Andy Rourke, the bassist for The Smiths, has died of pancreatic cancer, his former bandmate and childhood friend Johnny Marr announced overnight.

Our good friends at Strangeways Radio are putting together a week-in-review video series called Alt. Rewind that recaps the news posted at Slicing Up Eyeballs and on the Strangeways site throughout the preceding week, hosted by Velvet Rebel. Watch the latest episode right here.

For those who haven’t yet partaken in the sourdough-making craze that swept through coronavirus lockdowns this spring, none other than Mike Joyce — yes, the former drummer for The Smiths — is here to help get you up to speed and kneading away. Watch his video tutorial right here.

In a trainwreck that just keeps getting worse, Mike Joyce today announced that he, too, will not take part in the Classically Smiths live shows he began teasing last week, saying he’d been barred from revealing Andy Rourke wouldn’t be taking part when the project was announced Monday.

After cryptic hints Friday, the cat’s now out of the bag: The Smiths’ Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce, plus “fifth member” Craig Gannon, will perform the band’s beloved songs backed by a full orchestra in the U.K. this summer, the Manchester Evening News reported today. No dates have yet been announced.

It appears that Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke, the rhythm section of The Smiths, are planning something — a concert? a full tour? — this year with Craig Gannon, the onetime Aztec Camera member who toured with The Smiths as a second guitarist toward the end of the band’s life.

One day after new 12-inch and 7-inch singles of The Smiths’ “The Queen is Dead” went on sale at U.K. retailers, Morrissey is accusing the HMV chain of “an attempt to freeze sales” by limiting sales of new vinyl to one copy per person — and he’s urging fans to don silly costumes and buy as many copies “as​ you ​desire.”