In a new, controversial interview with NME, Morrissey says he shuns England now because of the “immigration explosion” that has happened there, according to the Daily Mail:
“Other countries have held on to their basic identity yet it seems to me that England was thrown away. The change in England is so rapid compared to the change in any other country. If you walk through Knightsbridge on any bland day of the week you won't hear an English accent. You'll hear every accent under the sun apart from the British accent. The British identity is very attractive, I grew up into it and I find it quaint and very amusing.”
He now considers Rome his home.
NME also reports today that the singer has signed a solo record deal with Polydor/Decca and has no plans to go the internet route in marketing it (ala Radiohead):
“If they (Radiohead) think that can work that that's a wonderful world. And yes, you can look at record companies and you can easily assess that they've been ripping people off for years and years and years. The whole process is a gigantic rip off. But then there are people like me who need to be institutionalised… and I don't mean in an asylum! Believing that several thousand people are working to get your music heard is more inspiring to me than anything else.”
Of the new record, he boasts: “I'm extremely happy about it. I love my band at the moment, and the songs are great, of course. I don't think there's ever been a theme to any of my records. I don't need the chameleon element of trying to entice people with new costumes. I like to think I'm complicated and interesting enough as a human being.”
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