Les Inrockuptibles Electronic interview

There was an apparently high quality French magazine called Les Inrockuptibles-I'm not sure if it's still published-it had a show on MCM as well, and somewhere in 1990 or 1991 they had an interview wit Johnny and Barney. I got a copy of it through a friend. It looks great, really in-depth, and the pictures are really good. There is one at the Manchester airport and there is a Slush Puppy machine in the back, and I was oh-so-happy in a way only teenagers can be, because we had a Slush Puppy machine in our school cafe. I used to say, whenever I enter the cafe, it's like I'm at the Manchester airport. Unfortunately, the interview is in French, and I have no idea what it is about. Does anybody remember it ?

Originally posted by almanso Les Inrockuptibles is still working. there´s an argentinian version of that magazine (changing LES by LOS) which takes many interviews of the french one and adds the local touch. i have an interesting interview to Barney and the ChemBros on the Out Of Control era.and talking about Electronic interviews. i remember one of the Bizz magazine (the brazilian one, the same of the BM flexi) when they played on the Dodgers Stadium on a DM show. it´s really interesting because the journalist follows the band everywhere. and there´re interesting things as Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy (Cult) visiting the band on the dressrooms! and a funny touch: Mick Hucknall (Simply Red) also comming by, but they spent like 45 minutes without even speak to him!

I've got some very nice Electronic interviews here,including this one you mentioned Alejo. It's really a pity that most of people here don't speak 3 languages like you and me

Originally posted by almanso well, there ARE some people that speaks 3 languages. but not exactly english, portuguese and span.... since when you know how to speak spanish?!?!?!?

Who told you I speak spanish ?

Originally posted by Julijana Zitnjak There was an apparently high quality French magazine called Les Inrockuptibles-I'm not sure if it's still published-it had a show on MCM as well, and somewhere in 1990 or 1991 they had an interview wit Johnny and Barney. I got a copy of it through a friend. It looks great, really in-depth, and the pictures are really good. There is one at the Manchester airport and there is a Slush Puppy machine in the back, and I was oh-so-happy in a way only teenagers can be, because we had a Slush Puppy machine in our school cafe. I used to say, whenever I enter the cafe, it's like I'm at the Manchester airport.Unfortunately, the interview is in French, and I have no idea what it is about.Does anybody remember it ?

Yep. Ive got a copy of this magazine. Morrissey is on the cover, right? Dont remember what Barney and Johnny talk about though. I will try to take a look at it. I remember Morrissey critized Barney in his interview though He said he was very sad to see that Johnny was working w/such an untalented person as Barney, someone who is not able to sing or write good lyrics... He even said "Working w/such a guy is a big insult for Johnny". Hey. Just checked the Electronic interview and it's a huge one. Can i just make a resume of it?

I don't know who is the stupidest,Morrisey or his lyrics

Originally posted by almanso > Originally posted by New Order no Brasil 88 > Originally posted by almanso well, there ARE some people that speaks 3 languages. but not exactly english, portuguese and span.... since when you know how to speak spanish?!?!?!?

Who told you I speak spanish ? nobody now i remember that you have a degree in Ukranian culture :p

Alejo

Nas ne dagoniat :D

Originally posted by New Order no Brasil 88 I don't know who is the stupidest,Morrisey or his lyrics

I love most of the Smiths and Morrissey songs. The Queen is Dead is one of my fave album ever.

My favourite The Smiths' song is Oscillate Wildly indeed

Julio & Almanso - José Roberto Mahr have one exclusive interview with Jonny Marr in 1990 or 1991.

Inrockuptibles was also notable for an exclusive give away Factory/New Order item:

FAC303 Palatine Lane, which was a CD given away to new subscibers in early 92. It included NO's "Music intermede parts 1-6" (actually segments of "The Happy One" dividing up tracks by other great Factory artists (JD, Stockholm Monsters, ACR, etc).

Quite scarce now I imagine.

Originally posted by Denial_1963 Julio & Almanso - José Roberto Mahr have one exclusive interview with Jonny Marr in 1990 or 1991.

I've got it somewhere here,Emok.It's the one he said his favourite New Order songs are Fine Time and In a Lonely Place

Originally posted by One Brain > Originally posted by New Order no Brasil 88 > Originally posted by almanso and talking about Electronic interviews. i remember one of the Bizz magazine (the brazilian one, the same of the BM flexi) when they played on the Dodgers Stadium on a DM show. it´s really interesting because the journalist follows the band everywhere. and there´re interesting things as Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy (Cult) visiting the band on the dressrooms! and a funny touch: Mick Hucknall (Simply Red) also comming by, but they spent like 45 minutes without even speak to him!

I've got some very nice Electronic interviews here,including this one you mentioned Alejo. It's really a pity that most of people here don't speak 3 languages like you and me In fact you don't have to speak Portuguese to enjoy this interview as it was originally published in English in Melody Maker or whatever. Most of the interviews featured on Entrevistão were translations.

You are absolutelly correct Brainiac

Originally posted by francois-marc loze > Originally posted by Julijana Zitnjak> There was an apparently high quality French magazine called Les Inrockuptibles-I'm not sure if it's still published-it had a show on MCM as well, and somewhere in 1990 or 1991 they had an interview wit Johnny and Barney. I got a copy of it through a friend. It looks great, really in-depth, and the pictures are really good. There is one at the Manchester airport and there is a Slush Puppy machine in the back, and I was oh-so-happy in a way only teenagers can be, because we had a Slush Puppy machine in our school cafe. I used to say, whenever I enter the cafe, it's like I'm at the Manchester airport.> Unfortunately, the interview is in French, and I have no idea what it is about.> Does anybody remember it ?

Yep. Ive got a copy of this magazine. Morrissey is on the cover, right? Dont remember what Barney and Johnny talk about though. I will try to take a look at it. I remember Morrissey critized Barney in his interview though He said he was very sad to see that Johnny was working w/such an untalented person as Barney, someone who is not able to sing or write good lyrics... He even said "Working w/such a guy is a big insult for Johnny". Hey. Just checked the Electronic interview and it's a huge one. Can i just make a resume of it? Would you please ? I'd really like to know what they're talking about after having the interview for all these years !

b] Would you please ? I'd really like to know what they're talking about after having the interview for all these years !

What have I said? But I am a lazy ass!!! :( Damit. Okay, let me take a look. Just a resume. And i am French then my English sux.

Q : Both of you left his group because of pressure. Isn't being in Electronic a new kind of pressure?
Johnny explains there is no obligation now. They feel like talking and it's away to show they care about Electronic. When they will be done w/Electronic, both of them will go back working w/The The or New Order. He explains that the idea that all members of the Smiths who wanted to tour except from Morrissey was actually a myth. And that morrissey was in fact the one who was in favour of touring.
Barney explains that they will do some concerts w/Electronic but wont do any tour cos touring physically exhausts him. He explains that he wants to play live because he wants to, not because there are some money obligations behind it. He does not want to pretend.

Q: Did u have to pretend w/N.O? Barney answers no or that pretending was making him physically sick. He would not go on stage by himself but because of the others member of N.O who love to tour. Expecially Hooky. He was feeling spending too much time on the road was pointless to him and that he was not learning anything as a musician.

Q : None of u like to be under the show business lightning. But now, within Electronic, u will be both onthe frontline, without a group protection. Barney explains that they spent 2 years in the shadows and it's now time for them to go out.

Q: Is dissapearing 2 years enough? Do u need to come out of the shadows from time to time? Barney says yes from time to time and that this situation is what he feels is the best for him. Johnny says it's something they have in common. It's N.O's attitude but his too : dissapearing, regenerating, doing his stuff and dissapearing again. Barney adds that when u spend all the time ont he road, there is nothing to talk about and nothing u can feed on except from alcohol, drugs and girls. And that he had nothing else tow rite about.

Q: Johnny said he quitted the Smiths because he was not fascinated by Morrissey anymore. Are u actually fascinated by each other? Johnny answers that he would not go that far. But thathe feels bsessed by Electronic and that being obseessed is the only way he can work.

/U'd better buy me a drink whenever I come to Zagreb, Julijana/ ;)

Q (to Johnny): your two partners Matt Johnson from The The and Barney are two very different characters. Johnny answers "they look a like a lot in fact. Everything is a question of friendship: music w/friends. Electronic became a way of life. They go on holidays together and make music in the same time while people from outside say : "an Ex-Smith and a ex-N-O together for a revolutionnary musical concept!" Barney says "I dont not think Johnny is only a guitairist and I am only a singer. That's why it works so well. They are just two songwriters working together." Johnny adds "that songwriting and producing are one and only thing and that's why Matt and Barney are much alike. For him, playing guitar has never been a goal in itself. The goal was to write the definitive song, one equal to the Four Tops or The Temptations. That's what really healthy in the House Music movement : you dont have to be 4 teenagers w/leather jackets against a wall claiming "with our leather jackets, we are a group". People like William Orbit or 808 State are musicians who became songwriters. Johnny feels a distance between what he is and the way people consider him because of his link w/some sort of tradition, of his status of "guitarist" and "guitar hero" and this old fashioned culture." Barney says "he does not think it's old fashioned. And u should not despise a culture in favour of another one. that both can coexist."

Q: W/Electronic, u wanted to feel again the primary peasure of a group. But everything is easier for u : the road already exists, u dont have to fight to be listened to. Barney says "they dont have to fight cos it's already done. Nobody gave them success. They worked hard to get it, they learned how to create good songs and played them on stage. they dont have to start again, they already did the dirty job." Johnny says "people are obssesed w/the fact they are already known but they dont realize Barney and me lose sleep, that they spend their time looking for inspiration, new ideas. If the music is not good, they will look like idiots. Music is what matters, music and songs, not hype. They do all of this for good reasons, it's not an easy solution for them. It is very easy to be cynical and he is conscious of that but they have to get over it. Barney adds "by stopping New Order for himself and the Smiths for Johnnny. They had the guts not to rely on their reputation."

Q: At the beginning of N.O, Barney was not a singer. Did u ever try to make Johnny sing? Barney answers "did u ever hear Johnny singing? It took me (Barney) years to be an average singer. There is no need going through this stage again. They are conscious that this type of collaboration are weak ones. For instance,the Lou REEd/John Cale collaboration is a very lazy one. The intention is good but Songs for Drella is not a good record. But I liek Both of them. But it's not today's music. They play for a certain kind of audience and it's people of their generation. And that is what Johnny and me dont wanna do." Johnny : "Collaborations we like are the ones between Iggy Pop and David Bowie or David Byrne and Brian Eno. If i had not been feeling soemthing was going on between Barney and me, i would have been stupid not to stop our collaboration. I take music way too serioulsy.

A huge thank you to Francois for translating.

Very good to hear Johnny Marr say he is obsessed with Electronic. More music please!

A really BIG drink.

Q : U said Elmectronic had nothing tod o w/your previous groups. But two years, talking about what was going to be your solo album, u said u were dreaming about crossing N.O synths and the Smiths's guitars. Barney :"It's obvious. But it's the only link . I know pretty well people will talk about it in a few years and i admit it. It does not bother me." Johnny. "the Smiths stopped 4 years ago. Even though some tunes have been written the way I used to w/the Smiths -my music and Barney vocal melody-, it does sound like Electronic.

Q: When did u meet? Barney:" Johnny came to a N.O concert in San Francisco 3 years ago. We met a few times in the Hacienda. We had friends in common without particularly knowing each other. "

Q : Do u feel the age difference? Barney "-I am 6 years older than Johnny but he likes older stuff. I am modern and he is old fashioned. Johnny - Barney started to think about becoming musican very late while i had been thinking about it since my childhood. But our interest for dark and intense roock is the same one. We knew we had a common ground. U can hear it in the Smiths and N.O tunes. Barney - he made me discover hippies stuff : John Lennon, Neil Young, Sly Stone. Stuff i had never been listening to. When i stop working on music, listening to some is the last thing i wanna do. I never rest listening to music except in clubs. While N.O existed , i never saw a group on stage even at the Hacienda Johnny - People dont figure out how much important of a meeting point is the Hacienda. Manchester is a village. everybody knows each other. When the Smtish started, i was working in a clothes store and i was nearly living at the Hacienda that N.O had just opened. people used to think the Smiths were ont interested in clubbing because we were a guitar band. We knew the DJ's though : Mick Pickering, Dave Haslam. People used to think N.O was living in a big castle and the Smiths in another one but it was not the case. What was cool at that time was the opening of the Hacienda and N.O getting success in New York w/"Confusion". The fact that I was part of the Smiths never meant i didnot like "Confusion"

...

Can I go to bed, now? I will try to translate the rest tomorrow or Friday or this week-end, okay?

Originally posted by Joshua B A huge thank you to Francois for translating.Very good to hear Johnny Marr say he is obsessed with Electronic. More music please!

Ahem. The interview is from March/April 1991!!! I am afraid Johnny Marr or even Barney dont care about Electronic anymore.

Regarding your last sentance:

That's not a positive outlook now is it? I hope you are forced to eat your words when we see a fourth Electronic album someday.

Originally posted by francois-marc loze A really BIG drink.

You've got a whole dinner on me.

I'm just moving this thread on top so the translation is more conveniant for me to read. A terribly selfish thing to do, I know.

Originally posted by Julijana Zitnjak > Originally posted by francois-marc loze> A really BIG drink. >

You've got a whole dinner on me.

I'm just moving this thread on top so the translation is more conveniant for me to read. A terribly selfish thing to do, I know. I thought u might have forgotten. Damit.

Johnny - Electronic is not about burying the ghosts of New Order and The Smiths. On the contrary, Barney reminded me of all the good things made by the Smiths. His enthousiasm pushed me to listen to them again, to appreciate them more than ever since i left. I was proud again of what i had done. Now i realize that "Strangeways, here we come" is probably our best album. Honestly, I became allergic to the Smiths. Not in terms of people or sounds but in terms of how people considered my way of life : some were litteraly stabbing me in the back. I could not bear that anymore.

Q - Why this rejection while the Smiths were for a big part your creation? The breaking up was difficult. I now took my distances, I can listen again to what i have done. For a while, people were looking for "Morrissey successor". I couldnot then start a long collaboration like this, my partner would have had an enormous pressure, a pressure that would made the press to see him as the new Morrissey. Such a group would have never worked out. But now, some know I have been practising synths and drum machines. I wont be killed because my drummer doesnot look like Mike Joyce. I needed a lot of patience and determination to get out of this situation.

Q - if we think about each one of your story, it seems hard for friendship to survive inside a band. But with N.O, you did the best you could to protect yourself. Bernard - No, cos we've been touring too much. In Manchester, there is an enormous economic pressure. New Order's idea was to keep everything in Manchester. We live here and we thought we could change it into a better place for us and everybody else. But it costs us an enormous amount of money. First of all, we opened the Hacienda that was losing a lot of money that we had to find. Second, we hired two accountants in charge of our business. Let just say.... They were not very efficient. We had to earn money. It was very demoralizing to see we were touring, promoting, that we were earning money w/our records without being able to see it. The tax collector was taking half of it and the Hacienda the other half. It was very demoralizing.

Q - Can such a presuure destroy friendship? Barney - It can destroy trust and respect. We were giving 100 000 pounds every two months to the Hacienda while I was living in a low cost flat. I had enough.

Was not it the price of independance? Barney - you cannot be independent in a group. Artistically, we were and it was working out just fine. But it brings on a lot of responsabilities when something goes wrong and you cannot blame anybody else. It's because of business that things went wrong w/N.O. Johnny - On a creative point of view, there were no problems within the Smiths. But we didnot have any manager. We managed ourselves for 5 or 6 years. We were on a label that was not in our hometown. then we had to move to London. I think that's where the groupe started to explode. The initial energy and the brotherhood vanished when we went to London. Manchester was our reason to exist. There were our roots but we only wanted to get the hell out of here. Getting out of Manchester, that's what most young people want here. I think we would not have split up if we had had a manager. We would have keep on going. But now, i tell myself that splitting up was a good thing for each one of us on a personnal point of view. Relationships within the group have been good until the end, until the press got his nose into the split. Like always, The Smiths let the press getting involved too much. The drama arrived in the end, because of some people who were playing w/the press, who were playing w/me through the press. It was not really necessary cos recording the last album was a nice moment. Things went bad after that. It is important for me to stay a normal person even though I might get broke. When the Smiths finished, i thought about the worst script: going back to Manchester and never make a record again ou taking our audience into consideration, taking all the fans of the Smiths into consideration. I choose what i thought was the best solution. This decision made me a better person, a happier and more normal perosn. I am only 27, i wanted to see myself when I get thirty. I didnot like auto-analysis so much, the fact that the group was over indulgent w/itself. You have to draw a line between having success decently, even when you are a pop star, and being a cunt. Each one in the Smiths was becoming a cunt. Me included. Me especially.

Q - What gave you this impression? We were losing contact w/reality. We believed in what was written on us, on how pop-groups are important. In order to go on, when you are not 18 or 19 anymore, you have to take adult decisions, the kind of decisions New Order took. It would have been a good idea to take a break to check the situation. i was only asking for 2 weeks. The group didnot give them to me. I did not know what was my life anymore. It is not healthy to get into something you cannot detach yourself from. When you are 25, you cannot go on like a youngster gang anymore.

Q - Do you owe a certain fidelity to your previous partners? Do you owe them a debt? Johnny - we keep on thinking about them. It's not fidelity though, much more loyalty (to Barney).What about you? Do you think you are loyal to Joy Division?
Barney - I am. But loyalty stops when it eats you out. When it consumes you. My relationships w/New Order are so bad that I wont keep on working w/them, with the exception of the recording of the new album in April. Johnny - I am loyal to The The, I have been loyal to The Smiths. But press can make a group implose. I had enough of the attention upon me. It sounds very ungrateful but i think it was the same thing for Barney. We were very tired of this attention.

Okay. There are still 2 pages but I am gonna stop here for the moment. I am sure Julijana will remind me of translating the rest of the interview very soon anyway. ;)

Thanks again Francois. I really appreciate your effort.

i found out that google will translate any non-english webpage to english. so maybe if someone could find the new order article on a french website, maybe we could use the google translater to find out what is being said. worth a try.

and this is my first post on the new improved board. hello everyone.

Q -During those last three years, Johnny has been working w/a lot of different groups and artists without releasing anything personal or of real importance. How can someone who has been releasing so many songs at such an incredible rythm during 4 years w/the Smiths can from one day to another stop to produce anything determining? Johnny - First of all, I didnot want to be in a group anymore. Second thing, i wanted to keep on doing records. I could only hang around, working from time to time as a studio musician, like for the Talking Heads for instance : i could then keep on playing music w/out having the responsability of releasing records. But the main reason for these session was that i didnot have faith in my own kills anymore. I didnot like myself that much, i was not going that well w/out knowing really why. I started believing what people were saying about me. That I was letting down my group and my friends to become a Clapton-like character. It was not the case: it was the only chance I had to keep on making records. It's just before meeting Barney that i started getting fed up of other people records, that I fell the need to write my own music again. I hadnot even tried to write again, except from the 4 songs for Chrissie Hynde. This session business still haunts me. It takes so much time for records to be released that i gave the feeling that I was doing everything in the same time. All these sessions, it's because a studio musician can work on a record w/out attracting the attention when the record is released. I didnot miss the fact that i was not in the press anymore. The split and its consequences lasted so long that i stopped buying magazines. I didnot want to read anything about me anymore whether it was true or not.

Q- Why didn't you settle down things for one and all? With the exception of an article in a Manchester fanzine, you didnot give any interview. Johnny - it was impossible cos i was very resentful. When "Strangeways, here we come" was about to be released, i felt a lot of bitterness against the Smiths and our audience. I didnot want people to know that cos i would have looked like an asshole. I want that in the end people remember me because of my music and not because of what i have said. Because finally, who needs a fucking opinion? I dont. I am only doing music.

Q- Was it also because you didnot want to hurt Morrissey?
Johnny - Oh yes, of course. I woud have looked like an asshole. It was so personal that I reckoned I didnot have anything to say publicly. The fact of quitting a group was in itself such a radical act that people should have accepted it the way itw as. It had enough signification. But i was considered as an asshole when i have been suffering a lot. The Smiths split is private business and should stay this way. I dont consider the audience for a bunch of jerks but.. it owes me a little bit of private life.

Q - Must be hard to be in the spotlight when everything is fine and keep your mouth shut when everything goes wrong. Johnny - I have always kept things secret. Because of Morrissey behaviour, I looked like some kind of hooligan who was smoking pot and talked about football. At the beginning of the 80's, the Smiths represented "the intelectualism", Oscar Wilde, whom I respect enormously. I was considered as a wanker. And six years later, this image is the fashion one. Everyone would like to make believe he is born around Old Trafford and that he smokes pot.

Q- Finally who is the one you've got the most against? The Smiths or the press? Johnny - Nobody asked Morrissey why he didnot defend me against the rumours saying that i flew to United States w/all the group's money in order to record w/the Talking Heads. The other Smiths never defended me and that's the reason why i will never go back to them.

Q - it feels like you've been wasting your time after the Smiths era.
Johnny - The electroshock came from Barney who told me exactly the same thing. He told me people missed me, that it was a waste. Right after that, I started writing again and i wrote a few songs in a row.

Q - Do you have the feeling that you have accomplished something? And that's why you feel so quiet w/Electronic? Barney - No, I think it's better to let the past behind you. I am not interested in the past. I dont listen to my old records anymore. I am interested in present and future. When I will be 60, I will take a look behind me. To survive in what we do, we must not stay too close w/the past, not rest upon it. No nostalgy. At our age, it would slow us down like a magnet. When i write a new song, i never think about what i have done previously: it's a brand new experience. I write a lot on synths or on computers while i dont really know how to play. I am just playing keys. I never know what i am doing, it's always totally new for me.