Shaun Ryder fears his body may not hold out amid his packed music schedule this year.
The Happy Mondays frontman has just brought out ‘Orange Head’ – his second new LP with his second group Black Grape since their 2015 comeback, and he also has a Happy Mondays tour, solo shows and an upcoming record on the way from his supergroup Mantra of the Cosmos.
Shaun, 61, told the Daily Star: “We’re getting old like the Rolling Stones. But Mick Jagger’s got 20 years on me. Jagger’s not got a false hip, the other on the way out and a crack in his spine, has he?
“And a thyroid problem, and alopecia? And smelly feet!”
Shaun said he is taking things step by step and focusing on Black Grape for now, whose album pays tribute to his late brother and former Happy Mondays bandmate Paul Ryder on the track ‘In the Ground’.
The singer said about his late sibling’s passing, which came when he was aged 58 in July 2022: “I’m having a go at my dead brother and (bandmate) Kermit’s talking about his father who died.
“Kermit’s all very nice and mine’s all very, ‘F– you, our kid’.
“Our kid hated my guts, y’know?”
Shaun has told the Live4ever website about his hectic schedule and how he plans to put the Happy Mondays “to bed” after their 2024 tour: “I’ve got TV stuff and then I’ve got the three bands, but the Mondays are going to bed.
“When we’ve done that tour in April they’re going to bed for two to three years.
“We’ve constantly banged the Mondays since 2010. I came out of (TV show ‘I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!’) and we got the band together and it’s 12 to 13 years we’ve been hammering… we really are a great band, but it’s got to go to bed for a couple of years.”