Graham Sampson (Morrissey) in The Smyths

ManchesterWorld

Graham Sampson is Morrissey in The Smyths, a tribute band to popular Manchester band 'The Smiths'. He spoke to ManchesterWorld's Patrick Hollis about what it's like to be Morrissey, and how he feels the role comes naturally to him

Transcript

00:00 It's a very odd thing because I've been doing it for a very long time.

00:04 And it's been a very natural thing because of when I was growing up.

00:12 I think I've got a unique experience on this one that others may not have.

00:17 Others will give you a very different answer and they may feel that they have to assume

00:21 almost a theatrical role, as if they're playing a part.

00:26 I don't, because of my age I was a first generation Smiths fan.

00:33 Listening to John Pill, hearing what the new single would be,

00:36 going to the record shop the following week and buying the 7" and the 12",

00:40 watching the TV shows as albums were launched and they were playing the following week.

00:45 I was recording on a VHS the TV performances as they were being broadcast.

00:50 So I was a teenager growing up affected by my pop idols.

00:56 And I would say that I absorbed, just like you sort of tend to do,

01:01 teenagers become influenced by their heroes.

01:07 I think I sort of either I responded to Morrissey because I felt that I was,

01:14 that there was a lot, I saw something in him that I saw in myself,

01:17 or that I became affected by him as a teenager.

01:20 And these have then become traits that are now just part of my personality.

01:23 But I've said to many journalists that if you catch me in the supermarket squeezing fruit,

01:29 I squeeze fruit like Morrissey squeezes fruit. And it's very natural.

01:35 And so I take it on to stage with me and I don't have to worry about trying to affect

01:45 studied moves like, oh, he did that on TV. I better do this.

01:51 It doesn't go through my head. It's a very natural performance.

01:54 I was as an original performer back in the day, unless so now because of the nature,

01:59 because also I now play, I sing and play guitar with my original band, Beautiful Mechanica.

02:05 We're more sort of dream pop placebo, Swady type band,

02:08 cocktail, twin cigarettes, after sex influence, all the stuff.

02:11 So it's very different. But when I was with Ted, I was a Morrissey like performer anyway.

02:16 I was a very flamboyant sort of front man with a sort of tongue in cheek humor.

02:21 So that's carried into what I do with the Smiths.

02:24 But if someone said to me, I don't know, you're less like Morrissey and a bit more Jarvis Cocker or Brad Anderson,

02:30 I would go, yeah, OK, I can see how that seeped into my performance.

02:34 It's a very odd thing. And I think it's another part of us sort of just not playing by the rules.

02:39 We're just not we're just not textbook. We're very authentic.

02:43 And our huge fan base has allowed us to be authentic to ourselves because

02:50 they're less bothered about whether I come on stage brandishing gladioli or wearing glasses.

02:58 They're more concerned of like the gig sounding like a Smith show and the energy of a live band

03:05 who've been playing for so long that they just just know instinctively what's coming next.

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