Watch Johnny Marr Play The New Song “Bug” On Conan
Late-night OG Conan O’Brien recently sat for a long interview with Vulture’s David Marchese, and he talked about his plan to turn his hour-long late-night show into a half-hour show. To hear him tell it, O’Brien has gotten a bit tired of the nightly grind of interviews, comedians, and musical guests, and he’s interested to see how he can switch it up. That’s a noble goal, but there’s something sad about a future where O’Brien — someone who was hosting left-of-center musical guests years before other shows even tried doing that — might just stop having bands play on his show altogether.
For now, though, O’Brien is still hosting a traditional late-night show, and he’s still featuring musical guests who can sometimes be intriguing. The ex-Smiths guitar legend Johnny Marr, for example, was on the show last night. Marr’s got a new solo album called Call The Comet coming out in a couple of weeks, and he’s already shared the new songs “The Tracers,” “Hi Hello,” and “Walk Into The Sea.” But on the show last night, Marr played one of the songs he hasn’t yet shared, a new joint called “Bug.”
“Bug” is a midtempo rocker with some strong Britpop overtones. And Marr played it with a band of nattily dressed young dudes who look like they came straight from Britpop central casting. Watch the performance below.
Call The Comet is out 6/15 on New Voodoo.