issue #02 pdf - Razorcake

there a band called "Bobby
Gillespie's Hair"?
Mani: I think there is you know,
because I keep seeing - some girl
writes into the music magazines
and that's how she signs herself.
Yeah. That's strange.
Nardwuar: A few years ago when
you were in the Stone Roses, didn't
you guys fly all the way to
Barcelona to watch Man United get
thumped four-nil at Nou Camp
Stadium?
Mani: Yeah man, well you know,
that was a bad night all around, but
we're massive, massive football
fans you know.
Nardwuar: Stone Roses vs. the
Farm - Mani and Reni vs. Pete and
Keith - what do you think? Did you
have any rivalries with the Farm at
all, when you were in the Stone
Roses, Mani?
Mani: Yeah, we made up with
Peter and the boys here and there.
Yeah, we always kind of got on like
a house on fire. It's good to see
Liverpool come out with a band
because all this football rivalry, you
know the rivalry thing, and that's
all it is, it's just football, but at the
end of the day, Scousers and Mancs
are very, very similar people. Uh,
yeah, there was never any rivalry
on the music front.
Nardwuar: Now, looking back to
the Stone Roses, you rode it out
right to the end. Do you feel, Mani,
that the Stone Roses "George
Bested" it?
Mani: We did, most definitely.
Yeah, a lot of unfulfilled potential
there, but shit happens in life, you
know. I can remember when we
came to play Toronto and it was not
the best of gigs and we really
weren't really getting along too
well. I think myself and Ian Brown,
we preserved its life a little bit too
long. When John Squire left, we
should have just called it a day
there and then, you know?
Nardwuar: How bad was John
Squire on cocaine?
Mani: Uh, not as bad as people
would you make out really. It's... a
lot of bullshit. No, John's a very
controlled guy. I still see him, and
he wasn't that bad at all. I think it's
just been blown out of all proportion
really, you know?
Nardwuar: Because I guess I was
just curious, what was the largest
amount of cocaine you have ever
seen John sniff and where was this?
Mani: Uh, it would probably be
when we were recording the
"Second Coming" LP and, um, it
wasn't that large an amount, man.
Not as much as the weed that Ian
Brown and bloody Reni used to
smoke.
Nardwuar: So at the end of all of
the recording, at the end of the end
of the end of the Stone Roses, was
there any cash left over at all?
Mani: Um, no, money was a bad
thing because we all spent loads of
money going through all these
bloody legal cases you know. And a
lot of people around Manchester,
they look at me and they think,
"Oh, that guy's a millionaire."
Because they don't see how your
payments work out, you know.
They just see you selling shitloads
of records and see you on the TV,
and think you are a millionaire. But
no, there was no money really left
over. Funnily enough, we've only
just now started receiving royalties
from Silvertone for the first LP.
Can you believe that, eleven years
on?
Nardwuar: Did you end up flying
back and forth between LA and
England in the Stone Roses during
that long period when you were
recording the album? Because it is
quite an amazing story, you know,
taking so long to get the record out.
Mani: Yeah, we just got too many
pounds and just went bonkers with
it for a couple of years, you know?
Nardwuar: What was one of your
favorite instances here, just winding
up with Mani of Primal
Scream, when you were in the
Stone Roses?
Mani: I remember we had a competition
to see who could spend ten
grand the quickest and we all flew
to the south of France and we chartered
a helicopter and we were
staying in a six hundred pounds a
night hotel suites and what have
you. We all just got a little bit too
Duran Duran for a week and it was
good fun.
Nardwuar: And who won?
Mani: I won.
Nardwuar: All right! And you're
Mani of Primal Scream, also, just
curious, do you have any good
Paula Yates stories?
Mani: Uh, I've never met her but I
can remember she used to be booking
into hotel rooms and phoning
Liam Gallagher up. I think she really
wanted to shag Liam, you know,
and Liam had to be on his toes to
avoid her quick, you know.
Nardwuar: And, Mani of Primal
Scream, why should people care
about Primal Scream?
Mani: Because we care about people
and we support people man,
and we're real.
Nardwuar: Well, thanks very
much, keep on rockin' in the free
world, and doot doola doot doo.
Mani: Thank you, Nardwuar
Nardwuar: Actually, Mani, doot
doola doot doo....
Mani: Doot doot.
...for more interviews check out
-Nardwuar