Jade's Music Blog

The biggest surprise is probably that the band members have even survived this long. But they have. Bez is still dancing his heart out and Shaun is still the cartoon lyrical mastermind, whilst Gaz Whelan longtime original drummer has taken up the mantle of musical director.
They have a freshly minted deal with Sanctuary Records imprint Sequel and a brand new album tucked under their arms. The biggest question on most peoples’ lips is, probably, why has it taken so long?
“It was having the time to do an album,� Shaun, 44, explains in his trademark Salford drawl. “Everyone’s been busy just living, doing whatever they have to do in their lives. We got back together in 1999 and we’ve been doing, you know, like Showaddywaddy shows.
Shaun admits that the shows played by various mutations of the original line-up – the “Showaddywaddy shows� he’s slightly dismissive of – happened “because a promoter asked us� rather than any artistic need, but no excuses are being made for the new tour. And they refuse to take part in any Manchester-Liverpool rivalry.
“People make too much of the whole Madchester thing,� says Gaz, 40. “We never made a big thing of it. We’re not even from Manchester anyway, we’re from Salford.
“We’ve always had links with Liverpool. Bez’s mum and dad are both Scousers, from Norris Green, and loads of our mates are based in Liverpool.
“The Bunnymen were one of our biggest influences. Our name came from a line in The Cutter. It’s actually “Am I the happy loss?� but we misheard and called the band The Happy Laws for four days. Then Shaun said the Laws was rubbish, so we changed it to Happy Mondays.
“We’re massive Bunnymen fans. Peter de Freitas was one of the best drummers I have ever heard. He was an inspiration to me and every other drummer growing up at that time.
“Our sound engineer is from Liverpool, and Pete Wylie is one of my best mates, so we hear a lot of stuff. I like The Zutons, and I heard Candie Payne the other day, she’s really good.�
The other helping hand is that the Mondays are – drum roll please – clean and straight, a far cry from their last album, 1992’s Yes Please!, during which their notoriously dissolute lives eventually led to the band’s demise.
Ryder is keen to show he’s a family man who’s substituted a mountain bike for the bong. “We’re all too old for that s**t now,� Shaun says. “I have to admit, though, that this is the first time I’ve ever been out in this business – and I’ve been in this business since I was 18 – that I’ve done it
straight, not using crack or heroin or whatever. It’s terrifying.�
Bez took his ...drugs a little bit too seriously when he broke his arm while trying to retrieve his house keys.
“He’d locked his keys in the house – he’s always doing things like that,� laughs Gaz. “He hurt his arm trying to break a window. They rushed him to hospital, but he was desperate to get out because we had a gig in Scotland that night. The doctor told him the only way he’d be out in time was if he had it reset without anaesthetic. Bez said ‘do it’ and he got there just in time and danced around with his arm in plaster. He’s a one-man whirlwind. There’s no telling him what to do.�
When they formed in 1985, Happy Mondays built their sound around hip hop beats, funky bass lines, blues guitars, samples and Ryder’s inimitable lyrics, a compelling mixture of street slang, drug gibberish and indie magic.
All these ingredients are still present and correct, mixed into a fine new stew by the band and their producer, Sunny Levine (son of Simply Red/Sly And The Family Stone producer Stewart and grandson of Quincy), somewhere between Hallelujah, Wrote For Luck and Step On of old and the psychedelic disco of Shaun and Bez’s post-Mondays band, Black Grape.
“I’ve never really stopped doing what I do,� Shaun says. “So I don’t see much difference between Happy Mondays then, Black Grape and Happy Mondays now. We could just as easily called this Black Grape – it would have saved us loads of legal hassles – but because it was Gaz and Bez it just was the Mondays.�
“We’ve been in bands together for 25 years – it’s like a sexless marriage,� laughs Gaz. “We know each other well enough that we can get on each others’ nerves, have a row and we’re still best mates.
“We’d never have split up in the first place if it had just been the three members in the band now back then, but the others wanted to so we did,� adds Shaun.
The recording process, Ryder and Whelan claim, was a doddle, being free to record what they wanted without record company involvement (they looked for a deal after making the album with their own money).
“We kind of get started with this mishmash of ideas, and there’s no egos so we can say and do what we like,� says Gaz. “If someone says they don’t like that bit, alright, let’s do something else. You can’t take it personal. When you get older you don’t anyway. Well, you shouldn’t.�
Gaz is under no illusion about the Mondays’ secret weapon, however.
“Often we get some tracks or musical ideas together we think are really good and then he [Shaun] comes in – he’s going to get all embarrassed now - and he just takes it to another level. You can never imagine where it’s going to go with him, but the thing is you can get away with the music being a bit cheesy because you know that once Shaun’s got hold of it, it’ll be a million times better and won’t be cheesy anymore. Never ceases to amaze me.�
The self-effacing Ryder, however, would rather you didn’t read too much into what he’s saying.
“You know when people write them Whitesnake songs,� he says, “You know, songs that are not really about anything significant? Well, that’s what my songs are about. There’s no hidden message or meaning, it’s just good time rock’n’roll, which is what we’ve always done, really.
So you’re the hip hop Whitesnake?
“Maybe the hip hop Black Sabbath,� he says with a self-mocking laugh. “That’s a bit cooler. Or Rainbow.�
Happy Mondays play Carling Academy Liverpool on Saturday October 13. For more information see www.liverpool-academy.co.uk.