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Go Johnny go


5/10/2001

As the only Smith who's survived with acclaim and his grip on reality intact, Johnny Marr, can stand as not only a great guitarist of his generation but also a local figurehead.

After a decade of collaborations (Electronic, Kirsty McColl, The The), he's become ever-more reclusive - the Stuart Maconie of tasteful rock. Johnny Marr's Healers, then, exist to change that. Oh, and to reclaim his stripes.

"I always had a sense that I'd know when the time was right for me to do my own thing. I've always really enjoyed working with different people but I'd written quite a few songs that sounded like they couldn't really be recorded by any of the people that I knew.''

A hotel lobby one afternoon in New York led him to meet a guy called Zak, who just happened to be a drummer. They'd already formed the band before Johnny twigged that Zak's father was also a drummer - name of Ringo.

''Zak feels like it's his band. And I feel like it's my band, which is great, which is exactly the way I want it.''

If Johnny Marr just can't help but form supergroups, the resulting music has done something very epic indeed. That new single The Last Ride sees Marr not only erect a bloody great wall of sound but also sing, suggesting that this time, he means it.

''I've got no plans for world domination or anything - although I think we're good enough for that. I think people who've known me for a while will understand, and people who maybe need an alternative to airbrushed, corporate, safe Rock'n'Roll.''

Neither is the Healer's stylistic shift a worry. Johnny explains. ''There are some people who've followed me right from me being 19, who've followed my work all the way through The The and Electronic. Those people are the only people I feel responsibility towards."

Looking back

Worrying news for the more, ahem, protective fans of the Smiths? ''Erm,'' he splutters, as embarrassed as these people's own parents, ''I think I dealt with that quite a long time ago to be honest, by carving out my own road. The people I grew up liking always walked their own path. If I'm known for anything other than playing guitar - that's what I think I'm known for - following my own road. It's a road that I started on when I was in my teens really, and I don't know any other way of life.''

With Electronic on permanent hold while Bernard Sumner messes around with a band called New Order, following his own path is Johnny's full-time perogative. ''I don't want to be a warrior,'' he admits. ''I'm only interested in having responsibility for my own life really, and my own career.

People can do what they want. But invariably, everyone's saying the same things about music. Where are the individuals? The corporate world has got such a stranglehold on everything it's hard to find things that fall through the cracks. But it's happened in the past, and it can happen now.'' Perhaps Johnny Marr is about to be important all over again.

The Last Ride is out this week on Pacific. (See review, page 18). An album and tour will follow next year.


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