#obsessed with the image of moz these conjure up

[iamveronica]

Me, Morrissey & Manchester

As a teenager growing up in Manchester in the 1970s Billy [Duffy] befriended Steven Morrissey, drawn together by a mutual love of underground New York Music. They played in a band together briefly before both going on to extremely successful careers in music.

BD: I remember when I met Morrissey the first time he was smoking these menthol cigarettes called ‘More’ which were like long cocktail cigarettes. AL: Is that when he had long hair? BD: Yeah, it wasn’t really long, just longish, shoulder length curly hair. The quiffs all came later for us when after punk the next big thing was rockabilly with the Stray Cats around 1980…

AL: At the time was Morrissey a mate or just a guy that you had a musical connection with? BD: We shared an obsession with New York underground music and that was the connection with him, me, and my mates from Wythenshawe, like Phil Fletcher and Steven Pomfritt and to some extent Johnny Marr. Johnny was a young kid, 3 or 4 years younger than us but he was very smart even if he hadn’t really grown into himself at that point.

BD: I got the gig and they said do you know any singers cos Eddie Garrity had left the band too. I said, “I know this guy Steve and he really wants to be a singer and he’s shown me lyrics which are brilliant but I don’t know whether he can sing or not”. MP: It sounds like you were a bit wary about suggesting him? BD: Well, like I said the lyrics were amazing but I was just more scared for him that he would get battered cos it was quite a violent time. He wasn’t really effeminate but he used to have that sexual ambiguity thing and at the time the big bands were like Sham 69… it was all fighting, punk rock and skinheads. So, as such it was gamble to give him a go but I was desperate to do anything to get out of my home in Wythenshawe as I wasn’t getting on with my parents. Looking back on it I always knew that Morrissey was a unique character I just didn’t know if he could sing or not, or front it, but then I figured he’s such a strong character and what have I got to lose. All that said, even though his sexual orientation was always ambiguous it wasn’t a big deal amongst our group of friends. Nobody cared because a big part of the punk thing in Manchester was we always used to go to the gay clubs cos they’d have a straight night where they’d play all the music that we liked and you could go there and not get beaten up!

MP: You were obviously concerned about Morrissey being able to be a front man, so when did you realise it was going to work? BD: I think it was when he started throwing sweets out at that second Nosebleeds gig at the Ritz. We were the support band and did six songs and the last one was called ‘Peppermint Heaven’ and he threw out all these sweets which completely surprised everyone. That was the first time I thought that he had something special cos he never let on what he was going to do, he’d just thought that out and done it. Remember, at that time every other front man was more of an aggressive macho character and there was a lot of violence in the crowds and spitting going on so Morrissey throwing out sweets was quite different. We actually got a great review of that first gig in the NME by the legendary writer Paul Morley where he said “The Nosebleeds re-surface with a front man with charisma” and “Only their name can prevent them being this year’s big surprise”. An important thing to mention about the Nosebleeds with me and Morrissey was that we wrote all new songs and didn’t play any of the old ones including their single “Aint bin to no music school” which was their one known song! It was Morrissey’s insistence that we didn’t even do it and I don’t think he even wanted to call the band the Nosebleeds.

MP: So it was all brand-new songs that you’d written with Morrissey? BD: Yeah and one cover, apparently. I don’t actually remember writing with Steven though but I do remember some of the songs. As well as ‘Peppermint Heaven’ there was one called ‘Pristine Condition’… which I thought was quite funny and was about someone getting beaten up for being different. The lyric was from the point of view of a person pleading “don’t punch me in the face” … and that that was inspired by what was going on in town at that time. There was one called ‘I think I’m ready for the Electric Chair’ and I think also one called ‘Deeper and Deeper’.”

July 2017