With The Stone Roses, Mani recorded one of the albums of the '80s. Now he wants to reform the band and do it all again. But then, he has just drunk eight pints of Stella.
Hello, where are you ?
It's three in the morning and I'm at a lock-in in a bar called the Blue Café in Manchester.
It's our round, what are you having ?
Well, I've had about 8 pints of Stella so it would be rude not to have another.
Can you remember what you were doing when you were 15 ?
It was 1977 when I had my first arrest for destroying the preparations for the Silver Jubilee in Manchester.
What was the best thing about being 15 ?
Fingering girls in the park while drinking bottles of Woodpecker cider.
What's the worst thing about being 15 ?
My mum finding my dirty books. And having to go to school.
What were you doing 15 years ago ?
I was a class city rocker then and I'm a class city rocker now, so the passage of time means nothing to me.
What's your worst fashion faux pas of the past 15 years ?
Those hooded tops in the Fools Gold video were pretty minging.
Is there anything you know now that you wish you knew then ?
Don't eat Mexican food.
What music are you listening to now ?
The new Beta Band album.
What's the best record of the last 15 years ?
What Time Is Love ? by the KLF.
What would you be doing if you weren't a musician ?
Selling drugs or robbing banks.
When was the last time you listened to The Stone Roses ?
I always play it when I'm DJing. I heard it properly about 8 months ago and it saddened me. I realised we could have been the best band in the world and we blew it.
When did the rot set in ?
Once we got inside the belly of the beast it f___ed us up. People were always telling us what to do, but we knew what we wanted to do. We didn't need Millionaire Jeeves telling us. Even when we were scumbags playing to about 50 people in Manchester, we knew we were special.
It wasn't all that bad, surely ?
No. I found all these old DATs and other tapes in my basement and it reminded me of when it was fun. Listening to that stuff made me miss those times. We used to spend so much time in that basement practising and getting f___ed.
Why did it collapse if you were all such good friends ?
It got snide. Outsiders came in and the bigger we got, the more they led us astray. Then John Squire turned round and dropped us like we were nothing to him.
Do you still see the others ?
Sometimes. I haven't seen John for ages. I bumped into him at a gig in Leeds last year. I know he's recording but we haven't done anything together since Second Coming.
Do you ever think about re-forming ?
Yeah. I want us to put all our differences aside and get together for one summer. We'd just do a tour and show all the kids who never saw us what we were about.
But what about Primal Scream ? Would you leave ?
No. I love the Scream, but everything's done in a different way. The Scream have a different outlook and I love it, but sometimes I want to be a bit more conventional.
Aren't reunion tours notoriously bad though ?
Some people might say it would be like one of those Velvet Underground reunions, but I don't give a shit. Maybe it's wrong to look back and wonder, What if…….. I'm still enjoying the glory days with the Scream, but I think the Roses deserve another shot.
Is it a realistic proposition ?
Maybe. A couple of people who were in the band need to put their egos to one side. We could still move mountains today if we got back together.
(Q's best 50 albums of the past 15 years)
Number 7:
The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses
SILVERTONE, 1989
Initially it entered the UK albums chart at a mere Number 32 and yet, over the next two years, The Stone Roses established themselves as harbingers of a new era. Leaving behind a decade of celibate, bequiffed rock stars and musical introspection, the world to come was founded around cool, strident ambition and pharmaceuticals. In that sense - and though its creators would probably balk at the description - The Stone Roses' debut was the first Britpop album.
These were the days of acid house and, though their sound often came close to Byrds-esque rock 'n' roll orthodoxy, The Stone Roses managed to tap into the prevailing youth-cultural mood of E-induced euphoria. The lyrics were the crucial factor: when Ian Brown sang "Kiss me where the sun don't shine/ The past was yours but the future's mine" (from She Bangs The Drums), he was 1989 incarnate. There was also the small matter of I Am The Resurrection: an unstoppable, brazenly narcissistic song that became the year's anthem.
Both the group and producer John Leckie were well aware of what they'd created. "When we'd finished," Brown recalled, "Leckie says, This is really good. You're going to make it. And I remember thinking, I know."
What We Said Then:
"Bulges with promise."
Q32 ***
What Happened Next:
The Stone Roses reached a creative peak with Fools Gold, played to 30,000 at Spike Island……. and then disappeared.
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