Mike Joyce Says He Doesn't Need Smiths 'Ego Massage' Anymore

Mike Joyce, once the drummer in the Smiths, has spoken to Spinner about how being in the massively influential band was "euphoric" but that now he gets almost the same buzz on a sunny spring day in Manchester.

Speaking in advance of running a Jack Daniel's gig at Manchester's Band on the Wall venue on May 27 -- where he will help legendary poet John Cooper Clarke and a host of younger Smiths-influenced bands like the Whip, Answering Machine and I Am Kloot re-create Buzzcocks' 'Spiral Scratch' EP live -- Joyce fondly recalled the buzz he felt being in the Smiths.

He said, "The buzz never really abated, even on the last tour for the last album, I remember the last tour we did of America, we played to about 15 to 20,000 people in Boston. We had come off stage and I had to do a quick wee and I remember hearing like just 'Smiths Smiths Smiths,' I thought 'f------ hell'."

Asked whether he would ever want to recreate that feeling in the band again, the drummer paused to reflect that on the whole he wouldn't, saying, "Of course I enjoy it. But I enjoy things like yesterday, the weather. I think that's what it's like -- being in my 40s now -- I thought to myself, 'what an absolutely gorgeous day,' I've got tulips in the garden and my poppies are coming up and I thought 'great.' It wasn't as euphoric, but it was a real kind of buzz I was getting. I want to do well but you can't have it all."

He added, "When you're involved in a band, it's a bit like sometimes like going downhill without the brakes on. You lack control over it, and some of the situations that arise. That side of it can get a bit scary, I wouldn't say it's the downside, but it's the flip-side. Like look at last night, I was at a gig [in Manchester], and people were getting nervous just because I was there. I don't need that, my ego has been massaged enough. It doesn't need any more!"