"Life's one long cigarette to die from" - Bill Ryder-Jones gig review - Manchester Deaf Institute 22nd October 2013

Manchester’s Deaf Institute isn’t usually a venue that sends shivers of dread down the spine of a music fan. It’s small, and by that same token, intimate. But tonight you must wonder if it simply isn’t intimate enough. As the magnificent New York trio Porcelain Raft leave the stage to a modest, yet fully appreciative round of applause, the echo from the high ceiling, coupled with the clattering glasses coming from the not too distant bar area take centre stage during the changeover. Dread enters. Almost 7 months have passed since I last saw tonight’s headliner (sat nervously at a piano in the backroom of Oldham Street boozer ‘The Castle Hotel’; a venue famous within Manchester’s Northern Quarter for being small, somewhat pokey and therefore intimate by its very nature) and the anticipation in the room mirrors that of his first ever gig. But now we find ourselves at another ‘intimate’ venue, albeit with a much larger capacity and the stage is being set for Bill Ryder-Jones’ second Manchester show. Sunday 17^th March 2013 at The Castle Hotel was indeed Bill Ryder-Jones’ first ever ‘gig’, and the band that take to the Deaf Institute stage with him on this October night remains the same. One thing that has certainly changed since March is the season. Bill himself will admit that his music is more suited to this time of year, a feeling that has delayed releases of his music in the past. However, despite the autumnal tone of his music, Bill released an album in April of this year, which he now has to promote. Whilst his first release ‘If...’ was written as a soundtrack companion to cult novel ‘If on a winters night a traveller’, 2013’s “A Bad Wind Blows in My Heart” suggests a shift towards the mainstream (ever so slightly) and is certainly his first real collection of songs that follow no particular concept, or provide soundtrack to a film.

Whilst most people will know Bill from his years with The Coral, since his departure in 2008 he has been writing and releasing music completely on his own terms. Initially releasing demos sporadically via the MySpace platform in 2008, he eventually signed a publishing deal with leading independent record label Domino, who have seemingly (and thankfully) afforded him a certain level of the creative freedom that a talent such as Bill requires. After taking his time with everything he has done so far, we arrive at tonight’s show, as spectators, in typical Ryder-Jones fashion; we have no idea what we are going to get. As a tweet from earlier in the day, stating he would be taking the stage with the most “under rehearsed band on the planet” rolls around my head, a recorded piano version of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here plays through the PA, dry ice fills the room and Bill nods to his former Coral compatriot Nick Power to start the show, who greets us with the beautiful accordion sound from the album’s title track ‘A Bad Wind Blows in My Heart’. The feared lack of intimacy becomes apparent. The chattering from the bar and beyond is too much at first, but it soon disappears, as the music in the room becomes the proverbial elephant, even if it is the most delicate and least clumsy elephant the metaphorical world has ever seen. As the soft touch drumming of Jack Prince enters, it compliments Bill’s careful vocal delivery beautifully, as he barely whispers “a bad wind blows in my heart and it bangs on the back door” into the microphone. As the show continues (along with the spurts of dry ice from stage right) you sense that the audience is falling deeper and deeper into a trance. Awkward jokes about his band in between songs, debates about his guitar tone and a question to the audience “Who’s good at guess the intro round?” leads to Bill treating the audience with a bar or two of This Charming Man by The Smiths. He fumbles about on stage and is clearly not a front man, nor does he ever pretend to be. Indeed, he frequently states that playing live isn’t something that excites him, but it is something he is great at in his own way. For example, he is completely undeterred by the gaggle of girls who occasionally pipe up from the back of the room. Nor does he let the sound of the cash register ringing from behind the bar break his stride, once. Yes, he occasionally talks during songs, but you get the feeling that this is becoming part of the spectacle; a part of Bill’s draw and, given how exposed the very nature of his music makes him, he still performs beautifully and honestly, leaving the assembled audience of roughly 150 with a positive lasting impression, and in some cases, somewhat stunned. At the halfway point, the band leaves the stage to allow Bill to perform completely solo. For three songs we are treated to a performance, which is as stripped back and laid bare as anything we are likely to see again, with nothing but composer and carefully thumbed Fender Jaguar to separate the stage from the assembled crowd.

The enthusiasm and attentive nature of tonight’s audience, which must have tripled in numbers since his last Manchester show, point towards a growing audience for Bill, beyond fans of The Coral, an albatross I am certain Bill is desperate to shake.  But I’m not sure its fans that he wants as he seems perfectly settled with his current fanbase. Despite everything, he appears to be comfortable in this setting; well, as comfortable as the man who, earlier this year, claimed that he has “never had fun at a gig” could ever be in this setting. He ends the show as he ends the album, with part 2 of its title track “A Bad Wind Blows in My Heart Pt. 2”, a song which showcases the superb backing harmonies of bassist Kevin Mooney. In addition to the raw talents Bill possesses, he is also lucky to have a great band by his side, a band who Bill jokes “release their own records under the name ‘The Nonces’”. With a standing ovation for both Bill Ryder-Jones and his band, the night ends as the house lights come up and the audience is left to mull ‘what happens next’. Since the release of his film score for “Piggy” in April, Bill has been characteristically quiet on the release front. With no new material played tonight, other than a previously unheard song which was presumably written for ‘A Bad Winds Blows in My Heart’ but “didn’t make the final cut”, the timing of a new release is anyone’s guess. As far as live shows are concerned however, they are becoming more and more frequent, much to the delight of his growing non-coral fanbase. Its clearly already happening, but it wont be long until Bill breaks the chains of “former Coral guitarist” and becomes simply “Bill Ryder-Jones”, much like Brian Eno, Ryan Adams & Neil Young before him. His records have always shown signs of this, but with a growing live presence, you have to feel its inevitable.

"Of al the Madmen in the world. A dreamer dreams, and schemers scheme of being heard" - An Interview with Martin Minshall

Early last month I interviewed Martin Minshall. He is a long time friend, fan and all round brilliant musician. Below is what happened


Before anyone reads this, its worth pointing out that this was written as academic piece of work that wasn't intended as a blog post, which is why I have referred to myself in the third person. Its not something that I ever EVER do.
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It’s a sunny June afternoon in Didsbury, Manchester. As I wait for my companion to join me in the beer garden of The Fletcher Moss, I shuffle through my notes and consider whether or not I will need them. After some delay, my companion arrives, glass of ice water in his hand and guitar on his back. Growing up in Oldham, a northern town on the outskirts of Manchester, like so many other suburban musicians, Martin Minshall has found something of a home in the venues of Manchester city centre and beyond. The over saturated ‘circuit’ of sorts within a music city such as Manchester can be something of a frustrating scene to be a part of, but teenage idols such as Noel Gallagher and, above all else, David Bowie provided a younger Martin with a great sense of direction. Starting out when he was 16 just 2 years ago, with the carefully constructed stage name of ‘Faraday (Martin Minshall)’ a now 19 year old Martin has dropped the moniker he adopted (from a Manchester street no less) and has decided to just go with his birth name ‘Martin Minshall’. “I’m dropping Faraday”, he exclaims before he has even sat down and got himself together after the long journey on public transport from Ashton-Under-Lyne, where he now resides. With this, my aforementioned notes go back into my bag, in favor of the more organic conversation he has immediately evoked. 

Once he’s sat down and has wiped the sweat from his brow, the first thing I put to him is a quote from the Oldham Evening Chronicle in June 2011. Just 3 months after starting out, this was Martins first ever print feature and interview. He discussed many ambitious and aspirations back then. So in June 2013, I ask if he still stands by this particular statement: “In 10 years time? I’m not going to lie, filling Wembley Stadium is a dream and as unrealistic as it sounds I can keep the hope that one day it will happen”. His new response? “Absolutley. I still stand by every aim in that interview. My perspective has changed in 2 years but I still stand by it and I’m doing everything I can with my new EP to take me a step further towards that”. And he certainly is. The live arena is certainly an arena in which Martin excels. He regularly draws crowds on the Manchester unsigned scene, and has got a handful of shows in cities across the UK under his belt too. Indeed, it was Martin’s live show what initially drew me in. I first came across Martin supporting Sam Smith & Company at Retro Bar in Manchester, almost a year ago to the day. On the day of the queens jubilee, he decorated the stage with a union jack, removed his shoes and wowed the crowd with an uncharacteristically energetic set (for an acoustic artist at least), playing songs from his debut EP ‘Perspectiv’ coupled with a precise but personal rendition of Green Eyes by Coldplay, a song he recorded for his first demo tape. 

Now discussing live music, we talk about Manchester’s emerging scene and I ask him how he feels about the concept of ‘pay to play gigs’ (a concept where the artist buys x amount of tickets for their own show in advance as part of the booking contract, in return for the opportunity to play certain venues). Not everyone does it, and the controversy surrounding these gigs are well documented, but I know that Martin has played a few so I ask. He responds by telling me that he shys away from them “Its unsustainable. They (the promoters) have a job to do and they need to book enough gigs to earn a living”. After this somewhat short response Martin begins to talk about what he believes to be the greater issue regarding live music on the unsigned scene “The problem is, there isn’t enough promoting in promotion. I understand that its hard, if you do put on x amount of gigs per week, to push each and every individual one. I see promoters put tweets and Facebook posts out and they just pass me by, even if they are booking bands that I actually like, I just go past them because its just another blanketed promoter gig”. It’s clear by his conviction that Martin is speaking from experience. The last “blanketed promoter gig” that Martin did was at Liverpool Academy in September 2012, a ticketed ‘pay to play’ gig billed as the official after show party for the “Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds” show at the Echo Arena on the same night. Priced at £10, Martins ambitious manager (who is notably absent from todays meeting between us) attempted to book a coach to bring fans from Manchester. After interest waned due to the actual Noel Gallagher show being sold out, leaving Martins fans without tickets to the main show, he sold just 10 tickets. In addition, he was unexpectedly handed a set time of 8pm, before Noel Gallagher had even taken the stage at the Echo, thus clashing with the main support band (none other than former Blur guitarist Graham Coxon). He played to a room that holds roughly 2 thousand people yet, on September 9^th 2012 at 8pm, it barely contained enough people to require security staff. A Seemingly unfazed Martin delivered his 30 minute acoustic set with the precision and professionalism of someone such as Noel Gallagher or Graham Coxon, and what’s more, he did it as if the venue was full. I remind him of that night. “Being an acoustic artist, you sort of realize that it has it drawbacks. Promoters will put you on earlier in the bill and as a result, people are less likely to pay attention to you. They act on the assumption that the acoustic guitar shouldn’t be loud and it should be toned down for gigs and you should stand still at gigs” What abruptly follows is an energized artist who clearly loves what he does. Martin almost interrupts himself by continuing with an emphatic “NO! I’m gonna grab ‘that’ persons attention like the front man of an actual band would. Just..without the band”.

 I feel that now would be the right time to ask the question no journalist wants to ask an unsigned solo artist, but somehow I'm gonna have to, and now is the perfect time. He responds with an elongated, somewhat trepidations “No” when I enquire into his plans to form his own band around his name. “I will probably assemble a band of session musicians when I launch my new EP but nothing permanent. It depends on the response the new EP gets. There is no definite plan yet anyway. I don’t think I would get a ‘band band’; I’d probably end up going down the more expensive route of session musicians. Looking into the future and eventually recording albums, my idea would be to record with certain musicians that fit a certain concept. It wouldn’t be a permanent band. Bowie was an amazing manipulator. I’m obsessed with his methods. I think people are naive when they say that Bowie drifted from style to style and hit the nail on the head every time…no he didn’t. Every single move was calculated and if you want to hit the nail on the head every time, then you have to be calculated.” After a lengthy and passionate discussion on the merits of David Bowie, a subject in which I am assured he could talk about all night, talk shifts towards a picture of him and his guitarist Mick Ronson, which hangs on the wall in Blueprint studios, setting Martin off with wild claims about his plans to steal it, which is when talk shifts abruptly to his recent time there recording ‘EPii’, the working title for his long anticipated follow up to 2011’s debut acoustic EP ‘Perspetiv’. 

Martin regularly describes Manchester’s Blueprint Studios as “home” and it quite clearly is as its still to this day the only studio he has ever used. These sessions have been different though he tells me, as ‘EPii’ will be Martins first effort to include the thing he says he doesn’t want…a band, or does it? Recorded sporadically in late 2012 and most of 2013, the yet-to-be-named EP contains contributions from session musicians and friends alike. Assembled together with his producer (simply known as ‘Fred’), it contains a hired rhythm section of Nick Blaca and Brian Hargreaves on bass guitar and drums respectively. In addition, Martin looked to both Sam Smith and Chris Gilman, the 2 lead guitarists in Manchester band ‘Sam Smith & Company’ to complete the main backbone of his sound. Together with Martin’s voice, his wonderful talent on the piano and his standard acoustic guitar, the record will also contain a string quartet arranged by and featuring none other than his manager, Annabel Revell on Cello. “This EP is different. More effort has gone into it. My last EP did a great job in that..it served a purpose, this is me, I’m here. My first ever gig was when I launched ‘Perspectiv’, and that was just to say, again, this is me. Now, I’m trying to put as much effort into presenting the music as much as anything else, just to do it justice.” And this is where Blueprint Studio’s come into play. Widely regarded as the Abbey Road of the north, Blueprint studios is perhaps most famous for being the home of Manchester band Elbow. And Martin feels no different. I ask him why he often describes it as home and he responds in a typically warm fashion “because I can walk down the corridor in my socks” he says with a smile. As fans of Martin will know, removing his shoes before a performance is part of his stage show. And as a critic, his response to my question, coupled with the fact that I have witnessed many of his live shows, the only conclusion I can draw is that this is how Martin makes every stage he graces seem like home, like he completely owns it (however subconscious that may be).  This, coupled with a growing rapport with Fred, his returning producer, must leave fans his fans salivating with excitement. Without a release date for the EP, it’s hard for Martin to predict what is coming up for the rest of 2013. He assures me he is taking his time and that he is doing so “for all the right reasons”. As the ice cubes in his water have long since melted and sun looks like its turning into rain in true Mancunian fashion, we briefly discuss his plans for the coming months; “I’m playing a show at Dry Bar on July 26^th and then after that, I’ll be launching the EP”. But when that will be, I don’t think even he knows. He seems keen to get this release just right with delivery, and everything else that comes with it. 

Samuel Smith - June 2013

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Martin is all over the internet, but everything is viewable from his Facebook page at http://facebook.com/faraday.official

I wanna tell you about Texas radio and the big beat.

In a brutally devoted tribute to the long running cycle of imitation between life and art, Sam Smith & Company have had more bass players than Spinal tap have drummers. The reality behind these tapesque line up changes is obviously a matter of pieces fitting together, rather than former members not being up to scratch… or bizarre gardening accidents. Our recent addition to the band however, Jack Farnworth has dived in head first and the results have been fantastic. My first encounter with Jack was finding out that he’d recently started following us on Twitter. He had the name of his current band Inego in his Twitter biog so I listened to them while I checked my emails. I really liked their stuff, it reminded me in parts of Saves The Day, but much rockier. While checking my emails I found one from Jack in response to the ad for bassists I’d put on gumtree. He missed a trick by not adding ‘If you want a sample of my playing, I’m in that band you’re dancing in your chair to now’ but I suppose nobody has that foresight. It was a while before we had the chance to organise an audition, but Jack was still keen to pay a visit to our rehearsal room and we knew straight away that the job was his. The practice went so well, that we decided that his first gig would be the Talbot, in Burnley the following week. The best part is that it was his idea! 

Tommy and Jack possibly bonding over learning an entire set in a week!

 So what now for Tommy, Our current bassist? In my last blog I gave kudos to him for covering on bass for such a long time. Sam's original plan was to have him on keys and third guitar, and now we can finally gig with that line up! Tommy is your standard musical genius, quiet until you put an instrument in his hands. As a guitarist I’m drawn to his style straight away. For a start he never uses a flat pick! Something I’ve tried on influence from many guitarists like Nils Lofgren, Robby Krieger or Wilko Johnson. I can't describe the little I've heard so far, so its probably best if found out for yourself! I’ve always shared the role of lead guitar with Sam, you’ve gotta step aside and let somebody else talk when they can say it better than you. So to carry on the metaphor, SSAC now come with three relentlessly stern negotiators. 

So onto the first gig as a five piece! We’ve been looking forward to this since we last played at the Talbot in Burnley back in January. Last time we took the stage to a tiny crowd we were a little worried. We were the first band on though, and we had never played there before, we can’t take that personally. They made a lot of noise between them though, cheering on every song. The Talbot is one of those rare pubs that CAN claim to be a music venue, they’re professional and their punters turn up just to hear something new! When we used to play in pubs all the time we got so sick of poorly run events, having to battle with shouted conversations yet still being expected to play a set. Thank you Talbot Wednesdays for fighting the good fight here!

Our second gig was no different, only it seemed the friends we made earlier in the year had been spreading the word! The set was well received and we made a bunch of new friends, how soon can you have us back? We only got chance to catch one other band on the bill, a fairly new band called ‘Stir-fry Weekends’. I enjoyed their set, as did the audience. They reminded me a lot of late 90s Pearl Jam, sneering vocal lines over a heavy rhythm. Adding those elements to your own sound gets you my stamp of approval, albeit one that doesn’t really hold any authority. Give these guys another month or two and they are going to be amazing.

Now those first four paragraphs linked together with a nice sense of structure. You know how I mentioned before that Tommy never uses a pick? Well neither does Robby Krieger of The Doors. Welcome to the fifth paragraph. A couple of weeks ago some very sad news broke, Ray Manzarek lost his battle with cancer and social media was full of tributes. I’ve given mine, so it’s probably more apt to talk about what The Doors mean to me. The relationship between Ray and Robby is the reason I love this band. Where one ends the other begins, literally. Rather than accompanying a solo with generic chords, they will play their own secondary lead parts, giving the whole ensemble texture. Listen to LA woman to see this band’s talent when it comes to arrangement. They bring colour to a song that is essentially the same chord throughout. The ‘conversation’ between guitar and keyboard during the ‘Mojo Rising’ bit is a fantastic example of everything I’m struggling to put into words here. One note to add to that though, sorry Robby but I tend to ignore you here, and jam my own parts with the late great Ray Manzarek. 

So to finish, reckon we’ll jump back to Camp SSAC. Well Sam has had a brilliant idea for a competition. If you don’t know the dealy yet, we’ll be putting pictures up from our Burnley gig all week. All you have to do is provide a caption and you could win a signed copy of our EP along with a T shirt. Some of them have been great so far, keep them coming!

 

In an effort to find Tommy shaped holes in the songs, Sam and Tommy have been working on arrangements. I had a nice little run for The Pouring Rain Is Bliss but they don’t want it, if you don’t do it guys, Sky will. I’ve been working on some slide parts for ‘Flapper Fold’, this has been happening since the song was written and I’ve never found anything that works. I’m doing my best, but the fact that Chris Gilman can’t give a song writer what he wants is frankly shameful. 

You can’t really end on a sentence like that, so let’s watch this video about why Ray Manzarek IS brilliant. 

All Photos taken by Andrew Wood at the Talbot Hotel, Burnley 5/6/13

"The harder I try to paint a picture of the way it was back then, the more i miss the good times, baby, let it roll again"

Tonight I am attending the World Premiere of the long awaited Shane Meadows film about The Stone Roses 'Made of Stone' at Victoria Warehouse, Old Trafford. Here is an piece I wrote on the 24th May, 2012, the morning after I, alongside 899 others, witnessed the first classic-line-up Stone Roses gig in over 20 years. 

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It was a Wednesday just like any other for me, except it was scorching hot. I spent the morning in Warrington at my dads, took my mum to work around midday and then got back on the M60 and returned home to Didsbury at around 4 o clock. I had no food in so I thought I better go shopping. Whilst getting ready, I was on the phone to Southern Electric who were threatening to cut off my gas and electricity due to none payment. Habitually multitasking, I checked my emails at approximately 4:09pm only to find “The Stone Roses will play a free concert tonight at Warrington Parr Hall”. Frantically scanning the email, I caught a glimpse of the vital info, mainly “Fans can collect one wristband per person from the Warrington Pyramid box office (next to Warrington Parr Hall) from 4pm today”. Without thinking, I hung up without saying a word, grabbed my car keys, ran downstairs and jumped straight into the car. The engine starts, my tires screech down lapwing lane as I head straight for the M56. I’ve never driven to the centre of Warrington before! I’ve only been driving since February, my dad lives in the suburb of Birchwood on the other side of town and whilst I’ve been to the Parr Hall before, that was on the train and Warrington really gets on my nerves with all of the roundabouts. Luckily, the reason I’d called into my dads that morning was to borrow his Sat Nav for a trip I’d been planning. So I turned that on and off down the motorway I went. My 1.0L VW Polo had never seen such punishment, as the speedometer climbed to about 110mph. I’m in the third lane, doing all of the things that I criticize other drivers for doing. I’m cutting people up, I’m undertaking, I’m putting my foot firmly on the ground when I see an amber light. I’m speeding!!! I don’t speed!!! I’m the kind of person that usually experiences “highway amnesia”, meaning that I can drive a journey and arrive at my destination and hardly remember most of it. Not this time, although I was in some kind of trance. Grinding my teeth whilst looking at the ETA numbers on the TomTom get lower and lower, I’m thinking of all the negative scenarios; Small venue, one of the biggest bands in the world. I got the email 9 minutes after the wristbands were released and I live miles away. They will have all gone. I got an email, what if it was also announced on Facebook and Twitter, oh god, not Facebook and Twitter!! I don’t stand a chance! Then, I start to believe. I start to think of the positives; You need something Stone Roses related to get a ticket. I had my t shirt, I grabbed 3 CD’s and I had my Heaton Park tickets on me. People will be in work, they will have to nip home…I have an advantage because I was sat at home when I saw it. Then I thought, this sort of thing happens to me all of the time. I had a VIP pass for Glastonbury in 2007. I saw James at the Academy 4, again in 2007. I went to Live 8 and saw Pink Floyd, not because I won tickets, but because a mate couldn’t go. Then I thought of all of the negatives yet again. A real whirlwind of emotions!

My patience was running out by the time I got to Grappenhall. The traffic was horrendous and by the time I was close enough to the centre of Warrington, I dumped the car and ran the rest of the way to the Parr Hall. It is worth pointing out at this point that I had just quit smoking 3 weeks previously after a 10 year stint on them and the last time I ran was around 3 years ago when I thought it would be a good idea to get fit (I ended up having a crying fit for 45 minutes after a 30 second sprint in Fog Lane Park left me feeling like I had done 10 rounds). I got there, I saw the queue and I didn’t know what to think. Was the panic over? Had I missed out? The camera man, who was just putting it in my face without asking any questions offered his opinion: “You’ll be alright” he said to me…I struggled to believe him. My hopes were raised a bit when the guy in front of me already had a wristband and was just saving the place for his friend. He told me that he was one of the first to get one and that, based on his counting, we would get a wristband. I still wouldn’t believe it. Then a friend of mine and his wife walked past! I shouted them over and we exchanged stories of dropping everything and getting here. They have a young son…I dread to think! What happened next was as much confirmation as I needed, but it still didn’t seem real. The security guards gave my Heaton Park tickets and CD’s a once over, stamped my hand, gave me a raffle ticket and told me to join the other queue in the car park, by the entrance to the box office! This was it wasn’t it? With wristband on, Heaton Park tickets in hand, stamped with “The Stone Roses 23.05.12. I Was There”, I tried to take it all in. I now had to sort logistics out. I ended up dashing home, having a shower due to the insanely hot weather and got on the next train from Burnage to Warrington Central. If I was gonna see The Stone Roses, I was gonna have a few drinks! I drew £40 from the cash machine to pay for such escapades and it gave me £50! Could this day get any better?

The rest of the evening seemed to go really fast and before I knew it I was inside Warrington Parr Hall, queuing to get to the bar next to former Manchester City player Paul Lake and Stone Roses official biographer John Robb. The atmosphere in the room was strange, but in a good way.

Stoned Love by The Supremes was the choice of walk on track for The Stone Roses and as the four of them emerged I was cheering, jumping and spilling beer everywhere as I’d stocked up so I wouldn’t have to go to the bar. Stood in my usual place for every gig I go to (at the back, next to the sound desk), everyone around me was feeling the same way. I bumped into a few mates who I go to United games with which made it even more spectacular. It’s been an awful last month or so with City winning the league, my own band being in slight turmoil and other things, but at least The Stone Roses are reds (for the most part) and the “K Stand Reunion” me and my friends were predicting for Heaton Park had come to fruition a month early, completely by accident. Then it started. I think I broke my face with the size of my smile. The opening bass line from I Wanna Be Adored could barely be heard due to people ‘der der dering’ along and you could forget about being able to hear Ian Brown’s vocals at this point. Who needed to hear it? We were all here, we were witnessing history. It had been exactly 21 years, 11 months and 15 days since Ian & John & Mani & Reni had last played together in what many consider to be their greatest ever gig on Glasgow Green. Almost 22 years had passed and the anticipation and the hunger for this reunion were ever present throughout those years. The rest of the set just felt like a dream. I was higher than the sun. This was having a greater effect on me than any drug could ever have. Mersey Paradise came next, then Sally Cinnamon, then Made of Stone, after which, Ian Brown decided to have a dig at the hordes of people who he said “weren’t living in the moment” by filming the gig on their phones instead of watching it. I agreed.

Later in the set, my 2 all time favorite Stone Roses songs were played, much to my surprise. Less so with Where Angels Play but when they began playing Tightrope I was just in heaven. I love The Second Coming and always have but to hear an album track from it took me, and I think everyone else, completely by surprise! After that it was Waterfall, She Bangs The Drums and Love Spreads and it was all over. I’d just spent the best part of an hour in a room with 900 other people watching The Stone Roses. Trying to read what was on Ian’s t-shirt, perving on John Squire’s beautiful guitars and Reni’s spectacular drum set up. The house lights came up as soon as they left the stage and although we all waited for I Am The Resurrection, no encore ensued. Shane Meadows stood on the stage, camera in hand, filming for his documentary about the band, whilst the road crew dissembled the drum kit and John Squires 4 Mesa Boogie combo amps. Redemption Song played through the PA. Perfect.

Reluctantly spilling out on to the streets, there were camera crews everywhere, making sure that every last bit of the history was captured. I was interviewed. They asked about the night and what I thought about Ian’s voice. I was drunk on music, and on alcohol, which is probably why, halfway through the interview I shouted “Look, its Jimmy from Puressence!!! JIMMY!!!!”. I somehow doubt they will use the interview now.

I got the last train back to Oxford Road, nipped into Spar to get some cans of Stella for the bus ride home and asked a lad with a Stone Roses t shirt on if he had been to the gig. He had been to see The Enemy at Manchester Academy instead. Poor guy, I really felt for him as I saw them a couple of years ago at the same venue…not good, in case you were wondering.

The day after was a slow one and I spent the day listening to The Stone Roses and picking out lyrics that helped me make sense of what happened. I felt like I was coming down from 10 E’s, or a dose of Heroin. I honestly did feel like no matter what I did or planned to do in the future, nothing would top the night before. A real class A feeling. I reflected on the day before, feeling bad for a couple of my mates who had been there in the early days, friends who were at Blackpool and Spike Island, yet missed out on last night. Then I remembered that I was there and I was too young to be at Blackpool and Spike Island. Kiss me where the sun don’t shine, the past was yours but the futures mine

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This article has been amended on 30/05/2013 but was originally published by Designer Magazine in May 2012.

It is available here in its original form

http://designermagazine.org/TheStoneRosesWarringtonFans.htm

Ever caught a glimpse of how the others must see the faker?

It's been a couple of weeks since the last blog post now but I'm gonna try and keep this short. I was halfway through watching 'David Bowie - Five Years' which I'd recorded from Saturday night but the fire alarm in my building went off which distracted me and made me want to write something.

Last night me and Tommy tried something new. We did a not-quite-acoustic gig at Ye Olde Cock Inn in Didsbury. I took my Telecaster, and Tommy brought his acoustic guitar and his newly acquired (1 hour before show time) electric piano, which we may as well have stolen from some poor Spaniard who was desperate to sell before he went back to Madrid "In search of work". I think I put the boot in a bit when I quoted Spain's unemployment rate but he had a dig at United so fuck him. Anyway, what was new about it was the set. It was comprised of 100% covers! We opened with Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen with me on the Telecaster and Tommy on keys, which played out like an unravelling dream: every single line delivered with pure joy. Then we did Mr. Brightside by The Killers before going into Big Love by Fleetwood Mac, both with Tommy backing me on guitar whilst I just sang. Then we finished off with Sit Down by James and Don't Look Back in Anger by The Burnage Beatles. It was an experiment but I think we will be doing more of this in the future as it went pretty well. Great craic. Chris rehearsed with us and was supposed to be involved but he wasn't feeling great so didn't make it in the end. Its a bloody long journey from Atherton to Didsbury and back on public transport anyway so fair play to him for doing it as often as he does. Like I said though, a shame, purely because the version of Get Back by The Liverpool Beatles that we have been messing around with is incredible but only works with the three of us. We've been rehearsing quite a few other tunes as a three piece like this too, including our own set, so look out for pop up gigs like the one last night. We announce them all on the day on Facebook and Twitter so be sure to follow us on both. 

Other than that, I have done quite a bit of writing recently. It's interesting material (for me at least) and it certainly isn't like anything I've written before. Like anything I write though, its just the right riff away from being a rock and roller that pays homage to The Glimmer Twins so this paragraph could be rendered useless on reflection. I've been listening to far too much Ryan Adams and Rolling Stones recently so lets hope the final product comes out somewhere in the middle. 

In other news, we are trying out bass players this week which is great because it opens the door for Tommy's long awaited move to keys/guitar. We are also talking to our preferred venue for our next Manchester show, although it is looking like it will be towards the end of summer now, as opposed to July as originally planned. The whole thing is shaping up to be massive and I can promise it is gonna be worth the wait. If you are willing to travel in the mean time, we are playing at The Talbot, Burnley on June 5th followed by a double header in London in August starting with Brixton Windmill on August 10th (day before the Charity Shield…against FA Cup Winners, Wigan Athletic…arf) and ending with our hugely anticipated show with The Madding Crowd on August 24th at Archway Tavern (pictured below, Kinks style).

Speaking of The Madding Crowd, Ben and Dom played a fantastic acoustic set at The Go Go Club in Oldham on Saturday night. Now the Metrolink runs from Didsbury to Oldham, I thought I'd go and see them play in their native 'Norf Manchester'. Its a strange trip for an honorary south-sider but I somehow made it out alive. The gig was fancy dress (nobody told me) to the theme of Bugsy Malone, which is my favourite musical but only because I played Leroy when we did it at school. Their set was eclectic to say the least. They played some old favourites, covered Bad Guys from the Bugsy Malone soundtrack and played some new songs from their soon to be released EP 'A Stitch in Time' which I am looking forward to for many reasons, the main one being that the songs are sounding great when they play them live in their stripped down acoustic form but also because they are recording a track with me in my studio which I honestly could not be looking forward to more if I tried. To my ear, their new tunes sound rich. I know what I mean by that but I may have trouble expressing it with words (thank god I found music eh?) so I will just say that one track instantly said to me 'if Rodger McGuinn wrote Piano Man'. Remember, The Madding Crowd possess so much raw power that they make SSAC look like One Direction feat. Justin Bieber. So, now I've turned the hype machine on amongst fans of our own, check The Madding Crowd out all over the internet and keep an eye out for 'A Stitch in Time'. I will be plugging that and the new Faraday EP quite a lot in the coming months.

The aim was to keep this short so I'm gonna go back to being dazzled by Bowie. I will leave you all with a picture of Bowie and Ronson on a train to Aberdeen that I discovered earlier in the year when I visited the Glam! exhibition at Tate Liverpool, a trip I was reminded of this afternoon. Since then, this picture seems to have popped up all over the place and it always reminds me of my Rock and Roll brother, Chris Gilman. And because we have each now created a title for a blog post from the Bowie song Changes, here is Changes. Only realised today that this song is probably about his rise to fame (or possibly lack thereof at the time) so its fitting, hence the title in the first place. Oh look out you rock and rollers, pretty soon now you're gonna get older

Still...whats another year?