SUPERGROUP FEATURING ZAK STARKEY, SHAUN RYDER, BEZ AND ANDY BELL TAKE TO THE STAGE AT THE LEGENDARY CAVERN IN LIVERPOOL
SHAUN RYDER: “IF YOU’RE OF A NERVOUS DISPOSITION… IT’S TIME TO LEAVE THE ROOM”
Sunday saw the return of supergroup Mantra of the Cosmos featuring son of Ringo Starr, Zak Starkey, Happy Mondays’ Shaun Ryder and Bez, and Ride’s Andy Bell. The band played two electrifying sets in one day at the venue, made famous by The Beatles, to mark the vinyl release of their psychedelic single Domino Bones (Gets Dangerous) – featuring Oasis star Noel Gallagher.
The band’s matinee performance was preceded by a DJ set by Andy Bell to an already packed room. The former Oasis guitarist treated the crowd to a number of dub, reggae and soul tracks.
The evening set followed an introduction by Liverpool’s Philip Regan, AKA The Queen of Scotty Road. Starkey and Bell took to the stage for an instrumental intro, before Shaun Ryder and Bez made their entrance to rapturous applause.
The group thundered through a semi-improvised set list including psychedelic, bombastic singles ‘Gorilla Guerilla’ and ‘X (Wot You Sayin?)’.
There was an infectious camaraderie onstage with Bez taking the microphone to pour out praise for “the band’s leader”, Starkey. Fellow Happy Mondays star and Mantra of the Cosmos frontman Shaun Ryder also credited Starkey as the driving force behind the project, before introducing the hypnotic ‘Dragon Flash’ by instructing the crowd, “If you’re of a nervous disposition… it’s time to leave the room”.
The band’s penultimate song of the night was the newly released, heavy psychedelic banger ‘Domino Bones (Gets Dangerous)’. They welcomed support act Keyside’s frontman Dan Parker onstage to sing Noel Gallagher’s soaring chorus on the song.
They closed the evening set by leading the crowd in a singalong of The Pogues’ Dirty Old Town, before pivoting into their own country-inspired track, the unreleased ‘Nice Slice’.
The performance marked Starkey‘s first-ever visit to The Cavern, having previously only been to Liverpool once before, to visit his grandparents.
Speaking about the significance of the venue choice, Starkey said, “Can’t believe I’ve never even been there. There’s a great deal of family heritage at the cavern aside from the Beatles my parents courted there…who knows, I may have even been conceived there!”
Starkey said: “It’s great to be playing there and they’re great people, really looking after us. The Cavern was rebuilt but it’s the original in spirit and I’m buzzing to be doing it.”
Limited edition red and blue vinyl of new single Domino Bones (Gets Dangerous) was on sale at the venue, and can now be purchased on the venue’s online store, alongside t-shirts featuring Noel Gallagher.
Domino Bones (Gets Dangerous)
Speaking about Domino Bones (Gets Dangerous), Starkey says: “It’s not every day that the greatest songwriter of my generation – not to mention Shaun, the greatest beat poet of our times – sends a tune to me and I was in a daze for a bit cos it’s not something you want to f*** up! It came together great – everyone digs it!
“Noel loves Shaun. He texted me to say ‘Do you know what you’ve got? The British Bob Dylan’ – and he’s not f***ing about because now I’ve witnessed what Shaun does. Noel calls him the ‘king of lyrics’.”
Noel Gallagher says of the band: “Mantra Of The Cosmos is like Dylan, Dali and Ginsberg on a rocketship to the moon to have it with the Clangers.”
Mantra Of The Cosmos – rock legends come together
Starkey says: “I first met Noel in a rehearsal room, John Henry’s in Brewery Road in London. I was in a band called Face during Britpop times and it was early 1995 and he came in and watched a bit. I met his brother for the first time at Oasis’s Earls Court shows in 1996. We’re Mods so we got on straight away.
“Every time I saw Liam, I used to go: ‘Alright Liam, still the greatest rock and roll singer in the world?’ He’d go: ‘Alright Zak, still the greatest rock and roll drummer in the world?’ That was going on for years as a joke. Who knew what was going to happen? Nobody knew that was going to happen, that’s for sure. That was a surprise for everyone wasn’t it?”
Starkey began drumming for Oasis in 2004, playing on Don’t Believe The Truth and Dig Your Own Soul.
In 2015, Starkey met Shaun Ryder during the filming of a returning TFI Friday. Starkey was the bandleader for a group featuring Liam Gallagher, Roger Daltrey, Ian Broudie, Bonehead, and Jay Mehler, which played ‘My Generation’.
Starkey says: “Shaun was on the show, and we literally said hello for five minutes and then a photograph – and that was it. Then I just cold called him about this group, which I didn’t want to be about guitars – I wanted to be about his words. He immediately said yes.
“I asked if his mate (Bez) was going to be in it and he said: ‘He doesn’t know yet – but he is.’”
Starkey knew Andy Bell through their work in Oasis and the pair share a mantra, along with Oasis guitarist Gem Archer, having learnt transcendental meditation from Nancy Cooke de Herrera, who also taught The Beatles and was the mother of the famous ‘Bungalow Bill’ of the John Lennon penned song. Ryder and Bez make up the ‘Cosmos’ side of the band’s name.
In 2023 Mantra Of The Cosmos launched with the singles ‘Gorilla Guerilla’ and ‘X (Wot You Sayin?)’, and a Glastonbury Festival debut. Further singles are planned for 2025.
