Music interview: Nile Marr of Man Made

Being the son of the most influential British indie rock guitarist of the past 30 years, expectations are inevitably high for Nile Marr.

But if the 22-year-old Mancunian feels burdened by any public perceptions as he follows in the footsteps of his father Johnny, one half of the celebrated songwriting partnership at the heart of The Smiths, it’s a weight he seems to carry lightly.

Next month sees the release of TV Broke My Brain, the first album by his trio Man Made, and it’s preceded by a string of tour dates, including five in Yorkshire.

As a guitarist, Marr says his first musical love was maverick folk, jazz and blues man John Martyn. “I remember the first time I saw the BBC performance of him playing Small Hours, I still remember where I was when I saw it, I’d never seen anything like it,” he recalls. “Here was a guy who was just on his own on stage completely in control of the audience, he totally commanded the show. He’d got his acoustic plugged in to an echoplex so there’s weird loops going on and there were all these wires taped to his guitar where he’d just taped the pick-up in and I was like, ‘Man, that’s so cool’. And as a kid that was where I was at musically, ‘Right, I just want to be John Martyn and play the folk stuff’, so that’s kind of how I learned to play.

“Over the years of getting physically stronger and playing a Jazzmaster which I’ve got now, which is quite a big guitar, I’ve taken everything I learned from playing acoustic onto how I play electric and that really shaped the sound that we have as a three-piece, we fill a really large sound and that’s 100 per cent down to how I learned to play acoustic where it’s all about making the biggest sound with what you’ve got because it’s just you on your own.”

When Marr was in his mid-teens his family moved to Portland, Oregon, home of alt-rock groups such as The Shins and Modest Mouse. It was to prove pivotal in changing his musical thinking. “It was a really exciting time and an exciting place musically. Can you imagine as a kid being transplanted and suddenly being around all your musical influences? It was incredible. The most exciting guitar music has come from there and the most exciting art culture within music came from there.

“Then I got into Fugazi records and we learned so much. How we conduct ourselves as a band and the work ethic all came from the North West where it’s all about do it yourself, get in the van and just go. You book your own shows and do a lot of charity work – we do a lot of shows for refugee charities and things in the local community when we play local shows now, and we try to keep our shows all ages and keep them as cheap as possible to attend. By doing all these things and thinking about it I feel like you create a more meaningful experience.

“What we’re interested in is creating an environment where everyone feels like we’re in a room together being human beings experiencing something – and that I learned from America.”

The songs on TV On My Brain were written over a period of eight years while Marr learned his craft first as a solo artist then in a duo with US singer-songwriter Meredith Sheldon and finally a group, with drummer Scott Griffiths and bassist Callum Rogers. Technology is a running theme although Marr says he’s “not here to make a judgement”.

“I use technology like everyone else, but all the experiences that I’ve ever had that have meant something in my life they’ve all been what we in the band called ‘analogue experiences’, whether that’s being on your own with your thoughts, I’ve always found when you’re really on your own and you don’t have a screen you’re never bored because you’re brain’s working, doing things, or if you’re interacting with people you’re coming up with things to do, you’re going to go somewhere you’ve maybe not been. In the face of not having anything to do you’d create stuff.

“I feel very claustrophobic when there are screens around. And it was just asking the question of yes, you can embrace this technology but what are you also losing?”

Marr says he has learned a lot from his father’s many musical collaborations, which have ranged from The Cribs to soundtrack composer Hans Zimmer.

“Just growing up and being around that many adults who are all artists, who have spent their life being creative and working really hard to make sure their life stays creative, that had the biggest impact,” he says.

“Both me and my sister there was never anything like being pushed by our parents in any direction, but the important thing that we really learned was if you’re going to do anything do it because you absolutely love it.”

TV Broke My Brain is out on April 15. Man Made play at The Duchess, York on March 14, Adelphi in Hull on March 15, Oporto in Leeds on March 16, The Rocking Chair in Sheffield on March 18 and Opium in Barnsley on April 22. For details visit www.facebook.com/manmadeofficialband