DECEMBER '93
Princess Diana announces her withdrawal from public life. Frank Zappa dies. Nirvana plan European dates for 1994 including UK gigs in April.
ROSES PUBLICIST, Phillip Hall, travels to Rockfield. Rough mixes are played to him, and over the course of an enthusiastic four-hour meeting, he is asked to manage the band. He accepts, but in a tragic turn of events, he loses a battle against cancer weeks later. The band attend his funeral in London.
Back at Rockfield, they play a bizarre driving game involving racing round back lanes with their headlights off. Eventually, Simon Dawson crashes his car into a ditch but escapes unscathed.
Recording continues at a furious pace. Band members will disappear for a day or two but always return to continue sessions as a band. Listening matter at this point includes early Neil Young and obscure lo-fi American blues in a quest for a depth and bluesiness missing in modern records.
Ian cultivates an obsession with obscure hardcore rap, whilst Reni becomes fixated with early Led Zeppelin, zeroing in on the songs' component parts in an effort to discover how they managed to sound so powerful.
Ian shaves his head. A week later, Reni does the same.
The group are given a final deadline by Geffen for the completion of their new album. Artwork for 'The Second Coming' is completed and, although the band have yet to finish recording at Rockfield, there is speculation that 'Love Spreads' will be released as a single on Valentine's Day, 1994. A spokesman announces, "If the album comes out in March then there probably will be a single in mid-February, although we don't know what it is yet or when it will come out".
Ian shows up at TJ's in Newport just before Christmas. When approached by a journalist from the Western Mail, the journo is told: "F--k off! I'm not talking to no tape recorder. Take me as I am, or don't bother."
He is later seen buying vast amount of junk food from a nearby service station at 3.30am. The band head north for Christmas, attempting to wind down.
JANUARY 1994
Rob Collins is freed from jail. Primal Scream return amid accusations of dance treachery. Elastica crash-land on the cover of NME.
HAVING RETURNED to Rockfield immediately after Christmas, Ian hears Oasis on Radio 1's Evening Session and is impressed.
The next day Liam and Noel Gallagher, who are recording 'Definitely Maybe' at nearby Mono Valley, chance upon Ian coming out of WH Smiths. He's shadow-boxing like Muhammed Ali and upon seeing them declares, "Youse are them guys out of f---ing Oasis, aren't you? I f---ing heard you on the Evening Session last night… 'Cigarettes And Alcohol'…. f---ing 'ell man, it's about time." Inevitably they start hanging around together and taking moonlit tractor rides through the fields of Monmouth.
The Roses travel to New York to begin the first of several discussions with Peter Leake (manager of Natalie Merchant, The Cowboy Junkies and The Waterboys) who they desperately want to look after them.
FEBRUARY '94
Kurt Cobain goes into a champagne and drug coma in Rome. Comedian Bill Hicks dies. Oasis provoke a mini-riot on a ferry crossing to Amsterdam.
PAUL SCHROEDER leaves Rockfield for the final time and returns to London, remaining tight-lipped about Roses-related events. Simon Dawson becomes producer.
Ian Brown turns up at TJ's in Newport again to see Novocaine supporting Dub War. He and Reni are mixing 'Driving South' at the time, which involves guitar-loops played over and over again, building into a trance.
The band are listening to Aerosmith and old blues compilations. Ian is by now in the habit of wearing a ski-hat. John Squire has a soft-topped convertible Mercedes parked in the driveway. 'The Second Coming' is now due in "late April".
MARCH/MAY '94
Kurt Cobain commits suicide. Labour leader John Smith dies of a heart attack. The Farm wait outside Liverpool Lomax to give Oasis "a good shoeing".
GARETH EVANS issues a multi-million pound writ against the band, who are now rapidly approaching the fifth anniversary of their debut album's release.
They arrive for another spell at Rockfield but leave soon after for two weeks holiday: John Squire further indulges his passion for cycling by taking his bike on vacation to France. Reni is convalescing from a debilitating illness.
They all return on May 14 to see to overdubs and vocals on the new tracks, and take delivery of a fleet of new Ford Fiestas which they delight in racing around the back lanes, once again with headlights off. This time there are no catastrophic accidents.
MCA, Geffen's parent company, inform interested parties that "people who've been talking about the band listening to loads of Led Zeppelin aren't a million miles from the point". John Kennedy, the band's lawyer, says "'The Second Coming' will be everything its title implies."
JUNE/JULY '94
Tony Blair is elected Labour Party leader. Bernard Butler walks out of Suede. The Farm's comeback tour reaches Chelmsford.
FINAL MIXING of the album is due to start, with the release date now pencilled in for September. Mani shows up backstage at Glastonbury Festival where he witnesses the Oasis circus in full effect. Tom Zutaut's visits to Wales are becoming more and more frequent as his paymasters become increasingly anxious. The band, still without a manager, decide not to continue talks with Peter Leake.
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER '94
Woodstock II festival turns 860 acres in upstate New York into a disaster area. Richey Manic is hospitalised suffering from 'nervous exhaustion'. Suede release 'Dog Man Star'.
FINALLY, TOM Zutaut's anxiety is allayed when he flies over to hear the completed recordings, which still need final mixing. He is "very pleased with it".
Beer Davies, the Roses' radio pluggers, are also invited to Rockfield. Company boss Gareth Davies and his colleague James Chappel-Gill drive to Wales. Whilst they are en route, a separate bizarre incident occurs outside the studio. Two itinerant building workers from Manchester are camping down the road while they try to find work. Driving by Rockfield, they ask the guy at the end of the drive (all but hidden by the darkness) if this is the studio where the Roses are recording.
"Yeah," he tells them. "The album's sound, too."
It becomes apparent that the man is Ian Brown, and he invites the two builders into the studio. Once Gareth and James have arrived, Ian and Reni play the four of them the album. James keeps rocking back on his chair, gasping for words and saying, "F---ing hell….". The record has an experimental edge with one tracks featuring screeching violins. It sounds, James and Gareth agree, as if the Roses have leapfrogged their second album and made a fantastically ambitious third.
Mani, on a drive through Monmouth, plays Steve from Novocaine the finished album. He's blasé about it by now, just looking out for individual bass parts, but to someone who's hearing it for the first time the record sounds "amazing".
Ian and Mani both confide that they're itching to play live again. They've waited so long because they were determined to get the record right, and now they have they want the world to hear it. To celebrate their leaving the studios they have a sumptuous formal dinner cooked by Anne, the studio chef. Inevitably, it includes chips.
OCTOBER '94
Anti-Criminal Justice Bill protesters riot in Park Lane. Blur headline at Alexandra Palace. Chaos erupts at Pink Floyd's 14-night residency at Earl's Court as a stand collapses.
THE BAND move to Metropolis studios in Chiswick with ex-Clash associate Bill Price, where they work on the album's final mix. Having finished, the Roses and Steve Atherton fly to LA to play Geffen the tapes. They return to meet with Hall Or Nothing, their British publicists, to discuss the campaign for 'Love Spreads' but fail to turn up for their first meeting. At later discussions the band insist the single is to be released on November 21.
The British arm of Geffen has no involvement with the release - so to placate their increasingly frustrated staff, promotions company Beer Davies are taken off the account and in-house pluggers take over. It is decided to couch the release of 'Love Spreads' in almost theatrical secrecy, culminating in a Securicor van ferrying a cassette of the single to Radio 1.
NOVEMBER '94
Nirvana's 'Unplugged In New York' is greeted by widespread acclaim. Prince Charles puts the future of the monarchy in alleged jeopardy with the publication of an authorised biography. The Farm languish in Liverpool.
STEVE ATHERTON goes to Rockfield studios to collect the last of the substantial archive amassed since the summer of 1993. Feverishly screening his calls, he leaves a message on his answering machine which features a small child shouting, "You'll never take me alive, copper!".
John Squire's artwork for 'Love Spreads' - featuring a gothic cherub atop a heraldic shield, a detail from the Newport-Monmouth road bridge - appears in the Japanese magazine Rockin' On, along with a full LP track-listing, proving that a great deal of the album's songs are at least two years old. It is thought that a track called 'How Do You Sleep' might be a cover of the John Lennon song. It isn't.
The Roses' associates are drilled into near-silence. The single is debuted on Radio 1's Evening Session on Monday, November 7 and the band go to ground in preparation for a predictable media onslaught that they will have nothing to do with.
This, after 46 months of half-truths, false starts and dashed hopes, is the resurrection…….
A long time 'Coming': the three locations of the new LP (l-r) Bluestone rehearsal rooms, Reni's kit at Square One and Rockfield:
You've heard about Blur, Oasis and Radiohead cracking America, selling out shows and creating the sort of Britbeat hysteria not seen since Beatlemania.
But much as fans camp outside their hotels and groupies besiege them backstage, Blur, Oasis and Radiohead remain light years away from the sort of success that some Americans are predicting for The Stone Roses. The Yanks, it seems, are making ready for 'The Second Coming'.
Jay Stowe, associate editor of Spin magazine, says the Roses have created levels of expectancy in the US not seen since the heydays of The Smiths and The Clash.
"If you want to compare it to American bands, it's up there with REM, Pearl Jam and Nirvana. It's exciting news. It won't outsell Nirvana but it will create the same hype."
Peter Leake, the heavyweight New York manager who was asked to manage the band in the summer, added: "This could be the one that breaks through and I hope it does. If everyone gets on and does their job it will be a success. It's exciting, they're a special band."
The Roses need the media on their side if they're going to make the Billboard Top 40 and, as others like The Wonder Stuff realised to their peril, the backlash will be immediate if journalists and media opportunities are snubbed. Where the UK press champions bands regardless of 'attitood', Americans are less tolerant towards the sort of blanket media silence the band have maintained in Britain so far.
Radio stations, however, should be easier to win over as their record company, DGC, who also boast Guns N' Roses, Aerosmith and Sonic Youth on their roster, will secure plays on mainstream stations.
Todd Wilkinson, production director at WFNX radio station in Boston, predicts his 200,000 listeners will put it near the top of their request list.
Wilkinson, also a club DJ who says songs like 'Fools Gold' are still regularly requested, reckons: "The first record was very underground. It didn't become mainstream, but DGC is very good at promoting rock records.
"Everyone will be looking out for it. As for Top 40 radio, it's difficult to say whether they will pick it up. But DGC have a good reputation so maybe they will. I'd say it's 50/50 for Top 40 success."
The Stone Roses' debut album was a major alternative success in the US, selling 250,000 copies even though the band never set foot on American soil to play.
The band's former record company Silvertone tried to persuade them to tour, but the Roses repeatedly refused and a similar anti-America stance will stand in the way of success for 'The Second Coming'.
Andy Richmond, of Silvertone, said: "We wanted them to tour but they weren't interested. They were too big for America, they just didn't think it was important. When the new album is released there'll be an initial groundswell, but after that it's up to the band."
An insider at DGC added: "It will be no good if they just send out the records and don't come to America. They need to play, they need to talk to people and they need to be seen. If they do, the record will sell. If they don't, we've got problems."
The one problem the band don't need to worry about is fans. Young Americans still remember the Madchester explosion inspired by The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets and The Charlatans. Although the latter bands no longer register as pioneers of the Madchester movement the Roses remain strong currency.
The fans, currently tuned into Green Day, Weezer and Offspring, are still interested. One such person is Debbie Pattow, a 23-year-old from Boston. She told NME: "The record's finally coming out? No waaay! That's sooo cooool! People still remember them and play their stuff. There's been so much mystery and time between records. People are completely psyched and ready for it. It's gonna be huge."
Andy Richardson
They're money-grabbing, baseball-bat wielding, wet-nursing servants of rock. At the heart of every successful band is THE MANAGER - and The Stone Roses haven't got one. IESTYN GEORGE interviews five potential candidates for the job…..
ED BICKNELL
A SILVER-HAIRED maverick whose sartorial penchant for Billy Fury hand-me-down drapes belies the fact that he's one of the wiliest business figures around.
Pedigree: Manages Dire Straits, The Notting Hillbillies, Paul Brady and Mark Knopfler's solo material. Was actually sounded out about the Roses job a month ago.
"The head of Geffen in America asked me if I was interested last December. After I stopped laughing he then asked me if I was interested in The Waterboys. Then, a month ago, I received a letter asking me whether I'd like to be interviewed for the job. I told them I was a bit long in the tooth to put my name in the hat with a load of other managers."
Qualities: Not a man to mince his words, eg: "Only a moron would release a new recording in December. If The Stone Roses had a compilation album out on K-Tel it would make some kind of sense, but this is nonsensical."
Weaknesses: Likely to clash with the Roses over promotional work-rate. "The most important thing in America is working with the media, which most bands hate doing. I can't see the Roses doing breakfast TV somehow."
Fantasy rock client: Leonard Cohen and Scott Walker. "Scott was the nicest man I've ever dealt with. We managed him for six years and came out of it only £150 down on the deal."
Odds: 25-1 and lengthening. A positive hell-freezing-over scenario.
STEVE HARRISON (no photo)
ANTITHESIS OF the managerial stereotype. Down-to-earth record retailer made good, he also has a third string to his bow as found of the Dead Dead Good label.
Pedigree: Has managed The Charlatans since 1988. "I went to see them on the off-chance and they asked me to buy them a Transit van. They wouldn't let me go until I gave them a cheque."
Qualities: Chiefly a music fan. "Managers do, on the whole, take musicians for granted. They don't give them the respect they deserve." Also a master of crisis management. Has guided The Charlatans to around one million sales worldwide (after shelling out £40,000 for the pressing of their first single, 'Indian Rope'), despite the collapse of Madchester and, more bizarrely, the incarceration of keyboard player Rob Collins as an accessory to armed robbery.
Weaknesses: Lacks the clout of the big-name managers. Confesses that he "wants to be liked too much" to put the requisite noses out of joint.
Fantasy rock client: REM or, when pushed, he admits more than just a great admiration for The Stone Roses. "They're a fantastic band and a brilliant bunch of people. I think that's a good enough start, don't you?"
Odds: 10-1. A good each-way bet for the only manager to survive the wreckage of baggy.
TOM WATKINS
BUDDAH-LIKE POP guru with a big heart and an even larger bank balance. An astonishing self-publicist, he resembles Christopher Biggins on go-faster powder.
Pedigree: Started off managing the hopelessly named Giggles: "They were hugely successful - got to Number 149 in Siberia." Moved on to Bros and the Pet Shop Boys, he is currently in charge of East 17, 2wo 3irds and Juice.
Qualities: Bluntly modest, he sees management as "all about banging a few desks, talking to people and demanding a little respect when it ain't initially forthcoming".
Weaknesses: Hates anything to do with 'indie' music. "Bands like Suede drive me up the wall. I don't want to intellectualise pop music - I can go read a book for that. Pop's transitory, it's superficial. But the fact is, I happen to like it."
The Stone Roses?: "Trying to resurrect a band's career is a f---ing nightmare, although I think they were skating on thin ice right from the start. Does anyone care about them now? I doubt it somehow."
Fantasy rock client: "Elvis Presley, because he had a big cock in his trousers. Take That would be a nightmare because I can think of nothing more vile than their coathanger smiles."
Odds: 250-1. More chance of Ossie Ardiles landing the job.
ANTHONY H WILSON
FACTORY BOSS, In The City director, TV personality and full-time intellectual dreamer. A firm subscriber to the management edict that without Epstein, there would've been no Beatles.
Pedigree: Has looked after the Durutti Column since 1978 and was briefly joint-manager of ACR with Alan Erasmus. His first wife, incidently, once managed The Stone Roses.
Qualities: Imaginative enough to carry on where the Roses left off, he is a great admirer of previous incumbent Gareth Evans. "When the press reported that the Mondays' deal with EMI had fallen through when Shaun Ryder failed to turn up for the signing, Gareth phoned up to congratulate us. He thought we'd engineered the whole thing as a press stunt. He said he wished he'd have thought of that one."
Weaknesses: Hardly renowned for his sharp business acumen, an unyielding optimism often blinds his judgement. Unsurprisingly, he believes the Roses will storm back. "A great band is a great band and they haven't waylaid themselves in the way that my lot - the Mondays - did."
Fantasy rock client: "All bands are nightmares - they're musicians after all. I must admit to having relished the idea of working with Morrissey, though. I've always believed that he could benefit from a combative intellectual relationship at some point."
Odds: 20-1. How many jobs can one man have?
ELLIOT RASHMAN
HYPERACTIVE MANCHESTER City fan who co-founded In The City, his combative nature and forthright views on the "moral bankruptcy" of the music industry always makes him one of the more quotable members of his profession.
Pedigree: Met Mick Hucknall in the early '80s while Ents manager at Manchester Polytechnic. Now co-manages multi-million selling Simply Red with partner Andy Dodd.
Qualities: A steadfast faith in his own beliefs. Thinks the Roses "have just about got it right. It's possible for them to succeed without a manager, but it won't be as much fun for them."
Weaknesses: Not likely to endear himself to US record company bosses. He believes that American industry's "cultural imperialism" is a contributing factor in the failure of British bands to establish themselves abroad. "A lot of US labels don't want acts from outside the country to break big there. So f--k 'em - don't worry about it."
Fantasy rock client: "Ian McCulloch. He was my hero. Then I managed him around the time of 'Candleland' and he turned into a nightmare. He couldn't come to terms with the fact that being too pissed to stand was not the best way to go about playing live. He thought it was rock 'n' roll."
Odds: 5-1 favourite. Right place, right time, even if he does support the wrong team.
Back To part one