The band held a press conference in London Tuesday morning to confirm the regroup, a pair of UK live dates that will fire up a world tour, and that new material is in the works.
The Guardian reports the long-awaited news – the resurrection has been some time in coming, with rumors circulating for several years – was announced at a packed Soho Hotel in central London.
Despite legal wrangling with record companies, fall-outs and vehement assurances they would never get back together, the original lineup – singer Ian Brown, guitarist John Squire, bassist Gary "Mani" Mounfield and drummer Alan "Reni" Wren – announced two gigs at Heaton Park in Manchester on June 29 and 30, 2012.
Tickets go on sale this Friday at 9:30 AM UK time.
The shows will mark the first time the band have played together in 16 years. They will be playing new songs, but when asked about a new album, Brown said: "We hope so, but we said that before didn't we?" He added: "We'll ride this until the wheels come off, like we did last time."
The Stone Roses exploded on to the British indie scene in 1989 with their eponymous album, hailed as one of the greatest debuts of all time. Their psychedelic sound spoke to a generation of ravers during the second "summer of love." In their hometown of Manchester hundreds of fans gathered outside sold-out gigs, and at the height of their fame nearly 30,000 people attended the "baggy Woodstock" at Spike Island near Widnes in 1990.
But the group became snared in a lengthy legal battle with their label Silvertone, unable to release new music before a court case left them free to sign with Geffen. The follow-up to their debut, “Second Coming,” was finally released in 1994, but failed to meet inflated expectations.
Drummer Reni left in 1995, followed a year later by guitarist and songwriter John Squire – whose ranging riffs were as integral to the Stone Roses' sound as Brown's distinctive vocals – and the band split up the same year. Brown went on to create six albums, bassist Mani joined Primal Scream, while Squire, who created the artwork for the band's first album, formed the short-lived Seahorses before deciding to concentrate on art.
There’s more to this Stone Roses story at The Guardian here.
The Stone Roses The Stone Roses – This Is The One (1989)
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The Stone Roses to reunite
