It was the news no-one could have predicted. During Radio 1's Evening Session on Monday, March 25, Jo Whiley told stunned listeners that Stone Roses guitarist JOHN SQUIRE had quit and that the future of the band hung in the balance. ANDY RICHARDSON traces how the story came to light and speaks to former Roses manager GARETH EVANS, while US reporter PAUL BIEL catches up with LA-based management executive DOUG GOLDSTEIN.
How The Story Broke
JOHN SQUIRE has quit THE STONE ROSES.
Squire told fellow band members Ian Brown, Mani and Robbie Maddix by telephone on March 21. The three were described as 'shell-shocked' by the news.
Brown, Mani and Maddix held two crisis meetings with Squire last Monday and Wednesday hoping to find out his reasons for leaving and to try and persuade him to stay. A third meeting had been arranged at the time NME went to press. According to sources close to the band, their chances of persuading Squire to stay were slim.
While Squire is likely to pursue a solo career, the others are now determined to continue with the name The Stone Roses. They plan to recruit a new guitarist, although are as yet unable to say who they would approach.
Squire has so far declined to announce his motive for leaving. However, NME understands he had been unhappy with the band for some time and, until Monday's post-split meeting, had not seen them since the end of their world tour at Wembley Arena on December 29.
Since that date, Brown and Mani have been working on a Portastudio at Maddix' house while Squire is believed to have been working by himself on material.
NME also understands Squire dreaded the prospect of recording with the group again following the protracted and difficult 'Second Coming' sessions. The band were due to return to the studio later this month to work on their third studio album.
Squire is also believed to have been saddened by the departure of drummer Reni, who decided to leave for personal reasons in April 1995, on the eve of their world tour.
Terri Hall, Roses publicist, told NME: "John Squire is trying to explain his reasons for leaving to the band. There is not yet an official statement but we are hoping to have a joint statement soon. There is no reason why The Stone Roses cannot continue and remain on Geffen."
The news of Squire's departure leaked out to The Stone Roses' road crew following his telephone calls to the band last Thursday. From there it leaked to the Oasis road crew, many of whom used to work for The Stone Roses.
Radio 1 DJ Jo Whiley was told about Squire's decision on Saturday (March 24) following an Oasis gig at Dublin's The Point and contacted Terri Hall to check whether the report was true. Hall contacted Squire and they agreed to go public. Hall confirmed the news in a phone call to the Evening Session last Monday evening (March 25). She also telephoned senior staff at Geffen and NME editor Steve Sutherland shortly after 6pm on Monday.
Whiley told NME: "I was completely shocked. I feel very sorry for everyone involved. It was really ironic hearing about it at an Oasis gig. If it hadn't been for the Roses you wonder what Oasis would have been like."
Reaction to Squire's decision has been swift.
Steve Adge, the Roses long-standing tour manager, also left the band three weeks ago. It is understood Adge, who had been with the band since their inception and was in charge of their world tour, will now go into full-time management.
He said: "I'm just as shocked as everybody else."
And Black Grape's Shaun Ryder said: "Of course I'm sad. I'm like 'Oh f---, The Stone Roses have split up'. I don't know any more about it. It's f---ing sad."
NME understands the band members have different contractual arrangements with Geffen. Squire and Brown receive more money than Mani and both have clauses in their contracts which could link them to the label as solo artists in the event of The Stone Roses splitting. It is not known whether Maddix signed a contract which made him a fully-fledged member of the band, or whether he was employed as a session musician. The band are due to meet their lawyers in the near future.
Geffen is now considering the release date of the Roses' much-touted live album. NME understands the record, which was recorded during the 'Second Coming' tour, has already been mixed and could be made available within months. It is not currently on Geffen's release schedules but senior executives may make it available as soon as they know what will happen to the remainder of the band.
Roses Manager Speaks (Er, that's Guns N…..)
DOUG GOLDSTEIN, the man who planned to manage The Stone Roses late in 1994, has spoken about John Squire's decision to quit.
Goldstein said: "He's a very intelligent guy and seems to really enjoy spending time by himself, so I guess it doesn't surprise me a whole lot that he would choose to make himself happy by immersing himself in his music."
Speaking from the office of his LA management company Big FD, Goldstein added: "The news does come as a bit of a shock. What I will say is this, if it's the best thing for them and they're gonna be happy then I support it. If it's for some other reason, then I wish they would work it out."
Goldstein, who manages Guns N' Roses, spent almost a week in Manchester with the Roses in 1994 courting a management deal which fell through due to legal wrangles.
"I loved 'Second Coming' which America never really understood for whatever reason, and I got to be really - what I thought - good friends with the guys, I really liked them a lot. I don't know about their opinions of me, quite honestly. I think they're not only tremendously talented guys, I very very much like them on a personal level. I miss talking to them."
However, Goldstein, who represented the band for about three months, said he was not surprised that Squire's reason for quitting had been kept secret.
"They have a very cool system. Although they had their own opinions, they definitely operated as a unit. All outsiders are just that. If you're not actually part of the band, or Steve Atherton (ne Steve Adge), you're not part of the decision-making process. I respected that and thought how it was cool that they really leaned on each other."
Asked if he would be prepared to manage Squire, Goldstein said: "Yeah, I'd absolutely consider it.
"I have a lot of respect for John as an artist - I really don't think it's about money for John. I don't think it's ever been about money for John."
Meanwhile, Geffen Records in the US offered no official comment on the Roses. PR official Ray Hamm stressed Geffen still had a contract with the group.
He said: "They have not officially notified the label that they have broken up as far as contracts are concerned and so, until they do, we can't really comment on what's going to happen."
Roses Manager Speaks (Er, that's ex-Manager…….)
GARETH EVANS, The Stone Roses' former manager, has spoken about the shock news that John Squire has left the band.
He said: "Money was their downfall. They bottled it."
Evans said the Roses failed to recover from a series of blows including the departure of Reni, their failure to crack the American market and their inability to appoint a dynamic manager.
He said: "The major thing was Reni. His influence was unbelievable. Reni was the most important member of the band. On the music side, he gave the band the ideas and he never got his just reward for the songs because he didn't get his songwriting credits.
"Look at them now. They had the keyboard player who used to be in OMD and a new drummer. John Squire wasn't in the same band anymore. He's not in the band he wanted to be in. And they were totally upstaged by Oasis. Oasis have dwarfed them."
Evans said they made a critical mistake when they refused to play Madison Square Gardens, in New York, and the LA Forum following the release of 'The Stone Roses'. He believes those gigs would have sparked a wave of American success, similar to that currently enjoyed by Oasis.
He said: "That was where they went wrong. They had those two gigs and they didn't play them. The gigs were sold out. If they had played there and played the simple songs from the first album, America would have loved them. But they wouldn't play."
Evans claims cracks started appearing as early as Spike Island. He said: "Spike Island was the biggest polluted area in Europe. Saddam Hussein bought his gas to kill the Kurds nearby. The idea was to have a press conference for Ian Brown and John Squire and to get them involved with Greenpeace. But the band wouldn't have it. They bottled it. Oasis wouldn't have bottled it. They would have said what they thought."
Evans added: "They've totally got themselves to blame. I think they were greedy and selfish. I'm madly disappointed because every time I switch on the radio now I hear bands who have pinched from them or copied them. Liam's (Gallagher) heroes are the Roses. They should have gone to America, played New York and LA and then stayed in America. They could have flown back every weekend in their own private jet if they'd wanted to. I'm just madly disappointed."
Back To Media 1996