They had some cool producers early on.
One of their earliest singles, Elephant Stone, was produced by Peter Hook. The Roses loved it and wanted him to work with them further, but he was engaged with New Order tour duties.
Martin Hannett of Factory Records produced several early Roses tracks. His mix style had them sounding like Jesus and Mary Chain a year before Psychocandy came out. You can hear their work together on Garage Flower, an album released by Silvertone without the band’s consent. (It’s on YouTube.)
As the buzz of the Roses swept the UK underground, two labels emerged as leading contenders to sign them — Jive/Zomba (later known as Silvertone) and Rough Trade. Rough Trade were a much more natural fit, having The Smiths and Jesus and Mary Chain already on their roster. But the Roses manager—the overbearing, charismatic, and somewhat inexperienced club owner Gareth Evans—pushed them into signing what became known as one of the worst, most restrictive record contracts in history. Not one of the band members, or their lawyers, read the contract before signing. Rough Trade Label owner Geoff Travis says not bagging the Roses was one of the most disappointing losses in his career.
Mani spent a lot of time in the clubs in Manchester in the late 80s, “clubbing for research,” as he put it. But he did pinch a good loop when he heard it. The funky baseline for “Fool’s Gold” was taken from Young MC’s “Know How.”
Mani was the originator of another classic track—“I Am the Resurrection”—which started off during soundcheck when he started playing The Beatles “Taxman” bass line in reverse. Squire noodled over it in the studio and the 8 minute jam became a mainstay in their live shows.
In the year leading up to recording Second Coming, Squire and Brown were both hooked on Public Enemy’s classic album Fear of a Black Planet. Squire befriended acid house producer Simon Crompton to teach him the ins and outs of sampling and sequencing, hoping they could create something similar. But when they arrived in the studio, the appeal of deconstructing and reassembling music in the vein of Public Enemy lost its appeal. “Too much like a science project,” he said, and the band reverted to studying and picking apart guitar music—especially Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix. Their influence on that album is plain.
Writing Second Coming was done almost completely by Squire. While the first album was written by Brown and Squire together, memorably going on road trips to Italy with only an acoustic guitar, sleeping rough and writing music late into the night, the intervening years took their toll. The rest of the band, thinking they had many more years and albums to write together, let Squire take the lead on writing duties, “to get it out of his system.” But the longer it took to write and record the record, the more isolated each of the members became.
7. Just 10 days before their first real world tour, a row between Reni and Brown resulted in the drummer’s departure. Many would say at that moment, the band was over - “No Reni, no Roses.” With only days to spare, the 22-year old Robbie Maddix was recruited to fill in on the band’s first world tour.
8. The Roses’ first 3 shows in America — Atlanta, DC, and Toronto — were disasters, with Squire and Mani trashing guitars and amps on stage nightly in their frustration. Their first decent show in America was May 20, 1995 at Manhattan Ballroom in New York. The pressure was on as their new label Geffen was in attendance — who signed the Roses for 4 million pounds, 4 years previous, and thus far had little to show for it. But it was a vibrant show and went off without incident. “The fans, after so many years, were thrilled that somebody came to play that music,” said Geffen boss Eddie Rosenblatt. The Roses were finally properly welcomed to North America.
9. Brown’s singing was so off-key on this tour, the band secretly hired a voice coach to join them, but played it like he was Maddix’s friend, “just along for the ride.” Brown soon found out the truth and tensions rose.
10. The LA show, though attended by luminaries like Beck and The Beastie Boys, went very poorly. A disgruntled fan snuck backstage and stole Brown’s weed stash. Mani caught the ruffian doing so and punched him in the back of the head, fracturing the bones in his hand. The Roses final N. American date was at the Fillmore in San Francisco. It was their best show of the tour, despite Mani playing through intense pain. Squire spent the next day mountain biking outside the city. An accident resulted in him breaking his collarbone, and the Roses were forced to take the next 2 months off, cancelling the Japan and Australian legs of their tour.
11. The Second Coming tour eventually resumed but was plagued with bad vibes and poor luck. When it ended, Geffen urged them to return to the studio, but having already spent 5 grueling years writing and recording Second Coming, they were reluctant. Brown and Robbie Maddix worked up several tracks (all of which ended up on Brown’s debut solo effort, Unfinished Monkey Business), but there was a failure to launch. They had a final band meeting at their attorney’s office in London, March 21, 1996. When news of Squire’s resignation got out, several names offered their services to the band replacing the lead guitarist — include Johnny Marr and Slash (apparently a huge fan, this was the second time he approached the band to replace Squire). But it wasn’t to be. Fifteen years would pass before the 4 original Roses would be persuaded to reignite the magic.