Smiths Will Not Reunite

10/24/08 4:42pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

Despite rumours that emerged earlier on Friday that The Smiths would reunite for Coachella 2009, sources close to the band say that will not be the case.

The U.K.'s The Sun tabloid ran a story stating that Morrissey, guitarist Johnny Marr, bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce would reunite for Coachella 2009.

"It has looked impossible in the past but suddenly it looks like it could happen," the source told The Sun. "The buzz around the people who used to work for the band is they could play Coachella for a ludicrous amount of money."

Bigmouth strikes again, because whoever told The Sun that committed a miserable lie. (That joke isn't funny anymore.) Marr's manager told the U.K.'s Uncut magazine that those rumours are "rubbish."

The four ex-Smiths have a well known distaste (to say the least; they probably wish each other an unhappy birthday every year) for one another. In 1996, Joyce sued Morrissey and Marr over royalties, and said he had not earned as much as he should have from record sales and performances. Morrissey and Marr had to fork over one million British pounds (about $2 million Canadian). Morrissey has gone on record saying that Marr "left" The Smiths, while Joyce "destroyed" them.

Meanwhile, Marr has picked up another gig in addition to his guitaring stint with Modest Mouse. Marr is to become a lecturer at the University Of Salford beginning Nov. 4. He and members of The Cribs will address the school's students at a lecture they've titled "Always on The Outside: Mavericks, Innovators And Building Your Own Ark."

We're going to tear our hair out if we hear someone say "maverick" one more time before the U.S. election... unless it's Tina Fey.

The Smiths' new best of, The Sound Of The Smiths is due out Nov. 11.