‘So Attitude-y’: Johnny Marr Speaks on What Playing With Paul McCartney Is Really Like, Names One Thing People Tend to ‘Forget’ About the Beatles Icon
The Smiths icon had a brush with McCartney as a younger musician.
Why Paul McCartney Is “Next-Level”, according to Johnny Marr
The former Smith guitar mastermind & bona fide session legend Johnny Marr had the opportunity to play alongside Macca earlier in his career, saying in a June 19 interview on “The Overlap” podcast last year that all The Beatles were extraordinary, but that McCartney was something else entirely (transcription via Guitar World):
“If you take a band like the Beatles – they always come to mind because they’re the yardstick everyone thinks about. Ringo is so important to the sound. If it was anyone else it would be a completely different band.”
“But, pretty lowkey, George Harrison – speaking as a guitar player – [he was] one of the greatest guitar players ever. Paul McCartney, on the other hand – and speaking as a musician – I had a mind-blowing experience playing with Paul McCartney when I was younger.”
People Tend to Forget About McCartney’s Chops, Marr Argues
Reflecting on the “mind-blowing experience”, Marr went on to argue that McCartney is “so melodic, he’s so attitude-y, and just [has] amazing musicality” that he’s like having “two guys” in a band. Noting how McCartney’s immense songwriting legacy makes some people forget how good a bass player he is, Marr added:
“You forget, actually, about what their craft is. And Paul McCartney reinvented a way of playing the bass. You think of him as a songwriter and a singer really, but as a bass guitar player, it’s next-level, really.”
You can watch the entire interview below.
