Shaun Ryder and Zak Starkey on Mantra Of The Cosmos: “Do you know what a supergroup means? Four guys having a wank”

Mantra Of The Cosmos – the new group featuring Shaun Ryder (Happy Mondays, Black Grape), drummer Zak Starkey (The Who, Oasis), guitarist Andy Bell (Oasis, Ride) and Bez (Happy Mondays, Black Grape) – have shared their new single ‘X (Wot You Sayin?)’ and spoken to NME about their forthcoming plans.

The collective were formed by Starkey – who is the son of Ringo Starr – after he initially tried to work on a krautrock project with ex-Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos during the pandemic.

“I wanted him to produce it and write the lyrics because I really like his solo work and what he did with Kraftwerk,” Starkey, who is at pains to point out that Mantra are not a supergroup, told NME over Zoom. “He’s got really mad words and he can think outside the box. So I tried calling him and he goes [adopts German accent], ‘You should have called me 10 years ago when I was young enough to do this.’ So I shelved it.

“Two years later, I thought about it again and it was implied that I should form a supergroup. I said, ‘Do you know what a supergroup means? It means four guys having a wank’. It’s not very honest music. It’s got nothing to do with words. I thought the only guy that’s gonna make this psychedelic poetry – not stupid fucking guitar riffs – is Shaun. So I got his number and called him up and said what I’ve said to you now and Shaun said, ‘Fucking hell I’m in’.

The collective have already released the maraca-shaking electro single ‘Gorilla Guerilla’ and recently performed at Glastonbury. With the release of their psychedelic new single, we spoke to Starkey and Ryder about their plans for an album, getting advice from Ringo, their thoughts on AI, and an Oasis reunion.

NME: Shaun you’ve said Mantra Of The Cosmos doesn’t sound anything like your other bands. Was that deliberate?

Shaun: “Well yeah, when you think about whatever we’ve done, even with the Mondays, [our debut album] ‘Squirrel And G-Man’ to me was at least 110 miles away from ‘Bummed’ and that was a good 500 miles away from fucking ‘Pills ‘N’ Thrills’ and then we had that last one [‘Yes Please!’] which should have been the first Black Grape album but we ended up another way. And it’s the same with this band, different again.”

How has it been working together so far?

Shaun: “Yeah, great. I love it cos we’re quite new to each other, we’re still going in the studio with a band and putting the old band comfy slippers on and I feel very good with the guys I’m working with. Zak’s the one who’s got our beats together, and then I come in and add vocals and Andy adds his guitar. To me, you could say [adopts aloof posh accent] it’s ‘solemn, a bit experimental right, but really it’s just what’s going on’. Nah, it’s just really relaxed, you know what I mean? When you’re making music, it can be very anal but with us, we basically do what the fuck we want. And Zak records it all and then fucks about with it.”

Zak (laughs): “Yeah, about 175.”

Shaun: “We’ve got a lot of material. If you want some songs that can go on for two and a half or three minutes [laughs], then I reckon we’ve got about 175 songs, haven’t we? Or we could have a couple of Pink Floyd-type ones where they go on for 35 minutes each. It just depends what Zak’s gonna turn this into. That’s what’s interesting about it. I leave the studio sometimes and I’ll come back and I’ve put something in there but Zak has just mashed it up into something different. He picks out the stuff that I’ll come out with, which I’m just trying to get a smile on their faces and enjoy it.

Shaun: “They’re a bit like me, really, meaningless bollocks. You know, mad, chopped-up cartoon characters [adopts posh accent again] ‘in a faded sort of wacky world in different dimensions, I don’t even really know myself what they’re about’. No, seriously, the way that I write songs, to be honest, is very selfish. I write them to make me laugh and I write them to make other people… when they put those lyrics together, they can mean something to them. At the age I am, I’m now spending a lot of time in the fucking past and I’ll just go off on something that was said 30 years ago. So it’s really comic strip black comedy and utter bollocks.”

Zak: “Shaun will do four takes [in the studio] and when I get to edit them, each take is connected and it’s whatever is bothering him or he’s thinking about in his head, that’s what’s coming out. It’s not necessarily in the right order but it all works. So it’s not a very hard job.”

Shaun: “We was on at the same time as Elton John. What a fantastic set you must be getting off fucking Elton at Glastonbury, right? We could have thought: ‘Is there gonna be fuck all there [for our gig]?’ But it just goes to show what weirdy, little freaky people are prepared to come and watch our band.”

Zak: “It was pretty full on the Glade stage when we started. And it was pretty full when we finished. The people we were playing to were digging it so fucking hard. No one was wandering off to watch Elton because we were playing hypnotic music to people who had been on drugs for four days. What more could you ask for?”

Zak: “Yeah, he’s heard all of it and he really loves it. He loves Shaun and he loves what he’s singing about. There’s a line in one song called ‘Belly Full Of Lard’, and he said he hadn’t heard anything like it for 40 or 50 years. There’s another one that goes, ‘I got a job at the NHS, it made my life’ and my dad went a ‘BIGGER FUCKING MESS’ at the top of his voice. He nailed the line without ever hearing it before. He’s having it, man, he’s really having it.”

Shaun, you’re 60 now. Did you ever think you’d still be making music at this age?

Zak, you were once in Oasis. Do you think they’ll get back together?

Damian Jones

NME