The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band's classic and most prominent lineup consisted of the vocalist Ian Brown, the guitarist John Squire, the bassist Gary "Mani" Mounfield and the drummer Alan "Reni" Wren.
The Stone Roses released their eponymous debut album in 1989. It was a breakthrough success, being critically acclaimed and regarded by many as one of the greatest British albums. Following this success, the band sought to capitalise on their newfound fame by signing with a major label. However, their record label at the time, Silvertone, would not let them out of their contract, leading to a lengthy legal battle that culminated with the band signing with Geffen Records in 1991.
The Stone Roses released their second album, Second Coming, in 1994. It received mixed reviews. The group soon disbanded after several lineup changes throughout the supporting tour, which began with Reni departing in early 1995, followed by Squire in April 1996. Brown and Mani dissolved the remains of the group in October 1996 following their appearance at the Reading Festival.
Following much media speculation, the Stone Roses announced their reunion on 18 October 2011 and embarked on a world tour in 2012, including three homecoming shows in Heaton Park, Manchester. Plans to record a third album were also floated, but only two singles were released. In June 2012 Chris Coghill, the writer of the film Spike Island, revealed that the band "have at least three or four new tracks recorded". In June 2013 a documentary about the band's reformation, directed by Shane Meadows and titled The Stone Roses: Made of Stone, was released.
In 2016 the Stone Roses released their first new material in two decades. The band continued to tour until June 2017, at which point cryptic remarks by Brown indicated that the band had split again. This was later confirmed in a 2019 interview with Squire.
History
Formation (1983–1984)
Ian Brown and the guitarist John Squire, who knew each other from Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, formed a short-lived Clash-inspired band, The Patrol, in 1980 along with the singer and guitarist Andy Couzens and the drummer Simon Wolstencroft. They played several gigs in 1980 and recorded a demo tape, but towards the end of that year, they decided on a change of direction. During their last Patrol show, Brown had a taste of being a frontman, singing the Sweet's "Block Buster!" to close the set. Pete Garner, a friend and roadie, stood in on bass while Couzens wanted to focus on guitar.In 1981 the band members lost enthusiasm. Brown sold his bass guitar to buy a scooter, and Wolstencroft joined Johnny Marr and Andy Rourke's pre-the Smiths band Freak Party. Squire continued to practise guitar while working as an animator for Cosgrove Hall during the day, while Brown ran a Northern soul night in a Salford club.
Squire and Couzens started a new band, the Fireside Chaps, with bassist Gary "Mani" Mounfield, later recruiting a singer named David "Kaiser" Carty and drummer Chris Goodwin. They changed their name to the Waterfront, their sound influenced by 1960s groups and contemporary bands such as Orange Juice. Goodwin left before the band recorded their first demo and, shortly after it, Squire asked Brown to join as singer. A meeting with Geno Washington at a party at Brown's flat in Hulme, in which Washington told Brown that he would be a star and should be a singer, convinced Brown to take Squire up on his offer. Brown joined the Waterfront in late 1983, for a time sharing vocals with Kaiser.
Like the earlier attempts at bands, the Waterfront fizzled out. In late 1983, Couzens decided to try again by starting a band and approached Brown. They decided on Wolstencroft as drummer and Pete Garner as bassist. They also decided that they needed Squire in the band, and when he agreed the band's lineup was cemented. Leaving their previous bands behind, they worked solely on new material. Brown's vocal limitations prompted him to take singing lessons for three weeks. After rehearsing for some time without a band name, Squire came up with "The Stone Roses". Several stories later emerged suggesting that the band had initially been called "English Rose" or that the name was somehow linked to the Rolling Stones. These stories were untrue, Brown explaining: "No, I don't know where that English Rose story came from. John thought up the name 'Stone Roses' - something with a contrast, two words that went against each other". The band rehearsed for six months, during which time Wolstencroft had been auditioning for other bands, and he left to join Terry Hall's band the Colourfield. They got Goodwin to rejoin, but he lasted for only one rehearsal, so they advertised for a replacement and began auditioning, eventually recruiting Alan "Reni" Wren in May 1984.
After rehearsing and writing songs over the summer, they recorded their first demo in late August, making 100 cassettes with artwork by Squire, and set about trying to get gigs. They played their first gig as the Stone Roses on 23 October 1984, supporting Pete Townshend at an anti-heroin concert at the Moonlight Club in London. Brown had sent a demo with an accompanying letter: "I'm surrounded by skagheads, I wanna smash 'em. Can you give us a show?" The show was seen by journalists including Sounds Garry Johnson, who arranged to interview the band a few weeks later. The band received management offers and more gigs soon followed.
Howard "Ginger" Jones, who had recently left his job as director and general manager of the Haçienda, the producer Martin Hannett and Tim Chambers agreed to work with the band on an album, setting up Thin Line Records to release it. Jones took on management of the band, although they had already made a similar agreement with Caroline Reed in London. The band got their first positive press in late December, with Johnson tipping them for success in 1985 in Sounds magazine. A feature on the band followed in January.
Early tour and releases (1985–1988)
The band played their first headlining gig on 4 January 1985, supported by Last Party, after the original headliners Mercenary Skank had pulled out. They had their first recording session with Martin Hannett in January 1985 at Strawberry Studios in Stockport, aiming to record tracks for a debut single and an album. Further sessions followed in March, during which they recorded their debut single, the double A-side "So Young"/"Tell Me". The band were invited to play a live session on Piccadilly Radio in March, premiering a new song, "I Wanna Be Adored". Tony Michaelides from the station arranged for five local bands to play at Dingwalls in London on 8 February: Glee Company, Communal Drop, Fictitious Names, Laugh, and the Stone Roses. Mark Radcliffe, another Piccadilly DJ, was compère for the night. By this time, the Stone Roses had started to build a sizeable following in Manchester. Their first gig in the North of England, at Clouds in Preston, attracted a large audience and descended into a riot after technical problems and friction between the bands on the bill.The Roses embarked on a tour of Sweden in April, with their first gig in Manchester following their return, at International 1, a venue run by the future Stone Roses managers Matthew Cummins and Gareth Evans. A performance at a warehouse party on 20 July helped to build interest in the band, and in August they returned to the studio to record their debut album. Unhappy with the results and with the band's sound changing, it was shelved. The "So Young"/"Tell Me" single, however, was released on Thin Line Records in September.
Frustrated with the lack of attention they were getting locally, the band engaged in a graffiti campaign, with Ian Brown and Reni spraying the band's name on walls from West Didsbury to the city centre. This brought them negative publicity but added to their increasing notoriety. In 1986, they began working on new material, including "Sally Cinnamon", and the planned follow-up singles to "So Young" were shelved. They parted company with Jones and took on Gareth Evans as manager, using Evans' International 1 venue as their new rehearsal space. Around this time, the band played several UK tour dates, including 11 August 1986 at the Mardi Gras club in Liverpool with local promoter and record label owner Ken Kelly and his band Innervision, at which several record company executives would be in attendance.
As Brown and John Squire began collaborating more closely on songwriting, they decided to take a larger slice of the money than the other band members. Andy Couzens and Reni left the band in protest, although they soon returned. Couzens played an ill-fated gig with the band at the end of May before being pushed out of the band by Evans after flying home alone while the rest of the band returned in their van. Although they failed to achieve further success in 1986, their repertoire expanded to include songs such as "Sugar Spun Sister", influenced by bands like the Jesus & Mary Chain and the indie-pop era Primal Scream, and they stopped playing the older songs.
In December 1986 they recorded their first demo as a four-piece, including the first studio recordings of "Sugar Spun Sister" and "Elephant Stone". In early 1987 Evans negotiated a deal with Black/FM Revolver for a one-off release on the specially created Black Records label. By the time of the release of the single "Sally Cinnamon", the group's sound had changed considerably, with chiming guitar hooks and a strong melody, alienating some of their old fans but attracting many new ones. "Sally Cinnamon" sold out its 1,000-copy run but failed to make the desired impact.
In June 1987 Pete Garner announced that he had decided to leave the band, although he stayed until they found a replacement. He played his final gig with the band at the Larks in the Park festival in Liverpool. Rob Hampson was Garner's replacement, with Garner teaching him the bass parts before leaving, although Hampson lasted only a week. A more permanent replacement was found in the form of the former Waterfront bassist Mani, who played his first gig with the band in November 1987. Brown recalled, "When Mani joined it almost changed overnight. It became a totally different groove... Straight away, everything just fell into place".
In early 1988 the band played at Dingwalls in London, a show attended by representatives of Zomba and Rough Trade's Geoff Travis, and both subsequently wanted to sign the band. Rough Trade even funded studio time to record a single, "Elephant Stone", with Peter Hook producing. Hook was considered to produce an album for the band but was unavailable due to commitments with New Order, so Travis suggested John Leckie. In May the band played a high-profile concert at Manchester's International 2 with the band James, organised by Dave Haslam to raise funds for a campaign against Clause 28. The band attempted to usurp James by putting up posters around town listing the Stone Roses as headliners and delaying their start time to get the headline slot themselves and limit the time that James could play for. In the audience was a sixteen-year-old Liam Gallagher, who was inspired to form a band himself. Noel Gallagher also stated that he was inspired to do the same by attending one of their gigs. Also in the audience was Glaswegian Roddy McKenna, A&R executive with Zomba, who later signed the band to the label. He asked if they could be transferred internally to Andrew Lauder's newly created guitar-based Silvertone Records subsidiary. The band signed an eight-album deal, buying the "Elephant Stone" tapes from Rough Trade and releasing them as a single in October 1988.
The band were co-managed by Matthew Cummins, who died in 2007 following an accident. The DJ Dave Booth was also influential in the band's early days, supporting their live performances at warehouse parties.