July 20, 2007 15:58

Smiths reunion ruled out by bassist and drummer

Bassist says Morrissey in uncontactable

Former bassist with The Smiths Andy Rourke has quashed hopes for a future Smiths reunion, insisting Morrissey is impossible to even contact, let alone coax into reforming.

Rourke spoke at the launch of documentary ‘Inside The Smiths’ last night (July 19) alongside drummer Mike Joyce, who refused to pass comment on the elusive star.

“He makes himself unavailable. He only communicates in postcards. But I suppose time is a great healer, and can change your perception of people,” he told fans, implying they would have to patch up their relationship before any reunion could take place.

The bassist made a cheeky joke about the singer’s enigmatic sexuality when asked if Morrissey ever had any groupies, quipping, “He had a delivery once and the boy was in there with him for a good ten minutes, but apart from that, I don’t think so.”

Meanwhile Joyce claims in the documentary, which also features talking heads including Kaiser Chiefs, Buzzcocks and Mark E Smith, that once guitarist Johnny Marr left the band, he realised how difficult Morrissey could be to work with.

The crunch, for Joyce, apparently came when the band and crew were sitting down for a meal.

“Morrissey was giving me the eye as if to say, ‘we need to have a word'," recalled Joyce. “So he took me aside and said, ‘Who are these people we’re eating with?’ I said, ‘Well, they’re the producer, the engineer, the bassist, guitarist and me.’ He said, ‘I don’t want to eat with these people’. What do I do? Tell them to piss off and not eat with us? That was the brief.”