The first major biography about the Stone Roses will be released next week. The Stone Roses: War & Peace by Simon Spence features insider information on the band derived from over 400 hours of interviews with Roses' managers, promoters, and of course, band members past and present. In addition, 40 previously unseen photos of the band are included in the book.
Interestingly enough The Stone Roses: War & Peace was originally planned to be a biography about Reni, but it was later turned into a broader project on the entire band at the beginning of 2011. The book had been in progress for about a year before the band announced their reunion, and while Spence didn't seem to have too much of a heads up on the eventual reunion, he started piecing it together as he explained in an interview with Q:
"In August 2011 Reni sat down for a meal with Ian, the first time they had met in years. I also heard stories of Mani and his wife babysitting Squire's kids. I presumed this was good news for the book. Yes, looking back, when I was asked how quickly I could turn the book around (initially we had been working toward an October 2012 publication date) that was a clue. In September, when I was told that all four were down in London meeting with promoter Simon Moran, I put the two and two together."
In the Q interview, Spence also explained the book's title:
"I chose the title, with a nod to Tolstoy, after the first draft of the book came in at around 250,000 words. It was nabbed from a Squire one liner: When asked what Elephant Stone was about, he said: Love and Death. War and Peace. Morecambe and Wise. I actually felt it fitted with the band's career."
Read Q's interview with Spence here.
Fans will likely also enjoy four extracts from The Stone Roses: War & Peace. Madchester fashion (from flares to baggy), Stephen "Cressa" Cresser (the man who was a huge influence on John Squire's musical taste), and more are featured in the extracts which are available exclusively on the Manchester Confidential website.
The Stone Roses: War & Peace will be released on June 7th and you can pre-order it here from Amazon U.K. Unfortunately there isn't an working order link for Amazon in the U.S., but hopefully there will be one soon. Visit the official website for the book here.
The Stone Roses are set to kick off their world tour next week with their first official reunion gig at Club Razzmatazz in Barcelona. Last week the band played a surprise show at Parr Hall in Warrington. Watch video from the show here, and listen to bootleg audio of the entire show on You Tube (follow the links below):
