An anonymous person writes:

Blink-182's drummer Travis Barker was asked to play drums on You Are The Quarry.

A journalist friend of mine interviewed Travis Barker for the Swedish newspaper Expressens entertainment edition and since my friend is a huge fan of Moz they of course talked about Morrissey. I forced him to write down what Travis said on the interview tape (the article isn't out yet and will probably not include the section about Morrissey due to space limitations).

Here goes:

Your producer Jerry Finn is working on the new Morrissey album. Have you heard anything about that?
- I was actually supposed to have played drums on the Morrissey album! They asked me if I'd come down and check it out but I was having a baby at the time so I didn't do it in the end. But I heard that everything is going well with the album.
- Mark in our band talks to Jerry a lot and Jerry told him that everything is going absolutely amazing with the Morrissey album. When we were working on the Blink record Jerry heard some of the new Morrissey material and it was SOOO good! I haven't heard it myself but Jerry says it's just amazing, so I'm really excited. Jerry is pretty on most of the time and has very good taste, you know? so I reckon it'll be good.

Who's idea was it for you to play the drums on the Morrissey record?
- Morrissey's manager asked me actually and that was a fucking honour I tell you!
Are you a fan of Morrissey's music?
- Not really a huge fan, but I'm familiar with his music and I listened a lot to The Smiths when I was in high school.

Note: Travis must have been approached to play the drums around the time Spike T Smith was kicked off the sessions and Dean Butterworth replaced him. According to Travis, his son is three and a half months old, so his story makes sense that way. As said, the article isn't out but the link to the newspaper is http://www.expressen.se

2-J writes:

We already knew that Andre 3000 had a bit of a thing about 'Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me', but now we know which Smiths number really gets him going.

The NME dated 14 February contains an interview with Hip-Hop duo Outkast, who also feature on the cover. The interview reveals their diverse musical inspirations, and Andre takes the time to say a special word about the Smiths:-

' Dre: "A friend of mine was looking a my CD collection and was like, 'Hey if you like these people you'd better check out The Smiths.' So I checked them out and found a lot of songs that I love. It's all about his [Morrissey's] performance on the records, it's almost like he wasn't a singer at all, I guess he was a poet and did a melody on top of a band playing music. It's funny to me, but it's great that he sings like that. Like he has a book of poems and he goes in and just pulls out a poem and puts it on top of the music because he does the same melodies over and over, I think that's cool. My favourite Smiths record? William something ['William, It Was Really Nothing' - Smiths Ed]." '

Elsewhere in the issue US band 'Brand New' pose for a photo outside the Salford Lads Club, and are branded 'The Smiths for the baggy-panted generation' by the writer, with singer Jesse commenting "I think Morrissey really brings wit into his songs, their songs are sad and they're kinda morose and they have that feeling at the same time. They're quite funny, you know, and they're just good stories. Elvis Costello does that in the same way. It's just something I latched onto".
---

• Related item: Outkast's Andre 3000 wishes he'd written "Last Night I Dreamt..." - Dec. 9, 2003

Claudia writes:

In yesterday's "Independent On Sunday" there was a live review of a new London band called The Boyfriends which made a number of detailed references to Morrissey. It's been transcribed and put in the news section of The Boyfriends' website.

Excerpt:

Another reference is The Smiths, of whom Wallace is clearly (sometimes too clearly) a fan: a couplet like "A life spent absorbed in the printed word/ Is simply no good for your mental health" ("No Tomorrow") is inevitably reminiscent of Morrissey's "throw your homework onto the fire" and "there's more to life than books, you know". Indeed, singing in a voice an octave below his natural register (which cracks once or twice), the similarities positively scream at you.

But Wallace also shares Morrissey's onstage self-confidence. A cocky wink here, a hand wave there (but never a smile), he rocks casually on his heels as he threatens, "Holed up here in my room plotting bloody revenge/ I have a plan for you to meet a nasty end" ("Humour Me"), throwing in a slit-throat gesture for good measure. "It's not that I lack self-esteem," he sings tellingly. "It's that it is SO HIGH I cannot understand why I am still on my own..."

Simon Price

Leslie Holmes writes:

As I'm sure you are aware, A 'Smiths Room' is being created at Salford Lads Club. For this, the club has requested that fans that have posed outside the club send in their pictures to be displayed around the room.
To add to this, the club have been in contact with Manchester publishers, Empire Publications, (who published Morrissey's Manchester) with the aim of producing a book with a short history of the building and the club, followed by the best pictures sent in that can be used. All proceeds from the book will go directly to the club itself.
Whilst all pictures sent in will be on display in the club, it cannot be guarenteed that every picture will make it into the book, due to the volume expected and quality of pictures too.
Pictures must be accompanied by names / city / town / country and date taken. Pictures cannot be returned.

Please either send pictures direct to the club:
Leslie Holmes
Salford Lads' Club
St Ignatius Walk
Regent Road
Salford
M5 3RX

or email them to [email protected]

Auric Goldfinger writes:

The following is a transcription of Sukhdev Sandhu's review of a new book "Saint Morrissey" by Mark Simpson, in the Daily Telegraph newspaper on 14th February. There is no electronic copy on the web-site so have transcribed the text here:

‘Exiled from England’

matthew zolan writes:

Numbers & Danseparc present:
ex-Smiths member's Special Live DJ set!!
March 27, 2004

http://www.numbersnightclub.com/index.php?page=upcoming

http://www.synthlife.com/danseparc/

flyer