Page "The Stone Roses" Paragraph 5

Like the earlier attempts at bands, The Waterfront fizzled out, but in late 1983 Couzens decided to try again at starting a band, and approached Brown.

They decided on Wolstencroft ( who had turned down the job of drummer in The Smiths ) as drummer and Pete Garner as bassist ( despite his admission that he could not play anything but " Blockbuster ").

They also decided that they needed Squire in the band, and when he agreed the band's line-up was cemented.

Leaving their previous bands behind, they worked solely on new material.

Brown's vocal limitations prompted him to take singing lessons for three weeks.

After rehearsing for some time without a band name, Squire came up with ' The Stone Roses '.

Several stories later emerged suggesting that the band had initially been called ' English Rose ' or that the name was somehow linked to The Rolling Stones, but these were untrue, Brown explaining " No, I don't know where that English Rose story came from.

John thought up the name ' Stone Roses ' - something with a contrast, two words that went against each other ".

The band rehearsed for six months, during which time Wolstencroft had been auditioning for other bands, and he left to join Terry Hall's band The Colourfield.

They got Goodwin to rejoin, but he only lasted for one rehearsal, so they advertised for a replacement and began auditioning, eventually recruiting Alan Wren in May 1984.