Nile Marr is the son of former Smiths guitarist and current solo artist Johnny Marr and his wife Angela. He was named for one of his father’s musical heroes, Chic’s Nile Rodgers. Marr’s latest single “Only Time Can Break Your Heart” was recorded in the studio he built during lockdown in an abandoned mill. “The threat of being kicked out by developers is real so I’ve been trying to make as much music as possible,” Marr explains. “The pandemic helped me refocus my life and prioritize what I felt was most important, writing the kind of songs I’ve always wanted to write. ‘Only Time Can Break Your Heart’ is me doing The La’s, Big Star hell, even Tom Petty (cue Waynes World ‘we are not worthy’). Bands that made me want to write songs when I first heard them as a kid. It doesn’t have to be shouty, it doesn’t have to be loud. It’s singing because I like it, it’s melody because I like melody. It’s liberating.”

Marr started out as a solo artist, then as a duo with American singer-songwriter Meredith Sheldon, and then in the trio Man Made, alongside drummer Scott Griffiths and bassist Callum Rogers, with future tour manager for Blossoms, Dan Woolfie, as their sound engineer. They released their debut album TV Broke My Brain in 2016, although its constituent songs were written over a period of eight years.

Marr added acoustic guitar and backing vocals on 7 Worlds Collide’s 2009 album The Sun Came Out. He has also appeared on two of his father’s albums: on 2013’s The Messenger he plays as a soloist, while on 2014’s Playland he adds backing vocals.

Nile Marr
How We Drift 7″
Park The Van Records

1. How We Drift
2. Only Time Can Break Your Heart

Order How We Drift 7″ by Nile Marr HERE