Morrissey has responded to his Wikipedia page that listed him as an ex-member of two bands he claims he has “no connection” with, The Nosebleeds and Slaughter And The Dogs.
The former Smiths frontman posted on his official blog yesterday (December 1) lamenting the inaccuracy on the online encyclopedia project, which is collaboratively edited and managed by its database of users.
“Wikipedia confidently list me as an ex-member of Slaughter And The Dogs, and an ex-member of The Nosebleeds,” Morrissey wrote.
“I did not ever join The Nosebleeds and I have no connection whatsoever with Slaughter And The Dogs. Is there anyone at Wikipedia intelligent enough to set the record straight? Probably not.”
Stereogum points out that Stephen Pomfret, a friend of Morrissey and ex-bandmate Johnny Marr, spoke about Morrissey’s apparent involvement with the Nosebleeds in the 1992 book Morrissey & Marr: The Severed Alliance, written by Johnny Rogan.
“I tried to persuade Morrissey to buy some equipment because we were spending a fortune on guitars and amplifiers,” Pomfret is quoted as saying. “He bought a microphone for £8. I thought, ‘That’s not quite what I had in mind, Steven!’ He said, ‘That’s all I can afford!’”
The book went on to illustrate a creative collaboration between Morrissey and Nosebleeds (and future The Cult) member Billy Duffy, listing songs titled ‘The Living Jukebox’, ‘Toytown Massacre’ and ‘(I Think) I’m Ready For The Electric Chair’ that Morrissey apparently wrote lyrics for.
In Morrissey’s 2013 book Autobiography, he acknowledged that he once performed in a band with “no name” that included Duffy and the “rhythm section” of the Nosebleeds.
He referred to an NME review of the show, which took place in 1978, by Paul Morley: “The band is listed as the Nosebleeds, and I am lumbered with this miscued name in private sufferance forevermore,” Morrissey wrote.
Rogan wrote in his book about the performance, acknowledging Morrissey as “the inexperienced new singer” of the Nosebleeds, writing that he “clearly lacked the powerful presence of the unforgettable [ex-vocalist] Ed Banger, but his collaborations with Duffy suggested that they had the foundations of a promising songwriting team and the potential to pursue a new fruitful direction.”
In Autobiography, Morrissey insisted that the show was a one-off: “History had trapped me for a long time, and now it must let me go. But my time with Billy is already over. He has been lassoed into joining the excellent Theatre of Hate who are ready for Top of the Pops, and rather than bury my face in the mud I am happy for him.”
He went on to reveal how Billy left Morrissey with a “parting suggestion” of Marr, who “is a much better guitarist than me”, Morrissey quoted Billy as saying.
“The suggestion is thoughtful, but I am not the type to tap on people’s windows. Luckily, Johnny Marr was the type to tap on people’s windows, and Billy had also turned Johnny to face my direction,” Morrissey wrote.
In Morrissey & Marr: The Severed Alliance, The Durutti Column’s Vini Reilly is mentioned as having played guitar for the Nosebleeds before moving on to form his main project in 1978.
“They were very good to me and taught me a lot about life. They were all hard, and [Vini Faal] the manager was the hardest of all,” Reilly told Rogan. “They were absolutely wild, completely out of the woods. Morrissey being involved blows my mind.”
As for punk band Slaughter And The Dogs, it has been a long-held rumour by his fans that Morrissey wrote and recorded songs with the band. However, no such songs have ever surfaced.
Last month, Morrissey decried how a war on “free speech” has prevented him from releasing any new music, seemingly alluding to ‘Bonfire Of The Teenagers’, an album he recorded in 2021 and which remains unreleased.
Morrissey also reportedly fired his management team after Marr refuted several of Morrissey’s claims regarding The Smiths. In August, Morrissey had claimed that Marr had “ignored” a lucrative offer from AEG Entertainment Group to reunite the band. He then alleged that a Smiths ‘Greatest Hits’ album had been “blocked” by the guitarist.
Shortly after, Morrissey claimed that Marr now owns all of the “trademark rights and Intellectual Property” of The Smiths, and can tour as a band without him.
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