J. Marr
Continued from page 26
wanted me to make every single sound
myself," he recalls. "And usually you have
sound effects guys to do all that stuff. But
I had a lot of fun making creepy, trippy
noises with the guitar and with effects
pedals, because the film was quite psychedelic and dealt with metaphysics and subatomic matters. It's not everybody's cup of
tea, but it was pretty good fun to put
music to. And it was a learning curve for
uinely, at times, just overwhelming, in particular his work from Gladiator and The
Thin Red Line. So when you've got that
kind of power, of an orchestra behind you?
It's pretty powerful stuff."
With all of his various gigs, Marr says,
he's never once lost sight of his identity as
a guitarist. Folks hire him for his distinct
beef-chorded, often aqueous sound. And
ever since he was a kid, he's thought cinematically, so adding notes to visuals is relatively easy for him now. "So I just play
like me, because that's what they got me in
there for," he says of all his varied sessions.
"Like when I did work on Rango with
Hans, he asked me to stop being so
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Marr, second from left withThe Smiths, circa 1984.
me, and quite soon after that I started
working with Hans. So I've got a really
good teacher now."
In fact, Marr just joined Zimmer
onstage in London (along with Pharrell
King Crimson, 1972
Williams and a full orchestra) for two
shows, replicating live some of the
auteur's most compelling soundtrack
work. In rehearsals for the concerts, Marr
notes with a little embarrassment, he actually faltered a bit. "The music is so intense,
but the heart of it is quite simple – only
Hans can do it, and only he knows how he
does it," he explains. "But sitting in front of
70 musicians, with that music coming
down my ears in rehearsals, a couple of
times I missed my cues because I was just
so carried away by the music. It was gen-
respectful to his chords. He said 'Play it
more like Johnny fucking Marr!' So now
that I'm older, I certainly know what my
thing is, and you always try not to veer
into parody. You just really try to play
what's appropriate. And do it with some
soul."
There's talk of a full-on collaboration
album between Marr and his mentor
Zimmer. But he figures he'll probably
write a third record while he's out on tour.
That's how fast the ideas keep hitting him.
"And I'd like to think that I'm evolving, as
a person and as a musician," he says. "But
essentially, my story now is the same as it
was when I was 15. Only now I get to stay
in nice hotels"!
Fri, Jan 9• 9pm
STAGE 151 @ HARRAH'S
151 N. Joliet Street
Joliet• 815-740-7800
Sat, Jan 10 • 10:30pm
MT BARRELS
1712 Wise Rd
Schaumburg • 847-301-9800
Sat, Jan 24• 9:30pm
Sat,December 27• 9:30pm
BANNERMAN'S
858 South Rt 59 (NW Corner 59 & Sterans)
Bartlett, IL • 630-213-2400
BALLYDOYLE AURORA
28 W. New York Street
Aurora, IL • 630-844-0400
FOR BOOKING & INFO: WWW.ARRAWEB.COM • WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/ARRAFANPAGE
december
2014
illinoisentertainer.com
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