Kewpie sends the link (via Morrissey reddit), originally posted by modrevolve in the forums (original post):

Manchester Rock Great James Returns to South Florida After 13 Years Away - Broward-Palm Beach New Times

Excerpt:

...Just don't mention to lead singer Tim Booth the "next Smiths" or, worse still, the "second-rate Smiths" designations that were pinned on the band by the English press.

"It might be fair to say we influenced them," says the cordial Booth during a call from Brighton Beach. First off, Booth mentions that his group was formed in 1982 — one year before the Smiths. He also points out that Morrissey himself was a huge fan of the band, proclaiming James one of the best bands in the world in 1983 and covering the group's discordantly frantic folk track "What's the World" in 1987 on the Smiths' cassette single for "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish."

Booth, who feels that Joy Division and Patti Smith would be much more obvious influences on James' sound, does not have one bad word to say about the king of mope or his quartet, however. He doesn't normally set the record straight on this topic, because the Smiths were extremely supportive of his band early on. "They got famous first and then tried to get us famous," he adds. "All part of a great legacy of Manchester bands looking after each other." After being lent a hand by the Smiths and former Factory Records labelmates New Order, James paid it forward to fellow Mancurian groups the Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses, taking them on the road when they were first coming up.