RIP Paul Ryder of The Happy Mondays
If I’m honest, no one had Paul Ryder being the first member of the Mondays to go. The smart(?) money was on his older brother Shaun. He was far more self-destructive with his drug use (heroin, coke, crack) and, er, risky behaviour. Next in line would be Bez, his partner in crime and another person who wasn’t exactly careful with his health.
But here we are talking about the death of Paul, the band’s bass player and the guy responsible for so much of the group’s groove.
Paul was the shy brother. And yes, he took a LOT of drugs (including heroin, pretty much a prerequisite for being a member of the group) but his drug-taking was to help him overcome that shyness.
The Mondays collapsed in 1993. There was a reunion in 2004 but Paul didn’t participate. But when the next resurrection came around in 2012, he was all-in and continued to be a member of the band right up until he died.
Ryder was also an actor. Hed appeared in The Ghosts of Oxford Street and Michael Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People (2002).
The Mondays’ druggy days were over, too. About 10 years ago, Gaz Whelan, the band’s drummer, invited me to a Mondays show at Brixton Academy. Backstage after the show, I was shocked to find no drugs, no booze, not even any meat. All the Mondays had in the dressing room was bottled water and a big platter of raw vegetables. Wot?
As I said my goodbyes, Paul, Gaz, and Rowetta offered to give me a ride back towards my hotel in their tour bus. Again, no drugs, no booze, no meat. I was offered a club soda. Rowetta, sitting on the couch next to me, said “I’ll bet this isn’t what you expected on a Happy Mondays tour bus, is it?” No, it was not.
Paul didn’t even stick around. He bade everyone good night and went right upstairs to his bunk for the overnight trip to the next gig in Birmingham. It was not quite 11:00. The bus dropped me off near my hotel and I was sent on my way with hugs and a bottle of water.
Yesterday (July 15), a few hours before the Mondays were about to play the Kubix Festival in Sunderland, Ryder suddenly collapsed and could not be revived.
Ryder was 57. In the announcements posted by the band on social media, no cause of death was given.
