“We're certainly not alone in the universe, that's for sure...according to mathematical equations, it's teaming with it.”
Shaun Ryder is talking about other life forms that are 'out there' somewhere.
It's a topic close to his heart, and naturally he is passionate about it: “When I was at school, there was no life on Mars. No water anywhere – now there's water on Mars, right? So there is life...”
Shaun knows there is something, because he has seen it.
As a 15 year old lad heading off to work he saw something that couldn't be otherwise explained.
“..this thing was flying about, left to right and up and down at about 10,000 miles an hour.
“We stood there watching it and then it stood watching us for a bit, then just zoomed off.
“It was definitely controlled and moving in such a way that it is supposed to be impossible to move...”
Shaun's colourful past makes him an easy target for the disbelievers.
But he's got news for you: “You've got people like (former Canadian Minister) Paul Hellyer coming out, and astronauts making their final statements before they die. These people don't suddenly start dropping acid and then talking b*****ks. "They are not just starting to talk crap to embarrass their families when they are dead.”
But as interesting as this other worldly stuff is, it's Shaun's music making that we are here to chew over today.
Three decades have passed since Happy Mondays put out their first release.
“It just seems five minutes ago, it really does," says the frontman. "As you get older I suppose time does go quicker, but no-one told me that when I was young...”
But when you put on a Mondays' disc it still sounds potent, there's still the swagger it was blessed with originally.
It hasn't aged.
“No, it's hasn't,” he agrees, “It's like when I listen back to Velvet Underground or The Doors of The Stones...to me, that hasn't aged. You can put Jumpin' Jack Flash on now and it will sound as smart as when it was recorded.”
But you can't have realised that the material you laid down then would be held up as a beacon today.
“No, not at all. You can only hope. You think you've got something that is pretty good...we did something right.”
Music aside, and the whiff of controversy that escorted Madchester's aces in the pack everywhere was a heady one.
But there are no apologies to make, and no regrets.
“It's not as if the press crippled us though, we understood the power of the press. We did want to be rock n rollers,” he says.
“As a kid I was listening to The Doors and The Stones and The Pistols and all their adventures.
“Then, by the early 80s it had become like 1976 again and we wanted rock n roll back!
“We weren't doing anything we were ashamed of. It was just part of being young kids, and doing what young kids do, but making music while doing it.”
There have been a few splits and reunions over the years, but speaking ahead of their headlining date at ParkLive in Bedford next Friday (July 31), Shaun says he's happy in the here and now.
“You go through a lot of bulls**t when you are young, and all sorts of crap that really doesn't mean a lot years later, but it's because you are finding out who you are and understanding yourself.
"We are just fat old men now who enjoy playing our music and there's no bull***t that goes with it.
“It's great, it really is.”
And Shaun is juggling his music making; Black Grape are on again, and he has solo material bubbling too.
“Me and Kermit have started with Black Grape stuff, and I've got a solo album coming out next year...the Grape stuff will be out before the Mondays, but we will get a Mondays one done,” he says confidently.
Shaun has been working on his solo affairs with producer Sunny Levine, whose many credits include Happy Mondays. “He is my main man, I just get on with him so well and love working with him.
"We just did what turns us both on, and it's under produced, so that it stands out from everything else – it's like listening to a Mono record, like with an early Rolling Stones sort of vibe on it.”
Happy Mondays will be joined at play by Stereo MCs and Ash (below) for the ParkLive bash. It will be a thriller.
This is the original line-up back at work and on the pulse.
“We are better than ever now, and I'm not just saying that because I've got to sell it.
“We are all compos mentis, and all concentrating on what we are doing. It's really tight, y'know? “It's still got that looseness, but we are tight and better players now than we were back then.
“One of the things about us back in the day was that we never realised how good we were.”
Shaun doesn't do airs and graces, but he does do great conversation – sharing tales of on-stage altercations with his father (“...he was very pi**ed off and in front of 10,000 people came on and punched me right in the nose,” he laughs, “Fantastic!”), of how he would love to walk a mile in Dean Martin's shoes, and how, thanks to his two young daughters, he has an appreciation of Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift (“... I think they are f***ing brilliant”).
And the man who came runner up to Stacey Solomon's Queen in the ITV television show 'I'm A Celebrity...' recently found himself living in the wilds once again.
This time though, he was with the Embera Drua people in Panama.
“I was asked to do it, but didn't fancy it on my own and thought let's do it with the Happy Mondays...”
The whole band lived side by side with the tribe for close to a fortnight, and new music was made.
“It was the first time the original Mondays had done anything together since 1994 and was a really good working exercise for us all," Shaun said.
The track will be available to download when the programme airs on the Watch Channel this September.
Monies raised will be given to support the tribes to enable them to carry on their way of life.
Any lessons learned?
He pauses: “I don't know what I learned, apart from spread love...”
Book your tickets for Parklive in Bedford. Click here: http://www.lphconcerts.co.uk/parklive/
Words: Sammy Jones @sammyjonespress
