Shaun Ryder: ‘I get a testosterone injection once every three months’

Happy Mondays frontman gets set for Black Grape reunion show in Manchester on April 11

Happy Mondays and Black Grape frontman Shaun Ryder has revealed he must receive “a testosterone injection once every three months” or he will “drop dead.”

Speaking in the new issue of NME, which is on newsstands now and available digitally, the singer said, “I get a testosterone injection once every three months and it makes me feel like I’m 21 again. I’m serious! I’ve got no thyroid. I have to take 150 micrograms of a thyroid replacement drug daily and the testosterone injections or I’ll drop dead.”

Ryder will play a Black Grape reunion gig this Saturday April 11 in the band’s hometown of Manchester.

Advertisement

The show will take place at the Old Granada Studios. The 700-capacity show is a homeless and anti-fracking benefit fundraiser for Bez’s All Star Reality Party election campaign and the Coffee4Craig charity in Salford and Manchester.

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the band’s debut album ‘It’s Great When Your Straight……Yeah’, the event will also see performances from Skittles & 8 Gold Rings, Jenna & The G’S, Backhanders, Alias Kid, Metrodome, T-Man & Black Josh (LEVELZ), Clint Boon, MC Tunes, DJ Mica, DJ Robin Smith and JM Barrington.

However, Bez will not be rejoining the band for the reunion. The only member of the Happy Mondays to join Ryder in Black Grape, Bez will make a small appearance but will not perform. Ryder explained, “He’ll come onstage at the first gig and have a wave, but the band is me and Kermit. We’ve got a tour in May and June and we’re going to do all the secondary cities, because we don’t want it to interfere with the Mondays’ 25th ‘Pills ‘N Thrills…’ anniversary tour at the end of the year.”

Ryder confirmed he has recorded and agreed a deal for a solo album, produced by Quincy Jones’ grandson Sunny Levine, and that the original Mondays line-up are also edging towards recording their first album since 1992’s ‘Yes Please!’. “I’ll get a Mondays album out one day,” he says. “We’ve done some recording recently for the first time since we split up and it was relatively easy.”

Ryder also revealed to NME he’s shot a documentary in the Amazon. “I’m not supposed to be talking about it, but I’ve been back in the jungle for another telly programme,” he said, referring to his appearance in 2010’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in which he came second.

You May Also Like

Advertisement

TRENDING

Advertisement

More Stories