Johnny Marr on collaborations and soundtracks

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Morrissey, Bernard Sumner, Ryan Jarman, Pharrell Williams, Hans Zimmer - they're just a select few of the artists that have stepped over the threshold into the studio with Mr Johnny Marr. So deep and opulent is Marr's treasure trove of collaborations, that the media might often think he's a hobbyist when working with others, that he's quite blasé about the whole exercise.

"That's bollocks, quite frankly," says Marr, shaking his head. "I'm beyond letting stuff like that get to me, but one is only human. There were a lot of misconceptions when I was younger, maybe the biggest one that would have bothered me is that I was casual about all of my collaborations. Anyone who has ever been in a band with me will tell you that I'm very intense."

He continues: "That used to piss me off - the idea that I'd just get out of a limousine, get into the studio and sod off. That's far from the way I work. All of that stuff is OK, it toughens you up. When you've been around for long enough, people start to see your MO, when you start to suss out why you do what you do."

And what Marr does is something that very few other artists could. Rather than be trapped within the walls of a box defined by his legacy under the invitation of having one style and approach, he weaves his idiosyncratic style around the framework of whoever he's at the drawing board with.

It could a Cribs record, 'Nothing But Flowers' by Talking Heads or the soundtrack to Inception or The Amazing Spiderman 2. There are countless translations of the Marr sound into a different musical language. But how does he describe the point in the venn diagram where he and these other artists meet?

"I very, very rarely, if ever, collaborated with someone when we weren't in that room for pretty much the exact same reason," nods Marr. "You could ask the same question to Pharrell Williams about working with me, or ask Hans Zimmer or David Byrne, for example. Why has an art-rock pioneer lead single from The Talking Heads asked to record with an indie 23-year-old guitarist from the suburbs of Manchester?

"It's an interesting question from the outside, but when you're stood with somebody and you're all plugged in, the difference in background, age and culture completely evaporates."

He goes on: "You really, really have a lot in common with these people. I think of Hans, The Cribs, David Byrne, Beck, and almost anyone I've collaborated with in a serious way, we were all trying to make a really interesting pop record. Even with Hans on the movies, he's always trying to get me to be 'JOHNNY FUCKING MARR'.

"'JOHNNY FUCKING MARR'," Hans would say, 'BE JOHNNY FUCKING MARR - DON'T PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT I AM DOING'. We all love this thing called pop music or whatever genre we call it, but we're trying to find little drops of art in it. That's what it is. It nearly always works. I can't think of many times where we've had a misunderstanding with each other."

Rather than be overcome by the challenge, Marr says he's driven by painting his trademark string skills into the most unlikely of corners - adding compelling new artistic dynamics to context that may not always allow them. As with the Amazing Spiderman 2, it's a brilliant juxtaposition between pop, pomp, darkness and Hollywood.

"I think what I did on Inception was play some hooks on it, and Spiderman was such a commercial prospect, that actually my favourite bits did have a dark edge," muses Marr. "That was an interesting combination that we really understood.

"On the one hand, it's a Hollywood Blockbuster, on the other hand the themes in the centre of the movie, and if you look at the soundtrack but not the movie, it's pretty bombastic - and that was a mixture of me, Hans, Pharrell and Junkie XL. We were making this very, very heavy, dramatic electro music. Even though it's a music with a $300 millionzillion budget, but it felt like we were subverting that in doing something that isn't exactly American Idol. I like it when the mainstream get people like us in it."

On the other hand, have there been many instances of Marr flat-out rejecting collaborations due to lack of 'compatability'?

"I have done over the years, from people that I just can't see myself clicking with," he admits. "I try to be polite and gracious about it, and there are a few really huge dinosaur and heritage bands that have invited me to be a member of over the years, but I'm just not the right guy for that."

However, are there any new genres or territories that he's like to wonder in to?

"I'm not really big on this new introverted, pseudo-folk situation," he laughingly replies. "That doesn't appeal very much. There's a certain kind of symphonic soundtrack that I've got in the back of my mind that I'd really like to explore at some point in the movies. I think what Clint Mansell does in his film soundtracks is very good. Not only is it very appropriate for the movie, but it's a modern soundtrack that you can listen to separately. It's very direct and modern, but I like that."

Looking to the potential future, Marr adds: "I've learned a lot from Hans about being able to really go somewhere dramatic with guitars, that would be the only thing I'm interested in besides what I'm doing now. What I'm doing right now on my solo records is almost more challenging, because I'm trying to say a certain thing without being very, very introspective.

"I always admire it when certain bands are able to do that - bands like Talking Heads or Blondie, those great new wave guitar acts. It's actually more difficult to do something that has some substance but not be terribly inwards."

Never inwards, never backwards, only ever upwards and rarely where you expect - that's Johnny Marr.

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