The Stone Roses: War and Peace
Page 32
Although all the band had warmed to the suggestion that Toxin Toy should support them in Sweden in 2012, the members themselves remained elusive, focused on rekindling the magic that makes them so unique. The V Festival was added to the list of comeback gigs in late February, with surely more to follow. Reni suggested we wait a year before working on the book. Squire wasn’t bothered. To the end, the Roses remained endearingly themselves – truly one of a kind. This is the truth. And this book is their true story.
Illustrations
1. On the tour bus, Sweden, 1985 (from left: Pete Garner, Ian Brown, Andy Couzens).
‘Not every gig ended in a riot but more often than not it did. You couldn’t take us anywhere. We were animals’ Andy Couzens
2. On the tour bus, Sweden, 1985 (from left: John Squire, Brown, Garner, Reni, Howard Jones).
‘We were getting in people’s houses and going in their kitchens and cooking ourselves food. It became the cool thing to do to have us come round to your house and have us eat you out of house and home’ Howard Jones
3. On stage, Sweden, 1985 (from left: Couzens, Brown).
‘We came on at one gig and there was a kid leaning on the stage. Andy kicked him in the face as the opening salvo’ Pete Garner
4. On stage, Sweden, 1985 (Squire with painted guitar, Garner).
‘John might have worn the bandana for four weeks and then he moved on. I wore some pretty ridiculous things … there was a lot of stuff we’d do once and then never do again’ Pete Garner
5. On stage, Sweden, 1985 (from left: Couzens, Brown, Squire, Garner).
‘A yob Morrissey, a mob orator with yodelling vocal’
Sounds, describing Brown, December 1984
6. On stage, Sweden, 1985 (from left: Couzens, Brown, Reni, Squire).
‘The Smiths were doing really well and there was a lot of jingly-jangly twee type bands around, completely the opposite of what the Roses were doing – maybe that’s why people didn’t quite warm to them’ Paula Greenwood
7. On stage, Sweden, 1985 (from left: Reni, Brown).
‘Ian, in those days, was a much more physical performer. He was almost Jagger-esque in his movements about the stage’ Howard Jones
8. Thin Line advert for the 1985 Swedish tour.
‘The tour had minimal resources and we lived day by day. It was true rock ’n’ roll. We learned a hell of a lot and had a hell of a good time’ Harald Sickenga, Toxin Toy
9. On tour, Sweden, 1985 (from left: Garner, Reni, Brown, Squire).
‘If you asked Ian or John or Reni; they said from day one, we’re going to be the best band in the world, we’re going to be the biggest band in the world, and they were unashamed about it’ Slim
10. and 11. Thin Line press release for ‘So Young’/‘Tell Me’ single, 1985.
‘Independence in music for me meant the freedom of expression. Independent for Ian and John’s generation was independent of the big companies taking all the money when they could take it for themselves’ Howard Jones
12. Thin Line advert to announce the Roses recording their debut single, 1985.
‘The Roses reminded me of early Joy Division in the way they felt they had to kick doors down to be recognized’ Kevin Cummins
13. Thin Line advert for ‘So Young’/‘Tell Me’, 1985.
‘The Roses put on a front of being completely new and better than anyone else’ Bob Dickinson
14. ‘So Young’/‘Tell Me’ single label detail, 1985.
‘We’d always said we’d split everything five ways and then it came out that Ian and John wanted their names as songwriters’ Pete Garner
15. Ticket for the Roses’ first Manchester warehouse show, 1985.
‘The Roses already had a small nucleus of followers – just mates, people like Cressa’ John Breakell
16. The Patrol, on stage at Lymm Youth Club, 1980 (from left: Squire, Couzens, Brown).
‘John wrote a lot of the lyrics in The Patrol. He was the only one of us who could play anything really; he’d had guitar lessons’ Andy Couzens
17. In rehearsal at International II, 1987 (from left: Squire, Brown, Garner).
‘Pete was definitely more sensitive than the others. They all had tougher skins. It’s a classic album, the one they made with Hannett. Even now’ Slim
18. In rehearsal, 1987 (Brown).
‘I didn’t see Ian again until almost twenty years later, and he is the lead singer of The Stone Roses. That motherfucker is more famous than me’ Geno Washington
19. On stage, 1987 (from left: Squire, Garner, Brown).
‘Pete was like an indie encyclopaedia: he could tell you who played on what record and it moved from that into independent films. He was a brilliant cataloguer of all the important things’ Howard Jones
20. On stage, 1986 (Brown).
‘Have you seen how many haircuts Ian’s had? Blond hair, red hair, different haircut every couple of weeks’ Pete Garner
21. On stage, 1986 (Reni).
‘The girls loved him’ Andy Couzens
22. On stage, 1987 (Reni).
‘A lot of drummers are always pulling a face or straining. Reni was the exact opposite. He made it look easy – he was always icy cool and graceful’ Jon Brookes, The Charlatans
23. Brown, showing off his Union Jack tattoo with ‘England’ written across it, 1988.
‘I remember someone interviewing Liam Gallagher and saying, You think you’re a bad boy? You want to get along with Mensi and the Upstarts and you’ll find out what a bad boy is’ Mensi, Angelic Upstarts
24. Mani, 1987.
‘Of the band, Mani was the one who was 100 per cent outgoing, like Tigger, always a smile on his face’ Eileen Mulligan
25. The Roses’ second warehouse party, Manchester, 1985 (from left: Squire, Couzens, Brown).
‘There was hardly anybody there, only fifty people. Now everyone says they went. It’s like all these people who say they saw the Sex Pistols at the Free Trade Hall and there were only twenty-six people there’ Sue Dean
26. Outside the International II, 1988 (from left: Mani, John Leckie, Brown).
‘I was working with The La’s and somebody said there’s a band in Manchester looking for you and they are called The Angry Young Teddy Bears. Then I found out later it was The Stone Roses’ John Leckie
27. Outside the International II, 1988 (from left: Mani, Gareth Evans and Tim Booth).
‘Years later Gareth would claim all this was a cunning plan and each of these grotesque mistakes he made because of his total lack of knowledge of the music business and bonkers nature was part of the master plan’ John Nuttall
28. Signing the contract with Evans in an Italian restaurant in Rusholme, 1987 (from left: Garner, Squire, Reni, Brown).
‘As far as they were concerned it was a done deal. They were going to be successful – it was only a matter of time and the public catching up with them’ Anthony Boggiano
29. Band signatures/contacts, as requested by Steven Howard, 1988.
‘I had them sign this piece of paper during the talks about them signing to Jive/Zomba. I often think with a band you can imagine them as cartoon characters, and each of the Roses you could see how they would translate as cartoons’ Steven Howard
30. Dennis Morris’s studio, 1989 (from left: Mani, Brown, Squire, Reni).
‘They looked like they had been around for twenty years. A good word for it was effortless. You know why? There probably was no effort. If they were planning that look, I’d be amazed – because that’s how they woke up’ Anthony Donnelly, Gio-Goi
31. Dennis Morris’s studio, 1989 (from left: Reni, Squire, Mani, Brown).
A scheduled September 1989 single, ‘Any Time You Want Me’, was abandoned, despite Geoff Wonfor being hired to film a video for the track at Blackpool Empress Ballroom.
32. and 33. Fax sent from Los Angeles by John Leckie, outlining studio suggestions for recording the Roses’ second album in the summer of 1990.
‘I sat
and scribbled it out because I urgently wanted to do it. One of the suggestions was The Rolling Stones’ Mobile and recording premises with accommodation, and that’s what we ended up with. But we didn’t start the album for another two years’ John Leckie
34. Fans at Spike Island, 1990.
‘There were just gangs of indie kids en masse buying up a totally different wardrobe, a different record collection and a totally different lifestyle’ Dave Haslam
35. The band’s dressing room, Spike Island, 1990.
‘It was chaos but really beautiful chaos, rock ’n’ roll chaos, totally out there’ Geoff Wonfor
36. Crowd shot from the stage at Spike Island, with the River Mersey in the background, 1990.
‘The Roses took the energy of who and what they were and managed to get that on to record – so you had a sense when you listened to their tunes that you felt you knew them’ Lawrence Stewart
37. On stage, Spike Island, 1990 (Squire, Brown).
‘Once Geffen were involved Johnny kicked up an extra gear. He knew that the Roses on Geffen could be as big as The Eagles – they could be the Fleetwood Mac of the next generation’ Howard Jones
38. On stage, Spike Island, 1990 (Brown).
‘The Stone Roses’ attitude was “don’t fuck with us”, and everybody said, Okay, that’s cool. Can’t wait to see what they’re going to do next’ Bruce Flohr
39. On stage, Spike Island, 1990 (Brown).
‘The most important thing culturally about the Roses was this charismatic front man who had a way of walking on stage, that whole Mancunian street stance. Every fucker started walking like that’ Bruce Mitchell
40. On stage, Glasgow Green, 1990 (Squire).
‘John was an incredibly visual, literate guy. The Roses had an intellectual bent and they played with that. Are we really very clever? Work it out for yourself’ Keith Jobling
41. On stage, Glasgow Green, 1990 (Reni).
Reni was said to have recorded
Second Coming on the same kit as he did the band’s 1989 eponymous album – without even changing the skins.
42. On stage, Spike Island, 1990 (Brown).
‘We focused everyone on the Roses in America: all the trendy, cool people in RCA would get the
NME every week, and would see this band The Stones Roses, and think this is the new The Clash’ Steven Howard
43. Glasgow Green, 1990.
‘We talked a lot about how different the band was to other bands – they were playing in tents and fields. From the minute I heard “I Wanna Be Adored” I was not going to take no for an answer’ Gary Gersh
44. On stage, Glasgow Green, 1990 (from left: Cressa, Brown, Reni).
‘He knows how to ride a rhythm, that’s the beauty of Ian’ Dennis Morris
45. Stairwell, Dennis Morris’s studio, 1994 (from left: Reni, Mani, Squire, Brown).
‘It was almost like a comedy show. They were almost like a cartoon band then. No one knew what they were like because no one saw them, so we all used to imagine what they were getting up to’ Jon Brookes, The Charlatans
46. and 47. Upon resigning from Second Coming in 1993, John Leckie was asked to list exactly what he’d done on the record to date.
‘It all just fizzled out. I really didn’t want to pursue it. I was happy and relieved to leave’ John Leckie
48. Dennis Morris’s studio, 1994 (Brown).
‘I think they were afraid of America in terms of not getting the recognition they had in England. I don’t think their egos could handle it’ Greg Lewerke
49. Dennis Morris’s studio, 1994 (Mani).
‘Our personal taste is a hundred per cent of the law. You can’t try to fit into a certain trend, like a lot of bands in England do. That’s bollocks, man. Then you’re just a fashion accessory, aren’t you? We do it for ourselves’ Mani,
Entertainment Weekly, March 1995
50. Dennis Morris’s studio, 1994 (Squire).
‘John was one of those people who might not say a lot but when they do say something it’s either incredibly funny or really vicious – but vicious with a smile. He’s just letting you know you’re being a wanker’ Paul Schroeder
51. Dennis Morris’s studio, 1994 (Reni).
‘Reni is such a tremendous drummer, tremendous natural musician, I don’t think there was much chance of loops sounding better than he did’ Brian Pugsley
52. Dennis Morris’s studio, 1994 (from left: Reni, Brown, Squire, Mani).
‘I think the four members of the band, at the time, meant it was greater than the sum of its parts’ John Squire, NME, April 1996
Bibliography
‘Don’t Stop’: www.stoneroses.eu
‘This Is the Daybreak’: www.pdmcauley.co.uk
Official site: www.thestoneroses.org
Benson, Richard (ed.), Night Fever: Club Writing in The Face 1990–1997 (Boxtree, 1997)
Bez, Freaky Dancin’: Me and the Mondays (Pan, 1998)
Cawthorne, Nigel, Vinyl Frontier: The Making of The Stone Roses (Unanimous, 2005)
Chapman, Brian, Stone Roses ‘Talking’ (Omnibus, 2003)
Coryn, Stan, with Paul Scanlon, Exploding: The Highs, Hits, Hype, Heroes and Hustlers of the Warner Music Group (Harper, 2002)
Davies, Hunter, The Beatles: The Only Authorized Biography (Arrow, 1992)
Einarson, John, Forever Changes, Arthur Lee and the Book of Love (Jawbone, 2010)
Green, Alex, 33⅓: The Stone Roses (Continuum, 2006)
Hann, Dave, and Steve Tilzey, No Retreat: The Secret War between Britain’s Anti-Fascists and the Far Right (Milo, 2003)
Haslam, Dave, Manchester, England: The Story of the Pop Cult City (Fourth Estate, 1999)
Hook, Peter, The Haçienda: How Not to Run a Club (Simon & Schuster, 2009)
Middles, Mick, Breaking into Heaven: The Rise and Fall of The Stone Roses (Omnibus, 1999)
Nice, James, Shadowplayers: The Rise and Fall of Factory Records (Aurum, 2010)
O’Connell, Michael, Ian Brown: Already in Me (Chrome Dreams, 2006)
Read, Lindsay, Mr Manchester and the Factory Girl (Plexus, 2010)
Robb, John, The Stone Roses and the Resurrection of British Pop (Ebury, 1997)
Sharp, Colin, Who Killed Martin Hannett? The Story of the Factory Records’ Musical Magician (Aurum, 2007)
Simpson, Dave, Stone Roses – The Illustrated Story (Hamlyn, 1996)
Taylor, Neil, Document and Eyewitness: An Intimate History of Rough Trade (Orion, 2010)
Notes
It was not my intention, and has never been my style, to have to rely on press cuttings. However, as events overtook the writing of this book, it became a necessity to pull some quotes from cuttings. I have tried, wherever possible, to avoid the old quotes other Roses books are based on. So, while the majority of material in this book is original and based on interviews I conducted in 2011 and 2012, the following quotes are from previously published interviews.
Prologue
2 ‘We wanted to do a gig … it was perfect’: Ian Brown, The Face, July 1990, interview with author.
4 ‘bored, lazy, snotty twat’: Ian Brown, Q, July 1990.
5 ‘We’re getting nish’: Ian Brown, Spike Island press conference, May 1990.
9 ‘Then suddenly I realized I didn’t have any weed … Spike Island’: Mani, Scootering, January 2004.
9 ‘We had lots of rows … It was horrible’: John Squire, Q, November 2002.
12 ‘I didn’t say anything … Frankie Bones playing house’: Paul Oakenfold, The Face, July 1990, interview with author.
12 ‘I was 100 per cent relaxed … been nervous?’ Ian Brown, The Face, July 1990, interview with author.
13 ‘It was like a massive pilgrimage … a statement’: Roddy McKenna, Clash, April 2009.
13 ‘We were just a very small part … what we do’: Ian Brown, Number One, July 1990.
14 ‘proof rock music had become showbusiness’: John Squire, Melody Maker, December 1990.
15 ‘We
were a bit disappointed … laws will let us’: Ian Brown, The Face, July 1990, interview with author.
1. The Patrol
17 Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols ‘was going to change the world’: Ian Brown, Record Collector, February 1998.
17 ‘rebellious streak’: Ian Brown, Guardian, February 2002.
18 ‘I think he was the first kid … by himself’: Ian Brown, Uncut, February 1998.
19 ‘Poor, down to earth’: Ian Brown, Clash, April 2009.
19 ‘a bit to the left of Arthur Scargill’: Ian Brown, Independent, October 2011.