Johnny Marr: ‘I’ll reform The Smiths when the government steps down’

Guitarist collected gong for Best Reissue at last night's NME Awards


Johnny Marr has joked that he will reform The Smiths if the current UK government steps down – click above to watch the video interview.

The guitarist was at the NME Awards at London’s O2 Brixton Academy last night (February 29) to pick up the gong for Best Reissue. The Smiths took home the prize for their ‘Complete’ boxset, coming out on top against the likes of Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’, Manic Street Preachers’ ‘National Treasures’, Primal Scream’s ‘Screamadelica’ and The Rolling Stones’ ‘Some Girls’.

When asked if the band’s enduring popularity had ever made him tempted to speak to Morrissey about the prospect of a reunion, he told NME: “I don’t not speak to him, because that implies a certain standoff or whatever.

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“He’s doing his thing and I’m doing mine, and we go through periods of time when we’re in communication and at times when we’re not,” he continued. “I’m not sure he wants to communicate, so I’ll just carry on doing what I’m doing, and live my life and be a musician.”

He went on to add:

We won’t be reforming this week. Maybe if the government stepped down. If this government stepped down, I’ll reform the band. How’s that? That’s a fair trade, isn’t it? I think the country would be better off, don’t you? I’ll do it if the coalition steps down.

Speaking about winning the award, meanwhile, Marr said: “It feels nice, actually, because we’ve not been given an award before, I don’t think. So I think it’s the first award The Smiths have had, so that’s pretty good. It’s nice that people still love the songs.

“Putting out that reissue was a lot of struggle, so I’m glad that it worked out well,” he added. “It’s nice to get a pat on the back for it.”

To watch the 2012 NME Awards in full, tune in to Channel 4 on Saturday night (March 3) at 11.55pm (GMT). Half an hour of highlights will be shown on T4 at 9.25am (GMT) the same day.

To read all about the awards and all the shenanigans from the night, pick up next week’s issue of NME, which is on UK newsstands next Wednesday (March 7) or available digitally.

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NME Awards in photos

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