Super-groups, like super-models, are fine in theory. In practice, though, you'll find that the addition of the prefix is just an excuse to bring narcissism and solipsism to places they had never dreamed of visiting before. Whether it be a stick model having a bad hair day or a group of musicians having to bring in their lawyers to decide who is the first one to walk out on stage - it's rarely a pretty sight. Little wonder that Johnny Marr, one half of the newest super-group on the block, Electronic, opens the conversation with the demand/plea of "whatever you do, just don't call us a super-group".
Electronic don't carry baggage, they carry cargo. Guitarist Marr was once one half of The Smiths and vocalist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner has a pedigree that stretches back to Joy Division and includes New Order along the way. With the former band lost to history ("No, The Smiths are never going to reform," says Marr) and the latter on an extended sabbatical, the two Manchester friends first teamed up eight years ago as Electronic, and have now released their third album. "No matter all we've done, people still regard us as a side-project," says Marr in near exasperation. "All this time we've been working together from 11.30 in the morning until 11.30 in the evening and, even when we go on holidays, we go together. We do live in each other's pockets and I've never done that before with anyone without going mad. We're a real group - and careful with the `super', please".
It's only when he teasingly refers to "that other group I was in", that you wonder if Johnny Marr would prefer not to mention the band that dares not speak its name. "No, I'm OK talking about The Smiths" he says, "I'm really proud of what we accomplished and I'm proud to be associated with the band. It's just that, because of the weight of the past, and Bernard's past with Joy Division and now with New Order, we've always been aware of a magnifying glass upon us and maybe sometimes people expect something that was never going to happen in the first place."
People certainly didn't expect one of the best guitarists of the last 40 years - a man famed for his jingly-jangly indie style of playing - to embrace technology and hip-hop so soon after The Smith's demise. While Bernard Sumner had always been steeped in electronic music, the sight and sound of Johnny Marr more into programming and loops as opposed to riffs and runs was an odd one when Electronic's first album surfaced in 1991. "It wasn't really that odd for me, synthesisers were banned in The Smiths so people never got to hear that aspect of me. There's a song on Strangeways Here We Come called A Rush and A Push, and there's actually only one guitar on that with loads of other stuff going on. So, towards the end of The Smiths, I was beginning to experiment a bit more".
In the few years between Strangeways and the first Electronic album, Johnny Marr was busy consolidating his place as a guitar hero by guesting with Bryan Ferry, Chrissie Hynde, Billy Bragg, Kirsty McColl and other luminaries: "I was always conscious, though, of being seen as a pseudo-Ronnie Wood type, and that's why I became so guitar shy with Electronic, I wanted to show people that I was more than just a guitar player."
The first Electronic album (which featured The Pet Shop Boys) was a massive success but when they got around to the second one, Raise The Pressure, five years later, the enthusiasm had dwindled. "I accept some of the criticism that was levelled at the last album, not all but some of it" he says. "The difference with this album is we totally changed our work practices and we took the strange decision to actually write the songs before we went to record them. Most of these songs were written on the guitar, and we had a live drummer and bass player this time in the studio. We weren't so hung-up on production techniques this time around, the whole idea of the "studio as an instrument" and yeah, there's a lot more guitars on this album - we just added the technology at the end."
Some people would see an opposition between the white indie rock you used to play and the dance music you're doing now - was it a stretch for you, or was it always there? "No, there's no opposition there at all. Even back in The Smiths I could go from listening to Sly and The Family Stone to Donovan, and sometimes on the guitar I'd mess around doing Neil Young songs as Nile Rodgers might do them. I'm just a silly little music fan and don't bother about the categories. For instance, when I wake up in the morning, instead of turning on the radio, I press the shuffle button on this CD player which can hold 20 different discs, so first on might be Jurassic Five, followed by John Mayall, then The Beastie Boys followed by the Beta Band."
A new Stone Roses biography, Breaking Into Heaven, by Mick Middles (Omnibus Press) makes the point that the reason why Manchester has produced a bewildering range of successful music bands from M People to Simply Red, Take That, Joy Division, The Smiths, The Stone Roses and Oasis is because your average Manchester youth has a record collection that includes Motown, Stax, punk, reggae, funk, metal, indie and hip-hop. "Yeah, I do think people in Manchester have that openness about their music and because of being a bit removed from the London music scene, bands can develop at their own pace and leave Manchester fully formed, as The Stone Roses did. But I don't think it's any different from any other city, like Bristol - look at what's going on there - or Liverpool, Newcastle or Dublin."
Speaking of which, Johnny is quick to reclaim his Irish origins. "Both my parents are Irish, they're from Co. Kildare, near the Curragh, and I was the first one born in Manchester. My real surname is actually Maher but because people in England couldn't pronounce it I had to change it to Marr. This is something I talk a lot about with Noel Gallagher because he's got the same Irish background as me. For me, growing up in the 1970s, I had to put up with an awful lot of snide remarks and false media reports about the Irish in England. I certainly did feel very different from the rest of my friends and still look at the Union Jack and think: "that's nothing to do with me". I really related to Johnny Rotten's autobiography No Dogs, No Blacks, No Irish, because that was my experience as well."
A lot is made of how so many first-generation Irish ended up as Britain's most famous singers and musicians - yourself, Morrissey, Oasis, Culture Club, The Sex Pistols, Dusty Springfield (Mary O'Brien from Tralee in real life) . . . What's your take on that? "My first ever exposure to music came from seeing not very good Irish showbands play in Manchester. That was the very first time I actually touched a real electric guitar, when I was about six years of age. In fact, my parents play more music than me and the only reason why I learnt to play the harmonica is because we're a large family and there was always a christening or something where I'd have to whip it out and play. I get back to Ireland as much as I can and I remember playing the SFX in Dublin with The Smiths in 1984 and The Olympia in 1990 with The The. I really want to make it over with this album. Maybe someone out there could arrange an Olympia gig for us . . ."
Twisted Tenderness by Electronic is on the Parlophone/EMI label.
