Fiona Dodwell: In Conversation With Morrissey - full interview (April 3, 2023)

Morrissey Talks to Fiona Dodwell for Gabfest, April 2023

Excerpt:

"After his recent concert at London’s Hammersmith Apollo, I met with Morrissey backstage, and we acknowledged the difficulties he has faced by not “playing the game” of appeasing the media, or aligning himself with whatever the fashionable movement of the day is. “But you’re not a pop puppet, and you never could be,” I said, and he readily agreed. The truth is, perhaps, that to be the direct and authentic artist he is was never actually a choice. Morrissey is simply himself, fully and wholly, and it is that which likely resonates with his audience, who cling to him in their droves and travel the world for a glimpse of their idol. Truth is not always easy to come by in this world, and when people see it and feel it, they are drawn to it. They want to feel it, up close and personal."

Gabfest Exclusive: In Conversation With Morrissey

Morrissey Talks to Fiona Dodwell for Gabfest, April 2023 Morrissey has always been an artist with something to say, yet very often his truth is shrouded by the fabrications of the media, who have l…

gabfest.co.uk

 

[gordyboy9]

"It appears to me that there are certain figures (who I won’t bother to name here) who like to publicly criticise you again and again….and again. They can’t keep your name out of their mouths/articles/tweets. Do you find this as utterly confusing as the rest of us, that they claim to dislike you, yet can’t quite manage to leave you alone?"

Feck me, isn't that true if Dodwell herself ?

an arse licker is just the flip side of a hater . A parasite.

Nice to see M being interviewed
Sad that it's in a way that doesn't test him or draw out anything interesting
He likes books but can't really name anything other than one he has mentioned countless times .

The rest is woe is me shit
Which contradicts other things he said in the past . Rough trade and the radio for example
The Smiths reunion thing is true
But the rest is like listening to a guy who constantly watches Matt Walsh or Steven Crowder.

Slight nod to the jews being the ones who are in charge

The lowest of the low , was of course a Muslim

For no reason he mentions open boarders and then we get "diversity " and cancel culture .

Love the guy but zero charm comes over in interviews these days how the feck can he hope to win people over by doing these ?

There is so much he could be talking about , his views on life and love and death and England and the world on art on working class life , as he sees it
Things about the Smiths and the 90s we don't know about
Instead it's this sane kinda boarders , cancel culture bull shit .
He claims he is an original thinker but there wasn't any really original views there .

As for paying 6 people for being in charge of his own label , doing the PR and releasing music is just stupid
None ask for a cut of the records . They would do it for a wage .

hes been burned in the past so all his interviews from now on will be bland upon bland.

 

[nicky wire's legs]

As well as the answers, I’m pretty sure Moz would have supplied the questions.

haha no doubt

 

[gordyboy9]

If Capitol are really just refusing to release the album and refusing to sell it back to Morrissey, then that's completely unacceptable. Maybe that's not quite what's going on, but due to Capitol's complete silence, we only have Moz's version...

there is something going on,surprised none of the band havent said anything,if this was anywhere in europe they could take capitol to court for loss of earnings.

 

[theprivilegeismine]

I believe we will continue to get interview after interview that focuses on the same shit repeatedly, mundanely, with no spontaneity or anything along those lines so long as they keep using a "sycophantic slag" as the one at the helm.

She's tedious asf. She has nothing to say except a never-ending plethora of platitudes and twee/sickly sycophantic lunacy preceding each question or somehow contained within them. It's so bad. I thought he despised those types, but he mustn't because he employs ol' Doddy here who is, well, words fail me.

Let's just say, there's a certain line you can cross when you're exclaiming your adoration and appreciation for a person's art before it veers into the interview only being an ego boost for M because he can't be getting anything else from it. These veered over that cliff a loooooong time ago...

Can't they at least get someone who could hold a conversation with him properly about his topics of interest? We know he always has interesting issues to address or enjoys chatting about his favourite artists/books/movies from years ago, etc. I'd like to know if there are any new bands/artists/movies from recently that he would recommend, etc. There are so many questions; she just asks the same thing most of the time. But I guess the old adage is true... flattery gets you everywhere. It got her that job.

 

[Surface]

Reading Morrissey's and Fiona's thoughts about music, you wouldn't think either of them has ever heard about alternative music. There is a vast world beyond the most inane and inocuous mainstream pop. There are c0untless amazing artists out there doing their thing without too much compromise and most of them operate outside the mainstream. Why does he give a shit about the mainstream? For someone who sees himself as a rebel and a free-thinker he seems to obsess about belonging to the mainstream a whole lot.

He should get a wider perspective on the world of music, forget about the majors and forget about the mainstream. Or just stop masquerading as a rebel and fully embrace his dream of being a mainstream pop star instead.

I agree, I’ve said it before James are a great example of what you can do, their last 4 albums have been on 4 different labels, no noise about it, each release has charted well at 11, 2, 6 and 3, they get their music out there, promote it well whicb leads to sell out gigs at big venues. The only thing that appears to be stopping Morrissey doing the same is Morrissey.

 

[BrokenFrame]

It's sad that he has already given up hope that "without music" will be released, and to avoid crushing disappointment then so will I.

 

[Anonymous]

But I guess the old adage is true... flattery gets you everywhere. It got her that job.

It's amazing when you think about it - this person with no discernable talent turned up a couple of years ago posing as a journalist by self-publishing sycophantic tripe on a blog hardly anyone reads, and on the basis of this alone has managed to worm her way in Morrissey's inner circle. It's utterly baffling, and slightly depressing.

 

[SuedeMoz]

Removing Miley’s voice from Veronica after her Flowers smash hit would be commerccial suicide. I firmly believe that Miley’s contribution helped him getting signed. It was his best hope of appealing to a broader public. Without Miley, he would basically sell the album to his loyal followers. He doesn’t need a record company to reach those people.

My limited understanding was that Miley was always supposed to appear uncredited on the track and the wrangling arose because Central announced her involvement. That's what we heard anyway from that tweet.

 

[No 27]

“Yes, it’s a masterpiece … but we don’t sign anyone over 26”

F_cking homophobic bastards!

Somebody needs to dedicate their entire life to righting this wrong. On the Interwebz!

 

[theprivilegeismine]

It's amazing when you think about it - this person with no discernable talent turned up a couple of years ago posing as a journalist by self-publishing sycophantic tripe on a blog hardly anyone reads, and on the basis of this alone has managed to worm her way in Morrissey's inner circle. It's utterly baffling, and slightly depressing.

It is certainly baffling! I struggle to understand how the hell it happened. See, him taking Sam under his wing makes sense because he's family, and this is especially true when you're as misanthropic and distrusting of others as M is; I can see why that "acquisition" would hold some appeal regardless of Sam having stumbled from one screw up to the next.

But Doddy FiDo is a nobody. It makes me think that literally anyone could make it into his inner circle. But it also infuriates me that one of TWO people in the world he still grants interviews to asks the same bland cack each time. He's such a fascinating person, and I'm sure if someone actually thought about engaging in a decent conversation with him as an interviewer rather than the arse kissing claptrap she can't seem to stop exuding then it would be a whole lot more palatable.

 

[Flibberty]

It's an entertaining interview and it's good to have Morrissey being so open to discussing his entire career, including The Smiths. He clearly trusts the interviewer and that is reflected in his responses.

It doesn't surprise me that he agreed to the interview and while Fiona Dodwell is clearly not going to write anything critical, some of the comments about her here are OTT. She let Morrissey speak quite freely and when he tried to evade a question, she was sometimes successful in asking him to elaborate.

There's probably a fair amount of jealousy from some fans that she was able to speak to him, but it's not that rare a thing nowadays. There are stacks of people online who have no traditional credentials as a journalist and yet secure interviews with famous names. I should know, I'm one of them.

 

[theprivilegeismine]

It's an entertaining interview and it's good to have Morrissey being so open to discussing his entire career, including The Smiths. He clearly trusts the interviewer and that is reflected in his responses.

It doesn't surprise me that he agreed to the interview and while Fiona Dodwell is clearly not going to write anything critical, some of the comments about her here are OTT. She let Morrissey speak quite freely and when he tried to evade a question, she was sometimes successful in asking him to elaborate.

There's probably a fair amount of jealousy from some fans that she was able to speak to him, but it's not that rare a thing nowadays. There are stacks of people online who have no traditional credentials as a journalist and yet secure interviews with famous names. I should know, I'm one of them.

I knew jealousy would be brought up by somebody. And maybe that's true for some people on here, but I am not envious of her, merely irritated that she gets this rare treatment yet squanders it by it being 95% pandering nonsense and not enough actual intrigue.

 

[SuedeMoz]

It's sad that he has already given up hope that "without music" will be released, and to avoid crushing disappointment then so will I.

I'm glad you mentioned this. I felt sad... but also disappointed that Morrissey just seems resigned to that outcome (vs doing all that he can to get it released). Evidently only if a powerful savior comes along will we hear it.

 

[Flibberty]

I knew jealousy would be brought up by somebody. And maybe that's true for some people on here, but I am not envious of her, merely irritated that she gets this rare treatment yet squanders it by it being 95% pandering nonsense and not enough actual intrigue.

The interview is better than many that Morrissey has done and she got more out of him than most.

 

[Amy]

The interview is better than many that Morrissey has done and she got more out of him than most.

What did she get out of him that he hasn't said 500 times before - in their last 'interview', no less?

Setting someone on a pedestal as a misunderstood genius and then just nodding benignly along whilst they lead the whole thing isn't an "interview" in any real sense, that's why it has all been self-published. Morrissey is no fool, his mention of the Burchills and the Nick Kents of the world shows that he hasn't switched off his brain completely - he has simply resorted to this kind of limp ego-stroking to avoid difficult questions from the real media. If he ever wants his album(s) to see the light of day and get some real promotion, he's going to have to try harder than that.

 

[Flibberty]

What did she get out of him that he hasn't said 500 times before - in their last 'interview', no less?

Setting someone on a pedestal as a misunderstood genius and then just nodding benignly along whilst they lead the whole thing isn't an "interview" in any real sense, that's why it has all been self-published. Morrissey is no fool, his mention of the Burchills and the Nick Kents of the world shows that he hasn't switched off his brain completely - he has simply resorted to this kind of limp ego-stroking to avoid difficult questions from the real media. If he ever wants his album(s) to see the light of day and get some real promotion, he's going to have to try harder than that.

Well, there have been interviewers in the past who mentioned that, 'No Smiths questions' was mentioned prior to the interview. Here, Morrissey talks openly about that era and appears to have let his guard down a little.

There have also been plenty of interviews in the past where Morrissey stipulated that he would only answer questions via email. This interview is several shades more interesting than any of them.

Also, the fact that it is undeniably a fan interview does have one positive aspect to it. I've read plenty of interviews in newspapers and music magazines where there is an awful lot of writing about Morrissey which leaves very little room left for any actual quotes from him. In this instance, at least Fiona Dodwell had the sense just to leave it as a Q and A. If Morrissey gives similar answers to some he has previously, that is not exactly unusual for a singer in his 60s.

I'm under no illusions that talking to fans like this will resuscitate Morrissey's career, but that is down to him more than any of the questions asked.

 

[theprivilegeismine]

The interview is better than many that Morrissey has done and she got more out of him than most.

You talk about it as though she has some wicked way with words that forces him to open up when all she did in actuality was to ask a question that she hadn't previously, which admittedly may come across as a game changer but only due to the fact that she never does it. What sort of interviewer repeats the same questions more than once, never mind every single time, just by altering syntax and expects that to be acceptable?

As long as she is seemingly in control of this aspect of his life then we will never get to know anything of any great intrigue which is desperately sad because he has so much to say always - if speaking with someone who fires up/initiates that side of him.

 

[Crisstti]

It is certainly baffling! I struggle to understand how the hell it happened. See, him taking Sam under his wing makes sense because he's family, and this is especially true when you're as misanthropic and distrusting of others as M is; I can see why that "acquisition" would hold some appeal regardless of Sam having stumbled from one screw up to the next.

But Doddy FiDo is a nobody. It makes me think that literally anyone could make it into his inner circle. But it also infuriates me that one of TWO people in the world he still grants interviews to asks the same bland cack each time. He's such a fascinating person, and I'm sure if someone actually thought about engaging in a decent conversation with him as an interviewer rather than the arse kissing claptrap she can't seem to stop exuding then it would be a whole lot more palatable.

I agree with the people who've said the criticism towards her is a bit over the top. Fiona seems like a lovely person. She's obviously a fan and it shows and yes, the platitudes are a bit excessive. But at least there's an interview and she did get some interesting stuff, and she did ask about self releasing and didn't just let him get away with his initial evasive answer. The stuff about The Smiths was quite insightful and parts of the interview are very funny as well.

 

[Flibberty]

You talk about it as though she has some wicked way with words that forces him to open up when all she did in actuality was to ask a question that she hadn't previously, which admittedly may come across as a game changer but only due to the fact that she never does it. What sort of interviewer repeats the same questions more than once, never mind every single time, just by altering syntax and expects that to be acceptable?

As long as she is seemingly in control of this aspect of his life then we will never get to know anything of any great intrigue which is desperately sad because he has so much to say always - if speaking with someone who fires up/initiates that side of him.

Sorry, but you lose all credibility when you make comments like that.

It is Morrissey who is in control of who he gives interviews to and any criticism should be directed towards him.

Fiona Dodwell requested a couple of interviews and he agreed. That in no way precludes him from giving interviews to other people and it certainly doesn't mean that she is, 'in control of this aspect of his life.'

 

[j*e*t]

As it was recently the 5th anniversary of Messages From Morrissey on Central, I read through all 161 pages. In following the links to all Fiona's writings, I was left with the feeling that her voice has been a dominant one in his story for long enough. I had assumed that she was commissioned to write the album notes for This Is Morrissey in 2018 because Morrissey liked her dark fiction novels (instead of, say, any family/London Irish connection) but in this interview she asks about his favourite writers twice and he neglects to compliment her!