Johnny Marr

Now, at the grand old age of 49, he’s ready to release his debut solo album, The Messenger.

“It’s late in the day to be making my debut album,” he admits. “But it feels like the early days again, which people might be surprised to hear. That’s one of the advantages of making your first record under your own name after having made so many with other people, it’s all fresh again.”

After leaving The Smiths – his departure led to the band’s break-up weeks later – Marr seemed intent on working with as many artists as he could. He briefly joined Pretenders and The The, and formed Electronic with New Order’s Bernard Sumner.

Subsequent years would see him turn producer with the likes of early Noughties hopefuls Haven, form his band Johnny Marr + The Healers, team up with Crowded House’s Neil Finn on his 7 Worlds Collide project and become a fully fledged member of American indie stars Modest Mouse and Wakefield’s finest The Cribs.

“I just reached a point where I didn’t want to be in another band – or someone else’s band any more,” he says. “The ideas for the record started to haunt me, in a good way. I’m always led by my musical hunches, that then become strong ideas and concepts that sometimes lead to being in someone else’s band, but this time led to my own songs.”

He says he never had the inclination to make a solo album before, and the timing wouldn’t have been right.

Marr also realised over the years that, with each project he was involved in, he had his own fans following him.

“I’d say that’s been 80% of the motivation for making this album, to play music to people who like what I do. It sounds like such an obvious thing, but it was an incredible revelation to me,” he says.

That a former member of The Smiths, a band with one of the most devoted and obsessive fan bases, would be surprised people were prepared to attend gigs especially to see him, says something about Marr. He’s unlike most rock stars, seemingly devoid of ego and uninterested in the trappings of his work environment.

“I prefer philosophy, really,” he says. “Mostly German. Pretentious, maybe. So shoot me. I want to read about interesting things about the human condition. Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Nietzsche are my rock stars, which I think is pretty amusing.”

One track on The Messenger is inspired by his love of philosophy. Generate! Generate! is Marr’s tribute to 17th-century French philosopher René Descartes, most famous for writing “Cogito ergo sum” or “I think, therefore I am”.

“It might sound like a stupid pop song, that one, but it’s me turning Descartes on its head. As a tribute, I wrote the line ‘Cogito ergo dun’ which means ‘I think, therefore I am stupid’. The song’s basically for all the people who say they think too much, but empowering them. It’s a celebration of hyperactivity.”

Otherwise, Marr draws inspiration from cities. Growing up in Manchester, he says he’s long been fascinated by metropolitan centres, what the architecture says about a place.

“I guess it’s called psycho-geography,” he says. “The most important thing for me is to get out into the world and get the wind in my hair.”

Having left behind The Smiths and going solo, it could be said Marr is following in the footsteps of Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher. Is it time for Marr to step into the spotlight in a similar way?

“I can absolutely relate to Paul and Noel for obvious reasons, but it’s good not to analyse these things too much,” he says, cautiously.

The Messenger, recorded in a Salford barn, is a melodic, guitar-centric album that manages to pull from each facet of Marr’s career.

There’s the unmistakable, jangly guitar playing first heard with The Smiths; the brattish energy, particularly on I Want The Heartbeat and Generate! Generate!, of The Cribs; and, on the title track, a floating quality not a million miles from his work with Electronic.

Crucially, however, none of it could be by anybody else. These songs sound fresh and new, but also instantly familiar.

“It’s nice to have made a record and not hear people say it’s a grower,” he says. “It’s very important to me that the songs have energy. I can’t wait for the first live shows.

“It’s not been easy being a fan of mine, with me going in different directions. This record is for the fans. Well, if not for them, it’s for us, me and them together. It’s most definitely time to get into a venue, big or small, and for us all to just enjoy ourselves and have fun.”

• Johnny Marr plays Concorde 2, Madeira Drive, Brighton, on Thursday, March 14. Doors 7.30pm, SOLD OUT. For returns, call 01273 673311