Smiths: “We have written songs about our experiences”

From UNTUT’s March 2015 issue [Take 214]Smith’s 1985 album Meat Is Murder provided a radical manifesto for troubled times, shadowed by Margaret Thatcher’s “violence, pressure and fear .. Kırık follows the story of a group members, sincere partners and contemporaries to tell the story of a closest and adventurous group…

Visited distance Smiths At the end of 1984, it can be measured on a degree of car journeys. With the rest of Smiths, who went to Amazon Studios, one of the relevant houses in Manchester in 1984, went to Amazon Studios in Kirkby. Morrissey He would sit back to enjoy the full benefit of the car’s central heating system. Salford, R & O Van Hire rented from the 1970s white stretch Mercedes – was once used for weddings. It was now used for another type of celebration. The Smiths-with the new starting producers, Stephen Street – They were going to Amazon to record their second LPs, Meat is murder. “We felt that adults left the building, and to break some rules and have fun, were left to us,” Johnny Marr said Uncut. Despite the weather, daily trips from Kirkby and Kirkby were carried out in high spirits characterized by a expectation atmosphere for the next sessions. There were two rows of seats on the inside of the car overlooking each other like a taxi. Morrissey and Johnny Marr will stand out in the rear seats Andy Rourke And Mike Joyce He sat in front of them, looked behind the car. If there were any disputes between the group members, it was usually about heating – it wasn’t high enough to complain about Morrissey. “Amazon was in an industrial zone in the middle of the place, Andy says Andy Rourke. “It was the freezing winter. In this mobile cafe, we would stop for a cup of tea and carry it to the studio. It was our routine for two or three weeks.”

In Kirkby, on the skirts of Liverpool, in the depths of winter, it does not seem like the best environment to storm the castle. All started here by Smiths Meat is murder It was free and stimulant. Stephen Street, “he was very exciting,” he says. “I felt like all the stars in line, everything seemed to work.”

Historically, Morrissey’s songs, one of the children’s criminals, underground world Spivs and ”Nostalgic, focusing on a post -war vision“jumping cellar child“S – Meat is murder He presented a different, highly politicized side of the group. The songs in the album addressed strong, contemporary themes such as animal rights, domestic and institutionalized violence.

“Smiths was there on their own,” Paul weller unidentified. “I thought they were similar JamReally. The party line was not anything, and the words were not always extremely political. But it still seemed to reflect what was going on in people’s lives. “

“The problems they deal with in the songs in the meat were murder socio-political,” he adds. Billy Bragg. “My politics was more ideological, but Smiths were more involved in wider issues; we lived at a time when these issues were at the forefront of discussion.”

“The politics of the day had a great impact on the lyrics of the music and Morrissey, and Andy Rourke admits. “We wrote songs about: Our experiences. It also emerges in music.”

If Meat is murder It helped the Smiths to be established as a radical force, and for their careers, they had equally extensive effects. These were fluent and fast -moving times for the group: since it published their first single, “Glove”, In May 1983, their rise was fast and revitalizing, built on an album of exciting singles in February 1984. Meat is murderHowever, it is best characterized as a higher level of exchange of ideas. He moved his stories reliably and gave them only 1 album, and came out of Springsteen. Born in the USA From the top of the UK album lists. He also represented a point where Morrissey and Smiths were the most strict. “Morrisy always wanted to be part of a gang,” he says Richard boonThen the production manager Rude Trade Records. “It never happened, because it was such a foreign character. I remember once in the minibus of the band when landing in London. Meat is murderSmiths was held as a gang. “

“Everything happened very quickly, R Rourke reflects. “Especially then, things won even more and the records started to sell better than they went on. Meat is murderIt definitely accelerated a gear. It was crazy, busy times. “

Find a full interview from UNCTT March 2015 in the archive/take 214