Been looking at all the stone roses sites recently, due mainly to the reform the roses site on myspace. got me all excited with the thought of gettin the roses back in the charts. tickles me pink really thinkin that such a ground breaking group could make it back after so long away from the limelight.
All this activity and speculation and what not about the roses getting back together got me thinking about how and why i got into the roses in the first place. But to do that i need to give you some background about myself so that you have some sort of reference point to my story. I first came across the roses back in 1984. I was 14 years old and had been involved in a handfull of "school bands", you know the type, a group of nippers who are mad keen on makin a rackett and calling it "music". I had never been the lead guitar type, it just wasnt me. I had always been drawn to music with a more interesting bass/rythem feel, loved the funk basically. So being a lead guitarist wasnt high on my list of things to do, was far more interested in wringing some trippy bass lines out of my old ibanez bass, which incidently sounded more like playin a fence line in a paddock than a bass due to the dodgy second hand nature of the beast.
So here we are in 1984. The influences for me at the time were mainly Kiwi bands like The Clean, The Verlaines,Straightjacket Fits and so on. I know, not the most funkiest of music but growing up in New Zealand made it somewhat difficult to get hold of the newest of material coming out at the time, we seem to live in somewhat of a timewarp here in NZ. Best not say more on that or i'll be shot. As i was saying earlier i was playin in school bands running out covers of all the hits at the time and one of my mates came along to a practice session with a copy of the roses So Young and Nowhere Fast. Havnt got a clue where he got that tape from and every time i ask him out comes the line "fuck mate thats going back awhile". So there was my introduction to the stone roses. First time i heard that tape i thought, "christ what is this? some sort of punk/smiths mix????" But it grew on me every time i played it and i started to look for more from this intriguing band. What got me going from the outset was Reni's drumming. What i wouldnt give to play with a drummer like that.being a bass player it was nirvana listening to him play. Was making up bass lines to lay down next to that amazing rythem of his. pure bliss.
Then in 1986 after much searching out comes the double A side "So Young/Tell Me" From that point onwards i was a dedicated roses fan. Even tried to save up money to hop on a plane and go see them play live in the uk. not an easy task living on the other side of the world due to the cost and rather unpredictable nature of the roses gigs. Never did manage to catch them live, another reason for me to want them to get back together, though it must be said we aint ever going to see that electric mix of the young roses at the peak of their creative power again (sobs quietly)
From then on it was a rather slow build to the first album. Knowing what i do now it makes sense but at the time it was frustrating. There were some hints of what was to come with Sally Cinnamon, the early I Wanna be Adored, Sugar Spun Sister, This is the One and Elephant Stone. all this picked up from bootlegs of the band which for me was like finding nuggets of gold. Gradually they were moving towards their more melodic sound and i was loving every second but it was still going to be a long ride towards the release of that absolutly fabulous great first album. Roll on 1989!!!
And then out of what almost felt like nowhere, due to the agonizingly long wait, came that "Album". Bliss, Nirvana and whatever other superlatives you want to insert. I was "made up" as they say over there. Never looked back since. I, like thousands of others put up with the 6 or 7 year wait for the second album and what do you know its just as good as the first even though the brown/squire partnership had changed somewhat and they had somehow moved towards a more led zepp sound, was i complaining? not one bit. the playing had got better, the guys had just moved up a gear and were pumping out seriously majestic sounds. so what if the original partnership had shifted, the sublime musicianship of the guys was mindblowing. mani and reni were the tightest of rythem sections, simply liquid gold laid down on the indifferent medium of plastic, while john had just gone from strength to strength. As for ian what can i say. the boy cant sing though the roses wouldnt be the roses without his distinctive sound or stage presence and his ability to lyricise johns music. That last bit sounds harsh and to be fair ian's self belief and charisma were well up to the task but his knack of singing flat or rough shows through, though when he's on the ball no one can touch him and with reni, the two of them together, its the sound of angels.
So there you have it, my trip with the roses. its been a long one and thoroughly interesting and enjoyable and i like many others hope and i guess secretly pray that theres another chapter, another ending than the one we have currently with john and ian at each others throat, at least in the press(who knows what they talk about privatly). Maybe you feel the same. Maybe you totally disagree, its a free world and your entitled to your opinion. would love to hear what you think so drop me a line or slag me off in front of the world i dont care as long as theres some sort of reaction to what i think is the greatest band in the world.
im not as old as u,im 34 and i got into them later than u,the black and white photos(in the album) of the band playin on the other side of midnight where spellboundin,they looked so effortlesly cool and it built up my image of the roses,the cloths and the attitude,they knew they were it,the album itself just blew me away,there is a tune for every mood on that album,and each track is different but just as great as the last one,when i finaly left school and grew my hair they were in the courts fightin silvertone so no album looked like comeing,but i got lucky in 95 when i went to the de montord hall in leicester,they were awesome even though Reni had left,i will never forget the influence they had on me and every band that has got together because of them...
