In an exclusive interview I did with legendary The Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft a while ago, I asked him about the day he went to see The Stone Roses and what the Manchester band meant for a lad like him growing up in Wigan.

 "I was only thinking of that today" he told me "I was very lucky to be there. The Stone Roses came at a time when me and my group of friends were going to clubs all the time, we were very interested in music and The Stone Roses were like a living, breathing embodiment of the whole history that we were learning. They were a little bit older than us. They had listened to all these records we were listening to and it was their interpretation of this culture. So to go and see them live and to hear all those Byrds influences on John Squire's guitar but at the same time it also felt fresh and original. It was inspiring to see people from similar backgrounds who had real dreams, big dreams. It was really inspiring. It is like when there is a boxer or an athlete from your hometown. It gives you that sense that things can be a little bit more achievable. If you see somebody who seems to come from similar places like you who achieved something in life is really inspiring. It was a really awakening moment for me." and went on to add "I thought 'This is 100 % of what I'm gonna do from now on'. It was like The Byrds when they saw the Beatles. They traded their guitars and bought electric ones and cut their hair. I had that thing of being 16, 17 and growing my hair like The Stone Roses and then just carried on growing and growing it from that period on. What is interesting is that I went to that concert when I was 17 and ten years later I had already put the third Verve album out 'Urban Hymns' at the age of 27. In those ten years, I did a lot."

You can read the interview in full HERE

In other news, Ashcroft on collaborating with Noel Gallagher.

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PH: Pablo Astudillo