Gary "Mani" Mounfield RIP

Met him a couple of times. Got to spend some time back stage with him after a scream gig at the Apollo in 97 (edit: might have been 96?!?] through a friend of a friend. We talked footie banter and he got me legless!

A few months later bumped into him in a bar in Leeds. He recognised me and bought me a pint, laughing at how fucked I was last time we met.

Genuinely one of the good guys and as a massive roses fan I’m in real shock.

RIP
 
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My favourite band ever. I must have played that album and the other songs at least once a week for the last 36 years.
I had a beer with him in 2003 at the Manchester Academy whilst watching The Rain Band supporting Cooper Temple Clause. Just chatting about music, football and beer. Absolutely blew my mind how down to earth he was, not that I ever thought he wasn't but he was just a dude.
I think everyone in every town and city will have their little memories of him that they will share or just keep.

I really am in shock. Ricky Hatton and now Mani, it's just too much to take in.
 
AlexWilliamsGloves said:
Those opening notes of I Wanna Be Adored literally define a whole era/movement/genre…not many musicians can say that
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Spike Island ………..been waiting for what seemed for ever for them to come on, and it started…………those chords, I can shut my eyes and see / hear it clear as day………haunting, brilliant through the haze. brilliant times growing up and the Roses were a big part of it
 
Ray bloody Purchase said:
Spike Island ………..been waiting for what seemed for ever for them to come on, and it started…………those chords, I can shut my eyes and see / hear it clear as day………haunting, brilliant through the haze. brilliant times growing up and the Roses were a big part of it
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Yes I was at the back by a burger van. Happy memories.
 
Sad news when i heard it on the radio earlier. I met him a few times in The Best o' Brass in Mossley 10 to 15 years ago when he drank with his mate who lived in the town. He liked drinking there because he got no mither from those fawning over him and he didn't get pestered for his autograph, unlike most places in town when he was recognised. We talked music and football and had blue-red banter several times and he took being called a dirty rag well. Lol.

Mani was a decent down to earth ordinary guy who got famous as a bassist in a famous band, but he had had no Billy big bollocks airs and graces about him or i wouldn't have spoken to him again if he had.

I really like the Stone Roses and he was not only a top base player but a sound guy. Gone far too soon and the Roses won't be the same without him, alas.

RIP Mani.
 
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Only saw him play live once, with Primal Scream in Sheffield. He quite rightly berated the audience for being a bit lifeless.
The following morning I was off to some shit job on the M1 and called into a service station. Gillespie and Mani followed me in, laughingly exuding a certain aura of ... "we ain't part of your bourgeois careerist world". The tour bus, blacked-out windows and black paintwork, further emphasised the point.
Rest in peace.
 
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As someone who absolutely idolises the Roses, I’m fucking heartbroken.

This man has given me music that has, and continues to, to this day, genuinely move me. It makes me buzz, makes me nostalgic, makes me wistful, makes me introspective and makes me yearn for memories I don’t even have, places I’ve never even been and people I’ve never even met. Like one of our greatest BM members @manimanc I still listen to their music every single day, in some form.

In recent times and joyously for me, my daughter has gotten massively into the Roses. Adores their music, has all their posters and dresses like them. Watching her discover new material by them for the first time and being blown away is beyond special to me. She gets it, just as I did and still do.

Mani’s work is sensational. The bass line introduction to I Wanna be Adored is the greatest, most spine tingling call to arms ever written. His bass line on Fools Gold is so godlike it was 100 years ahead of the rest of music back in 1989. His work on every track on that first album is absolutely sublime and always pulls at my heart strings.

A very sad day. What an absolute geez. RIP Mani.
 
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Stoned Rose said:
As someone who absolutely idolises the Roses, I’m fucking heartbroken.

This man has given me music that has, and continues to, to this day, genuinely moved me. It makes me buzz, makes me nostalgic, makes me wistful, makes me introspective and makes me yearn for memories I don’t even have, places I’ve never even been and people I’ve never even met. Like one of our greatest BM members @manimanc I still listen to their music every single day, in some form.

In recent times and joyously for me, my daughter has gotten massively into the Roses. Adores their music, has all their posters and dresses like them. Watching her discover new material by them for the first time and being blown away is beyond special to me. She gets it, just as I did and still do.

Mani’s work is sensational. The bass line introduction to I Wanna be Adored is the greatest, most spine tingling call to arms ever written. His bass line on Fools Gold is so godlike it was 100 years ahead of the rest of music back in 1989. His work on every track on that first album is absolutely sublime and always pulls at my heart strings.

A very sad day. What an absolute geez. RIP Mani.
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Lovely post SR I feel the same
 
Stoned Rose said:
As someone who absolutely idolises the Roses, I’m fucking heartbroken.

This man has given me music that has, and continues to, to this day, genuinely move me. It makes me buzz, makes me nostalgic, makes me wistful, makes me introspective and makes me yearn for memories I don’t even have, places I’ve never even been and people I’ve never even met. Like one of our greatest BM members @manimanc I still listen to their music every single day, in some form.

In recent times and joyously for me, my daughter has gotten massively into the Roses. Adores their music, has all their posters and dresses like them. Watching her discover new material by them for the first time and being blown away is beyond special to me. She gets it, just as I did and still do.

Mani’s work is sensational. The bass line introduction to I Wanna be Adored is the greatest, most spine tingling call to arms ever written. His bass line on Fools Gold is so godlike it was 100 years ahead of the rest of music back in 1989. His work on every track on that first album is absolutely sublime and always pulls at my heart strings.

A very sad day. What an absolute geez. RIP Mani.
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Nailed it mate.
Brought a tear to my eye this post, I echo every word you say.
My son is into them and just to see him sing Tightrope or Going Down word for word and with so much feeling melts me.

Absolutely devoed.
 
I was only a little kid when the Roses came on the scene (born in ’82) so I didn’t know of them from their initial singles in the mid80s or even when their album first came out in ’89.

I was in my Uncle’s car, who put the tape of the album on, probably in about ’91, when I first heard the Roses.

…and it was this opening bass from Mani that I first heard and got me hooked. It’s always been one of my favourite albums since, even now probably still in my Top 6.



For a Red, and a Red who hated City, Mani was still someone who came across as a cool fella. One of the top Manchester icons from one of the top Manchester bands.

I even saw him sticking up for City on his Instagram earlier this year when he posted a pic from an Oasis Heaton Park gig when someone said in the comments ‘Roses are Red, Oasis are Blue’ and Mani replied ‘Reni and all the Roses crew were Blues to be fair mate’.
 
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