Johnny Marr shares “brilliant answer” he got from Paul McCartney about the break-up of The Smiths

Johnny Marr has looked back at the sage advice Paul McCartney gave him in the wake of The Smiths‘ 1987 break-up. Marr left the band in July of that year, with his guitar duties briefly overtaken by former Easterhouse member Ivor Perry. However, Perry failed to gel with Morrissey and by the time The Smiths’ fourth and final album, ‘Strangeways, Here We Come’, came out in September, the band were effectively finished. Speaking to MOJO recently, Marr looked back on that fraught period, and said Beatles legend McCartney was instrumental in navigating it. On spending “one long, incredible day” with him and his wife Linda, Marr said: “Linda was so generous as a person, she was asking me all about my life. And he was sat there so I just told him about the break-up of the band. “I looked to him and waited and he just said, ‘That’s bands for you.’ It’s such a brilliant answer coming from him. Over the years, I’ve been asked to give advice. There is just a time to say, ‘That’s bands for you.’” He also touched on how, post-Smiths, he found purpose in being a “ringer”, and didn’t feel a pressure to form another band right away. “I just have to give credit to the people I was working with – [Th...