Johnny Marr and The Healers in NYC

Photo by Rich Henry, 'How Soon Is Now?' video above by VioletPayne

Johnny Marr and The Healers played the Angel Orensanz Foundation Center for the Arts in New York City on 13 October 2011 at a private event to kick off the Ray-Ban Raw Sounds and showcase his custom designed Ray-Ban Signet sunglasses. The show included Best Coast, Mona, Au Revoir Simone and Tom Vey – bands chosen by Johnny Marr for the Ray-Ban project. Each band showcased a song they had written, inspired by five elements given to them by Johnny for inspiration. Three of the elements were a spoken word piece called ‘I Know The Radiant City’ that Johnny wrote, a short video clip called ‘Strum and Drang’ of him playing a looped riff shot from below the shoulders and a map of the Lower East Side with its connection to rock ‘n’ roll.

photo by Rich Henry

You must be approached left, right and centre to join projects like this, what particularly attracted you to work with Ray-Ban?
At first it seemed like a mad request – they always do seem like mad requests these things. To begin with I was asked to do a concert it New York in Winter, and I thought ‘Ok, this kind of suits my plans for trying out some new material without it being about an album or tour etc’, so on a personal level it kind of suited me. But then my manager, who I’ve know since I was 17, was like ‘The first time I met you, you were wearing a pair of Ray-Bans, so it’s not that much of a farfetched connection’, plus I did some photographs with Mick Rock a few years ago for Ray-Ban… So I was open to the idea, but then they had this idea of me coming up with these ‘elements’. The idea at first, I thought was nuts and a really odd concept, but then I thought ‘Ok, this is an opportunity to do something really interesting that I wouldn’t ordinarily do’. Then when I met with them and asked what it was all about, they kind of just threw the ball back in my court, they said ‘You’re the artist, you come up with something’. It stuck in my mind for a few days; I was intrigued about the idea of presenting someone else with a jumping-off point in order to write a song or create something.

Dazed Digital

In addition, Johnny helped design his own custom made Ray-Ban Signet sun glasses – gunmetal frame, double bridge, blue lenses and “Johnny” on the temples. Pat Graham, the chosen photographer for Ray-Ban Raw Sounds, documented the entire project along with Poppy de Villeneuve who did video. Other shows will be held in Hong Kong and London.

Links to more photos of the Ray-Ban Raw Sounds Show

Pat Graham
Bill Farrell Agency
The Wall Street Journal
The Village Voice

As an elder statesmen of the indie scene, what’s your responsibility to new bands or labels?
I have a responsibility to reciprocate the goodwill and encourage the enthusiasm that’s been shown me. If people say nice things about me, I should listen to them and see what their band is like, and if I like it, I should try to shine the light back. I know what it’s like when you’re starting out. If someone you respect hears you, it can really go a long way.

The Wall Street Journal

Angel Orensanz Foundation
Best Coast
Au Revoir Simone
Tom Vek