Brown 'to write songs with Marr'

Ian Brown is planning a collaboration with Johnny Marr to write the soundtrack for a friend's drama series.

The former Stone Roses frontman told the BBC that he also wants to bring his former bandmate Mani or Happy Mondays bassist Paul Ryder in on the project.

Brown said: "The idea is that Johnny writes the music and I write the words and the melodies. We've got a mutual friend who's writing a drama series.

"One of them's about ticket touts, another one's about grafters - kids who sell T-shirts and things like that - and another one's about pickpockets."

He added: "We're going to get together and do the soundtrack for these dramas. We'd have to bring a drummer or a bass player in.

"We'd seen each other around when we were kids, 16 or 17. He wanted me to sing and asked a mutual friend, but said, 'I won't poach another guitarist's singer'. So we've got to work together now."

Marr was previously the guitarist in The Smiths and worked for three albums with ex-New Order singer Bernard Sumner as Electronic before joining The Cribs last year.