Oscar nominated actor James Franco is set to produce and perform an album heavily inspired by the Smiths.

Franco’s band ‘Daddy’ is a collaboration between Franco and multi-instrumentalist Tim O’Keefe. The band have signed on with Kobalt for the release, which initially is to be released in 2016. Whilst this is Franco’s first move into the music industry; he has frequently mentioned his respect and admiration for the Smiths. Often making references to them in his poetry.

Original bassist for The Smiths Andy Rourke is set to feature on every single on the album.

Franco and O’Keefe had this to say on the news:

“We are really excited to partner with Kobalt on our upcoming Daddy album and film,”

“Kobalt has the right forward-thinking approach to work with a project as unique as ours, where we see our work not only existing within the music realm, but extending into the film, art space and beyond on an independent basis.”

James Franco took to Twitter to announce the news.

With Franco’s well known cultural interest (being regarded as a poet, actor, producer, director, artist) it was only a matter of time until he made the move into music as well. Listen to Daddy’s song ‘This Charming Man’ inspired by, you guessed it, ‘This Charming Man’ by The Smiths: