Happy Mondays On Celebrating 35 Years Of ‘Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches’

Pioneers of the iconic Madchester sound, the Happy Mondays are heading back to Australia and New Zealand to celebrate the thirty fifth anniversary of their seminal album, Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches. Fusing funk, rock, psychedelia, and house with the pulsating energy of the UK’s burgeoning rave scene, the Happy Mondays became the face of a cultural revolution. Their 1990 release, Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches, catapulted them into the mainstream, spending over six months on the UK Albums Chart and earning its place as one of the defining records of the decade.

Fronted by the inimitable Shaun Ryder, with Bez ( freaky dancing and percussion), Mark Day (guitar), Gary Whelan (drums), Mikey Shine (bass) Dan Broad (musical director/guitar/keys) and Firouzeh Berry (backing vocals), the band will perform highlights from the classic album; including anthems like Step On, Kinky Afro, and Loose Fit, alongside fan favourites such as 24 Hour Party People, Hallelujah, Judge Fudge, and W.F.L. Their enduring influence on British music was formally recognised in 2016 when they received the prestigious Ivor Novello Inspiration Award, a testament to their legacy as one of the UK’s most beloved and ground breaking bands. Shaun Ryder talks to Hi Fi Way about that very album and upcoming tour.

Another Australian tour. You must be getting really excited to be coming back for another?
Yeah, oh yeah, a little bit, a little bit. New Zealand, Australia… I always say Australia’s like a spider’s web, easy to get into, but getting out is a whole different story. You can get into Australia pretty easily, but getting out? I always end up extending my stay. Supposed to be there for a week and I wind up staying six months or more, then getting banned for a year. But yeah, I love it.

What is it about Australia that keeps you coming back?
I don’t know. I mean, I’ve got family there, you know, but it’s just a cool place to be. So I like being there!

This tour is celebrating thirty five years of Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches. When you think about that milestone, what does it mean to you now?
Well, you know what, time’s a funny thing. Thirty‑five years can feel like thirty‑five weeks, or even minutes, and then other times it feels more like one hundred and thirty five years. But honestly, it’s a buzz, an honour, and a pleasure to still be doing what we’re doing. Once we started making music and found ourselves in this sort of privileged world, instead of doing real jobs and getting into real shit, there was no way I was going anywhere. You’ll probably still find us doing it when we’re older than the Rolling Stones are now. If you like what you’re doing, you just keep doing it.

What do you remember from when that album came out? Is there any sort of specific big moments that even now you still remember quite fondly of when Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches came out?
There are a couple of things I really remember from when we were making that album. When we went over to America, it was basically for a tour, we travelled all over the States. I think it was with Deee‑Lite; we’d just sort of got it together, and it was right before their big hit took off. Then when we got to what was supposed to be our last show in LA, something happened and we didn’t even end up playing. We all went to watch Soul II Soul instead. After that we started cracking on with the album. We were at Capitol Studios, and walking in there, seeing all the photos of Frank Sinatra and all these legends on the walls… it was a bit wild. From what I remember, we made that album really quickly

From what I remember, we made that album really quickly. When we went over there, we already had Kinky Afro written and we’d done Step On. Step On actually started because we were signed to Elektra Records in America, and Elektra was celebrating its twentieth anniversary. They wanted all the new bands to cover artists they’d signed twenty years earlier. They sent us a C90 tape, and the third track on it was John Kongos, so we did that, and that became Step On. So we had that sorted, Okie had done his thing with it, and then everything else basically happened in the studio. Okie would throw up a beat, he’d already done the Wrote for Luck remix, Step On, and I think Hallelujah, but we’d never actually been in the studio with him and Steve Osborne before. He’d put these beats up, the band would jam to them, and while they were doing that, I’d write the lyrics. As far as I remember, I pretty much wrote a song a day. Okie put up a beat, I wrote the lyrics. It all came together really fast.

Were you surprised by the success and being launched into the mainstream in a big way?
Well, I knew that if we wanted to keep doing what we were doing and keep making records, we had to sell some records. Factory were great, they let us do whatever we wanted, but you still had to make some money. It’s nice having your indie album at number one in the indie chart or your indie single at number one, but at the end of the day that just means you sold about twenty five copies. So we needed to make a pop album, a proper popular album. And that’s really what Pills ’n’ Thrills was about. We took what we were doing with the remixes and pushed that into making a full album in that style.

Okie was the perfect guy for it. When I first introduced Paul Oakenfold to Tony Wilson and our manager Nathan McGough, the reaction was basically, ‘Who the fuck’s Paul Oakenfold?’ Then they find out he’s a DJ who’s never produced anything before. But with a bit of arm‑twisting and standing up for him, they let Okie have a go at Wrote for Luck. They had Vince Clarke do the main mix, and on the B‑side they put Oakenfold’s mix. Then the late‑night radio DJs started flipping it over and playing Okie’s version, and that’s the one that became a hit. After that, it was agreed he’d do the album. But we knew it had to be a pop album, a proper popular record, not just something only the anoraks would be into. So that’s basically what Pills ’n’ Thrills is about. To me, Sgt. Peppers is a pop album, and we needed to make something more commercial too, something that fit what was going on and what we wanted to do. We didn’t get a number one out of it, we got a number two, but it still sold and because of that, Bummed and Squirrel and G‑Man sold as well. So it was a win‑win.

Was it a fun album to make? Or was it equally as challenging?
Oh yeah, it was so much fun. We’d never actually stayed in LA before, we’d done New York, but LA was new to us and then they put us up in what we thought was basically ten‑star accommodation: Oakwood Apartments. To us it felt like absolute luxury, jacuzzies, a pool, tennis courts, and each of us had our own room with a tellie and video player. We were like, ‘This is fucking amazing.’ There were a few other people staying there too and a couple of actors from UK soap operas, but honestly, we just thought we’d made it. It was brilliant.

But yeah, you had to turn the music down if you were outside after eleven o’clock. Still, we felt like we’d absolutely made it staying there. We were thinking, ‘Fuck, this is great.’ Really fond memories and then, of course, as soon as we got there, Bez wanted to hire a car. So we all hired cars, and within fifteen minutes of him getting behind the wheel he smashed straight into someone. That’s when you learn about the culture in America, sue, sue, sue. But we got lucky again and managed to get out of it without having to pay too much.

Yeah, real fond memories, absolutely. I also remember bumping into a couple of people who’d been to a Grateful Dead concert, and they just happened to have a shit load of opium on them. So I bought an ounce off them, and that sorted me out for the rest of the time I was there.

When you look back on the album, is there anything you would actually change? Or has it captured that particular moment in time?
Well, no. I mean, because I write lyrics really fast, and whenever we’ve been in the studio it always had to be that way, we were in there for weeks and weeks, so we had to work quickly. I like that pace anyway. But maybe… I mean, now when we play the songs live, the lyrics are slightly different to the ones on the record because I’ve had thirty‑odd years to work on them. So maybe if I’d spent a bit longer writing the lyrics back then… but at the time, they just fit and again, I’m never totally, a hundred percent happy with anything I do personally.

As a band, when these milestones roll around, do you celebrate them or do you just go on tour?
No, I mean… yeah, look, I enjoy what we do now, and the band does too. Back in the day we were drunk and we partied, and for some of us it was more about how we felt than about the audience. We put ourselves first. We always had a great time on stage, but sometimes we played a bit wobbly or wonky. Now we’re actually a tighter, better band than we were when we first started. But I wouldn’t change much from back then.

On the Australian tour, are you looking to play the album start to end? Or are you mixing it up?
Yeah, that’s what we do, we play it in that order. But the album only runs for about forty five minutes, and we’d get fucking stoned to death if we walked off after that. So we throw in Hallelujah, Wrote for Luck, and quite a few tracks that aren’t on the album. We don’t just do the album; we get that done, and then when we come back on for the encore, we stick in a shed‑load of other stuff that happens to be our favourites at the time.

When you look at 2026, are you still continually blown away by how much interest there is in Happy Mondays? It’s not declining, it actually keeps growing and getting bigger and bigger all the time.
Oh yeah, absolutely. If you look at our fan base now, it goes from about eight to people in their eighties. We realised years ago, well, it’s twenty years now when Bez won Celebrity Big Brother, a whole load of young fans came with him. It didn’t take a brain surgeon to see that stepping into a bit of TV would help. When we do Gogglebox or whatever, you get kids watching on their phones or iPads or even on the telly, and they’re like, ‘Who are these two old fucking granddad teenage fucks?’ Two old blokes still acting like teenagers. Then they look us up, figure out who we are, download all the albums in two seconds, and next thing you know they’re turning up at festivals and gigs. So yeah, because of the TV stuff, our fan base really does go from eight to eighty‑odd. We’re very lucky.

Is there a focus on creating new music, or is that not on the radar at the moment?
I’m actually in the studio at the moment. I’ve been in there writing songs for a new Mondays album. Alan McGee wanted a Mondays album a couple of years ago, but I was really focused on Black Grape, we did Pop Voodoo and then Orange Head, and then all the promotion that came with it. So when it got to the end of 2025, it was like, okay, Alan wants a new Mondays album, so I started working on that. That’s what I’m doing now, writing for the new Mondays record. The rest of the band haven’t got involved yet, but yeah, we’ll have something out by the end of next year.

Do you know how it’s going to sound, or is it too early to tell?
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it’s like every Mondays album, Squirrel and G‑Man was different from Bummed, Bummed was different from Pills ’n’ Thrills, Yes Please! was different again, and then Uncle Dysfunctional after that. They’re all different. You can always tell it’s me singing and my style of song writing, but each record has its own thing. I’ve said this a million times, but the first Black Grape album should’ve been what Yes Please! was. So it’s always a mixture of everything really. This new one will be different from the others anyway.

When you look at the UK music scene at the moment, are you liking what you see?
Well, look, there’s all sorts of good stuff going on. I’m not totally up to date with everything, and when people ask me now, ‘Have you got any bands like this or that?’ I’m kicking myself because I can’t remember the names. But there’s loads happening and some great music out there.If you’re talking rock ’n’ roll and punchy, there’s this young bunch – Garage Flower. They remind me of us, a bit punky. They’re from Leeds and they all look about twelve years old, but if I look at old photos of us lot back in the day, we all looked about twelve too. So I like them. But there are loads of different scenes going on. Manchester and Liverpool will always have talented people, musicians, actors, writers, and the UK in general. My lad’s a promoter and runs his clubs, so he knows more about what’s happening than I do. But there’s still an amazing amount of talent here in the Northwest and across the UK.

Interview By Rob Lyon

Catch Happy Mondays on the following dates, tickets from Destroy All Lines…