Exclusive: Morrissey on Donald Trump, Miley Cyrus, Prince Harry and unreleased Smiths material
BRITISH singer Morrissey lashes out at the Queen, the rest of the royal family and Donald Trump ahead of his next Australian tour — but Miley Cyrus is A OK.
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Last year you were in Sydney for your birthday. How and where did you celebrate turning 57 this year? And without being nosy, how is the health?
By all means, please be nosy. I don’t celebrate my birthday, or much else come to think of it.
You’re bypassing Sydney on this next Australian jaunt, as obviously they had you to themselves on the last visit for Vivid Festival. You once wanted to tour the outback in Australia — you’ve got dates in Canberra, Newcastle and Wollongong on this track, which is a little closer to getting off the beaten track, geographically...
It didn’t occur to me that these three cities were off the beaten track. I suppose there are people who think of Australia only in terms of Sydney and Melbourne, but I’m not one of them. I didn’t want to return to Brisbane because I’ve played there twice and on both nights I was heckled, which doesn’t bother me that much, but even if I reply with something snazzy, the heckler always wins because the night has been soured and we no longer feel welcome. That’s life.
You live in LA and have been outspoken about the election, calling Trump ‘Thump’ and throwing your support behind Bernie Sanders. What’s your take it on it now?
It’s a mistake to ever expect American politics to make sense. They are obviously rigged. People will now vote for Thump in order to stop Clinton, or they will vote for Clinton to stop Thump, which means that people only vote in order to stop someone who is bad, but they do not vote for someone because they are good. Bernie Sanders was America’s only chance for positive change, but he was dismissed by the media and although his success story was extraordinary he was not what the establishment wanted because he is not a billionaire and he is not a warmonger. It is CNN, really, who decide upon the final nominees. For example, each time Bernie won in the primaries the CNN headline would be BAD NIGHT FOR HILLARY, yet when Clinton won, the headline would not mention Bernie, therefore it is planted in everyone’s mind that American politics belongs to Clinton and not to Sanders. Politically, America must remain narrow. It is obvious that America as a whole does not want either Thump or Clinton, and the November announcement of the new President will be a black cloud across America. Nobody believes any more.
Let’s talk setlists. You have a formidable back catalogue, how many songs are in rotation and at what point before a show do you sign off on that night’s setlist?
Usually the night before. I find that people are generally quite happy to hear anything.
You’re not a ‘Greatest Hits’ kind of artist, but there must be a special thrill when you play songs like How Soon Is Now?, The Queen Is Dead, This Charming Man and see the excitement they instantly create. How many of those ‘vintage’ songs can you shoehorn into one set?
Not many because you can begin to look like Al Jolson.
You signed to and left Harvest Records in the same year, and made them withdraw your 2014 album World Peace Is None of Your Business from sale, citing lack of promotion. Are you in-between record labels again? Is it too exhausting to think about making another record after the last experience? Are new songs accumulating?
I couldn’t go through a Harvest Records situation again — they almost killed me, and probably regret that they didn’t. I find that if you are a genuine artist in 2016 you must look after yourself, but if you are trivial and fluffy then a label will hype you and help you and buy Paid Content space on online news pages to make you appear important. I paddle my own canoe.
Some fans at the Vivid stint felt it was harder to launch themselves on stage in pursuit of the elusive hug than on previous tours. Was that a venue thing or a Morrissey thing?
I have no idea. I think it depends on venue policy ... if you invade the stage you might or might not get thrown out, and it’s often not worth the attempt if you get thrown out ... which is often why people wait until the last minute to spring.
The Vivid shows saw the Opera House catering vegetarian for the occasion, for punters and staff alike. Presumably that’s a non-negotiable for any venue you play now anywhere in the world?
It is, and I wish more artists would adopt this. But we go to China this year and it’s such a flesh-eaters paradise that we feel certain there will be skewered dog for sale somewhere. The halls in Taiwan and Iceland would not go flesh-free, so we refused to book the dates. It’s a matter of humanitarian progress.
The last time we emailed, 2012, we spoke about Coachella and you complaining about the wafting smell of death coming from a barbecue. You said that the festival offered a 100 per cent vegetarian event the next year if you would agree to headline with Johnny Marr as the Smiths — no other members ‘required’. We’ve seen Axl and Slash sharing a stage again. Does time heal any wounds?
It’s no longer a question of time or wounds, but simply that the issue is now so remote that the question doesn’t make sense any more.
Pig enthusiast David Cameron, the world’s least popular Smiths fan, is unemployed. How did you celebrate?
I didn’t need to celebrate because most British Prime Ministers are forgotten three days after they leave office. The only exception is Tony Blair whom the British people are eager to see tried for crimes against humanity. Politically, there is now no such thing in England as the good old days.
The Queen is Dead’s 30th anniversary just passed without any reissue or repackage. You asked Warner to mark the occasion, but have you got to the bottom of their deafening silence? It seems yourself and Johnny Marr would embrace such re-releases. Reissues of classic albums seem to be the only licence to print money record labels have these days?
People want new vinyl now, they do not want the old originals. Physicals were only ever removed at the wish of the major labels ... who didn’t want stock clogging up their offices and hallways. People still want to go into shops to buy LPs and even 7-inch discs, but it doesn’t suit the labels whereas streaming does ... and consequently music bought with no effort has resulted in meaningless music charts.
To your knowledge is their anything enticing left in the Smiths’ vaults that could be housed on potential future reissues?
Only a cover of Elvis Presley’s A Fool Such As I. I don’t even have a copy of it, but I expect it will spring out one day ... when I’m on a life-support machine.
The video footage aired during Meat Is Murder is deliberately graphic and provocative. You’re not always preaching to the converted — will converting people to veganism/vegetarianism be one of your proudest legacies?
Yes because the sense of social reform is enormous even though the news media won’t touch it. There are laws of protection for dogs, so why not for cows? If you can be prosecuted for cruelty to a dog, then why not a cow? Doesn’t everything have the right to lead a natural life? Animals have nothing at all but the enjoyment of their lives ... so why take that away from them? It’s the flesh-eaters that are the true cranks, and the farmers who look upon sheep and cows as their property. If you have a cat you don’t refer to it as property. It is morally wrong to make money from the death of any living being.
Miley Cyrus has covered the Smiths’ There Is a Light That Never Goes Out. Have you heard it? Pros: she’s an animal loving vegan. Cons?
No cons whatsoever! Anyone who refuses to eat animals, fish and birds is fantastic by me!
There’s a Morrissey biopic, Steven, being filmed in Manchester. Does that fill you with pride or dread?
I know nothing about it. I wasn’t consulted, so they obviously didn’t want my clarity to muddle up their perspective of how things were, or are, or should be.
The reports of you running for the Mayor of London with the Animal Welfare Party. Fact or fiction?
Fact, although I could see the pointlessness of stepping in. The BBC now do not give you news, but they give you their opinion, and therefore they give anyone a very hard time if that person does not suit the convenience and prejudices of the established elite. Therefore liberal educators such as George Galloway and Nigel Farage are loathed by the BBC because both men respect equal freedom for all people, and they are not remotely intimidated by the BBC. The Mayor was eventually elected on very few votes, and of course he eats Halal butchered beings, and talks so quickly that people can’t understand him ... and that suits the British media perfectly.
JK Rowling has a lovely story about meeting you at Harvey Nicholls and was chuffed you knew who she was. Is the respect mutual?
Of course!
The Queen turned 90 this year. You’re one of the few famous people who speak out about them. Does that ever come back to haunt you?
Never. I don’t know anyone who likes the Boil Family. Monarchy represents an unequal and inequitable social system. There is no such thing as a royal person. You either buy into the silliness or else you are intelligent enough to realise that it is all human greed and arrogance. Harry killed 34 people in Afghanistan and the UK press called him a hero. If he ate 34 poor people in Haiti the UK press would still call him a hero. It is insufferable.
Speaking of which, one story left out of your book Autobiography was your stint in a police cell in LAX. Can you explain how you ended up there?
It doesn’t take much to be thrown into a cell at LAX! You will notice that the Immigration Officers are persistently ordering you to ‘stand there’, which is a test to see if you will bow to their orders. If you say — as I did — ‘No. I’m perfectly OK where I am’, then they throw you into a cell for three hours because you are not frightened of them. They went through my belongings and took $150 out of my wallet; they kept the money and said ‘This is what saying ‘No’ has cost you’ — which of course was illegal on their part. But they can be as illegal as they wish. Incidentally, when I arrived in Sydney last year the officer at Passport Control did her best to insult me and to cause a scene when there was no need. I refused to take the bait because she was so rude, and so she threw my passport at me and looked away in disgust! I thought, ‘Wow, welcome to Australia!’ They use the ISIS issue as an excuse to denigrate everyone, and they absolutely love it.
Are there any more books in the pipeline and how did you find the literary world compared to the music world?
I’ve never been involved in the literary world. Or even the literal world.
Morrissey: Festival Hall Melbourne October 22, Thebarton Theatre Adelaide October 26, Royal Theatre Canberra October 28, WIN Centre Wollongong October 29, Newcastle Civic Theatre October 31. Frontier members pre-sale ends 4pm today. General public on sale 10am tomorrow, ticketing details see frontiertouring.com/morrissey
Originally published as Exclusive: Morrissey on Donald Trump, Miley Cyrus, Prince Harry and unreleased Smiths material
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