Ian Brown: career-spanning interview by John Robb

Ian Brown in ultra rare interview from 2004 gives John Robb a complete career overview. Website: https://louderthanwar.com/ 00:00:00 - Blackpool, ’89. The first time seeing the crowd that had bought the album. Being shocked to see that everyone was dressed like them. 00:02:09 - Doing something special. Not the ‘traditional circuit’.Keep it in line with the underground party atmosphere. 00:05:00 - The famous money shirt! 00:06:04 - The Manchester scene 00:06:37 - early days at the Hacienda 00:07:52 - The sudden change at the Hacienda. House music / Acid House / Mike Pickering 00:09:26 - Es and House Music 00:11:48 - Ecstasy - 00:12:34 - Kitchen days and other clubs 00:13:59 - ‘We hadn’t took Es before we’d made those songs’ 00:14:12 - ‘We weren’t Acid House - we were still guitars and 60s beats’. 00:14:32 - ‘We were about community, love, uplifting, positivity, nothing can stop us,' 00:15:30 - Blackpool gig - capturing the rave atmosphere 00:15:50 - ‘The city is behind us. They want us to make it. 00:16:59 - Did Gareth understand Acid House? 00:24:10 - Ally Pally, ’89 00:26:00 - Spike Island 00:26:46 - Roses were pioneers 00:27:37 - Arriving in the back of a transit van 00:27:54 - The vibe in the band at this point 00:28:28 - ‘I wish we had a better chorus for One Love’ 00:29:13 - Should have been a Fool’s Gold album - funkier. 00:29:31 - Glasgow Green - the ultimate Roses gig 00:30:15 - Court case 00:31:15 - ‘Shit! We’ve made this masterpiece and we’ve got to follow it up’ 00:31:30 - We had some really good tunes in the works 00:31:35 - We’d be editing ourselves. Ian and John spend 2 weeks in Italy in ‘90. 00:32:24 - Mr. Shitehawk 00:32:51 - Court case fucked us up. 00:33:13 - Stopped by the music business 00:35:23 - David Geffenl (if you win it, sign with me!). 00:35:50 - Getting out of the deal. 00:37:03 - ‘Suddenly we had kids and responsibilities. It wasn’t the gang. 00:38:51 - Top of the Pops 00:39:04 - Sharing the dressing room with the Mondays 00:39:10 - Tony Wilson persuades them not to swap about on the instruments with the Mondays 00:39:52 - ‘It was ace to share success with Mondays’. 00:41:48 - Jan ’93. Starting the second album. 00:42:25 - John Leckie 00:45:20 - Leckie leaves and it was all downhill from there 00:45:27 - Sept ’94, the album is finished. 00:45:48 - How do you follow up a generational album? 00:47:40 - I didn’t want to make a dark album. I don’t like dark music. 00:50:53 - Reni leaves the band 00:53:13 - Robbie Maddox 00:53:47 - The world tour. Wembly. John leaves the band. 00:54:20 - Reni, Mani and John’s love of Led Zeppelin 00:57:23 - ‘There’s a couple of songs I still think are shit’ 00:57:57 - what could have been the second album 00:58:43 - The most amazing drummer 00:58:49 - ‘I’m the biggest Roses fans because I used to get to see them jamming for hours’ 1:01:56 - Pretty well unravelled. The new, new Stone Roses 1:02:24 - Aziz Ibrahim enters the band 1:02:56 - Reading Festival: Slash offers to play and ridicule. 1:04:20 - Stop the band 1:06:04 - Coming out of the Roses with nothing, ready to sign on. 1:06:28 - Disillusioned with music. 1:07:04 - Moving to Lymm and writing songs with Nigel, Robbie and Aziz. 1:09:14- Going solo! 1:09:46 - Making Monkey Business - a series of demos 01:11:57 - ‘My Star’ comes out 01:12:13 - Getting signed to Polydor Records 01:13:48 - It needed to be honest. 01:14:48 - ‘Suddenly, I was back into music’ 01:14:51 - Signing the contract: ‘I’m not a man, I’m a music lawyer’ 01:16:26 - Monkey Business! 01:18:00 - I didn’t have any plans for gigs. 01:18:20- ‘As far as I was concerned, I’d been in the best band…I didn’t have any ambitions to play any shows…I was just happy to get the record released’ 01:18:36 - ‘I’ll put a band together’ 01:21:06 - Meeting Oasis 01:23:11 - Alternative music was getting bigger and bigger - we were told ‘not to dream of getting in the charts’ 01:25:08 - Manchester and Liverpool being different ends of the same city 01:26:04 - the following albums 01:26:09 - How you tighten it up is to programme it all 01:26:38 - The hottest kid in town: Dave McCraken 01:30:01 - Golden Greats - I want someone who can mix it. Make it sound good on the window cleaner’s radio, a 5 grand stereo, a car radio. Enter Steve Fitzmaurice. 01:30:38 - Dave Gilmour’s boat 01:31:16 - All the pink Floyd crew were looking after us. 01:31:27 - The fourth one. Getting my hands dirty again. 01:31:49 - Enjoying the freedom of not being in a band. 01:32:39 - ‘I see it like a full circle now. ‘The first one sounds like a demo - rough and ready, and the last one sort of slick, with slick beats and a full orchestra’. 01:32:59 - I treat each one like it’s my last opportunity. 01:33:45 - An ad hoc approach to making records. Almost like diaries. 01:34:22- ‘For the next one…I’m not looking at changing music. I just want 12 great songs’. 01:34:46 - ‘Outside of my own fans, I don’t feel like the English media got behind me’.