Bez: Last News

The Lottery Winners were joined by a Boy George tribute act, Bez, and Jon McClure of Reverend and the Makers on stage in Manchester – watch fan-captured footage below.The Mancunian group had a three-show residency at Manchester Academy back in December called The Burning House Party, with the setlist including hits such as ‘Letter To Myself’ and ‘Superpower’. They also performed a host of tracks from their 2023 LP ‘Anxiety Replacement Therapy’.Fans were treated to some special appearances across The Lottery Winners’ Manchester dates – notably Bez, Reverend and the Makers frontman Jon McClure, and a Boy George tribute act.McClure came on for ‘You Again’, a track from the band’s 2024 LP ‘KOKO’ that features the Reverend and the Makers musician.Katie Lloyd – The Lottery Winners’ bassist and vocalist – described McClure as “the best storyteller you could ever meet”.

Happy Mondays and Black Grape, has died aged 60.Tributes have been paid from a number of Wagstaff’s friends and colleagues, including Bez, who posted a retro image of Black Grape on his Facebook page on Saturday (March 22), adding: “Mr Paul Wagstaff (Wags), remembering the good times. RIP my friend.”Wagstaff was part of the band Paris Angels, who emerged during the Madchester period in the late 1980s. Closely associated with the burgeoning acid house scene and the legendary Hacienda nightclub, their funky indie dance music was exemplified by singles such as ‘Perfume’ and ‘Scope’.When Shaun Ryder and Bez formed Black Grape in 1993 after the dissolution of Happy Mondays, they recruited Wagstaff on guitar.

Bez has teased plans for a new Happy Mondays album – their first since 2007’s ‘Uncle Dysfunktional’.Last November, NME spoke to Shaun Ryder and his maraca shaking sidekick about the band’s plans to get “back at it” with music in 2025.Asked at the time how 2024 had been for the Mondays, Ryder replied: “Quiet, because we kind of knocked it on the head in 2024. We went out doing Black Grape and Mantra Of The Cosmos, so in 2025 we’ll be back at it.”Bez added: “We’re getting the band back together again…again!”Now, Bez has said the band are working on a new album after being persuaded to get back into the studio by their manager Alan McGee.A post shared by NME (@nmemagazine)He told The Sun: “There’s talk of a new album to come, which I’m really fucking looking forward to. It’s going to be visionary.

Mantra Of The Cosmos have been forced to cancel a secret gig in Soho after drummer Zak Starkey was revealed to be suffering from a serious leg condition.The supergroup – consisting of Shaun Ryder (Happy Mondays, Black Grape), drummer Zak Starkey (The Who, Oasis), guitarist Andy Bell (Oasis, Ride) and Bez (Happy Mondays, Black Grape) – were due to perform at the Karma Sanctum Soho on Tuesday night (January 21), but had to cancel at the last minute.Per a press release, Starkey is suffering from a blood clot in his right leg, and has been ordered by a doctor to take blood thinners for the condition and to rest for two weeks. The diagnosis forced the cancellation of their performance, though the Soho party still proceeded with several A-listers in attendance.The cancelled gig came just days after Mantra Of The Cosmos performed a pair of shows in Liverpool on January 19 after releasing the psychedelic single ‘Domino Bones (Gets Dangerous)’ with Noel Gallagher.

Shaun Ryder and Bez’s cameo during the 2024 MTV Europe Music Awards, with some describing it as one of the highlights of the night.The 30th anniversary of the ceremony was held at the Co-Op Live Arena in Manchester last night (November 10) and hosted by Rita Ora for a record-breaking third time.While it featured live performances from Benson Boone, RAYE, Shawn Mendes, Teddy Swims, The Warning, LE SSERAFIM, Peso Pluma, Tyla, Busta Rhymes and Pet Shop Boys, it was an appearance from the Happy Monday stars that got fans talking on social media.During one segment, Ora went to speak to both Ryder and Bez, who were in the audience, and introduce them to viewers as “Manchester royalty”. Soon afterwards, Bez went on to take hold of the microphone and address the crowd.“Rita, let me tell you how lovely you are.

Happy Monday’s Bez has revealed that he’s “lucky to be alive” after an accident involving a motorbike earlier this year.In February, Bez was riding a motorbike alongside a series of professional riders “off-road in the mountains near Magaluf”. While on their way home from the ride, however, Bez said that he “lost the front end and had a really bad accident”.He went on to tell The Daily Star: “I broke bones.

Mantra Of The Cosmos, the new British supergroup made up of some of the most influential acts from the past 30 years, have released a single.Featuring Shaun Ryder (Happy Mondays, Black Grape), Zak Starkey (The Who, Oasis), Andy Bell (Oasis, Ride) and Bez (Happy Mondays, Black Grape), their debut track ‘Gorilla Guerilla’ has been described as “a fantastic psychedelic groove from a band of misfits, outsiders and innovators,” by Starkey.The track comes with a colourful and trippy music video directed by Ryder’s son Olli Ryder. Mantra Of The Cosmos debuted the song at an intimate show in London’s famous club, The Box.Starkey came up with the idea for the band, which has Ryder on vocals, Bell on guitar, and Bez and Starkey on percussion.

Shaun Ryder has formed a new band consisting of ‘90s music icons, called Mantra Of The Cosmos.The Happy Mondays frontman revealed the new supergroup in an interview with The Sun’s Bizarre column, and announced to fans that new music and a Glastonbury debut are imminent.Mantra Of The Cosmos is formed of Ryder, former Oasis bassist Andy Bell, The Lightning Seeds guitarist and vocalist, Ian Broudie, and drummer Zak Starkey — who has previously performed with The Who.Former Happy Mondays percussionist, Bez — real name Mark Berry — is the final name completing the lineup, and as confirmed by Ryder, an album is on the way.“I’ve got a new band together. It’s me, Zak Starkey, you know, Ringo [Starr’s] son, and the drummer in The Who, Andy Bell from Oasis and Ian Broudie from The Lightning Seeds.

Happy Mondays legend Bez married his long-term partner earlier this month – see him dance at the altar below.The star, real name Mark Berry, tied the knot with Firouzeh Razavi on September 4 at St Mary’s Church in Kentchurch, Herefordshire.This weekend (September 10) the official Happy Mondays Twitter account shared footage from the wedding, which sees Bez doing his iconic dancing at the altar.“Sing hosanna to the King!!” the tweet reads.See Bez dancing his way down the aisle below.Sing hosanna to the King!! Bez & Frou ❤️ pic.twitter.com/80UgFk7Ci4— Happy Mondays (@Happy_Mondays) September 10, 2022Earlier this summer Happy Mondays released a new EP, ‘Tart Tart’, in tribute to their late bassist Paul Ryder. Ryder passed away on July 15 at the age of 58.In a statement, his surviving bandmates described him as “a true pioneer and legend” who will be “forever missed”.

Bez has revealed that he once hid out in a cave for weeks after he was chased out of an area in Morocco where he’d shoplifted.The Happy Mondays percussionist/dancer said in a new interview that he’d turned to theft as a way to survive while travelling the world in his late teens, which was before he joined the band in 1985. Bez was “mostly homeless and sofa-surfing” at the time, and had intentions to move on from petty crime, for which he had served prison time.He told The Guardian: “By the time I was about 19, I decided I didn’t want to get caught up in the sort of shit I was doing again, so thought the best thing I could do was to have a huge adventure and go travelling.“I lived in Morocco for a bit and was shoplifting just to survive; pinching bars of chocolate.

Happy Mondays dancer and percussionist Mark ‘Bez’ Berry has opened up about his experience with COVID-19, saying he felt like he was dying after he came down with the virus.In a new interview with the Daily Star, Bez revealed he was hospitalised with the Coronavirus a full week before it was announced as a pandemic.“I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t tell if it was my heart or my lungs,” he told the newspaper’s Wired column.“I got to the hospital and I said, ‘I’ve been having this heart attack for three days’ and they plugged me into the machines and everything and I had a swollen heart and a virus.