Fantastic interview. Some of this give credence to the "lawn-mower" parts quote:
"J: Tell me about the band at that time.
R: Johnny and Morrissey were really driven and had a clear sense of purpose. They knew exactly what they wanted. They shared a vision. It was those two that pushed it forward.
The other two were the rhythm section, nice as they were. For Johnny and Morrissey it really wasn’t about work. It was their passion.
For the rhythm section it was work. They referred to it as work. I felt that Andy and Mike were slightly overwhelmed when The Smiths took off. It was very fast. They weren’t ready for it in the way that Johnny and Morrissey were. This was like their dream come true. No-one was really ready for it but Morrissey and Johnny had dreamt of it for a really long time.
We didn’t get any arguments from the band. Morrissey and Johnny could be awkward, deliberately so, sometimes. Johnny was overloaded and Morrissey was beautifully whimsical and could change his mind. But everybody was younger. Some of it is really about age.
I wish they had made more videos. I don’t know why they didn’t. The
Derek Jarman work fitted a sort of camp sensibility with a slight radical edge, that worked well."
I had that issue of The Catalogue he mentions. I think it was from December 87 or 88. As a kid in the US, I craved all I could read about the band.....so getting that flexidisc was cool. Great pic of Johnny grimacing on stage whilst playing his Rickenbacker too....