The Stone Roses Split Up (Again)

BY Calum SlingerlandPublished Sep 16, 2019

After years of speculation, Stone Roses guitarist John Squire has revealed that the band have broken up once again.

In conversation with The Guardian, Squire didn't mince words when he was asked if it was the end of the Stone Roses, simply replying, "Yeah." He also acknowledged a pact made with frontman Ian Brown to not discuss the band's dissolution, telling the publication, "I'm going to honour that."

Squire, who was being interviewed about his visual art, said interviews usually feature "a couple of questions about the work, then they get down to the serious business of finding out what the scoop is on the band."

Reflecting on his time with the Roses, he said, "It was quite a brief period that gets a lot of attention still. I was surprised at the level of support we got when we got back on stage."

After they first broke up in 1996, the Stone Roses reformed in 2011 and signed record deals with Columbia and Universal that same year. In 2016, frontman Brown confirmed that the band were at work on new material. That year saw them release a pair of singles in "All for One" and "Beautiful Thing."

In June 2017, rumours of the band's split began circulating after a reunion date at Hampden Park in Glasgow, during which Brown told the crowd, "Don't be sad that it's over, be happy that it happened."

Earlier this year, Brown released his first new solo album in a decade.

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