Ep415: Gaz Whelan of Happy Mondays
The Vinyl Guide - Artist Interviews for Record Collectors and Music Nerds
Nate Goyer
4.7 • 579 Ratings
🗓️ 25 September 2023
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Gaz Whelan of Happy Mondays shares memories of early records, recordings, Manchester, Factory Records, The Hacienda, Martin Hannett, John Cale, Paul McCartney, the upcoming Aus/NZ tour & lots more.
- Welcome Gaz to the show
- Touring after Paul Ryder passed away
- The Paul Ryder Tapes Podcast
- Picking up drums after watching the Beatles on TV
- Paul McCartney commenting on Happy Mondays
- Sex Pistols and 1st wave punk in Manchester
- Soul and Northern Soul records
- Talking to Noel Gallagher about the "Get Back" Television series
- Earlier Manchester bands – Joy Division, The Smiths, etc
- Forming Happy Mondays, early band names
- Getting the attention of Factory Records
- Memories of The Hacienda – FAC51
- The story of the "Forty Five EP"
- Tony Wilson testing Happy Mondays before making an album
- "Freaky Dancing" single
- Working with John Cale on the 1st album
- Gaz has some original tapes from Tony Wilson
- Making up the album title for the 1st album
- The track "Desmond" was removed from the 1st album
- 24 Hour Party People single creating opportunity for 2nd album
- Bez joining the band
- Memories of Martin Hannett as producer
- Rumours of Happy Mondays selling pills
- The design of Happy Mondays products and the Factory Records aesthetic
- Northen Soul records turning up in UK
- Does Paul have many records?
- Did "Yes Please" bankrupt Factory Records?
- Post Happy Mondays activity, Black Grape, etc
- Will there ever be another Happy Mondays album?
- Many Happy Mondays tapes were likely destroyed with the Hacienda
- Interview wrap up
Happy Mondays Aus/NZ 2023 tour tix & info
Extended, Commercial-Free & High Resolution version of this podcast is available at: www.Patreon.com/VinylGuide
Listen on Apple: https://apple.co/2Y6ORU0
Listen on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/36qhlc8
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey, this is Gazuelan from the Happy Mondays. |
| 0:01.5 | You listen to The Vinyl Guy on the best podcasts out of Australia because I knew about it before this. I was thrilled to come on. I did know, yeah. This episode is brought to you by Groove Washer, the best record cleaners and protective sleeves for your vinyl collection. Ask for the Groove washer from your local shop or go to Groovewasher.com. Discount code, vinyl guide Guide 10. And now on with the show. |
| 0:24.5 | People of Earth. |
| 0:25.8 | Welcome to episode 415 of the Vinyl Guide, the podcast for record collectors and music nerds. |
| 0:32.2 | And this week, we are so stoked. |
| 0:33.9 | We've got Gazwheeling of Happy Mondays here on the show. |
| 0:37.3 | He's such a nice, |
| 0:38.1 | charming guy, full of fun stories about Manchester, Northern Seoul, the Hacienda, |
| 0:43.6 | Factory Records, Noel Gallagher, and more. Plus, I found out Gaz is a fan of the vinyl |
| 0:48.5 | guide, which always trips me out when I hear that. Very flattered and humbled by that when |
| 0:53.5 | musicians who've gotten into my ears tell me that the podcast has gotten into theirs. That's pretty incredible to me. Anyway, today, Gaz shares lots of great stories and also wants to let the Aussies and Kiwis know that Happy Mondays are on their way down under the latter half of October, the 24-hour party people greatest |
| 1:12.9 | hits tour, Auckland, Brisbane, Sydney, two Melbourne dates, one of which is sold out, Adelaide |
| 1:18.2 | and Perth. Tickets are available at the usual spots, or you can go to Destroy Alllines.com |
| 1:23.6 | and secure your spot before they sell out. |
| 1:27.2 | Now, also to let you know, there is an extended version of this interview available only |
| 1:32.7 | to show patrons at patreon.com slash vinyl guide. |
| 1:37.3 | Head over there now. |
| 1:38.1 | You could help support the show. |
| 1:39.7 | Sponsor me for a burrito and a beer each month. |
| 1:41.9 | Keeps me putting out these episodes and you get access to extra stuff. |
| 1:46.4 | Commercial free interviews, high resolution audio files, and just like today, an extended |
| 1:50.9 | interview with Gaz. It's all up there at patreon.com slash vinyl guide. Help support the show and get all the extras. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Nate Goyer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Nate Goyer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.