‘Iintendtokeep on playing musicuntilI’m olderthanthe Rolling Stones’
his “lost years” — Ryder admits he remembers little of the Mondays’ heyday.
More recently he appeared on a clutch of daytime television programmes to discuss an unexplained bout of alopecia, which developed following recent hip surgery.
“I’ve got a few health problems going on at the moment,” he said.
“Thyroid, hair falling out... I’ve just had a hip operation, but you get through that.
“The fifties are a dangerous age for me. God knows how many of my friends have died in their fifties.”
“The alopecia... they don’t know what caused it. I’m not stressed — I’m at the least stressful time ever in my life.
“My fingernails fell out, my eyebrows, my eyelashes, my body hair, my head hair.” Ryder is awaiting further tests but greets each scare with a trademark optimism.
He is a man with an opinion on everything: the pop music flavour of the month, the millennial generation, even the soaps he watches to wind down after shows.
“I watch them all, really,” he admits. I don’t go round EastEnders as much as I used to do.
“The kids are into it now, you know what I mean? Coronation Street especially. But I’m getting a bit annoyed at it at the moment. It’s trying to be like really funny, but it’s not working for me.”
Ryder’s honesty and propensity for grand statements earned him a second career on reality television.
In 2010 he survived a stint in the jungle on I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!
He finished second behind Stacey Solomon, who was fresh from a career-making turn on the X Factor.
“If you were an artist, you really didn’t touch that sort of stuff,” he says.
“And then the game changes. Bez goes and does Celebrity Big Brother and wins that. Things change.”
Bez, real name Mark Berry, has been one of the few constants in Ryder’s life.
The Mondays’ long-time dancer, famed for his on-stage gyrations, has been Ryder’s partner in crime and confidante since shortly after the group’s inception.
“We’re in a sexless marriage,” Ryder says with a guttural laugh.
“He will say it ain’t sexless. He will tell people that it’s a sexy marriage, but it’s a sexless marriage. It always has been.”
They recently made their joint reality debut, appearing on Celebrity Gogglebox, musing about the quality of weekend television and the state of current affairs.
The latter is something Ryder claims to have only recently taken an interest in.
“The first time I voted I was 53 years old,” he explains.
“I’ve always shied away from that because I don’t really know what I am talking about.
“I’m working class — I’m Labour — but then I don’t want Jeremy Corbyn to come and tax all my dough off me.
“I stay out of it all. I always have done. I’ve not got political.”
But recent events, and his daughters, have forced him to reconsider his policy of keeping a distance.
“I voted at 53 because I looked at my young girls and I thought, ‘You know what? Its getting a bit mad out there now, so I’ll go and vote’.”
Ultimately, Ryder believes his cards have fallen favourably.
“I intend to keep on playing music until I’m older than the Rolling Stones,” he says.
“We enjoy it more than ever now because we’re not on the hamster wheel — as long as I’ve got my health.”
The Happy Mondays’ Greatest Hits Tour begins on October 23. For tickets and more information, visit alttickets.com/happy-mondays-tickets. They will also perform a show, which is now sold out, in The Limelight in Belfast on Wednesday December 4 as part of the Open House Festival