Third Coming? Stone Roses are writing first new songs in 20 years

 
p11 edition 31.5 Mandatory Credit: Photo by McPix Ltd / Rex Features (2399502r) John Squire and wife Sophie 'The Stone Roses: Made of Stone' documentary premiere, Manchester, Britain - 30 May 2013
31 May 2013
The Weekender

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Stone Roses guitarist John Squire has confirmed that the band are working on their first new material for almost 20 years.

It is the first time the band have spoken about creating original songs since they reformed in 2011. They have not released a studio album since 1994’s Second Coming.

Squire was joined by singer Ian Brown and bassist Mani last night for the premiere of their documentary Made Of Stone, directed by Shane Meadows, in Manchester.

When asked on the red carpet about new material, Squire replied: “We’re working on it.” He then joked: “It will be ready in about five years.

“We’ve got a few new songs. I can’t really tell you much about it at the moment, only that we won’t be playing any of it live until we’ve recorded it.”

When pressed about a timescale for the new album, he said: “We’re working on it this year.” The band are due to play two dates at Finsbury Park next weekend. Drummer Reni, who had a cold, did not attend the premiere so that he could recover in time for the shows.

Meadows is a self-confessed Stone Roses fanatic and his documentary charts their journey since announcing their reunion, through to their three homecoming gigs at Heaton Park last summer which were played to 220,000 fans.

The This Is England director said he was not interested in digging for dirt in his film. He said: “The only thing they didn’t want to do was the classic thing you see in documentaries where someone is sat in front of the mixing desk or a rack of guitars ... a lot of films dig for dirt and they’re looking for that.

“It’s about celebrating this reunion and I was right into that. If people want that [to dig dirt] there are millions of other documentaries like that out there. This was a celebration; it’s as much about the fans as it is about the band coming back.”

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