READ: Extract from John Robb's Stone Roses book
The Stone Roses: The Reunion Edition is out now.
The Hot Press Newsdesk, 23 Apr 2012
Journalist, musician and all-round punk fan John Robb is set to relase a fully updated version of his 1996 book The Stone Roses And The Resurrection Of British Pop, out now.
The Stone Roses: The Reunion Edition charts the monumental rise of band, using interviews, rehearsal tapes, and material from Robb's vast archives. Says Ian Brown: "Brother John Robb knows. He was there!"
The following excerpt is taken from the book. Order it here.
"Manchester Ritz had been many people’s favourite Manchester venue for years. Built in the 1920s, it retains the proper dusky music-hall feel that suits great rock’n’roll. It’s seen its fair share of history – The Smiths played their first-ever gig there on 4 October 1982 and the Roses themselves played a gig there on 7 July 1986.
I arrive at five o’clock and there is an ad hoc band soundchecking. It’s Ian Brown and John Squire playing in semi-public for the first time since the reformation. About ten people mill around in the room as they run through Clash classic ‘Bankrobber’ with, bizarrely, Simon Wolstencroft: school friend, Manchester drumming legend and the drummer in their first teenage band, The Patrol.
They had got there early, wanted to run through the songs, needed a drummer and Si was there. It’s the first of several circles that get closed tonight. It’s not The Stone Roses who have reformed at this soundcheck but The Patrol! Afterwards Si explains how strange it was to be playing with them for that brief moment after all this time. ‘I just got up and it felt like all those years ago. John nodding at me as we were playing. That was great. John was dead cool and sat down at soundcheck and we chatted. I’d not seen him since 1996. He was there with his guitar and with a big smile on his face doing in-jokes from the school days. It cracked me up right away like Ian always does when I see him and he does jokes about the old teachers from them days.’
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