September 2, 2009 9:25

Johnny Marr 'too busy' for Smiths tour - for now

'Is that likely to change? Who knows?' says Cribs man

Photo: Tom Oxley/NME

Johnny Marr has said that he is "too busy" to reunite with his old band The Smiths for live gigs – but has not completely ruled out the possibility of his schedule freeing up to allow it to happen.

The Cribs' guitarist has repeatedly said that he is not interested in reuniting with singer Morrissey, bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce. He even released a statement last December outlining that there was no truth in any Smiths reformation rumours.

However, in a new interview with the Daily Mail he has refused to rule out the possibility of being persuaded to take to the stage again with the band, who split in 1987.

"I can't speak for Morrissey, but I know that I'm too busy right now to get The Smiths on the road again," he said. "Is that likely to change? Who knows?"

He added: "I can't bear the thought of a Spandau Ballet-style comeback. What's the point? Spandau are reforming, so they put on a big chicken-in-the-basket event, which is all they amounted to in the first place.

"Maybe someone should pay them £20 million not to reform. Supposedly we were offered $10 million (£6.2 million) to play a handful of Smiths gigs in 2007, and I wasn't remotely tempted."

The Cribs' new album, 'Ignore The Ignorant', is out on Monday (September 7). You can listen to it in full, free, at NME.COM/the-cribs now.