In celebration of the 35th anniversary of their classic album ‘Pills ‘n Thrills And Bellyaches’, the Happy Mondays are heading out on a UK tour this spring. We caught up with Shaun Ryder and Bez to look back at the madness, music and mayhem of their life.

By Carl Marsh

They became the pioneers of the Madchester sound after signing to Tony Wilson’s Factory Records in the late ‘80s, blending their love of funk, rock, psychedelia and house with the sounds of the UK’s emerging rave scene.

They are of course the Happy Mondays – the band who became icons of Britain’s biggest cultural phenomenon for a generation when they crossed over into the mainstream with their album Pills ‘n Thrills And Bellyaches in 1990.

And 35 years on Shaun Ryder believes their continued success is down to an album that has stood the test of time and the fact they are enjoying their music and performing more than ever before.

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Peter J Walsh/Pymca/Shutterstock (3488144a)
Shaun Ryder, The Happy Mondays, live UK 1989

He said: “The tunes on that album still sound good – proper good – like it could’ve been made today. I don’t really notice the years on it because we’ve never stopped playing the bloody thing but I do appreciate things more now.

“I’ve gone through phases where I’ve absolutely f**king hated everything – hated touring, hated myself, hated the lifestyle, but now I just f**king enjoy it more than ever. It’s mad. I get a bigger buzz now than I did when we were kids.

“Maybe it’s because the sex and drugs have gone – all that madness – and now it’s just the rock ‘n’ roll road. And I’m enjoying the road. You get older, and you appreciate the crowds more, the band more, the songs more. I get a buzz off the whole thing every night, and I never expected that.”

For a band who lived life to excess, the greatest surprise is that they’re still standing and Bez admits he finds that as hard to believe as anybody.

He said: “The unreal thing is simply that we’re actually still in the band – all the Happy Mondays – after all this time. That’s the bit that blows my mind. If you’d thought back all those years ago, when we set out as young fellas chasing a dream, causing chaos everywhere we went, you’d never have imagined we’d be here now as sixty-odd-year-old fellas, planning gigs and getting the band back together again.

“That is unreal. That’s the moment. Just being here, still doing it, still being the Happy Mondays. The fact that we survived it all, physically and mentally, is unbelievable.”

The longevity of Ryder and Bez’s friendship is as endearing as it is surprising given everything that has happened throughout their rock ‘n roll life and one that Bez puts down to their sexless marriage.

He said: “We’ve been through a hell of a lot, yeah and it’s really like a sexless marriage because we’ve been together for so long. Being a Happy Monday is a proper roller coaster – the ups, the downs, the lows, the highs. You can’t write this f**king s**t. We’ve had some big fallouts, after nearly 40 years together and yet, after everything, we’re still really good friends.

“That’s what it’s about – being able to go through all that emotion with somebody. It’s rare, really rare.”

As for the new wave of fans the Mondays have attracted, Ryder says it is undoubtedly their appearance on TV shows like Googlebox that has helped boost their appeal.

He said: “When Bez did Big Brother back in 2005, he brought a whole new young fanbase to the band. When I did the jungle in 2010, the same thing – loads of new people suddenly knew who we were. It’s the same with Gogglebox, they watch us for 20 minutes, then check out the music, and the next thing you know, they’re at the shows. That’s one of the main reasons we do TV – it brings in new fans. Our fanbase now goes from ten-year-olds to people in their nineties.”

“I often ask myself why the Monday’s songs resonate so strongly with younger audiences who weren’t there the first time round and I honestly don’t know. Back in the ‘80s, a lot of the stuff around was total s**t, so we were digging into the underground and trying to make something different. Something like 24 Hour Party People still sounds like it could’ve been written today and I guess people connect with it because it’s timeless – not because we meant it to be, but because that’s what came out. At the end of the day, good music is good music – that’s it.”

Happy Mondays play the O2 Academy, Leeds on March 14th.