1990 06 02 Tim Broad NME

SVENGALI IN PLATFORMS

Video killed the radical star? Not in the case of Mozzer. Vid director supremo TIM ‘Mary Chain’
BROAD has helped rid MORRISSEY of his small-screen shyness with his first commercial video -
Hulmerist. Words: Simon Williams

STRANGE AS it may seem, were it not for Tim Broad, Morrissey's excursion into the video medium may well have been curtailed after one uncertain effort.

The story begins on a Thursday afternoon in 1987 when Rough Trade supremo Geoff Travis finally persuaded the notoriously anti-promo Smiths to attempt a ‘proper’ video for ‘Girlfriend In A Coma'. He called Tim - already established as a director after working with the Mary Chain - and asked for a completed copy of the shoot by Monday.

“I went along in the morning, and Morrissey was scheduled to arrive at lunchtime,” recalls Tim. “I must admit, the way that job came in, confirmed at 8pm to be filming the next day, I half thought he wouldn’t come. I was quite prepared to go home having done nothing. But he turned up and was very professional, very pleasant.

“I don’t even know to this day what the truth is about that adopted (anti-video) attitude. When we went to California earlier this year he did a very long radio interview and said he’d always regarded them with derision until he met me. Now, I don’t know what that chemistry was but it seems as though he got a very different perspective on making videos after we did ‘Girlfriend’. I think he was really surprised by it.”

Whatever the reasons for Mozzer’s change of heart, his one-off relationship with Tim has blossomed into a consistently successful collaboration through ‘I Started Something. . .’ - The Smiths’ farewell - and inevitably on to Mozzer’s solo career. Like Stephen Street, Tim appeared to represent an ally in the face of circumstantial adversity.

‘‘After The Smiths broke up I think he felt very alone because I don’t think it was his desire at any
point that they should split. If anything it caused him a great deal of trauma and I think it would have been more difficult for him to find the right people to work with.”

Evidence of their fruitful partnership is to be found on Morrissey’s first ever commercial video, ‘Hulmerist’. Mozzer may have chosen the track listing, but Tim has taken the half dozen promos and clips of the mayhem at the Wolverhampton show and pieced together the final jigsaw. His large credit on the sleeve bears witness to his decisive role in the project.

“Every single video was directed by me, so I know what was involved in the making of them. I was there filming at Wolverhampton, so I know what happened that day. I had a massive sense of involvement in this project. I think Hulmerist has been a long time coming, and because of that it’s a lot more than a normal compilation or long- form concert. And I’m glad it’s not one of either - it has a lot of elements interspersed with each other to get a different kind of product. It represents quite an advance in this medium.”

Tim is justifiably enthusiastic about his achievements, and warmly forthcoming about his “honest working relationship” with the Moz.

“It’s been a great experience for me because it’s very rare in the area that I work in to be in a position where the normal restrictions are lifted. Morrissey does enjoy an autonomy with his record company - on the whole they allow him to do what he wants with his art, be it schoolboys in stilletoes or whatever.”

Unfortunately, the cathode ray powers-that-be haven’t been so understanding of Morrissey’s visual idiosyncracies: ‘Ouija Board Ouija Board’ was banned by Top Of The Pops for featuring a, um, ouija board, although with typical Beeb double standards ‘Interesting Drug’ escaped unscathed, clubbed seals, stilletoes et al. Not only that, but ‘November Spawned A Monster’ - ironically Morrissey's most direct promo yet - was set to be a Chart Show EXCLUSIVE until the producer decided it ‘wasn’t good enough’ for the show - the memory of which still makes Tim seethe.

“As The Chart Show is such an important outlet for videos in this country I think his policy is at times very irresponsible, it shows a serious lack of commitment to what he’s doing. If people like that are going to adopt typically idiosyncratic views it really does make our lives very difficult. Maybe he got out of bed on the wrong side. . .”

Against that, Tim gleans fulsome satisfaction from knowing that he isn’t simply churning out disposable TV fodder for the masses. 

“I'm very pleased these are at last available to people because I’ve always felt that to see a one-minute clip of any of these on The Chart Show is completely irrelevant. It’s more annoying than anything, it’s a point of constant irritation to myself and Morrissey. The end of ‘Suedehead’ has never ever been shown on television.

“What makes Morrissey’s videos stand out is that you suddenly realise that this is something which demands your concentration and your attention and it’s baffling if you see it for a minute. They’re still entertaining, they look good, but it’s not just background decorative footage. I've deliberately made them ambiguous and open ended, and I hope that people can now appreciate that fact.”

Any diehard ‘I-was-there-pal' fans will also probably appreciate the copious lengths of Wolverhampton pre-gig footage which has transformed a few hundred hopeful devotees into video stars overnight. Hulmerist does it for the kids.

“In some ways it is very much for them - not just for the ones who went to Wolverhampton, because those people are representative of many others too. It’s not just their dedication, but everybody is smiling beforehand and it’s a surprisingly lighthearted atmosphere which is captured. Also, there was a great deal of crowd electricity, which can be quite ritualistic and I think that Morrissey loved it on that level.

“Plus the fact that of all the aspects of The Smiths, the one Morrissey enjoyed the most was touring and performing, so to go on stage again for the first and only time since the split was obviously an amazing experience for him.” 

Who said video could kill the radical star?