Simon Spence - The Stone Roses: War and Peace

War and Peace

Photography by
Dennis Morris, Lena Kagg Ferrero
and Sue Dean

VIKING
an imprint of
PENGUIN BOOKS

Simon Spence collaborated with Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham on the acclaimed memoirs Stoned and 2Stoned. He has written for the NME, i-D, Dazed & Confused and the Independent. He was at the Stone Roses legendary Blackpool and Alexandra Palace shows in 1989 and covered their seminal Spike Island show for The Face.

To Thalia, Theo and Sylvie

War and Peace

Based on 400 hours of interviews with over seventy of The Stone Roses closest associates, including six former band members, War and Peace is the first major biography of the band that defined a generation. Originally planned in collaboration with Reni, the reclusive drummer, this book had been a year in the making when the Roses, against all odds, announced their re-formation.

It is a remarkable coda to an astonishing story of a band like no other. In 1989 their debut album and the single Fools Gold made them the most exciting British export since the Sex Pistols. With their incendiary aura the Roses became figureheads of the Madchester movement.

War and Peace traces the bands genesis, studded with violent gigs and abandoned recordings, and shaped by their infamous manager, Gareth Evans. As their jeans grew wider and their songs more anthemic, the Roses legendary gigs culminated in the era-defining Spike Island show in 1990. From this pinnacle the unravelling was spectacular. With the band refusing to play in America, arrested for vandalizing a record company and dragged through the High Court, the epic recording of their dark second album is the stuff of legend. They disbanded in turmoil in 1996.

Since then the Roses myth has grown even bigger. I Wanna Be Adored, She Bangs the Drums, Waterfall, This Is the One and I Am the Resurrection have become national anthems, and their first album is widely recognized as one of the best ever made.

But the true story behind their rise and fall and resurrection has never been told. Until now. From the Manchester backwaters to the worldwide 2012 tour, War and Peace lays bare the irresistible tale of the last of the great bands.

Revolution is not showing life to people, but bringing them to life.

A revolutionary organization must always remember that its objective is not getting its adherents to listen to convincing talks by expert leaders, but getting them to speak for themselves, in order to achieve, or at least strive toward, an equal degree of participation.

Guy Debord, Situationist International (1961)

This book includes forty previously unseen photographs from Dennis Morris, Lena Kagg Ferrero and Sue Dean.

Dennis Morris shot to fame as a teenager photographing Bob Marley between 1973 and 1981, before taking iconic shots of John Lydon and the Sex Pistols. In 1985 Martin Hannett, then producing The Stone Roses, tried to convince the band to collaborate with Morris to develop their look a plan that was abandoned when Morris and John Squire didnt hit it off. But Ian Brown and Reni kept in contact with him. The photographs in this book were taken during informal sessions from 1989 to 1995.

Lena Kagg Ferrero followed the Roses on their 1985 tour of Sweden with Toxin Toy. Her photographs of the Roses had been stored for more than twenty-five years in the loft of her fathers house. They are the rarest early shots of the band.

Sue Dean was a well-known face on the Manchester scene in the 1980s, and for a couple of years was the girlfriend of the Roses manager Gareth Evans. She was the only photographer to capture the Roses consistently throughout their lost years of 1986, 1987 and 1988.

The never-seen-before ephemera from this period was supplied from the archives of Howard Jones, manager of The Stone Roses from 1984 to 1986. Producer John Leckie also supplied private paperwork, as did Jive/Zombas Steven Howard.

. Garner, Brown and Couzens on tour bus, Sweden, 1985 Lena Kagg Ferrero.

. Squire, Brown, Garner, Reni and Jones on tour bus, Sweden, 1985 Lena Kagg Ferrero.

Couzens and Brown on stage, Sweden, 1985 Lena Kagg Ferrero.

. Squire and Garner on stage, Sweden, 1985 Lena Kagg Ferrero.

. Couzens, Brown, Squire and Garner on stage, Sweden, 1985 Lena Kagg Ferrero.

. Couzens, Brown, Reni and Squire on stage, Sweden,1985 Lena Kagg Ferrero.

. Reni and Brown on stage, Sweden, 1985 Lena Kagg Ferrero.

. Thin Line advert for 1985 Swedish tour. Courtesy of Howard Jones.

. Garner, Reni, Brown and Squire on tour, Sweden, 1985 Lena Kagg Ferrero.

. Courtesy of Howard Jones.

. Courtesy of Howard Jones.

. Thin Line advert, 1985. Courtesy of Howard Jones.

. Thin Line advert for So Young/Tell Me, 1985. Courtesy of Howard Jones.

. So Young/Tell Me single label detail, 1985. Courtesy of Howard Jones.

. Ticket for Warehouse 1, 1985. Courtesy of Howard Jones.

. The Patrol, 1980 Sue Dean.

. Squire, Brown and Garner in rehearsal, 1987 Sue Dean.

. Brown in rehearsal, 1987 Sue Dean.

. Squire, Garner and Brown on stage, 1987 Sue Dean.

. Brown on stage, 1986 Sue Dean.

. Reni on stage, 1986 Sue Dean.

. Reni on stage, 1987 Sue Dean.

. Brown and his tattoo, 1988 Sue Dean.

. Mani in 1987 Sue Dean.

. The Roses at Warehouse 2, 1985 Sue Dean.

. Mani, John Leckie and Brown outside the International II, 1988 Sue Dean.

Mani, Gareth Evans and Tim Booth outside the International II, 1988 Sue Dean.

. Garner, Squire, Reni and Brown signing the contract, 1987 Sue Dean.

. Band contact list. Courtesy of Howard Jones.

. Mani, Brown, Squire and Reni studio shot, 1989 Dennis Morris.

. Reni, Squire, Mani and Brown studio shot, 1989 Dennis Morris.

. Courtesy of John Leckie.

. Courtesy of John Leckie.

. Fans at Spike Island, 1990 Dennis Morris.

. Dressing room at Spike Island, 1990 Dennis Morris.

. Crowd shot, Spike Island, 1990 Dennis Morris.

. Squire and Brown on stage, Spike Island, 1990 Dennis Morris.

. Brown on stage, Spike Island, 1990 Dennis Morris.

. Brown on stage, Spike Island, 1990 Dennis Morris.

. Squire on stage, Glasgow Green, 1990 Dennis Morris.

. Reni on stage, Glasgow Green, 1990 Dennis Morris.

. Brown on stage, Spike Island, 1990 Dennis Morris.

. Glasgow Green, 1990 Dennis Morris.

. Cressa, Brown and Reni on stage, Glasgow Green, 1990 Dennis Morris.

. Reni, Mani, Squire and Brown on stairwell, Dennis Morriss studio, 1994 Dennis Morris.

. Courtesy of John Leckie.

. Courtesy of John Leckie.

. Brown in Morriss studio, 1994 Dennis Morris.

. Mani in Morriss studio, 1994 Dennis Morris.

. Squire in Morriss studio, 1994 Dennis Morris.

. Reni in Morriss studio, 1994 Dennis Morris.

. The band in Morriss studio, 1994 Dennis Morris.

Principal characters in order of appearance

Phil Jones: concert promoter, Alexandra Palace and Spike Island

Gareth Evans: manager of The Stone Roses and owner of the International and International II clubs

Ian Brown (nickname IBEX): singer, The Stone Roses

Matthew Cummins (RIP): Evanss business partner, co-manager of The Stone Roses and co-owner of the International clubs