Morrissey: ‘I Don’t Know a Single Person Who Wants a Smiths Reunion’

Morrissey once again dashed fans’ hopes for a Smiths reunion in a new interview with Billboard, tossing off the idea with a cheeky, “I don’t know a single person who wants a Smiths reunion!” But while the impossible dream may still be just that, Morrissey also spoke about his new album – which he’s currently recording in France – upcoming North American tour with Tom Jones and Sir Cliff Richard and getting over the hump of a tumultuous 2013.

“The good and the bad must be documented. Life is a serious business, so why pretend it isn’t?,” Morrissey said of how the ups and downs of the past few years might influence his next record. “I’m amused by modern pop artists who can only sing about s.e.x … as if nothing else mattered on the planet.”

It’s been five years since Morrissey’s last album, Years of Refusal, and as late as two years ago, the acclaimed musician was sure he wasn’t going to be given a new record deal anytime soon. But earlier this year, the singer struck a two-album deal with with Harvest Records, an imprint of Capitol: “Steve Barnett from Capitol Music appeared with a deal and said ‘let’s go,’ so we did,” Morrissey said. “It’s always so much more productive when people get straight to the point.”

Check out these 15 revealing quotes from Morrissey’s autobiography

The signing was a further boon to Morrissey, who’d seen his long-delayed autobiography finally published to great success just a few months prior. Both events seemed to mark a much-needed turning point for the musician, who’d had to cancel a slew of tour dates last year due to poor funding and a series of ailments that kept him in and out of hospitals.

“It was a bad year,” Morrissey said. “I was in hospitals so frequently that the doctors were sick to death of me, and there’s nothing more ageing than lying in a hospital bed, trying to recover from hospital food. If your illness doesn’t kill you then the hospital food sees you off. That’s what it’s there for. Anyway, it was my time to go to pieces. Much overdue.”

And of course, as is his wont, Morrissey offered a handful of cantankerous, charming quotes on a variety of topics. On his continued push to have venues serve only vegetarian food during his concerts: “I think it’s generally accepted these days that meat is murder for the animals, murder for the planet, and eventually murders the consumer. Soon eating a cheeseburger will be as outlawed as smoking in church, and that will be a great day for civilisation. When you eat an animal you subject it to spiritual and physical rape.“

On what his new novel might be about: “I can’t christen the baby until I at least see its head. It’s bad form, somehow.”

And on the recent 50th anniversary of the Beatles‘ first performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, and whether or not the Fab Four had influenced him, Morrissey offered this gem: “I thought four of their songs were magnificent, and if a band can give you four magnificent songs then that’s good enough for me. But was I ever influenced by the Beatles? No.”

Classic Moz. While there’s no word on when Morrissey’s new record will see release, the singer just reissued his beloved 1992 solo effort, Your Arsenal.