Shaun Ryder Celebrating 35 years of Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches
The Happy Mondays breakthrough album Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches turns 35 and a gig is scheduled at Brighton Dome on 2 April as part of a 22-date tour. I caught up with frontman Shaun Ryder who was on top form: “Did I think we’d still be performing 35 years later? Course I did. Me and Bez were never going anywhere.”
Produced by the legendary Paul Oakenfold, Pills ’n’ Thrills… fused indie guitars with the emerging rave sound in a way that felt seismic. But for Shaun, it wasn’t some grand masterplan, “It just came together naturally.” He explained. “Being out in the clubs in Ibiza, hearing what Oakenfold was doing, mixing guitar bands with Italian dance beats. That’s where I first clocked him.” And the rest is music folklore. The Mondays became prolific on the Madchester scene, with regular performances at the iconic Haçienda, following in the footsteps of New Order and The Stone Roses. But Shaun remembers a very different early scene. “When the Haçienda first opened in ’82 it was empty unless there was a band on.”
Coming up between Salford and Manchester at a time when the Indie and underground rave scene were exploding, did it feel like musical alchemy? Not exactly. “You don’t walk around thinking it’s an amazing time to be alive. It’s just what’s normal to you.”
Following chart-topping success, platinum status and headlining Glastonbury in 1990, the Mondays split a year later amid drug issues and internal band strife. Ryder and Bez bounced back in 1993 when they formed Black Grape, heralded as one of the greatest comeback stories, with the band surpassing the commercial success of the Happy Mondays.
I asked, would he do it all again? “I wouldn’t want to go back. I enjoyed being 18, 20, 30, but I enjoy now just as much. I really do. I wouldn’t want to be young and messed up in the head again.”
Thirty-five years on, Shaun Ryder remains exactly who he’s always been: open, honest and entirely himself. And as we sign off from our interview he tells me, “My meds are wearing off and I’m starting to forget what I’m saying…” That’s rock ‘n’ roll, baby.
Happy Mondays – Brighton Dome, 2 Apr | www.brightondome.org
www.happymondaysofficial.co.uk
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