John Ellis - JSU Interview
John kindly agreed to an interview with JSU to give some much needed insight into the behind-the-scenes workings of the John Squire project, how it got off the drawing board including how he got involved and early personnel changes and not to mention the existence of John's early demos (for both albums) that we'd all love to get our hands on. When was it decided that John Squire would front his own band? Not entirely sure but it had been decided before I got involved. For the first album the songs being totally shaped by John and with a lot of personal subject matter, I don't think anyone else could have done them justice and that meant that if the project followed it's course obviously John was going to have to front it live too. How did you involved in the whole John Squire solo project? Andy Treacy was an old friend from Manchester who I'd played with a lot before he moved to London and he phoned to tell me he'd passed my number on, then John phoned one day while I was making some custard. We know that demos of 'Miss You' and '15 Days' appeared on the single but were all the tracks written and demoed before the rest of the band we recruited? I think the whole album was recorded before the band was recruited although my sessions were probably a kind of audition. The first demo mixes of what became "Time Changes Everything" I heard, were full songs with drums and bass, had John's vocals on, which I really liked, I heard the personality in them and thought it was a strong sound he was putting together. My stuff was done over 2 or 3 days, with just me surrounded by a load of instruments I'd brought down and some John had hired, in John's big old barn where we later rehearsed. At that point I'd never met Stan (Jonathan White). How were the other members drafted in? We know that Andy Treacy (and Mark Heaney) provided the drums (on Time Changes Everything) and Adam Phillips was on the bill for guitarist before the line up was finalised. Also, we believe that Adam may have played the first three warm-up gigs in 2002, is this true? The original gigs included Adam who I knew and had played with years before in Manchester, I think Andy Treacy had probably suggested him to John. Did the band rehearsal Stone Roses tunes from the offset, was the plan always for Squire to launch his live career with a mix of new songs and Roses classics? Yes we were doing Roses tunes early on. Do you have any favourite Stone Roses songs? My favourite Roses tunes are Waterfall, Shoot You Down, Ten Storey Love Song, Your Star Will Shine, Tightrope, Love Spreads. How did the writing of Marshall's House compare to Time Changes Everything, as the same group of musicians were still on board (from the main tourdates in 2003 onward) were you more involved in the writing/composing? Well the line up had changed with George and Luke Bullen brought in and I think we got a really good chemistry going to start with just doing the stuff from the first album and the Roses stuff on gigs. The writing process changed a bit. John had done all the songs as demos just him and acoustic guitar but then in rehearsal we came up with our own parts with some direction from John. Do you have any personal live highlights? Doing Ten Storey Love Song at the Academy, Manchester, my home town on what was our last gig. It was a brilliant night and a great ending to the tour, and a real contrast to the Ritz gig the year before where I didn't enjoy the vibe at all, too many dour mancs in one room, scrutinising, miserable bastards. The Academy felt like more of a celebration, they were giving a lot of love. I thought musically the ICA in London was our best gig as a band. How did John react to gigging? Was he happy with the crowd reactions, do you think he enjoyed taking to the mic? I know what it's like to front a band and how different it is from taking care of the music from behind someone else, I still think it was a really brave move even if you'd been talking about the guitarist from the band in the local pub let alone the attention directed on any new venture of John Squire. Me and the others were used to gigging week in week out in all kinds of venues. John was basically coming straight out of a sort of retirement to being the Frontman as well as having to get his guitar work together and feeling confident with that. I can't say for certain but for example, I remember being quite taken aback when John didn't really enjoy the ICA gig I just mentioned. I actually thought if we'd have gone on tour playing those smaller size venues we would have won a lot of friends and forged a new audience for John's solo stuff. But let's face it, John's memories of gigging with the Roses must leave a lot to live up to and as already mentioned fronting those smaller gigs was maybe even tougher for John than the bigger more impersonal gigs. Why was the decision taken for such a brief tour/promotion of Marshall's House? At the time of its release, even some hardcore fans (myself, included) found it difficult to find it in the shops. I can only guess at that like yourself. It was disapointing for the band not to do more gigs because we were proud of where we'd got to with those songs and the band in general. After two years off from the John Squire project are you keen for to play with that group of musicians again? Yes we made some proper music and had some great laughs, all real totally sound people as were the crew, Steve Adj etc. I keep in touch with them but very badly and mainly through George. He is doing Groove Armada with Stan and Luke is busy playing drums for KD Tunstall, his good lady. Where you involved in the recent John Squire instrumentals that appeared on his art site? I didn't play on the instrumentals, I'm pretty sure it was all John on his own. What do you think of the new instrumentals? Not heard them yet unfortunately. What are you up to at the moment? I'm in a great band, Little Green, doing some of my stuff and developing a studio at mine sometimes recording other people. I played on the Lily Allen stuff which seems to be everywhere at the moment. Do you have any particular influences? Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, The Sandlewoods, John Lee Hooker, George Borovski, Judy (Green), Miles Davis, Frank Zappa, Ella Fitzgerald, Robert Cray, Bill Evans, Tommy Flanagan, Duke Ellington, Joe Zawinul, Prince, J.S. Bach, Ivor Cutler, Phil Marks, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, The Oldham Tinkers, The Muppet Bands, Little Richard, Chet Baker, Andrew Michael Ross, Spain, Hun Huur Tu, Mali cora music, all Manchester musicians, Captain Beefheart, waking up, hearing stuff. Do you have an all-time favourite album or track? My favourite albums at the moment are Beatles White Album, always (good old-fashioned variety) Womack and Womack - Concious of my Conscience(Island Records) and Coleman Hawkins - Today and Now. Do you have any highlights of your music career to date, any favourite songs or musicians that you have worked with? Apart from John, I'd have to say Manchester star George Borovski, Hamish Stewart, Ike Willis(from Zappa's band), Stephen Fretwell at Abbey Road(come on...), Fontella Bass and The Cinematic Orchestra, DJ Vadim and The Russian Percussion and Judy Green(Little Green). What sort of music are you playing (solo/band) at the moment? My focus for my music is Little Green but you can see me all round the North West doing gigs to get by(weddings etc.) Good old fashioned variety, but mostly I just sit and play the piano or guitar at home and see what happens. Who have you been listening to recently / any current favourite bands/artists? I've heard quite a few of the acoustic based bands around Manchester which I like. A couple have recorded at my house, John Stammers and Ed Cottam. I like some of the new/new? wave electric stuff but I still end up listening to Television and Captain Beefheart for that guitar band stuff. I like the way that they make music in other parts of the world where they are less plugged into the consumer conveyor belt. I like a band called Hun Huur Tu and a lot of African stuff. And finally where can one hear music by John Ellis / Little Green? Little Green Official or Little Green MySpace for upcoming gigs.  Little Green (John Ellis) Suffering/Cupid Available now: www.littlegreenmusic.com Back to JSU reviews  Back to JSU Home |