Ian Brown has signed a solo deal with Polydor and has completed his debut album. A release date or any further details about Brown's album have yet to be confirmed, but as previously reported in NME, it is expected to be called 'Under the Pavement at The Beach'
NME understands that Brown has requested that a monkey be depicted on the cover artwork for the album because, according to sources close to the singer, he sees himself as "King Monkey".
The album sees Brown reunited with former Stone Roses colleague Mani and original Stone Roses drummer Alan 'Reni' Wren, who guest on some of the tracks on the album.
Meanwhile, Alan 'Reni' Wren was jailed last week for contempt of court. Reni, 33, was in Manchester Magistrates court on August 29 on a charge of having no car insurance when he launched a verbal attack at stipendiary magistrate Derrick Fairclough. The magistrate ordered Reni to spend lunchtime in the court cells as a result and although he apologised, Fairclough sentenced Reni to a further 7 days in Prison for contempt of court.
Manchester court reporter Stan Miller said "Wren was pleading hardship in his defense, but when the stipendiary magistrate asked him what his earning were, he became very evasive."
Miller said that the magistrate explained to Reni that he couldn't plead hardship without explaining why to which Reni replied "Why don't you stop tapping your fingers on the table like a five-year-old ?"
Fairclough warned Reni about contempt of court and ordered him into the court dock for a formal warning to which Reni replied,"Do you feel safe now ?" The magistrate then warned Reni again that he could face being charged with contempt, to which he replied: "Big deal, so what ?"
The magistrate adjourned the hearing and ordered that Reni be sent down during lunchtime. When the case resumed Fairclough told the drummer that he would "not tolerate that kind of behaviour" and sentenced him to seven days in jail. Wren was released after 3 days.
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