigma of disability and encourage parents to care for children with disabilities at home and not feel pressured to place them in orphanages or a children’s home.

In 2012, Johnny Marr helped to bring awareness to chART (Children’s Hospice Arts), a charity whose mission is to use creativity, performance, and literary arts to provide support to children with life limiting conditions. It is chART’s belief that the arts can help reduce the pain and anxiety of seriously ill children, and provide them with a means for expression. Johnny, along with members of Oasis, Buzzcocks, and the Stone Roses, signed a guitar that was auctioned on eBay to help raise funds for chART. In March of 2015, Johnny Marr joined Paul Weller at the Royal Albert Hall in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust. According to the charity’s website their mission is to “create world-class cancer services for young people in the UK, providing life-changing care and support so young people don’t have to face cancer alone.” When Johnny performed that year it was the group’s 15th year of organizing the musical events, which consisted of a series of performances over 5 days. Johnny’s set was well received, and young patients were able to greet the musicians as they arrived and serve as reporters to ask them questions. In 2017, Johnny returned to the Royal Albert Hall to play alongside the Pet Shop Boys and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra to close out the 17th year of shows in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust.

learn more... chART:

raises money to bring the arts to children with life-limiting conditions in hospices. www.chartuk.org

League Against Cruel Sports: Britain's leading charity that works to stop animals being persecuted, abused and killed for sport. www.league.org.uk Mines Advisory Group (MAG): works in

conflict-affected communities to reclaim areas contaminated by landmines, cluster munitions and other explosive items. www.maginternational.org

Naked Heart Foundation: dedicated to

building playgrounds for impoverished children. www.nakedheart.org

Teenage Cancer Trust: cancer care and support charity in the UK working to improve the cancer experience of young people aged 13–24. www.teenagecancertrust.org

As you can see, Johnny puts his heart into everything he does, and although as fans we only know Johnny’s public side and celebrate his extraordinary musical talent, the kids at Brentwood, for example, got to spend time with Johnny Marr, the man, the husband, the father, the concerned uncle, and the caring human being who will rise up and champion a cause he believes in. It is my hope with this article you will understand the causes that are important to Johnny, and that you’ll take time to learn more about each of their missions and why they inspired Johnny to get involved.

Words by Kathey Norton Photos courtesy of Altrincham Today

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REVIEW

Los Angeles Teragram Ballroom 5th & 6th June 2018

A dynamo is defined as a powerhouse; a nonstop source of energy and force. “Dynamo” also happens to be the title of one of Johnny Marr’s songs from his last solo album, 2016’s Playland.

And, truth be told, Marr himself is the true embodiment of a dynamo.

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T

he slender, athletic and spry singer/songwriter and guitarist extraordinaire is no stranger to creating emotive, evocative music that incorporates some of the most melodic and hypnotic guitar work of the last several decades; a fact his legion of diehard fans knows all too well.

Always convivial and amenable to share a concert stage as part of a band, an ensemble or by himself, one gets the impression that the British guitar legend is so committed to his craft and to keeping the rock and roll torch burning that he’s happy in any capacity as long as he’s creating music.

Since his 2003 release with his backing band The Healers and his proper debut album, 2013’s The Messenger, Marr’s solo trajectory has taken a productive and steady course. With his two impressive albums as a solo act, several tours

around the world, a superb live album and work on a variety of film projects, Johnny obviously is happiest when he’s busy and musically active.

So, imagine the delight of fans worldwide when the news broke about a forthcoming new album, Call the Comet, and then was soon followed by the announcement of a handful of album launch shows intended to give those lucky enough to score tickets a chance to hear and experience the new material in a live setting before the album’s physical release date.

While it’s always daunting to attend a performance where a lot of the material played might be unfamiliar to attendees, Johnny Marr’s most devoted didn’t flinch and scooped up every available ticket for the handful of shows scheduled at very intimate venues almost immediately.

After a couple of snafus in Ticketmaster’s “Verified Fan” program that requires advance registration and the hopes of being selected to purchase those hallowed tickets, I personally kept my composure and my emotions in check on the outside when, in all truth, I was having an internal meltdown while awaiting my clearance to buy a ticket. While none of the three cities that would host one of these exclusive shows in America is anywhere near me,

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I made it a point to try my hardest to get to one of them and attend one of these special engagements.

New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles are a long way away from my home base in central Florida but, my love of rock and roll and my deep admiration for Johnny Marr run deep. I struck out trying for NYC tickets which wound up being a blessing of sorts. Three hours later, in accordance with the time difference in the Pacific Time Zone, the California block of tickets would be made available.

I received the green light from Ticketmaster letting me know I’d been selected to purchase tickets and an all-consuming yet cautious wave of excitement washed over me.

The opportunity to visit L.A. was appealing in that, it’s a city I love that I hadn’t visited in several years coupled with the fact that one of my very best friends with whom I’d recently reconnected lives there too.

A fan of Marr’s solo output as well as of his previous work, he’d never seen Marr live before so there was yet another reason to will this to happen.

After a few moments of panic and anxiety, I couldn’t believe my eyes when that confirmation message popped up on the screen of my smartphone. Out at a social event at a pub when my good fortune struck, I wanted to climb on top of the table where I sat with a group of friends (whom I’d profusely apologized to for having my focus be my phone and not on them) and scream “I just scored Johnny Marr tickets!” but I didn’t. The adrenaline pumping through my body and my pulsing heartbeat were unstoppable though. I instantly texted my friend on the west coast to let him know that I was A. coming to California and B. taking him to his very first Johnny Marr show. His reaction was one of surprise and excitement...exactly what I’d hoped for.

My wave of unprecedented luck didn’t end there.

Several days later, news broke that Johnny would be adding a second show at the same Los Angeles

venue and that tickets would be going on sale shortly. I tried my chances again and, lo and behold, I was fortunate enough to land yet another pair of tickets. I sheepishly texted my friend to say if Johnny Marr were to add a second show, would it appeal to him to attend another performance on the very next night. An instantaneous reply came through and lit up my phone: “YES!” he replied to which I responded “I was hoping you’d say that because I was able to get us tickets for night #2 as well!”

As mid-June approached and the final two Los Angeles shows of the pre-album concerts were upon me, I made the cross-country trek to see my rock and roll hero live for two nights. An unwavering smile on my face and a giddy sense of excitement took over me on the plane ride there. I couldn’t wait to see Mr. Marr live again and to get to take my pal to his very first Johnny shows. I’d waxed on and on to him about how great a live performer Johnny is and how mesmerizing he was to watch while squeezing out his own unique magic from those Fender Jaguar guitars he plays which only raised his level of enthusiasm.

But, I wasn’t prepared for what was to come. Taking the stage on both nights, unannounced, Johnny and his crack three-piece band emerged on the darkened stage and wasted no time launching into full gear and getting down to business.

Kicking off with “The Tracers,” the first track that was made available to stream as a teaser for the new album, it was obvious that this was no ordinary show. Sounding bold, full and powerful, the night blasted off in grand fashion. The cozy theater was the perfect venue to hear and feel the nuances of the new songs and relive the magic of those familiar tunes we’d be treated to. The Teragram Ballroom in downtown L.A. is to be commended for the exquisite sound inside the room and for providing an intimate yet comfortable setting to witness the guitar god we’d all flocked there to see.

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Always convivial and amenable to share a concert stage as part of a band, an ensemble or by himself, one gets the impression that the British guitar legend is so committed to his craft and to keeping the rock and roll torch burning that he’s happy in any capacity as long as he’s creating music.

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A new sense of confidence, swagger and charisma exuded from Johnny and just increased as the concerts progressed and gained steam on both nights. Not that he didn’t possess those traits before; they just seemed to be markedly amplified and much more prevalent during these performances.

Marr’s belief and faith in his new batch of songs was evident too. He sang and played with a force I’d never seen or heard him unleash for the thumping rocker, “Bug”. The melodies of the hook-laden “Hi Hello” swept over the theater and resounded with crystal clear beauty and mystique. His guitar work was especially sharp and crisp during “Actor Attractor”. Although it was my very first time hearing many of the new songs, as it was for all those in attendance with me, by the time I heard the sonic mastery Johnny, guitarist/keyboardist Doviak, bassist Iwan Gronow and drummer Jack Mitchell were able to conjure during “Walk Into the Sea,” I immediately, right there and then, deemed Call the Comet Johnny’s best and strongest release to date.

And had no qualms about stating that.

Several comical moments came throughout the course of both shows and were coupled with Johnny’s devilish grin and his keen sense of humor.

Hinting at his disappointment at not whiffing the familiar aroma of weed burning (“But it’s legal here!” he chided referring to California’s liberal marijuana laws), hysterically ribbing a concertgoer in the front row who’d suggested he play a song

by American classic rocker Steve Miller after he’d asked for requests, or playfully referring to The Smiths as “that girl group” after one of the many songs from their catalog that he performed, Marr seemed completely comfortable, elated and thrilled to be playing for the overly responsive and loud throngs of fans who’d assembled to see him.

Never one to shy away from or deny the significance of the wealth of songs he co-wrote while with The Smiths, Johnny proudly weaved a host of those

compositions into his set list and played them with the utmost reverence and aplomb. Sure, “How Soon is Now?” and “There is a Light That Never Goes Out,” two perennial favorites for longtime Smiths fans, went over swimmingly but the inclusion of nuggets like “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me” and “You Just Haven’t Earned it Yet, Baby” was met with audible gasps and shrieks of delight from the diehards in the audience...including yours truly. Although, in full disclosure, I’ll proudly admit that wiping a tear from my eye at the onset of the shimmering, gorgeous rendition of “Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want,” (played on night #2 only) was necessary. Because, after all, I got what I wanted: two chances to see my idol (in the only city in which he played back-to-back shows), a fantastic trip to California and the opportunity to experience the greatness of Johnny Marr with an equally passionate musical confidante by my side.

A full scale tour has been announced for later in the year to help promote this stunning new album. If these preliminary kick-off shows are any indication, it’s clear that Johnny Marr is playing and singing DYNAMIC | Page 95

better than he ever has. If the last two solo records and their accompanying concert tours were intended as steps in allowing Johnny to reach a special plateau in his long musical journey, guess what? He’s there.

He’s reached it.

Never afraid to look back, Johnny Marr no longer needs to do so. He’s amassed a strong, solid body of work of his own and his undeniable place as one of the most influential and inventive guitarists to emerge since the onset of the indie rock movement he helped create dating back to the mid-1980’s will never be diminished...it will only be enhanced and consistently marveled at.

Proving my earlier assertion that Johnny Marr is an endless source of energy and power, or a dynamo, his album launch shows only hinted that he’s in his absolute musical prime and that he continues to improve upon and surpass his impressive list of previous accompaniments.

No need to continue to call the comet; it has landed and it’s burning boldly and brightly within the sheer musical exuberance Mr. Johnny Marr is unleashing at this vital, exciting time in his career.

Words by GABE ECHAZABAL | Photographs by CURTIS KOSHIMIZU DYNAMIC | Page 96

song spotlight getting away with it C

hoosing one of Johnny’s songs to spotlight was such a difficult task.

Most of them seem to be brimming with his passion, technical brilliance and energy.

To help me choose I asked myself, “What makes a song special?”. For me, when I’m playing my guitar and listening to music, it’s purely about escaping reality, living in that moment and the emotion that it provokes. One of the tracks that never fails to stir profound feelings in me is “Getting away with it”, from Johnny’s 2015 live album “Adrenalin Baby”. This is by no means a new song, and was co-written and played by Johnny when he was with Electronic.

As much as I enjoy the original version released in 1991, it’s a much more subdued and buoyant pop song compared to this bolder, darker, live version that has become a firm favourite of mine. A sentiment I know that I share with many of his fellow fans.

“Getting away with it” has become a staple of Johnny’s live performances, and in the passing of time he has really turned it into a masterpiece. He has come a very long way in his musical career and we can hear his life experience, charisma, self-confidence and maturity shining through in the evolution of this song over the years. Just a short time ago I travelled from Italy to Berlin for my first Marr gig (Call the Comet tour). I was totally blown away, especially when he played this song. What made it even more unforgettable was that he chose to stand directly in front of me while he played the main guitar part. An experience that will remain in my memory forever.

Notably, there is a sense of strong connection between Mr Marr and his group. Often the other musicians behind the frontman can be the unsung heros. Johnny and his guys have a tight band and are out there to give it their all, making it obvious that they enjoy performing together. We only have to open our ears and hear it. Their flawless presentation of this track bears testament to this conclusion.

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“Getting away with it” opens with a really catchy, strong beat. A combination of Jack’s expert drumming and Iwan’s funky bass. Doviak joins in with his keyboards and they pave the way for Johnny’s explosive entrance with his punchy and preannounced guitar “RIFF!!”. Despite the melancholic nuances of the lyrics, we are carried through the verses and chorus by an upbeat tempo. The kind that makes you want to dance, or at the very least, tap your feet. At about 3 minutes into the song Johnny’s guitar bursts into life for the solo part. It seems as if he’s been restraining himself until this point and his guitar has finally been allowed to break free. The sound is unmistakably 100% Marr. This for me is the tour de force of the whole track, and what takes it on to a level far above and beyond the original version. The solo, with its chiming arpeggios, ebbs and flows, ebbs and flows, until we can feel it growing into a crescendo. Almost like a huge wave on the horizon building up before it crashes onto the shore.

We barely get time to catch our breath when we approach the final chorus. It’s then that we are treated to the grand finale, with an “à la Marr” flourish on the Jaguar’s tremolo.

I’m going to end with a small confession.

Often when I’m at home alone, I use my guitar practice software on my PC to isolate Johnny’s guitar solo on “Getting away with it” and I play it back on a loop. I listen to it again and again, uninterrupted. Crazy? I know, but I firmly believe that you can never have too much of a great thing. “Getting away with it” is certainly a great thing.

Words by Linda Poulnott Photo by Tony Burke for Warner Music Ireland DYNAMIC | Page 98

calling all in possession of photos & anecdotes from the Call The Comet launch shows

Contact us via our social media accounts for more information about how you can get involved in our upcoming

Call The Comet tour book

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marr-win: a theory of evolution w

hat to do while listening to “Adrenalin Baby” on repeat and eagerly anticipating Johnny Marr’s next musical offering? Easy: contemplate the changes in style he has made over the years, and try to predict where he may take us next time out.

Johnny’s guitar playing has been evidently fabulous since “The Smiths” was released in 1984. On numerous tracks from that album, he seems to have quietly provided the glue that sticks each song together; picking prettily to form a foundation (along with Mike Joyce’s drumming) upon which Morrissey laid his vocal vignettes. The guitar playing was lovely, yet Morrissey held the spotlight.

Later, perhaps with the confidence and freedom that success brought, he indulged himself in “rockabilly” shuffles and twangs, such as in “Shakespeare’s Sister”, “Vicar in a Tutu” and “Nowhere Fast”. Those Smiths songs had more speed and momentum, exploring tempos that Johnny would devote more time to in collaboration with others after “The Smiths”, as in “The Beat(en) Generation” from The The’s “Mind Bomb” in 1989. That album saw Johnny involved, I think, in a much wider range of sound layers and experimental sonic dabbling than before (apart from the notable exception of “Meat is Murder”); paving the way for significant changes in his work once establishing solo success. “Gravitate to Me” provides a great example of this, with the intro making an interesting comparison point with the track “Playland”.

“Playland” showcases how Marr has evolved from the man making the nuanced background soundtracking, to someone fully letting loose with his arsenal of musicianship. That electronica at the start, with the cranking up of the pinball machine, is a million years away from “The Smiths”, energetically breaking into distorted electric guitar, with a barrage of noise. Indeed, it’s a song about having fun making noise, almost in capital letters. “Again and again and again and again,” with the emphasis on primal joy, rather than melancholy introspection. The whole musical arrangement, with bass-line solo, bouncing drums and long, winding lead electric guitar, showcases a real evolution from his days in the company of Joyce, Rourke and Morrissey. Johnny was on the same page in “The Right Thing Right”, with his pile-driver electric guitar and joyful lyrics about endorphins and gravity - more evidence of a man letting go and having fun.

I can see change in Johnny’s work when I consider the gorgeous “New Town Velocity”, too. It’s a track that could have been from “The Smiths”, if delivered in a more maudlin way. As it is, it feels more like something influenced by Johnny’s collaborations with Neil Finn of Crowded House: wistful nostalgia embraced, rather than bitter lamentation (a-la “The Headmaster Ritual”). There’s a beautiful lead guitar, backed by layers of acoustic work that epitomise Marr’s skills. “The Trap” also showcases Johnny’s layering of arrangement, though this time it’s the vocal layers that strike me as most effective, in a song reminiscent of Wire’s “Outdoor Miner”. A gentle, yet upbeat track, it shows how Marr has developed the ability to craft a lovely pop song around both his own singing and a meandering solo guitar.

“25 Hours” is a good place to finish exploring Johnny’s evolving sound, as its title hints at what lies in the future. His six string revs up, engine-like, behind the fast, almost stream-of-conscious vocal, before breaking out into the more quintessential chiming, winding Marr solo play.

So at the risk of over-simplifying his art, Johnny’s musical evolution has seen a greater focus on on the joie-de-vivre of electric guitar energy, without losing the intricacy and dexterity of melody-making he has always achieved. The best musicians never stand still for long; cue a sprinkling of slow, acoustic numbers on the next album!

by Dave Medley DYNAMIC | Page 101

Call The Comet Track By Track Review

TRACK 1 | rise Album opener ‘Rise’ sets the tone beautifully for the next hour’s worth of thrilling music from our hero.

A breezy intro that seems to create a sci fi like atmosphere manages to make the song sound like the environment in which it was recorded- very edgy. Stuttering synthesizers combine with muscular guitar riffs, yet it still sounds unmistakeably Johnny. Lyrically, he tells of a futuristic society: Now here they come It’s the dawn of the dogs They hound, they howl Never let up Awesome stuff. All in all, it a stunning start to the album.

- Craig McMahon

track 2| the tracers Widescreen beauty meets sci-fi high concept on The Tracers, a near goth juggernaut soaring straight from the Cosmos. Hypnotic New Wave Synth lines collide crashing into Sympathy for The Devil-esque ‘Ooh, Oohing’ before converging into some of Marr’s most dreamlike, cinematically propulsive guitar work. A thunderous drum beat completes a near utopian vision of a benevolent but mysterious advanced intelligence who have ‘come for our hearts’ because they ‘know we’ve lost our way’, to show us our love shouldn’t be so possessive and our lives lived with such lonely, narcissistic self absorption.

Call The Comets, The Tracers have come to save us from ourselves. Come with me, Evaporate.

track 3| HEY ANGEL

- Paul Plimmer

Hey Angel storms into the ears with the a guitar solo drenched in attitude and swagger.

With hints of Psychedelic Rock fused with Cosmic Pop, Johnny’s pulsating vocals compliment the heavy guitar perfectly. Even with the “dirtier” than usual guitar tone, it still follows the general working ethos of Johnny; it doesn’t have to be a Eddie Van Halen moment to blow the roof off in an arena or the minds of the listener at home. Precision picking with attitude, Hey Angel serves as a reminder that the interstellar journey of Call the Comet has just begun.

- Edward Kim DYNAMIC | Page 102

track 4| My Eternal The whisper to the soul we all yearn for, “And I’ll find you if you’re losing your mind and you can’t let go.” The longing for belonging. Evoked by a catharsis of personal emotions for someone close. We all have someone. Once more we’re engaged with the swirling Indie chime of the quintessential Marr guitar work providing the musical foundations of the alternative society. Where people care. You matter.

The warmth of heart felt lyrics in the matured voice are poetic and reassuring. Maybe the not-toodistant future won’t be so bad after all. Say “Hi Hello” to the paradox of Johnny’s reality. Knowledge and understanding are powerful indeed.

Album opener ‘Rise’ sets the tone beautifully for the next hour’s worth of thrilling music from our hero.

A breezy intro that seems to create a sci fi like atmosphere manages to make the song sound like the environment in which it was recorded- very edgy. Stuttering synthesizers combine with muscular guitar riffs, yet it still sounds unmistakeably Johnny. Lyrically, he tells of a futuristic society:

TRACK 1 | rise

- Adi Harrold

Now here they come It’s the dawn of the dogs

track 5| New DOMINIONS

They hound, they howl I may be over-intellectualising things here, but the lyrical and musical content of New Dominions seem perfectly. The song’s insistently minimalist two note riff ‘cascades faster’ as the song Neverto letmatch up progresses, its layers of guitars, vocals and neo-psychedelic sounds resulting in a brilliantly hypnotic acid house/post-punk Couldstart this to bethe Johnny showing us that a potentially restrictive situation Awesome stuff. All in all,melange. it a stunning album. can be broken out of with some creativity of thought? The music is mirrored in the lyrical subject matter – the idea of wringing the most out of what little we have in order to create a New Dominion, be it on a personal or societal level.

-Craig McMahon

To be less analytical, I like to think of this song as having been gestating inside Johnny’s head for a number of years. I imagine it to have nocturnally wandered round the industrial north’s factories, railways and dancehalls, soaking in the atmosphere and sounds which are presented here. It probably necked some pharmaceuticals along the way too, the naughty thing. So, perhaps this isn’t a consciously created marriage of beauty musicalmeets and lyrical concepts, but on a natural outpouring Johnny’s psychogeography writ Widescreen sci-fi high concept The Tracers, a nearof goth juggernaut soaring straight large in musical form.

However you lookSynth at it, it’s pretty flipping great. from the Cosmos.

Hypnotic New Wave lines collide crashing into Sympathy for The Devil-esque ‘Ooh, Oohing’ before converging into some of Marr’s most dreamlike, cinematically propulsive guitar work. A thunderous drum beat completes a near utopian vision of a benevolent but mysterious advanced intelligence who have ‘come for our hearts’ because they ‘know we’ve lost our way’, to show us our love shouldn’t be so possessive and our lives lived with such lonely, narcissistic self absorption.

track 2| the tracers

- Nick Lonsdale

Call The Comets, The Tracers have come to save us from ourselves. Come with me, Evaporate.

track 6| day in day out Magnificent jangling 12 string into which is very classic Johnny, much like Hi Hello. However, when goes -Paul Plimmer into the most glorious, spine tingling wonderriff it gives the perfect showcase of what modern Johnny is all about. Combines his sounds and styles so very perfectly in one beautiful catchy song. Lyrics seem to perhaps be about a lifelong passion & obsession...could this be a love song for guitars? I’d like to think so! storms into the ears with the a guitar solo drenched in attitude and swagger.

Hey Angel

track 3| HEY ANGEL

With hints of Psychedelic Rock fused with Cosmic Pop, Johnny’s pulsating vocals compliment the heavy guitar perfectly. Even with the “dirtier” than usual guitar tone, it still follows the general working ethos of Johnny; it doesn’t have to be a Eddie Van Halen moment to blow the roof off in an arena or the minds of the listener at home. Precision picking with attitude, Hey Angel serves as a reminder that the interstellar journey of Call the Comet has just begun.

- Catherine Smith -Edward Kim

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track 7| WALK INTO THE SEA There’s a profoundly deep and organic vibe to Walk Into The Sea, a definitive verification of Johnny Marr’s continuous evolution and maturity as a solo artist. The haunting dissonance of the opening chords, arresting and slightly ominous, tug gently at ear and emotion creating a pleasurable tension, a slow burn of sensation as the song matures in shadow- like layers before manifesting and igniting. The lyrics overflow with sublime imagery of wind, wave, and sky, coupling the primordial forces of nature and the human instinct of hope, leaving one feeling inspired and emboldened. The song is philosophical, evocative, and absolutely breathtaking.

- MJ Zander

track 8| bug Johnny Marr’s self-confidence is palpable in this provocative critique of the unescapable virus that is right wing extremism. Marr’s brilliant delivery is set to a stomping, strutting beat with an intense tapestry of layered guitars and synths coupled with a staggering chorus. ‘Bug’ makes you want to get up and dance, albeit in defiance. Unlike the futuristic escapism that encapsulates much of ‘Call the Comet,’ ‘Bug’ takes on the current dystopia where we all struggle to make sense of a world seemingly gone mad. Like Marr, we lament, ‘Can’t think straight, mind’s breakin’ And the world is bad enough, can’t take it.

- Jeanne Abicht

track 9| ACtor attractor For some of us, if not all - there comes a time in life where we live in shadows. Slip sleepless through back alleys with headphones only as a shield against our darkest demons. Actor Attractor, for me, is an ode for those times. Our hero accepts his or hers existential crisis, perhaps even embraces it, proclaiming they ‘can’t fool emptiness’ while resenting the written destiny- the script and the split screen- perhaps a symbol for the hedonism modern life suggests as an escape mechanism.

Actor Attractor, a fantastic cinematic, synth-strewn tune, zested with accurate drumming and a sublime bassline, works up the appetite for more darkwave produce from Marr. A definite “sister song” for ‘Say Demense’ and ‘Speak Out, Reach Out.’

- Ory Englander

track 10| spiral cities Already a fan favourite since its first outings in Johnny’s live sets in 2015, Spiral Cities: the studio version, is a spellbindingly evocative, Orphic masterpiece that proves beyond a doubt that Johnny’s creative zenith is only just arriving. A soaring, euphonic vocal delivery beautifully compliments the song’s uplifting lyrics, urging the listener to “follow illumination” and embrace the dream of a brighter tomorrow. Spiral Cities is a love song not so much to a person, but to life - to the future. There’s a sense of yearning in its melody that evokes both hopefulness and wistfulness, with just a hint of melancholy, and it’s precisely that ability to draw out such strong emotions that gives the song its power.

Spiral Cities is the pièce de résistance not only of this album, but perhaps of Johnny’s entire career.

- Aly Stevenson DYNAMIC | Page 104

tRACK 11| my Eternal A beautiful, futuristic, fast paced electronic piece as welcome as a cool breeze on a simmering August night. The Doviak/Marr combo never disappoints. Marr’s fierce, biting guitars are a perfect match to Doviak’s majestic synth. The sheer beauty in Johnny’s third album and on this particular track is his nod of the head to his future-past. One can almost hear a bit of “I Want The One I Can’t Have’ echoing through - a familiar, comforting sound that blends perfectly with his current influences.

- Daisy Bates

tRACK 12 | A DIFFERENT GUN The phased, dreamlike beauty of the opening chords to A Different Gun belies the heavy subject matter within the song. Inspired by the tragic events that took place in Nice and Manchester respectively, it somehow manages to encapsulate the warmth of a summer evening in the South of France along with the melancholy of tragedy of the attacks. However, there is one other key factor incorporated – hope.

Musically it is uplifting, emotive and sublime. The refrain to “stay and come out tonight…” urges us to continue and move forward in love and hope. Johnny’s words and guitars manage to touch us on an intellectual and emotive level.

- Jonny Hughes

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REAL ARMS AROUND ME

The 12 year old me thought ‘Old Before I Die’ by Robbie Williams was the definition of rock’n’roll, but I’m alright now. I was introduced to actual music through that most endangered of heartfelt gifts: the mix tape. It was Ocean Colour Scene ‘Mosely Shoals’ one side; ‘Marchin’ Already’ the other. It sounded different, not in the least bit contrived.

It also opened up a rabbit hole that I dived into head first.

From OCS to Paul Weller. Weller led to The Jam, which opened up the Pandora’s box of English bands whose names began with the definitive article. The Who, The Kinks, The Small Faces and eventually to The Smiths. I asked my aul fella, usually a pretty good yardstick, about them. He didn’t seem convinced; I knew then they’d be different.

It was the year 2000. I was 15; nobody my age was into The Smiths. I bought a copy of ‘The Queen is Dead’ from Golden Discs, Donaghmeade, Dublin. A school mate of mine worked there, and he seemed even less convinced by my selection than my Dad. Self-doubt was creeping in even before I’d heard ‘I Know It’s Over’.

Ears pricked, I was immediately intrigued, while not sure I was entirely enamoured. Being so young, straddling the emerging ‘Celtic Tiger’ as I was, the humour of Morrissey’s lyrics was lost on me initially. It was the dichotomy of power and delicacy in the guitar playing that tilted my head to the speaker. I’d recently taken up guitar, thought I had it sussed. Thin Lizzy for the harmony laced melodic lead, Rory Gallagher if you wanted a note torn viciously from the fret, Noel Gallagher for anything I might be able to play, etc, etc, etc, as a hooligan might say. I didn’t realise there was a one-stop shop you could go to for all these things and more.

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Johnny was the Swiss Army Knife of guitarists. As I went in search of his post-Smiths work, that only became more apparent. The Pretenders, The The, Electronic. I’d missed them all, but then Johnny teamed up with Modest Mouse, then The Cribs: two of my favourite bands at the time. I got to see him perform live a handful of times during those years. I admired him for never reforming The Smiths, always looking forward, helping young musicians, cherishing his creativity, having the bollocks to dye his hair…and the blue blazer he wore at the Academy in 2013.

I was giddy the day ‘The Messenger’ was released. Straight into town, I was old enough to drive at that stage, pay the man, stick it on in the car, meticulously inspect the sleeve.

Slightly nervous, I so wanted it to be good. It didn’t have to be great; I wasn’t greedy. Over the next few months between the car and the shower, I must have pressed play on that record close to 100 times.

Then Johnny was serendipitously added to the Electric Picnic line-up that summer. Half five, Sunday at the Electric Arena. Sundays at Electric Picnic can be an arduous station. Two days jumping up and down off your bollocks in a quagmire can really take it out of you.

“Johnny was the Swiss Army Knife of guitarists.”

Five o’clock Sunday evening, sure enough, vigour’s in short supply. I hit the bar for myself and some friends. Usual meeting place, stage left, closest pole. I’m able to carry eights pints, four in each hand, thanks to a collection of little plastic rings with a handle attached. How much further can engineering possibly take us, I wonder? About 100 feet from the tent, I hear massive cheers and the opening chords of ‘The Right Thing Right’ ringing out. I start to shift a bit, trying to spill as little of the 5.50 a pop pints as I do, like a beer-laden Buckaroo.

I manoeuvre forward through the crowd bopping my head, spilling beer, completely forgetting about the agreed upon pole. Little gaps keep opening up and before I know it I’m front and centre with the perfect view. Johnny and his band are on fire and the atmosphere is euphoric - without any assistance, I may add. I can’t give up this spot, can I? I mean, I’m here now. I’m weighed down by pints. If I tried to find them at this stage, I’d miss a few songs and spill most of the drink in the process. I wasn’t about to do that. I decide to stay put.

Trying to fully enjoy a rock show while carrying eight pints can be problematic. I start giving them away so I can get into it. A palpable sense of energy builds in the tent with each song and swells when a DYNAMIC | Page 108

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Smiths tune is played. Even the festival goers just here for those Smiths songs bop along to the new tunes as Johnny holds the crowd’s attention tighter than the best school yard headlock.

‘There Is a Light That Never Goes Out’ crashes in on the crowd, who in time honoured Irish tradition, sing-a-long drenched in its hopeless romanticism and my Heineken.

It’s beautiful, I’m happy. So happy that when the song ends and the crowd starts to disperse, I’m left standing alone, soaked, crying. A grown man moved to tears by a song…and two days of behaving like a child. As the tears and the crowd stream out I start to think how cool it would have been to have shared that moment with my friends. Would they be crying too? Almost definitely not.

People continue to leave, as they do I see a guy around my age about ten feet away. He’s crying too. Eye contact, we both laugh. I gesture him in for a hug, it feels right. In he comes, older than me, rounder, cuddly. His wife looks on as we squeeze out those last enjoyable tears in each other’s embrace. She looks upset too, but for completely different reasons.

Words by Stephen Vaughan Photographs by Ste Murray

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UPSTARTS With Johnny Marr’s memoir fresh in the mind, I come out of its working-class tone with a feeling of a character who never really forgot his roots, even if it would’ve been easy to do just that. His long-time partnership with the amiable and magnetic Joe Moss, a man who championed many bands—including The Smiths—during his time, is an obvious indicator of this mindset. Not only sticking to his roots and championing bands, Marr has also been an integral part of many band’s ascent through the music world by offering not just his words of encouragement, but his chords of encouragement directly.

Words By: L.M. DYNAMIC | Page 112

Photo © Jon Parker Lee DYNAMIC | Page 113

T

he The, a group Johnny so nearly joined during the pre-Smiths existence, had our man’s touches of diversity inserted in Matt Johnson’s vision of alternative rock at the time. With 1989’s Mind Bomb we had Johnson’s religious questioning, political questioning, and, I have no doubt, love questioning, brought forward via Marr’s textured psychedelics, harmonica, and general vibe around the studio. The construction of Dusk in 1993 was one of Johnny’s most-loved periods of his career hammering home Johnson’s prowess in the studio and his ability to create an atmosphere for recording like no other. His intellectualism in terms of viewing the world, his current paradigm, and environmentalism stunned and inspired Johnny, so much so he would adopt much of these philosophies in his solo work with his fascination of the environment around him particularly those in a city dwelling.

Set the Boy Free had Johnny full of praise for Johnson’s ability to work introvertly with different gadgets and instruments while piecing together his first record, which would later be re-released under the conglomerate of The The, Burning Blue Soul. In recent interviews Johnny stated that whenever Johnson wished to make another record with him he’d gladly jump on board.

Even to this day we still hear the Ardwick axeman giving us tips for his current favourites in the indie and pop world. Kagoule and M.I.A. are on Johnny’s hit list these days with their indie and pop sensibilities, respectively. Many may see him as an insular and narrow-minded music-lover, a guitar-lover first and foremost, yet his interests range from across music divides, colours, and backgrounds.

Noel Gallagher is a highlight of the generosity displayed via Marr’s musical ear. Walking through the rain-soaked winter of Manchester, Gallagher was picked up by Johnny in his car in early 1993 and thus began the championing and rapid ascent of Oasis. Mixtapes were studiously examined (maybe not initially), managers were assigned, and guitars were lent so the Gallaghers could get the show on the road. Ah… we’ll make that multiple guitars. Ask Liam what happened there… Even through the decade of gigs, studio sessions, highlights, lowlights, rises, breakdowns, Johnny still had an eye and ear out for local talent. Oasis may never have been. Who knows?

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Young bands coming through I’m sure mirror the thoughts of Johnny looking towards T. Rex, The Rolling Stones, and Rory Gallagher on his own ascent up through the music ranks as a young fledgling guitar hero. Childhood and Man Made—the latter Johnny’s son, Nile, leads—have been given a chance to showcase their talents joining Johnny on his album tours over the last couple of years.

Looking to a well-known and revered musician like Johnny for help and a shout-out can be daunting for up-and-comers. But Johnny seems to be a highlighter of these talents, seeing something in these bands that some of his favourite artists saw in him as a youngster.

Modest Mouse was the happiest period of our man’s career, according to himself. He hit a US number-one album for the first time (and only time, thus far) with We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank in 2007 citing his work with Isaac Brock as something that flowed naturally through him as they shared riffs together— “Dashboard” hammering home that sentiment nicely. Johnny was disillusioned with American guitar-based rock for many years but seemed to be revitalised by Modest Mouse and the Portland lifestyle. He saw the music as something new and fresh and wasn’t afraid to show his affection for his time in the States. He felt American guitar music was on the rise with Modest Mouse at the forefront. Things weren’t looking too bad in the UK at that time, either. The Cribs were revitalising hard rock with Johnny involved. He seemed to join in with bands that he felt could offer something to the music world rather than he lifting them himself. He wanted to be part of it because he saw it as forward-thinking rather than just a cash gig.

A beacon of inspiration for many, Marr has encouraged many notable names to pick up the guitar. The aforementioned Noel Gallagher cites Johnny’s musical interests as something that intrigued him away from Morrissey’s political stances and The Smiths’ Hatful of Hollow as a favourite album, in particular the original version of the “Hand in Glove” single. Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien can also thank Johnny for a lot of his playing styles (and that goes for the rest of that band). How about ex-Suede-man Bernard Butler? Well he loved The Smiths more than life, you could say. Vigorously wishing to tell everyone that “there’s a big difference between ‘Copacabana’ and ‘This Charming Man’, there’s a big fucking difference!”, Butler fell in love with the band and Johnny’s playing, so much so he learned every Smiths song by ear and bought the cherry-red Gibson ES-355 in 1994 after seeing Johnny with it himself. How nice.

Hitting the major heights never fazed Johnny nor turned him away from his base love of guitar and his base love of the promotion, patronage, and championing of the music he loves, even to this day. With his involvement in all these bands, directly or indirectly, he shows that the clichéd mannerism of resting on his laurels isn’t for him. This involvement is almost like his way of preserving music; music he sees as innovative and music he just generally likes. It’s what he did when he started his career and he’s continuing where he left off. Upstarts now are on their way.

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I’ve had a really hard time writing is this. I wasn’t really sure what to say, ask, or do. Now I know exactly what to say. Thank you.

Letters to Johnny

It would be easy to thank you for your musical genius that has inspired me heavily as a guitarist and songwriter.

I could go on and rant about all the musical stuff, but there is something more important to me that I’d like to thank you for. You set a good example to follow. You adapted as a musician without swaying to the whim of the public. You stayed true to yourself in life as well. Being vegan, abstaining from alcohol and breaking the rock and roll stereotypes.

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It was never your job to be a role model. It’s not the responsibility of those in the public eye to be the perfect examples of how people should be.

You shouldn’t be expected to be infallible because you’re human like the rest of us, but that being so, you still are someone I look up. I hope to one day be a man like you are. I don’t care if this makes it to the magazine, but I hope you do read this.

Thank you Johnny Marr. Not just for music, but for showing success isn’t just in the music you make, but the kind of person you are. Hopefully all of this was somewhat coherent.

Ethan Murray Oklahoma City, USA

Your music has provided a richness to my life. Your chords, melodies, and compositions are so precious to me, and are completely invaluable. I honestly do not know where I would be if they didn’t exist. There is such a yearning and melancholy to your work, especially with The Smiths, but it is never depressing. It’s utterly transformative and beautiful. The songs hold such a special place in my heart, and I’ll cherish them forever.

Thank you, -Tim Timothy McPherrin Chicago, USA

Dear Johnny, On your first ever headline tour as Johnny Marr, touring ‘ The Messenger’ album, you played Dublin’s Academy Venue, your extended family from Ireland were there to watch this important show, and if I remember correctly, your son Nile, was your roadie.

I remember this for 2 reasons. Firstly my name is also Niall, albeit spelled differently, but more importantly, I was in the band that opened for you, Bouts.

We’re still plugging away and that is still one of my favourite memories. Mostly because we heard from the promoter that you and your son actually listen to the songs of possible support bands before picking them yourself. I don’t know if that part is true but you we’re definitely clued up enough on us to name The Thermals, Dinosaur Jnr.&

‘that’ band Modest Mouse as influences. We never managed to get you a copy of the record we were recording at the time but thanks for being so interested in us after 30 years of doing the rounds. It meant a lot.

Yours sincerely, Niall.

Niall Jackson Dublin/London

Hey Johnny, Writing in to tell you that I took what you told me to heart and I’m setting the boy free.

I struggle with a lot of willpower issues - like everyone, maybe - but you made me realise we can always be better. That, and your song for Todd Margaret - a story so surreally scary that it made me a better person just automatically, and your brilliant, brilliant song for it was the theme song for the change. I’m laying off the Coke and the chocolates and the chicken and dedicating myself to a more wholesome life with natural living and being the best version of myself. I run to The It-Switch, I had my first kiss to I Feel You playing loudly in my head and I suspect Playland gave my shoulders direction and got me in touch with who I believe I truly am. From time to time I think of the person you are - hot and cold and all - and as someone who didn’t exactly grow up with role models, it gives me a lot to aspire to. So, y’know, thanks.

We all have an idol we credit an important part of ourselves to-and maybe more than one. For me, Johnny-you helped me win a fight I’d been beaten down by since I was a small kid. I was surrounded by things and people that forced their own fact down my throat-I was a girl by their standards. I cut my hair short, kept on wearing my brothers’ hand-me-downs. Their diagnosis was that I was just a “tomboy”, I’d grow out of it. Well, I didn’t. I knew I was a boy and I didn’t like hiding it. Dysphoria began with my teenage years, and I was starting to loathe my existence altogether. I didn’t understand why my body betrayed me while my mind was screaming out to everyone that them calling me “she” and “her” hurt me like the sting of wounds. I battled my way through long spells of depression, furiously expelling my strong emotions into art.

It was in the throes of escapism that I discovered a passion that healed me for a time, keeping me resilient - music paired with art. Every time I lay my pencil to paper, I had my music to accompany me, inspire what flowed from my mind. Your music was a soundtrack to a thousand little films inside my head that became art. When I found your personality was just as strong as your sound, I started to embrace who I was. Being transgender is no cakewalk, and I’m still hiding myself, but you have kept me alive through it all. Through your music comes my art, through your personality comes my true self, and for that I’m forever thankful.

Anonymous Illinois, USA

Trust you and the family are well.

Love, Jalal.

Jalal Kaiser Islamabad, Pakistan

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Dear Johnny, There are loads of reasons why I admire you but most recently what impressed me is the great attitude you conveyed through Set the boy free. While many people would see writing an autobiography, especially one so highly anticipated, as an opportunity to settle scores and throw a bit of shade, you told your story with nothing but grace and positivity. Your attitude is so inspiring, and proves what an amazing person you are. This is why your loyal fans have so much respect for you, and I am Team Marr all the way!

Julia Sandoval Vacaville, USA

Kate Beeden

Hi Johnny, I met you in Stockholm last month and I was so surprised and starstruck that I instantly forgot almost half of our conversation and didn’t say all the things I would have liked to say. So I’m saying it now and it mainly comes down to this: thank you. Thank you for always being so nice to your fans, for being so real, cool and considerate. Thank you for being YOU! :-) Laura Finland

Dear Johnny, I’m writing to thank you for inadvertently changing my life. Your music has done that for years, of course, but I recently read an interview where a comment you made resonated with my soul - namely that when you first became a vegetarian you saw it as ‘taking something on rather than giving something up’. That simple truth encouraged me to start living as a vegan DYNAMIC | Page 118

(like you, I was vegetarian for many years prior to this).

I was petrified of ‘failing’ as my previous attempts to convert had only ever lasted a matter of days. I strongly disagreed with farming methods and stood passionately against animal cruelty, but something always stopped me committing to veganism. This time I’m viewing it as choosing to ‘take on’ a more ethical, humane lifestyle rather than ‘giving up’ dairy and animal produce. ‘Taking on, not giving up’ has become my mantra, and because of your words I’m finally living the life I always wanted to live.

I can’t thank you enough.

All the love, Katey

Sheffiled, UK Johnny, I still think about the time I saw you in Atlanta in 2013. I was a young teen and going through a lot with mental health, and I had just gotten out of the hospital 3 weeks before. It was my mom that made it happen: I think she knew with all the stuff I went through and me loving you and The Smiths that it would make me feel really good and happy, and it did. It was my first show I went to that wasn’t an arena concert of someone I didn’t care about too much - I was amazed by the energy you gave us, and the energy that gave me, knowing exactly what live music can do to someone. I think that is still the strongest experience in my decision to make music myself. I’m very grateful to have seen you for my first real show - 9 hr drive included.

Thank you. Haven’t seen you since then but hope to see you in Houston in October!!

Sophie New Orleans, USA

Acknowledgements Many heartfelt thanks goes out to all the kind and talented people who made this issue possible through their contributions.

writing

Andy Campbell Karima Dardak L.M. Gabe Echazbal Susan Hansen Adi Harrold Jonny Hughes Katey Lovell Dave Medley Alison Moore Kathey Norton Siobhan O’Driscoll Brian O’Grady Linda Poulnott Brontë Schiltz Craig Spence Stephen Vaughan Ryan Walker Gavin Wynne MJ Zander

photography

Tony Burke Sarah Doone Chris Hakkens Anthony Harrison Curtis Koshimizu Ste Murray John Parker Lee

artwork

Adi Harrold Riley Langston Catherine Smith

additional thanks Jeanne Abicht Daisy Bates Edward Kim Nick Lonsdale Craig McMahon Paul Plimmer

And as always, a very special thank you to Johnny, for being so generous with his time, and for his ongoing support of this publication.

Artwork on pages 9-12, 27-28, 48-49 & 100 by Ory Englander.

Additional uncredited photos on pages 4-6, 36, 40-46, 57-64, 80 & 82 + front and back covers by Aly Stevenson.

Stills from The Priest on pages 69-70 © Johnny Marr & Mat Bancroft.

Main logo font by Woodcutter.

Dynamic is designed by Ory Englander and Aly Stevenson using Adobe InDesign CC. DYNAMIC | Page 119