(Update 1/23/18 11 a.m.: The tour has been canceled.) Mike Joyce has pulled out of the “Classically Smiths” concerts scheduled for this summer, just one day after his former bandmate Andy Rourke denied he was involved in the partial reunion. Joyce, the group’s former drummer, says he agreed to play the shows “in good faith,” but changed his mind when it “became apparent very late” that bassist Rourke would not take part. Joyce then writes that, on the morning of a press conference announcing the shows, he was told to avoid mentioning that Rourke wasn’t involved. “I therefore agreed to take part in the press interviews but did so without discussing Andy’s participation in the venture,” he writes. Read his statement below.
Rourke claimed yesterday that his appearance was never “confirmed, approved or contracted” by him or his team, and that the promoters fabricated his quotes talking up the show in a press release. Although the Smiths’ second guitarist, Craig Gannon, is the only participant ostensibly still involved, Joyce suggests in his statement that “Classically Smiths” could still go ahead. Pitchfork has contacted the company behind the shows, Bad Production, for more information.
