Johnny Marr's Creative Process
- Roy Sharples
- Jan 15, 2021
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 6
Johnny Marr’s creative process is built on imagination, disciplined work, precise craftsmanship, collaboration, and continuous learning—turning simple ideas into timeless music.
Manchester doesn’t do sunshine the way postcards suggest.
It glows sideways. Through drizzle. Off brick.
Like the city’s quietly laughing at the idea of perfection.
Inside a room that hums rather than shouts, Johnny Marr stands with a guitar and no intention of impressing anyone.
Which, of course, is precisely why he does.
I watched him work.
No mysticism. No scented candles.
Just a man, a guitar, and the stubborn refusal to make anything mediocre.
1 Imagination
Ideas don’t arrive with trumpets. They sneak in.
A rhythm from footsteps.
A chord from a passing bus.
A melody that sounds suspiciously like it’s been waiting longer than you have.
Marr treats imagination like a craft, not a lottery win.
Technology sits nearby, blinking politely, ready to help. But it’s clear who’s in charge.
The machine offers options.
The human makes decisions.
Sometimes brilliant. Sometimes accidental.
Often both at once—like most good stories and nearly all great songs.
Photo credit: Mat Bancroft & Ben Thornley @ Sitcom Soldiers
2 WORK
There is no waiting for inspiration.
Waiting is what you do for trains.
Work is what you do for songs.
He plays. Stops. Plays again. Adjusts. Deletes. Returns.
The loop is relentless, but not heavy.
There’s a quiet humour to it—like he knows most ideas won’t make the cut, and he’s perfectly fine showing them the door.
Failure isn’t dramatic here.
It’s administrative.
Stamp it. File it. Move on.
Photo credit: Roy Sharples
3 CRAFT
Nothing is accidental, even when it feels that way.
There’s space in his playing. Breathing room.
Notes aren’t crowded—they’re curated.
He avoids excess the way a great editor avoids adjectives.
If it doesn’t earn its place, it’s gone.
The result?
Sound that feels inevitable.
As if it always existed, and he simply found it first.
Photo credit: Mat Bancroft & Ben Thornley @ Sitcom Soldiers
4 Collaboration
On his own, he builds.
With others, he discovers.
There’s no posturing. No territorial nonsense.
Just a shared curiosity about what might happen next.
He leans into not knowing.
Which, if we’re honest, is where most of us panic, Google something, and pretend we knew all along.
Marr stays there. In the uncertainty.
Because that’s where the interesting things tend to hide.
Photo credit: Mat Bancroft & Ben Thornley @ Sitcom Soldiers
5 CONTINUITY
Influence, for him, isn’t imitation.
It’s absorption.
The past isn’t copied. It’s metabolised.
“I was like a sponge,” he once said.
Which sounds gentle, until you realise a sponge absorbs everything—then quietly transforms it.
Now he passes it on.
Not with lectures. Not with declarations.
Just by doing the work in plain sight.
Which, frankly, is the only mentorship that ever really sticks.
Photo credit: Roy Sharples
CODA
There’s no grand reveal.
No secret chord that unlocks everything.
Just this:
Dream without embarrassment.
Work without waiting.
Refine without mercy.
Collaborate without ego.
Pass it on without ceremony.
Simple.
Not easy.
What I saw wasn’t magic in the theatrical sense.
No smoke. No mirrors.
Just clarity. Discipline. Taste.
And the faint, undeniable feeling that if more of us approached our work this way, the world would sound a little better.
Or at the very least—less out of tune.
by Roy Sharples
Watch the Film: “Creativity in the Digital Age”
A documentary on music, machines, and the human heartbeat.
Because the future might be coded—but it still needs soul.
Credits
Executive Producers: Roy Sharples & Steve Franklin
Art Direction: Mat Bancroft
Production Direction: Ben Thornley
Filmed by: Sitcom Soldiers
Artist Management: Sammi Wild & Gary Cohen, ATC Management
With gratitude to:
Johnny Marr, Dave Cronen, Trust Management, Doviak, Iwan Gronow, Jack Mitchell, Natasha Kay-Sportelli, and Microsoft.
Read the Book.
Attitude. Imagination. Execution.
Unknown Origins Creative Studios All rights reserved © copyright 2021
