Deer Shed Festival, Baldersby Park, Topcliffe, July 25-27

"I might play a couple, yes," confirms the former Smiths guitarist. "We did a small tour in the UK before we went to South America and we played some new songs on that. They went down very well, and it keeps the loyal fans happy, the ones that keep coming back to see me."

Back home from his tour travels, 50-year-old Marr is in the studio, recording the album that will form the follow-up to his 2012 solo debut, The Messenger. "I was working on it before I went away and now I've got six, seven or eight weeks left to do on it. It sounds like a lot but it's not, I have a lot to do," he says.

Marr acknowledges the importance of strict deadlines. "It has to be that way, if I want to have it released before the end of the year," he says. "It's always been that way, ever since I can remember. If you're in an indie band, it's kind of pointless putting out a record at the very end of the year; they get swamped by big pop acts and compilations for Christmas. I want it out before that window closes, so September hopefully."

Since The Messenger, Marr has worked on the blockbuster-movie soundtrack for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, an experience that was "a lot of fun and very different too". "We performed the soundtrack, and there were 12 of us on stage; me, Hans Zimmer, Pharrell Williams, Alicia Keys and a load more. It was quite something. I like moving around like that, I don't like knowing who I'm going to be working with from one year to the next," he says.

"Collaboration is a really big deal for me, and for years and years I felt like I had to earn the right to collaborate, but now I'm solo, everyone wants to collaborate. For a while I just wanted to concentrate on my own band, but I get offered the most unusual things that are sometimes too interesting to turn down. Spider-Man was one of those. I love working with Hans, as we did on Inception, and I love Spider-Man. He's the only comic book character I was into."

Marr is full of praise for the soundtrack contributions of Keys and Williams. "Alicia is amazing. She's part of the great tradition of R'n'B singers, one of the great American singers, and if she'd been around 30 or 40 years ago, she'd be singing with Etta James or Aretha Franklin. She really knows about arrangement, she directed the whole thing," he says.

"Pharrell, well, he's our generation's Stevie Wonder. We talked about the opportunity of working together again, but we're both serial workaholics. If we can make our paths cross again though, then we'll do it. We're cut from the same cloth, which you might not think because we have such different backgrounds, but we both love disco and we have Nile Rodgers in common."

Away from the studio, Marr has been touring almost constantly for the past two years, travelling all over the world. "That's how I wanted my solo career to go. It's based on the ideas and principles of the bands I saw when I was a kid. They were always playing. Always," he says.

"I'm almost wilfully ignoring the modern idea that you go away, create or design some 'campaign' and then execute it. I think words like campaign, execute and project are too corporate, and I don't want to think like that. So instead, I just play and play and play."

Marr may play and play and play, but being asked to headline a festival is still a confidence boost. "Yes, it really is. When I made my album, I made it primarily for fans. That's not to say I wanted to sell it at car boot sales, but the main criteria was to please the people that have liked what I do throughout my career," he says.

"I had a really clear idea of how to do that. I didn't over-think it, and it took off. The same thing happened in America, where the record has done well and we've played some big gigs. I've spent the last year or so being surprised and bemused. I don't think it's not earned, but for my first solo album, it's been great."

This summer, Marr will be looking to add the Deer Shed to his memory box of good gigs. "I've been a bit spoilt by how well my recent tours have been going, but basically, unless I see people leaving the venue covered in sweat, hugging and saying what a great time they've had, it's been a bit of an off night." he says. "I want the audience to be wrecked by the time we finish."

Deer Shed Festival 5 will run at Baldersby Park, Topcliffe, near Thirsk, from July 25 to 27; British Sea Power will headline the first day; Johnny Marr, the second; Stornoway, the third. Box office: deershedfestival.com