Mantra of the Cosmos discuss upcoming album and Glastonbury debut
Between all of their members, Mantra of the Cosmos have more experience and rock ‘n’ roll war wounds than any other group on the entire Glastonbury line-up. Although they have only released one song under their new guise, each musician of the collective has been part of musical folklore for decades, and they have now decided to bring their set of celestial skills together.
The group comprises Zak Starkey, formerly the drummer with Oasis, who has toured with The Who since 1996, his wife Sharna ‘Sshh’ Starkey, and Happy Mondays duo Shaun Ryder and Bez. Additionally, for the project, Starkey reunited with his former Oasis bandmate Andy Bell, a founding member of Ride.
While their line-up was already complete, Mantra of the Cosmos added The Fall’s Brix Smith to the group after she was impressed by a private performance in Soho earlier this month and “begged” to be part of the band.
Before their performance at The Glade at Glastonbury on June 25th, Far Out got comfortable with the band in their Sprinter Van backstage. In typical Bez style, the Happy Mondays hype-man was absent from the interview because he was preparing for their set by being the best man at a wedding which was taking place at the festival.
Starkey, also the son of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, is the brainchild behind the operation. Explaining how the group formed, the drummer reveals: “Two years ago, I wanted to start a band with Karl Bartos from Kraftwerk, but he couldn’t do it, so I shelved it because I couldn’t think of anyone else who would make it different, then I thought of Shaun, and here we are.”
While Starkey and Ryder had only met once before deciding to get involved in a musical project together, the drummer had been listening to the Happy Mondays while practising for shows with The Who on recent tours, which kept Ryder in the forefront of his mind.
“I’d been playing along to the Mondays, and I didn’t know why, but that was obviously why,” Starkey says. Ryder jokingly adds: “I was trying to get in your head, cosmically”. The drummer elaborates how his favourite Happy Mondays song is ‘Tart Tart’, but he played along to “all of them”.
While their slot at Glastonbury was their first official gig, the Mantra of the Cosmos played a private show at The Box in Soho earlier in June, which was a memorable evening for all involved.
“Considering my arm was bigger than the stage, it was great,” Ryder says while extending his arm to express the size of the intimate stage. Sharna adds: “That show felt like a real moment and a big bang of a cosmos. It was like The Beatles at The Cavern or Oasis at King Tuts. Everyone in the room was buzzing.”
Smith then offers her perspective of the show as an audience member: “I was really interested to see what it would sound like, and my head blew off my neck. I was up on my feet from the first fucking note. A fire went through me, and I hadn’t felt that huge cosmic connection to music in such a long time. It was amazing. I was buzzing, and so was the whole audience, and I basically begged to be in the band.”
Glastonbury is an appropriate place for the band to make their official debut, especially for Starkey, who has a deep-held connection with the festival having played there on numerous occasions with other groups. “We played here with The Lightning Seeds in 1998. We played ‘Three Lions’ and put a screen up for England’s game against Germany, which we lost. It rained when I played with The Who in 2015, but even though it pissed it down, it was amazing,” he recalls.
Starkey then revealed how his first show with Oasis was a headline slot on the Pyramid Stage in 2004, leading to him and Bell reminiscing about that memorable night in the back of the van. The drummer explained how it sticks in his memory because it was the only time he performed ‘Columbia’ with the band, which Bell revealed was his “favourite” Oasis track.
After almost 15 years apart, Bell and Starkey are enjoying making music again together once more. Additionally, Mantra of the Cosmos originates from their time in Oasis when the pair started meditation classes, presumably to get some momentary respite from the circus surrounding the band during their final days.
“We were given a mantra that we can never share with anyone,” Starkey says before Bell intervenes, “Except the third person who was there.” The Who drummer continues, “Yes, who was one of our rock and soul brothers from the band. So, we (Starkey and Bell) are the mantra. Shaun, Bez, and Brix are the cosmos. Shhh, she’s a bit of both.”
So far, the Mantra of the Cosmos have only released the enchanting psychedelic anthem ‘Gorilla Guerilla’ but a full album with “11 songs” has been recorded at Starkey’s studio. A release date is yet to be given to the project, and the finishing touches are still being added, with Ryder joking, “Zak’s already mastered it three times fucking over.”
Most notably from our conversation, the Mantra of the Cosmos is an experience that every member wholly relishes, hence why Smith was desperate to become a member. They’ve all been around the block enough times to risk becoming jaded, and while the stages might currently be smaller, they are having as much fun as ever.
“The hardest bit about being in a band is hanging around together in a cooped-up environment for a long time,” Starkey admits.
Smith then poignantly adds: “When there’s a really amazing energy between all the components of the band, you can feel it. It’s like this incredible electricity and synergy. That’s what’s happening here, and you don’t feel that very often in your life. We’ve all been in lots of different bands, and this feels really special. We also know what difficult band dynamics are like, and here we are, having the greatest time, and we’re loving every minute. Long may it continue.”
Whether Mantra of the Cosmos will only deliver one album before bowing out and never returning remains to be seen. However, while together, they plan to savour every last moment of the journey and soak up every ray of cosmic energy available.
Listen to ‘Gorilla Guerilla’ below.
