{"id":7852,"date":"2026-01-06T14:34:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T14:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/the-smiths-mike-joyce-on-mani-pivotal-role-in-the-stone-roses-152691\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T14:34:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T14:34:18","slug":"the-smiths-mike-joyce-on-mani-pivotal-role-in-the-stone-roses-152691","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/the-smiths-mike-joyce-on-mani-pivotal-role-in-the-stone-roses-152691\/","title":{"rendered":"The Smiths\u2019 Mike Joyce on Mani\u2019s pivotal role in The Stone Roses: \u201cNo flim-flam \u2013 it\u2019s perfect\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The brand new issue of Uncut \u2013 in shops now or available to order online by clicking here<\/a> \u2013 celebrates the era-defining impact of The Stone Roses’ breakthrough. In this expanded extract from our cover story, Mike Joyce of The Smiths recalls being bowled over by an early warehouse party show \u2013 as well as highlighting the unique qualities that Mani brought to the band.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Click here to subscribe to Uncut<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The brand new issue of Uncut \u2013 in shops now or available to order online by clicking here<\/a> \u2013 celebrates the era-defining impact of The Stone Roses\u2019 breakthrough. In this expanded extract from our cover story, Mike Joyce of The Smiths recalls being bowled over by an early warehouse party show \u2013 as well as highlighting the unique qualities that Mani brought to the band.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I saw them play in [July] \u201985, under the arches on Fairfield Street, by Piccadilly. They called it a warehouse party \u2013 it was just a room with a PA in, and they were selling cans of Red Stripe for 50p or whatever it was. I remember \u2018Stone Roses\u2019 being written on the Town Hall and around the Square, and there was a big hoo-ha about that. But otherwise I didn\u2019t really know anything about them.<\/p>\n

The first thing I noticed was the drummer, as obviously I would do, and I just thought, \u2018Fuck, he\u2019s good. He\u2019s very good.\u2019 As the set went on, Ian was being very aggressive with the crowd and I thought, \u2018Wow, he\u2019s fucking cool \u2013 a great frontperson.\u2019 The whole thing sounded very different from anything I\u2019d heard before. They were quite punky then, or punkier<\/em>. It happens every now and again, whether it\u2019s Nirvana or Arctic Monkeys or whoever, you know they\u2019re gonna be massive, even when they\u2019re in the very early stages \u2013 there\u2019s something that just makes you go, \u2018Oooh\u2019. And that\u2019s what they did. Doesn\u2019t happen very often, but when you do see it, there\u2019s no denying it. I didn\u2019t know any of the material, I was just blown away by what I was hearing, by what I was seeing.<\/p>\n

Did they take anything from The Smiths? In terms of musical style, I don\u2019t think so. I could be wrong, but nothing obvious. You might say that John\u2019s guitar-playing on Waterfall is not a million miles away from Johnny, his kind of picking style. And Mani wasn\u2019t a million miles away from Rourkey in terms of style: super-funky, but without slapping bass. But I\u2019d have thought that they would have been [inspired by us] in the same way that when I saw Buzzcocks for the first time, I was like, \u2018My god, that\u2019s what I want to do.\u2019 Because they were Manchester lads, and it opens up the door. It\u2019s not middle-class, art-school students from London. So that influence would have been there in terms of, \u2018We can do it too.\u2019<\/p>\n

Reni was very musical, and you can tell that he\u2019s feeling it, rather than trying to make something fit. He\u2019s loose as fuck because he he plays behind the beat all the time, but he\u2019s not sloppy. He\u2019s just got that loose, relaxed feel, which gives it a swagger. He\u2019s really a lovely drummer to watch, because it\u2019s like gymnastics sitting down. I do like drummers that really go for it, but Reni made it look as though he was just counting from one to 10 \u2013 effortless.<\/p>\n

Ian\u2019s never been known as one of the best singers in the world, but when you\u2019ve got a drummer who can sing like that, it certainly helps. I\u2019ve only ever sung once on stage, when I was playing with PiL at Reading Festival. There\u2019s a bit in \u201cCruel\u201d where the bass player Allan Dias goes \u201cCruel cruel cruel cruel\u201d across the beat, and he said, \u201cCan you do it, Mike? My throat\u2019s fucked.\u201d Of course there was no soundcheck, because it\u2019s a festival. And when we got there, I couldn\u2019t sing across the beat. I couldn\u2019t do it! Allan Dias burst out laughing and said, \u2018Don\u2019t sing in the next verse!\u2019 When there\u2019s already four limbs all playing independently, and then you add a vocal on top of that, it takes some doing. So Reni\u2019s a very talented lad.<\/p>\n

With Mani, it felt like he was the frontman. I\u2019m not too sure how much Ian wanted the fame aspect of being in a band. Every single band that\u2019s ever been in existence wants success. But once that starts to come and you can\u2019t control it, you can\u2019t say, \u2018That\u2019s enough now.\u2019 Just before The Smiths split up, it got to the point where Morrissey couldn\u2019t really go out in Manchester. We were struggling a little bit with it. But Mani embraced it. I think he normalised that aspect of his life, rather than having four or five bodyguards walking into anywhere. A funny bloke, super-talented obviously, but he removed all that pop star bullshit veneer that some people adopt. He just didn\u2019t allow that to happen, he didn\u2019t allow people to treat him like that. People talk about him being down-to-earth, and that\u2019s exactly what he was: no bullshit, no nonsense, go out there and play, have a good time doing it and enjoy yourself. Off-stage he was very engaging, always approachable, and made everybody feel at ease.<\/p>\n

I played with him in 2011. He was doing a Smiths tribute night at Band On The Wall and he asked me to play two or three songs in the encore. I said to him about a soundcheck, just to run through the songs, and he said, \u2018Fuckin\u2019 \u2019ell, don\u2019t you know Smiths songs?!\u2019 He had a very Manc sense of humour, taking the piss a lot. There was always a one-liner or a quip coming out of him. Every time I saw him, he always had a smile on his face. He\u2019s the kind of guy that you\u2019d always want in your band in terms of keeping spirits up, but he\u2019s also a wonderful bass player. There\u2019s a Primal Scream track that Mani played on called \u201cUptown\u201d from Beautiful Future, and that\u2019s the pocket right there. There\u2019s no flim-flam, it\u2019s just the same thing over and over again, but that\u2019s the bassline, and Mani\u2019s playing is just stupendous. It\u2019s perfect.<\/p>\n

Mike Joyce\u2019s memoir The Drums is out now, published by New Modern<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The February 2006 issue of Uncut is on sale now, with The Stone Roses on the cover. Read more and get your copy here!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The post The Smiths\u2019 Mike Joyce on Mani\u2019s pivotal role in The Stone Roses: \u201cNo flim-flam \u2013 it\u2019s perfect\u201d<\/a> appeared first on UNCUT<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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