Melody Maker 31st August 1996 Issue



STONE ROSES
Death Or Glory at Reading 96?




When THE STONE ROSES called a surprise press conference at the Reading Festival, they apparently thought they'd be greeted with fawning adoration. They were mistaken.

This was an invitation we certainly never expected. The very idea of a Stone Roses press conference was extraordinary in itself, coming from a band who'd been cocky enough to scorn almost all media overtures when they released their first album in five years. Now, we were all being invited into the backstage area at Reading a matter of hours before a vital and vulnerable moment for the band.

As headline attraction on the final day of the festival, they had a perfect opportunity to re-establish their status as the godheads of Britpop; but in the run-up to the big day, even some of their most earnest admirers were expressing serious doubt as to whether the 1996 model Roses were capable of seizing the moment.

With John Squire long gone and further internal dissent strongly rumoured, some even went as far as to suggest that August 25, 1996 might prove to be the final day of The Stone Roses' career.

Of course, the official line was quite the opposite. The hastily arranged media gathering was billed as an opportunity to meet the brave man who's agreed to step into Squire's shoes: Aziz Ibrahim, a much-travelled muso, once employed as a sideman for Simply Red. It was meant to be upbeat, a fanfare for the band's Third Coming, but if the Roses were expecting a cosy welcome back, they were in for a severe shock.

The Roses lined up behind a long table, with Ian Brown naturally occupying centre stage. Aziz was duly introduced, and the genial guitarist responded to a few friendly enquiries about how he'd heard that he'd got the job with a cheery: "I heard when I got a knock on the door."

However, as the dialogue continued through ever-escalating levels of tension, the band were left in no doubt that the guitarist everyone really wanted to know about was the one who'd got away.

Make the most of what follows. I somehow suspect that it'll prove to be the last Stone Roses press interview for a fair while - if not their last one ever.

Is it the same band without John?
Ian Brown:"Obviously not, no."

So why didn't you change the group name?
IB:"Because it's my name, it's Stone Roses music, and that's the important thing. He [John Squire] hasn't wanted to play with the band since 1991. He hasn't wanted to play with me since 1991, he hasn't wanted to play with Reni since 1991, he hasn't wanted to play with Mani since 1991, he hasn't wanted to play with any of us.
"Why does all this have to come out now? Why didn't you ask us? Where do you think we've been all this time?"

Do you feel you've found a unit that you can work with now? Is this is a band that's going to go places now?"
Mani:"Well, why not? The Stone Roses was five people on the last tour. Then one person leaves. Use your basic maths! One person away from five is four; and now we've got the fifth again."

How did you get to know Aziz?
Robbie Maddix:"Well, it's rock'n'roll. People know other people, and I knew him around Manchester."

Did John write most of the songs?
IB:"John wrote most of the songs on 'The Second Coming' because we let him do it. John's had his day and now he's gone."
Mani:"Johnny wanted to be there. He wanted to do that, but then he didn't want to work with us after that."

Are you writing new stuff now?
IB:"Yeah, we all write."

Now that you've got a settled line-up, will you be playing more live shows?
IB:"Yeah. We always loved playing live. When we couldn't, it was a burden. We like being with people, and showing off in front of people, you know what I mean?"

I heard that your gig in Portugal didn't go down too well. How did you feel about that?
Mani:"It looked all right from where I was standing."

It said in one of the papers that the audience was leaving.
Mani (after an obviously forced laugh):"Ha ha ha. Bullshit. Do you believe everything you read in the press? Because I don't, certainly not. I wipe my arse on it."

So what was it like? What did you think of that show personally?
Mani:"I enjoyed it, it was nice. It was the first time in Portugal for me. Lovely country."

Aziz, what made you want to join?
Aziz:"I've had rock'n'roll shit all my life. I'm a guitarist and I write songs, and I want to work with people I respect. People were always saying to me, 'Yes, I'll use you as a guitarist, but I'll use you to my advantage.'"

What influences are you going to bring to the band?
Aziz:"Err...Asian! The band I'm coming from is classical."

Is it going to be five years to the next LP?
Mani:"I don't know. How long do you want it to be?"

Now John Squire is not around, do you feel you have prove yourself all over again?
IB:"No, we just smile a lot more now. We're happy, can't you tell?"

But he is your main songwriter...
Robbie, angrily:"No, you're not listening! He's your main songwriter, he's not our main songwriter. He's not here.

You haven't given us any idea of where you're going at all
Robbie:"It's rock'n'roll, you know what I mean? It's whatever we want to make it. It could be doing something completely against the grain, or else we could be out on tour."

Mani:"I'm washing my hair on Thursday, going to dinner at my mum's on Sunday and then rehearsing next week. Beyond that I can't tell you nothing. You'll just have to wait and see like everybody else."

We heard that John Leckie is working with Mark Owen. Have you guys got any plans to collaborate with him?
IB:"You shouldn't mess with young girls and kids, man."

Have you fallen out with John?
Mani:"What, John Leckie? No we've never fallen out with him."

No. John Squire.
Mani:"Small talk in town's going round, isn't it?"

How did you fall out with John Squire? When did the problem start?
IB:"It started when he phoned up and said, 'I'm leaving the band.' Otherwise I'd still be knocking about with him. I went out with him every Friday for two or three years."

Why do you think he wanted to leave the band all of a sudden?
IB:"Because he felt his power threatened. It was all a bit too much for him. He was on a power trip. Good luck to him, whatever he wants to be, but we've got some other ideas now."
Mani:"We was too strong for him, and we was too nice to him, that's what's happened."
"You all took double glum, man. We're playing tonight!"

We're looking forward to seeing you play. Are you planning anything extra special?
"It's going to be a Stone Roses show, like we always do."

Are you still going to play John's songs, then?
IB:"Yeah, some."
Robbie:"It's odd when you look on stage and you look to you left, and he's not looking at you. You look over there and he [Brown] is smiling and over there and he [Mani] is smiling. You look again and he's still not looking at you."

You've had no communication, then?
IB:"No."

Did you think about splitting up when John left?
Mani (angrily):"Why bother? The sum is more than the parts, although some people don't recognise that. Don't people learn maths? One from five is four!"

"You're all dumb, complete wankers, the lot of you."
Are any of you still friends with John?
Mani:"He wouldn't even bother to phone my house if he heard that my mum, my dad and everyone who ever lived in my village was killed in a plane crash, because he couldn't be arsed to get out of his bed."
IB:"He became friends with cocaine. Before that he was straight."
Mani:"I feel sad that I saw him onstage f***in' hanging with Oasis the other week. Has he joined the Phil Collins, Paul McCartney club now?"

Did any of you see any of the Oasis shows?
Mani:"Yeah, I went to Maine Road. I must say that it was better than any football I've ever seen there."

Would you play Old Trafford?
IB:"That's the only place we'd play in Manchester. We've been offered to play Maine Road a few times, but I could never bring myself to do it."

Are you more cynical now?
Mani:"We're always been cynical anyway, mate. We don't jump through hoops for people. We've still got that much integrity."

Those last remarks acquired a new resonance a few hours later, as The Stone Roses' performance prevokes what you might euphemistacally describe as a mixed reaction. For most of us, the primary ingredients in that mixture of feelings are dismay and disbelief.

Aziz was fine, his playing as smooth and clinically competent as you'd expect given his background. The thing that made so many people laugh out loud, turn away in disgust or get seriously annoyed was Brown's personal performance.

His singing was always been more about attitude than accuracy, but here he was often so wildly off-key it was embarrassing. Lots of jaws dropped, many a head was shaken in sorrow, and you kept hearing the word "karoke" being used as people struggled to describe the unbelievable things they'd just heard.

There was genuine sadness in the air, that of people hearing some of their favourite memories being vandalised. If you always loved The Stone Roses, it has to be hard to come to terms with the fact that Ian Brown doesn't seem to give a shit about their songs any more.

Brown's defiant declarations suddenly seemed somewhat poignant - the words of a man in denial, refusing to face up to the inevitable. The Stone Roses at Reading '96 looked very much like the last thrashings of a mortally wounded beast.







Back To Ancient Articles