45 minutes with...Shaun and Bez

Inspired by 1973 film That'll Be The Day, Shaun Ryder formed Happy Mondays in 1980 with a lineup completed by bassist brother Paul Ryder, drummer Gaz Whelan, keyboardist Paul Davis and guitarist Mark Day.

- Interview: Lois Wilson

With influences spanning The Beatles to Funkadelic, they recorded their 1985 debut EP, Forty Five, an indie-jangle, avant-funk jumble produced by Factory A&R Mike Pickering. By 1986 single Freaky Dancin' with Bernard Sumner as producer they had recruited Mark ‘Bez’ Berry as Ryder’s freaky dancin' foil.

Success wasn't immediate, but when it came, it was all-consuming, and by 1990 the group were pursued by every music paper, as much for their hedonistic lifestyle as their era-defining run of releases: WLF (Wrote For Luck), Madchester Rave On EP, Step On, Kinky Afro, album Pills 'N Thrills And Bellyaches and more.

Shaun Ryder says, a thought echoed by Bez, on the eve of the release of Happy Mondays’ Factory Singles.

How do you look back on it all?

Shaun Ryder: It was great back in the day, starting the band, I've no complaints. You take the good with the bad and most of it’s good. Me and him are still here, doing what we do and enjoying it more than ever.

Bez: Being in a band is like being in a marriage. You go through the full range of emotions, all the highs, all the lows. But the thing with this job is it comes with no security, so you always think, any moment it’s going to be over, so you live your life that way as well. I think that’s where most of the rock'n'roll madness comes from. Living on the edge of your pants, it brings out some crazy streak in you.

When did you first realise the importance of music?

Bez: When I started listening to my uncle’s record collection, which I inherited, all his mono Beatles records. I just thought, this is the best.

Ryder: My dad would buy me records for my birthday from one onwards,