Johnny Marr - The Answer (Radio Date: 08-02-2024)

Today marks the release of ‘The Answer’, taken from Spirit Power: The Best Of Johnny Marr, a major new collection spotlighting the breadth of musicality across the first ten years of Johnny Marr’s prolific solo career.

Following a spoken word intro delivered by Meredith Sheldon, ‘The Answer’ explodes into life with dark, anthemic energy. It’s a song, notes Marr, that would get the approval of his 17 year-old self, mainlining the “narky energy” of Magazine and Buzzcocks, “It’s taken me a long time to write songs that are led by the singing rather than the guitar, and that’s definitely one of them.”

“I’ve played a lot of arenas over the years, and in terms of songwriting, there’s nowhere to hide. For a song to work, it has to be a banger. I know it’s almost uncool to think in those terms, but I grew up in a house where my parents listened to Motown, where you couldn’t get a song released if it wasn’t full of hooks.”

Released in November of 2023, the Spirit Power collection marked Johnny Marr’s fifth UK Top Ten album release. First single ‘Somewhere’ was added straight to the BBC 6 Music and Radio 2 playlists, with MOJO describing “a 10-year abundance of solo bangers” CLASH found "this record digs deep, it reaches far and captures the nuance, variety and genius of Johnny Marr", and Uncut Magazine praised “rousing urban utopian sounds”.

The Spirit Power album arrived amidst a wave of activity celebrating ten years of Johnny Marr’s achievements as a solo artist.

The publication of stunning new photography book Marr’s Guitars offered a portal into the symbiotic relationship between Johnny and the guitars that have informed not just the first decade of his solo career, but the lifetime evolution of his iconic sound and career in songwriting.

A huge live season of headline shows, festival performances and surprise on-stage appearances came to an emotional and epic finale with A Night with the Johnny Marr Orchestra. Johnny Marr opened Manchester’s brand new arts venue Aviva Studios with two exclusive homecoming concerts backed by a 30 piece orchestra. The shows were received as “a magical reinvention of ‘highly pumped’ classics” by The Guardian, “a grand orchestral affair” by The Times, “joyous” by The Telegraph, and “a stirring homecoming for one of the city’s proudest sons” by the NME.

Looking ahead and continuing the Spirit Power celebrations well into 2024, Johnny Marr has announced The Spirit Power Tour. UK headline shows will take place through Spring at some of the UK’s most iconic venues, beginning at Newcastle’s O2 City Hall on 2nd April and including London’s Eventim Apollo on 12th April, before closing at Nottingham’s Rock City on 14th April.