15 Oct 2011

Stone Roses set for a comeback

One of the most eagerly anticipated reunions in rock music looks to be on the cards after growing rumours that the Stone Roses are getting back together.

Stone Roses set for a comeback (Image: Getty)

The Mancunian band, who fell apart in 1996 after legal wrangles and internal rows, are expected to announce a comeback tour at a press conference on Tuesday.

Their self-titled first album, released in 1989, is widely seen as one of the greatest debuts of all time.

Invitations have been sent out to journalists for “a special press conference for a very important announcement” at a Soho hotel on Tuesday.

A spokesman for Murray Chalmers PR, which is handling the event, declined to comment on the nature of the press conference.

Guitarist John Squire quit in 1995 and although the band limped on with a replacement, the group split after a disastrous performance at Reading Festival in 1996.

Singer Ian Brown enjoyed some success as a solo star, bass player Mani joined Primal Scream and Squire charted with his band The Seahorses before pursuing an art career.

The band’s drummer Reni has slipped out of the limelight since the band ended.

Squire, whose distinctive artwork graced many of their record covers, has regularly refuted suggestions they might reform.

He once created a metallic artwork decorated with the phrase “I have no desire whatsoever to desecrate the grave of seminal Manchester pop group The Stone Roses” and displayed it on his website.

“I’d rather live my life than attempt to rehash it,” he said later. “Even if Ian and I were still double dating as we did in our teens then the prospect of a reunion wouldn’t interest me at all.

The feud between childhood friends Brown and Squire has long been seen as a potential stumbling block to any lucrative reunion.

Two years ago, Brown said Squire tried to end the feud by writing him a song – but he refused to record it.

The singer said he was advised by his children to reject the track – even though he loved it – because Squire quit the Roses.

In an interview with The Word magazine, Brown said: “He actually sent me a tune 18 months ago – pretty good, sounded nice, I liked it – but my sons turned round and said, ‘dad you can’t work on that – he sold you out didn’t he? He left you for dead’.”

The band’s debut with its mixture of melodic pop and dance rhythms marked them out as the leaders of the Madchester scene.

In 1990, nearly 30,000 people flocked to see them at an outdoor gig in Spike Island near Widnes.

The concert – affectionately known as the “baggy Woodstock” – came as the Madchester scene was at its height and the band were flying high on the back of top ten hit Fool’s Gold.

It is about to be immortalised in a new movie made by the director of Channel 4 hit Misfits, Tom Green.

A spokesman for Murray Chalmers PR said: “We have never said which artist is having the press conference nor what will be discussed there.”