We’ve already had memoirs from Johnny Marr and, lest we forget, Morrissey. Now the Smiths’ drummer gets to tell his side of the story with the news that Mike Joyce’s autobiography is set to go later this autumn.
The Drums will be published on November 6 via New Modern, who have promised a “no-holds barred” autobiography (don’t they always say that?), before adding: “The written history of the Smiths is not missing an encyclopaedic account of everything that happened over the years; but Mike’s honest, entertaining and deeply human memoir is what Smiths fans have been waiting for.
"This book truly conveys what it felt like to be a member of the Smiths.”
“Throughout his honest and witty reflections, Mike answers the question he and bassist Andy Rourke used to often ask each other: ‘Where did it all go right?’”
The publisher’s statement continued: “A lot of the Smiths’ past is already canonised. Rather than retelling those well-documented iconic moments, in The Drums, Mike conveys ‘the feeling’ of his time in the band.
"His off-piste, frank and witty perspective allows him to re-contextualise fan favourite moments through a beautifully vulnerable, human insight into his life.”
It will be particularly fascinating to hear about the Smiths’ court case from Joyce’s point of view. Morrissey’s 2013 memoir Autobiography devoted a great deal of space to this episode, which, as you may recall was when Morrissey and Marr – who had hitherto kept 80% of the band’s performance royalties for themselves – were forced to concede a 25% share to Joyce (Andy Rourke had settled out of court a few years earlier). Morrissey, in particular, has never forgiven the drummer and it’s one of the many reasons why it is highly unlikely that The Smiths will ever reform.
Since The Smiths, Joyce has played with Julian Cope, John Lydon’s Public Image Limited and PP Arnold. He even joined the Buzzcocks for a while in the early 1990s. Now 62, he’s largely retired from music. You suspect that since the £1 million payout from the court case, he doesn’t have a compelling reason to scrabble round for gigs these days.
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