Back when The Stone Roses thought they ruled the world, they treated interviews like the residue at the bottom of a public toilet. John Squire has carried on this tradition. Not that he's particularly difficult. Rather that at 3pm in the afternoon it seems he's already had a very, very long day.

This time round, though, with a Manchester show starting this week, the conversation's focused on the art of Squire. Anybody with a passing interest in The Stone Roses would know that he produced those famous splatter album covers, which have been relentlessly compared to the work of a certain American artist. So is he sick of the two words 'Jackson Pollock' in relation to his art or does he take them as a huge compliment?

Copies

'Um, no I'm not sick of those words at all. For me they're obvious copies, so I shouldn't be given any sort of credit for doing those paintings. "

He clearly enjoyed it very much, because just about everything he's done musically since has worn John Squire on its sleeve. Although he had a stint at Cosgrove Hall, the Chorlton animators, the passion for art began in the familiar sanctuary of Manchester Central Library.

So does he now consider himself an artist or a musician or both? Squire's firm on this: 'I don't consider myself an artist. I don't know when that's going to happen, or of it ever will. What I want to do is take this down to the wire! I love doing it. At the moment it's full on - all the daylight hours.'

As with the recent Peter Saville Show at Urbis (who 'jilted us at the altar'), a certain audience is guaranteed if only from those who loved the Roses and would cross continents to be close to artefacts associated with them. Perhaps this show will tell us whether Squire will amount to anything more than an artistic sideshow.

John Squire Artworks 1988-2004 is at The Great Northern from Friday, May 7 to Sunday, May, 16.

The full interview with John Squire is available in City Life issue 534. At newsagents now or order online using the link below.

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