the happy mondays, gear ???

less_cunning · Post by **less_cunning** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 9:26 pm

been obsessed w/ the Mondays as of late. normally i don't have trouble finding info about kits, gear et cetera but i cannot find anything re: them.

in some vidz & archival BBC footage in the Factory Records documentary i can see a Peavey backline, a Yamaha DX7 & some other stuff. not much else.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 10:07 pm

I think their guitar player played a Jaguar, but I could be wrong. To be honest they seem like the kind of band that used whatever was around rather than being fussy about gear. Shaun and Bez probably sold most of their own gear for crack when they were recording Yes Please in Barbados anyway.

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 10:13 pm

Best placed comma in a thread title ever.

IroniaSudby · Post by **IroniaSudby** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 11:05 pm

I've searched this to no end and have found almost no answers ever on this topic.

I can tell you that the guitarist used Mesa Boogies (Most Likely Mark 3) on the Pills Thrills tour, along with a jaguar. He used an epiphone casino on the debut album. For Bummed, they used Martin Hannett. Also heard that the guitarist used a bosstone pedal for his distortion on Pills. Also, sonar drums if you want to know that too. That's all i've been able to connect. They used whatever was around really.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 11:56 pm

I saw the Mondays on the 'bummed' tour and was quite a big fan, unfortunately i did'nt know much about gear back then and only remember Mark Day using a Jag and Casino. There was also a Casino on the early videos like Tart Tart but the later TOTP appearances he used a sunburst Jag.

Underrated guitarist may i add, he pioneered a sound that is still used a lot today especially in 'Indie' music.

less_cunning · Post by **less_cunning** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:30 am

johnnyseven wrote:I think their guitar player played a Jaguar, but I could be wrong. To be honest they seem like the kind of band that used whatever was around rather than being fussy about gear. Shaun and Bez probably sold most of their own gear for crack when they were recording Yes Please in Barbados anyway.

yeah i think that's right just whatever they could manage to gin up/steal & gear probably wasn't big of a deal for them i just would have assumed that there would have been at least something on Guitar Geek or something or a fan site. or something: it seems strange...

ultratwin · Post by **ultratwin** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 5:55 am

Happy Monday's gear? Mostly heroin and X.

Seriously though, I'd like to add that a few Jazzmasters made their way to the stage as well, from the clips I remember.

For flashback's sake, it's been literally 15 years since I last heard Kinky Afro, and I quite fancied a reprise after lunch today.

[youtube][/youtube]

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 10:33 am

Fran wrote:I saw the Mondays on the 'bummed' tour and was quite a big fan, unfortunately i did'nt know much about gear back then and only remember Mark Day using a Jag and Casino. There was also a Casino on the early videos like Tart Tart but the later TOTP appearances he used a sunburst Jag.

Underrated guitarist may i add, he pioneered a sound that is still used a lot today especially in 'Indie' music.

i find a lot of their early stuff is them trying to be CAN, especially CANs more funky tracks. Squirrel and G-Man is a great album.

Guitars were like Fran said if memory serves me right with wah, boss chorus and distortion. Precision bass used by Paul Ryder, DX7 by Mark and the drum kit that Gaz used was also used by a number of manchester bands from the early 80s until the early 90s

Happy Memories

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 10:55 am

lorez wrote:Squirrel and G-Man is a great album.

Understatement! That album still sounds brilliant and unique.

Like people have said, they were'nt gearheads in the sense we are talking and i think the Jaguar probably come about through a label advancement, he started using it around the time of TOTPs appearances when anybody who was anybody in alternative/indie played a Jag (1989).

I remember this night lol, the Stone Roses did Fools Gold on the same show.
[youtube][/youtube]

Rayjaysonic · Post by **Rayjaysonic** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 11:11 am

johnnyseven wrote: Shaun and Bez probably sold most of their own gear for crack when they were recording Yes Please in Barbados anyway.

Along with the leather sofas from the studio from what I heard! Tony Wilson didn't think that one through very well did he.

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 11:18 am

[youtube][/youtube]

i can still remember this well when they supported New Order. My sweaty mug made it into a photo on the review in the NME

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 11:30 am

Rayjaysonic wrote:
johnnyseven wrote: Shaun and Bez probably sold most of their own gear for crack when they were recording Yes Please in Barbados anyway.
Along with the leather sofas from the studio from what I heard! Tony Wilson didn't think that one through very well did he.

It was Eddy Grants studio.
Wilson like'd to romanticize about his bands so i suspect some of it may be exaggerated. I mean, they were pretty good musicians when you sit and analyze the music but to hear Wilson talk they were all dysfunctional with chronic heroin and crack habits.

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 11:35 am

i think i need to have a weekend on mondays now

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 11:41 am

Fran wrote:
Rayjaysonic wrote:
johnnyseven wrote: Shaun and Bez probably sold most of their own gear for crack when they were recording Yes Please in Barbados anyway.
Along with the leather sofas from the studio from what I heard! Tony Wilson didn't think that one through very well did he.
It was Eddy Grants studio.
Wilson like'd to romanticize about his bands so i suspect some of it may be exaggerated. I mean, they were pretty good musicians when you sit and analyze the music but to hear Wilson talk they were all dysfunctional with chronic heroin and crack habits.

The idea behind sending them to Barbados was because there was no heroin on the island, however Shaun apparently smashed the bottle containing his entire supply of methadone in the airport on the way out and turned to another drug that was in plentiful supply on the island - crack.

This whole story is mentioned in Bez's autobiography 'Freaky Dancin' which I read about 12 years ago.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:00 pm

lorez wrote:i think i need to have a weekend on mondays now

Was thinking the same mate, listening to these few on here has set the mood..
*goes into the loft looking for old maracas*

That's right J7, did'nt they blow all the recording money on crack as well?

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:07 pm

I think they sold pretty much everything they could to buy crack including the fixtures and fittings from the recording studio. They also crashed quite a few cars and I think Bez ended up hurting himself pretty badly in a car accident. How come the indie bands of today don't get up to hi-jinks of this quality? The nearest we have got recently is that Pete Libertine knobhead.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:22 pm

johnnyseven wrote:that Pete Libertine knobhead.

He's playing at it mate. The Towers of London are pretty keraaazy apparently.

Bands like the Mondays are few and far between, they came from the gutter not the Royal Academy of Music or Performing Arts College. Wilson saw profit in that, a band like that would now be too much of a financial risk in the current climate.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 1:03 pm

Fran wrote:The Towers of London are pretty keraaazy apparently.

I think they split up quite a while ago. They were a bunch of upper middle class knobs trying to be rock n roll anyway. Their singer, the one who was in Big Brother, came from a village near where I come from that has lots of very big houses owned by very rich people - it's where Ozzy and Noel Gallagher have houses.

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 1:05 pm

Fran wrote:I remember this night lol, the Stone Roses did Fools Gold on the same show.

Yep, me too. I did my paper round early and sneaked a terrible joint in my room.

And I think Francis was joking about the Towers of London, you know...

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 1:39 pm

Yes i was. I know of some of their antics from a friends band that played with them. Nobs indeed.