Photo: wenn.com
Rowetta Satchel rose to fame as the charasmatic backing singer for Manchester indie legends, Happy Mondays. After leaving the band in 2000 she then became a household name with a whole new audience after reaching the final of the first ever series of X Factor.
Following the reformation of their contemparies, The Stone Roses, earlier this year the original Happy Mondays line-up reformed for the first time in nearly two decades. Gigwise spoke to Rowetta about Manchester's infamous clubbing scene, her drunken X Factor application, and life on the road with a clean Shaun Ryder...
This year saw the first time the original Happy Mondays line-up have shared a stage since 1993, Why now?
Well it was actually November 92! People think it's 93 because that's when the announcement came out, but actually it was in Tokyo almost exactly 20 years ago. It was mainly The Stone Roses getting back together. When that happened loads of offers came in for The Mondays. The managers got it together and called everyone individually to find a way of making us all get along- or even just meet.
For long periods of time since the 90s the tensions between the band, especially Shaun and Paul, have been well documented, what changed?
I hadn't spoken to him (Shaun Ryder) for thirteen years, and some of us hadn't spoken to him for nearly twenty years. It was just finding a way of getting us all work together, we realised we don't have to be together all the time, we don't even have to travel together.
Also it's a lot easier because no one's got any drug problems anymore. It's great, we get on really well, I just came back from Bangkok yesterday with Bez- we had a ball! We're not all packed onto one tour bus, so basically there's nothing to argue about now.
You're infamous for being one of the most hedonistic bands in the history of British music, how do the afterparties compare now you're all a bit older and wiser?
At the end of the shows Bez will do after-parties, and if any of us go it will probably only be me or Mark Day. There's a better work ethic, we've all got families. Shaun just wants to get home to his kids. A lot of us don't even drink anymore. You'll never see Shaun in the hotel bar. I still drink one or two when I'm out but nothing like how it used to be. We used to just binge every night, we'd go through bottles. That doesn't exist anymore, and we all perform better because of it.
They're not hammering it like they used to. Everyone talks about the drugs, but the alcohol was just as bad, it used to be all day, drinking through rehearsals - but now there's none of that.
It's been confirmed you're working on new material. How's it sounding? Is it just like old times?
The album's going really well because everyone turns up to rehearsals and everyone gets up on time. We're not sat around waiting for people. We do our bit then we go home and the only reason everyone's buzzing is because the music's sounding great.
It's like the good old days but without the horrible bits. Everyone's in the studio, getting on. Now when we're touring no-one wants a day off. It's great, we used to love our days off before, but now we just don't get tired. I've spent a lot of time touring as a solo artist and with Peter Hook, but now I'm just loving being back with the Mondays. There's nothing like it, they're like my family.
Happy Mondays reunited with their original line-up
What are your memories of being on the first ever series of X Factor?
I didn't know what I was doing, I liked Simon (Cowell) when I saw him on American Idol so I thought it would be funny to enter. To be honest I was a bit drunk when I entered! I didn't even tell anyone I just did it. They made me out to be this mad woman, so I think I did really well to get so many votes because normally it's all the kind of young pop artists that everyone fancies who do well.
Do the rest of the Mondays ever have any digs at you for being on the show?
All these shows like Bez doing Big Brother and Shaun going into the jungle, it got a new group of people looking into the music. If people haven't heard of The Mondays before, which a lot of younger people might not have, it's brilliant. I think we all picked the right shows because at the end of the day I couldn't go into the jungle, Shaun couldn't do X Factor, probably none of us wanted to do Big Brother! But Bez did it and won.
How do you feel about what the show has become in 2012?
A lot of people say you lose your credibility doing things like that, but you can grab it back. People get to know you and they realise that I'm not your typical X Factor contestant. I wasn't that bothered, but it got me a massive gay following which was amazing!
Have you been watching it this year?
I've been away in Bangkok during this year's series so I haven't seen too much. I know what kind of show it is and what it has become- it's a TV show not a popularity contest, it's not all about talent. But you do discover some amazing people, James Arthur's brilliant!
You're playing a huge Christmas show at Manchester's Warehouse Project with Peter Hook and Mike Pickering. The venue regularly puts on what are probably the biggest club nights in the country, do you see many similarities to the Hacienda?
Definitely, there's nothing like the Hacienda, but I think that's the closest you're going to get. People come up to me and beg for guestlist tickets for Warehouse Project, it's just the same as what happened with the Hacienda.
It's great that the focus of the best club in the country is in Manchester, not in London or whatever. We (Manchester) used to have the best club in the world with the Hacienda, but it stopped being so in the early 90s. There's been a gap since then and everywhere else in the world has caught up with some amazing clubs, so it's brilliant that Warehouse Project is so big.
See the video for Happy Mondays classic 'Step On' below.
Tony Wilson decribed you as "the only one still good-looking enough to play yourself" when you appeared in 24 Hour Party People. Do you feel the film was an accurate portrayal?
They did actually try and get Bez to play himself becuase they couldn't find anyone one who could do it quite like him! Tony and Hooky and everyone were involved in the making of the film. We were always asked 'Is this how it was done?' - even stuff like the way Shaun would do heroin, and I would say 'no he didn't do it like this he did it like that'.
It was stretched for comedic effect. The things that came out of Steve Coogan's mouth were not necessarily what came out of Tony Wilson's mouth - but it didn't matter because Tony had to give everything the ok.
Madness recently said they think they should be the recipients of next year's oustanding contribution award at The Brits, who would you give it to?
I think Joy Division should have it even if they can't perform. I would say New Order but now they're playing without Hooky it's not the real band.
Actually yeah ok give it Madness! We played on the same bill as them at V festival and they were great. They tried to chuck Suggs off stage because they didn't think it was the real Suggs. I wasn't sure with Blur, they seem too young to me! Have the Roses had it? Because if they haven't they should get it, how have they not had it?
So you're not a fan of New Order touring without Peter Hook?
It's just a shame that they've had this bust-up in the press and everything. It's sad because Hooky's part of New Order too, no matter who's out on tour. I know how it feels when you're in a band and you have to watch someone else 'being you' on stage. It's just not the same without the real members- that's why it's so amazing to have The Mondays together again!
Happy Mondays play two shows at London's Roundhouse on 19 and 20 December, and an all-nighter at Manchester's Warehouse Project to mark the 30th anniversary of The Hacienda on 22 December.
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