Johnny Marr has reflected on the advice Paul McCartney gave him after The Smiths broke up in 1987, according to NME. Marr said the Beatles legend offered a short but memorable response to hearing about the split: “That’s bands for you.”
In comments to MOJO, Marr described spending “one long, incredible day” with McCartney and his wife Linda shortly after leaving the band. He said Linda asked him about his life, and that he told McCartney about the break-up before getting the reply he later called “a brilliant answer.”
Marr also said that after The Smiths ended, he did not feel pressure to immediately form another band. He said he found purpose working with other artists, including Matt Johnson, Bernard Sumner, Chrissie Hynde and Bryan Ferry, and noted the value of being a player in different projects.
The article also revisited Marr’s early post-Smiths time with McCartney. In a 2012 interview, he said they spent an eight- or nine-hour day playing together very loudly, though the sessions did not lead to any official recordings or a permanent collaboration.
Elsewhere, NME reported that Morrissey and Marr recently helped create a rare new seven-inch release from The Smiths for an upcoming Rough Trade box set. The limited edition release, ‘Rough Trade 45s: Volume 2’, is due out on October 30.
