Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder tells Tim Hughes that he may have calmed down a bit off stage, but, 25 years on from the release of their classic album, he’s loving it more than ever

Can it really be 25 years since a loud-mouthed Mancunian accused us of twisting his melon and threatened to “call the cops”?

Fast-living, hard-partying and with a legendary appetite for the naughtier things in life, Shaun Ryder and his band the Happy Mondays were the epitome of early 90s ‘baggy’ swagger.

Much has changed since then, with many of their contemporaries falling by the wayside – hardly surprising considering what most of them were doing to their bodies. Even the scene’s spiritual home, Manchester’s Hacienda, where the band were discovered by impresario Tony Wilson, has gone, its site occupied by trendy flats. Yet the Happy Mondays remain. And they have lost none of their edge.

“I’m fantastic and brilliant!” Shaun tells me when I ask him how he feels as he sets out on tour to celebrate a quarter of a century since the release of the band’s seminal album Pills ‘n’ Thrills And Bellyaches – the luridly-sleeved record which includes the band’s anthem Step On.

“I don’t drink, and don’t even smoke,” he adds, in his rich Salford drawl, sounding genuinely pleased with himself. “It’s just great. Things couldn’t be better.”

The smoking is interesting, for it was at a 2007 show to celebrate the reopening of the Carling Academy – now the O2 Academy Oxford – that Shaun ran into controversy by defying the recently introduced smoking ban and lighting up a cigarette on stage.

“I can’t remember that,” he laughs. “But I never even reach for a fag now.

“I have to do it as an adult now. I’m a dedicated dad, and when you become a dad you join that adult world.

“It’s a very comfortable age being 53 and I am comfortable in myself. I’m not scared on stage and don’t need to be full of drugs.

“It’s been great, but when I got to 40 I realised the shenanigans would have to end – and they did.

“I had a great time but it had to end, and that’s it.”

Pills ‘n’ Thrills… was the third album released by Shaun, his brother Paul, and bandmates Gary Whelan, Paul Davis, Mark Day and his best friend Mark ‘Bez’ Berry (who he employed as a dancer and percussionist because he couldn’t play anything else).

Produced by Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne the album went platinum, spending 31 weeks in the charts and peaking at number four.

Step On and its other single, Kinky Afro, both reached the top five in the singles chart.

Of course, much has happened to Shaun since the Happy Mondays’ initial hiatus. First there was his follow-up project Black Grape, then his newspaper column in the Daily Sport, collaborations with everyone from members of Talking Heads to Russell Watson, Gorillaz and Peter Kay – appearing on Is This The Way to Amarillo.

Then there was the TV work – including a stint in the jungle for the tenth series of I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, on which he finished second to X Factor singer Stacey Solomon.

His dancing sidekick Bez is also a reality TV star, winning the 2005 series of Celebrity Big Brother.

“Things certainly haven’t been boring,” he says, sagely.

On Sunday the band, joined by singer Rowetta Satchell, return to the O2 Academy to perform the classic album and other tunes.

“It’s great to be doing 25 years of Pills ‘n’ Thrills… he says. “Here’s to another 25 years – and I’m going to remember it this time.”

And he recognises the legacy the rave scene, which spawned the band, had on popular music.

“Before that it was like being stuck in a never-ending 1970s episode of Top of the Pops,” he says.

“We wanted to not only be a rock & roll band, but to be adventurous. It’s like being a professional footballer – you want to show everything you’ve got, and we gave it a real kick.

“Nobody wanted to hear about chords in A-minor, they wanted proper shows – and that’s what we did. And to back it up, we made amazing albums.

Oxford Mail:

“I pat myself on the back for writing some good stuff. You didn’t have time to step back and think about it though; just get back on the hamster wheel and move on to the next thing.”

He pauses, adding: “The good thing about doing it now is we can play songs and enjoy it. And I enjoy it more than ever.”

And how does he get on with Bez these days? ”It’s not possible to not be friends with someone you’ve known for all those years,” he laughs. “It’s like being in a sexless marriage!”

GO ALONG
Happy Mondays play the O2 Academy Oxford, in Cowley Road, Oxford, on Sunday.
Tickets from ticketweb.co.uk