Photo by Paul Dixon
From The Hacienda to Barbados to Bargain Hunt, ladies and gentlemen, the enigma that is… Bez.
The name Bez will forever be synonymous with maracas, The Happy Mondays and wide-eyed disco biscuit dancing. His on-stage persona continues to keep him in the public eye and having appeared in (amongst others) Celebrity Big Brother, This Morning’s money matters and Pimp My Ride he’s continually been easy tabloid paragraph filler. In 2014 he announced he was to stand as a candidate in the 2015 general election, sadly his promise of, free food, free energy and free anything, didn’t canvass enough support for Bez to reach Westminster’s hallowed halls. After first The Happy Mondays split he joined long-time partner in crime Sean Ryder in the eclectic Black Grape and since 2012 he’s been touring with the original line up of the Happy Mondays. Bez, it’s fair to say, has lived a life and one which he writes quite openly about in his book ‘Freaky Dancin’. Originalrock.net caught up with the Happy Mondays musician and dancer, ladies and gentlemen, Bez.
The mobile number I’d been given purrs a few times before an unmistakable Manchurian accent says “How doo’s” and we’re off.
ORIGINAL ROCK. How are you at the moment?
Bez. “Yeah all good, I’ve just had a weekend off and turns out there was a festival next door, so it wasn’t really weekend off! (laughing)
OR. So the Happy Mondays are back on the road on a greatest hits tour.
BEZ. “ Yeah, yeah we start in October, we’ve been out and done a few festivals over the summer so we’ve had some good practice for it. The festivals have been good, the band are performing well.”
OR. Pardon the pun but what’s on The Happy Mondays rider these days?
BEZ. “Pretty much what there always is, there’s always a good selection of alcohol out there, whiskey, vodka, wine, cider which I love at the moment so yeah we’ve got the lot there really.”
OR. And are you still managing to dance for the eighty/ninety-minute set?
BEZ. “Yeah, it all depends, sometimes I go off for a few songs, I can’t remember the name of it at the moment it’s Sean and Rowetta’s love, I got caught in the middle of that one so I don’t want to get caught in the middle again, (laughing).”
OR. The music papers (or bibles) have all but disappeared with The NME, Melody Maker, Sounds no longer on newsagents shelves. Just how important were the music press and especially the NME to the Happy Mondays?
Bez. “Yeah huge, I mean for us to be on the cover of NME, Melody Maker and Sounds was a massive achievement. Without the press supporting the band the message wouldn’t have got out there. So they played a really important role in building us up as a band. It’s so sad to see how it is in this day and age you know everything that was. There’s no record industry, no press, the press has been buried, it’s completely changed from how it used to be.”
OR. We can say the same about record stores, we used to have HMV, Woolworths, Virgin Mega Stores, Our Price…
Bex. (cutting in) “Yeah yeah, well, unfortunately, not saying how great the internet is but (phone cutting out)… It’s the same on the high street no-one can afford to pay the business rates, no-one can compete. Everybody now shops online, one it’s cheaper and (pausing) it stole the soul of society really.”
OR. Plus with streaming services being so cheap or free there’s no incentive for my nieces and nephews generation to go out and buy a C.D, Vinyl or even cassette.
Bez. “It’s just incredible what has gone on, really is.”
OR. What was your favourite memory from back in the day?
Bez. “I’ll never forget when I first joined the band that was a moment I’ll never forget. I’ll never forget going to do ‘Rock In Rio’ that huge stadium in Brazil just walking in a lot of us were stressed out!”
OR. Rock In Rio was for bands like Guns ‘N’ Roses, Metallica or Queen wasn’t it?
Bez. “Yeah all the big names of the day were there, I mean it was great. We got stuck in a hotel with Guns ‘N’ Roses they put us and Guns ‘N’ Roses together because of our Rock ‘N’ Roll reputation. So yeah yeah it was a great time.”
OR. When your playing live is it still ‘Step On’ that lifts the roof off?
Bez. “Yeah we’ve got to play that song, I don’t think people would be happy with us if we didn’t. For me standing on stage, it’s watching the crowd’s reaction to it, it gets such an amazing response you know what I mean. So it’s just one of those songs we’ve gotta do, it’s just a shame we never wrote it! (laughing) “
OR. How do the band get on these days because it’s not always been a smooth ride?
Bez. “Yeah, the bands getting on the best we’ve ever got on since we first started out on this road. Yeah, it’s good, it’s good to see… You know we all went to the same school together, we’ve been together since school days and we all get on together now.”
OR. And you’re all slightly more mature in your outlook?
Bez. “Yeah well I’m a grandad these days, not sure if that clashes with Sean (laughing) but yeah we’re all older…we’ve all gone through it, so…”
OR. So are there any plans for 2020? Album 30th anniversary tours etc..
Bez. “I don’t really look at the future I just worry about today y’know what I mean. I haven’t got a clue what might happen, I don’t really go down that route. I’ve been saying for the last thirty years “this has got to be our last year”…
And that’s Bez time over but not before he says
“Lovely talking, catch you about sometime, maybe.”
The Happy Mondays Greatest Hits tour starts on October 23rd in Inverness and finishes in Lincoln on December 21st. For a full list of dates, tickets and band info step on over to https://www.facebook.com/HappyMondaysOnline/