Johnny Marr Gears Up For Book Tour

Johnny Marr’s autobiography was released in the U.K., Europe, Australia and New Zealand today. Although U.S. fans have to wait until Nov. 15, in the meantime we can talk about the routing for his book tour.

Set The Boy Free covers Marr’s childhood in Manchester, forming The Smiths (and his departure and the band’s subsequent breakup), and his time in The Pretenders, The The, Modest Mouse, and The Cribs. During his incredible career the singer/songwriter and guitarist also released two solo albums and worked with a long list of acts including Bryan Ferry, Talking Heads, Kirsty MacColl, Pet Shop Boys, Billy Bragg, Nile Rogers and Bert Jansch.

Commenting on the title, Marr said, “I wanted to convey a feeling of breaking free, that has been a constant throughout my life. A feeling that expresses itself as both escape and discovery. Transcendence. I found it through rock ‘n’ roll and art and a journey living both in the modern world.”

Set The Boy Free follows the 2013 release of the autobiography for Marr’s former bandmate. Marr told NME he hadn’t read Morrissey’s book yet.

“I’ll get round to it one day probably, but initially I didn’t to avoid everyone asking what I thought, and later it was because I didn’t want to react to anything while writing my book,” Marr said.

Photo: Scott Legato / RockStarProPhotography.com

St. Andrews Hall, Detroit, Mich.

Marr’s book tour begins with two sold out appearances in England. The stops on the U.S. excursion are made up of “in conversation” events with musician Ian Svenonius, KCRW’s Jason Bentley, the San Francisco Chronicle music critic Aidin Vaziri, and Fred Armisen of “Portlandia” and “Documentary Now” fame.

Nov. 7 – Manchester, England, RNCM
Nov. 10 – London, England, The Barbican
Nov. 15 – New York, N.Y., Gramercy Theatre (in conversation with Ian Svenonius)
Nov. 16 – Los Angeles, Calif., The Vista Theater (in conversation with Jason Bentley)
Nov. 18 – San Francisco, Calif., Jewish Community Center (in conversation with Aidin Vaziri)
Nov. 19 – Beaverton, Ore., Powell’s Bookstore Cedar Hills Crossing (in conversation with Fred Armisen)
Dec. 9 – Birmingham, England, Birmingham Town Hall

Tickets for New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco are on sale now and include a copy of Set The Boy Free. The Beaverton, Ore., event is free and open to the public.

Visit Johnny-Marr.com for more information.