Bez

If Keith Richards is the immortal pirate of rock 'n' roll, then Bez is its inter-dimensional maraca-wielding shaman — half dancer, half chaos goblin, and entirely impossible to explain to anyone under 30.

Best known for flailing across the stage with no known rhythm but every known vibe, the Happy Mondays’ most iconic non-musician is a walking acid flashback in bucket hat form. He doesn’t sing, he doesn’t play an instrument, he just commands the stage with his maracas — but when Bez is in the building, you bloody know it!

We caught up with the man himself before the Happy Mondays performance at Visorfest in Valencia.

Hi Bez, how’s its going?

Yeah Rhyan all Good.

Visorfest is coming up and Valencia is buzzing about the Happy Mondays Playing here. When was the last time you were in Valencia?

I really like Valencia, I like the vibe and I like the city. Some people say it might be even cooler than Ibiza.

Oooh, I’m not quite sure! I remember we played there with the LA´s a long time ago and I was there DJing in one of the clubs there a couple of year ago.  But I remember when we played with the La’s there, I think we went on about 7am and we were not at our best!

I loved that festival, it was mental - you just didn’t know when you were going to go on stage and no one did! I thought, that’s proper Spanish that!

You are known as the man with the maracas from the Happy Mondays, but there is a lot more to Bez than that – Political activist, smallholder, TV star, winner of Big Brother, national treasure (along with Shaun!)  - which would you like to be remembered for and which offends you the most!

I don’t know, it doesn’t really matter to me. I am a Happy Monday, that’s me and if it wasn’t for the Happy Monday’s I honestly don’t know what I would have become. 

I see some of the people I’ve grown up with – every morning when I wake up and open the curtains I always say to my Missus “Who is luckier than us?” and that’s because I am a Happy Monday!

If maracas were banned by the government, what would be your instrument of rebellion?

I would have to shake my fucking watermelons!!!

 When you look at the current music scene, do you see any echoes of the spirit that drove the Happy Mondays? Or is that era impossible to recreate?

I don’t know, you go your own way and youth culture will never fade because it’s always there, but it doesn’t get the exposure like the old days when we had the record industry.  But I think there will be a massive underground explosion all over again and it will spread like it always does.

If you could go back to one gig from your career and relive it, which one would it be—and why?

There have been so many! I would like to go back to some of the gigs that I maybe wasn’t sure what I was doing and redo them again, so I knew what I was doing!

You’ve lived a very public life — but what does peace look like to you now?

Sat in my yard, growing things, seeing no one unless I want to. Where I live is right in the middle of nowhere, I get the best of both worlds. I do my own thing. 

Right now I’m sat at my camp fire, near my shed where I have my parties – enjoying the silence, watching the swallows flying around.

Looking back to the 80s and 90s  - how would you describe the music and party scene to the kids of today.

Kids of today are different to what we were back then. For instance, I walked in on my younger son the other day and he sat there with his headphones on chatting to his mates, who are somewhere else!  For me that’s not being with me my mates, but times have changed.

So in that sense, you cannot really describe it. I am like the last of the analogue kids – I got this mobile phone – but I have nothing on it. I don’t do social media, I don’t have the news on it, nothing.  It only its good for is Google maps and answering calls!

You’ve gone from hedonism to health — from raves to allotments. What was the turning point where you started thinking more about wellness and sustainability?

It was by chance really. I was forced to fight the revolution after I got locked up and that was the turning point for me. I was standing there telling everyone to “fuck off” and you cant really tell everyone to do that. 

There are all these different communities and problems, so I decided to set up a political party, first of all we used fracking as a way in. But everywhere politically nobody understood me, because I was giving the Right Wing, I was giving it the Left Wing – so I was disappointing everyone! The commies all hated me because I was laughing at them all! So I decided the fight was everywhere.

I had a mate with cancer, people getting poisoned with food and I realised the fight is on every fucking corner. From the food you eat, everything you do – from that moment on I completely changed my life.  Giving up sugar, starting juicing my own fruit,  really thinking about what food I put in my body and taking care of my water supply.  Basically I have a foot in both camps – one of pure hedonism, which I still still love, will never give up and that’s a poison I choose to do and no one can tell me otherwise. The other is my life now.

But nowadays, I don’t fight the issues anymore. I just get on quietly with my own reality,  because I realised is that most people don’t actually give fuck. I proved it and what I realised is there are only a few people who get it and it’s like banging your head against a wall.

Is there something you believe now that you would have laughed at 30 years ago?

Living like I do! But at the same time I am a proper petrol head as well, so Im not a hippy permaculturalist because I stand for freedom. When you stand for freedom you can use any tool available to you, so I excuse my way out of my petrol consumption!

Let’s talk bees and honey and your mild honey addiction.

Ha! Yeah, I do eat a lot of honey! I keep my own bees and I have a beekeeping partner as well who I am always apologising to, because she does most of the work. If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t have any honey because she does an amazing job for us both.  Everywhere I go I buy honey to compare it to mine, mine is the best!

“If you had to sum up the Happy Mondays’ entire career in one smell — what smell would it be?”

The smell of sweaty trainers!

If you could change place with Shaun for a week, whats the first thing you would do?

Try and get him on the longevity plan that I am on. But I would go right back to when he needed to do it! Change his diet fort a week!

Shaun in 3 words

A funny cunt!

Worst hangover ever

Well actually Im really good at getting rid of them now, but I do seem to have them weekly – which is unfortunate!  But I drink lots of water and especially Double Helix water which smashes any hangover to bits!

First record you bought

I do and it’s really embarrassing which is a shame!  My first actually record collection was cool as fuck because I inherited all these records off my uncle. But the first record I bought was the Bay City Rollers!

Oasis or Blur

I love both but I have to say Oasis just because of the cultural phenomenon behind them at the moment, it’s just incredible and Ive never seen anything like it before. I was sat outside Heaton Park waiting to get my ticket for the gig and just watching this thing unfold in-front of me. It was unbelievable , it took my breath away. I didn’t realise just how fucking massive they are!

Best insult you have ever been called

I’ve been called all sorts! I’ve had people want to cut me up, shoot me up, blow me up! But I’m still happy to be here!

Final thought – quick message for the Visorfest fans.

Can’t wait to get to Valencia and party at Visorfest. I love Valencia, I love partying there and that what we love to do! And I will bring you some of my honey!

Thanks Bez  - can’t wait to see you here in Valencia!

Words: Rhyan Paul Photo: Paul Husband