With this musician, we can talk about everything.

Except for Morrissey, his former accomplice of the Smiths, a flagship group of English indie rock, active in the mid-1980s. produced in 2019 on a US show with a UK far-right party badge).

After a last acidic exchange via their social networks this winter, Marr no longer says a word about the other "M" of the formation that made him famous.

Probably so as not to undermine the zen attitude that he patiently cultivates.

"I read the Bhagavad-Gita (one of the fundamental texts of Hinduism, at the roots of yoga) every day, it was Chrissie Hynde who gave it to me when I was having my ups and downs at one point in my life”, tells AFP the guitarist, during an interview by videoconference.

Blondie, "Killing Eve"

After the Smiths implosion, Marr collaborated with various bands, including Chrissie Hynde's Pretenders, with whom he remained close.

The opportunity to ask him about the inspiring women artists he has met in his career.

The latest is Billie Eilish, since it is her guitar that we hear on the title track of "No time to die" ("Dying can wait"), the last "James Bond", sung by American artist.

"The life of a musician in a recording studio, I've known since I was 18 (he's now 58) and, when Billie is in the studio, after five minutes, you have no more in front of you a young girl. She's a great musician, she knows how to channel her energy, prioritize what needs to be prioritized. She's impressive, she's here for a long time," he says.

British guitarist Johnny Marr in concert in Oeiras, near Lisbon, in July 2019 PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA AFP/Archives

The parallel comes all alone with Debbie Harry, the singer of Blondie.

"When I was 14-15, I was already in bands of the elitist genre. Blondie, I listened to them, they were great, Debbie had the right attitude, was cool, a woman to follow, like Billie today ".

“Billie, Debbie, or like this actress, Jodie Comer, from the series + Killing Eve +, are talented and speak to all women from 14 to 65 years old”, he further develops.

The circle is complete since a joint tour of Blondie and Marr is scheduled for April-May.

He will be able to defend on stage the titles of his double album "Fever Dreams Pts 1 - 4", which is released on Friday.

Black Lives Matter

This cryptic title ("Feverish Dreams Pts 1 - 4") sticks to the energy of Marr, who wakes up with a start "at 4 a.m.', with my wife saying: + But what's going on again?+ (laughs)" because he just found the title of a song.

The spindly rocker has kept the same helmet-like haircut from the Smiths days and hasn't lost any of his riff sense.

Its six strings are elegiac ("Lightning People"), surgical ("Sensory Street") or emphatic ("Tenement Time").

British guitarist Johnny Marr in concert at Biddinghuizen, in August 2019 in the Netherlands Paul Bergen ANP / AFP / Archives

The texts he sings are sprinkled with artistic references like Salvador Dali or Marcel Duchamp ("The Whirl").

These liberated minds, who called for thinking otherwise - he also quotes the writer Aldous Huxley - are invited to underline by opposition the "retreat embodied today by people like Donald Trump".

The social and political chronicle also transpires when Marr evokes the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement in "Night and Day" ("Just wanna breathe in the hot spots" / "I just want to breathe in critical situations").

But the native of Manchester also likes to surprise and is rabble on "Receiver", remembering these atmospheres "at three o'clock in the morning' in bars, when a person emits an erotic signal to another".

© 2022 AFP