30/11/2025
First time I met Mani. 1993 Mono Valley studio with Rick, Brad and our Jane, (who sadly didn’t wind up in any of the pictures).
At a time when the Roses had gone to ground and were being all aloof publicly with the media, Mani and Ian couldn’t have been any less aloof towards us when we traveled down to Wales on the off chance we’d find them.
If you were to ask me how long we were in the studio with them, I honestly couldn’t tell you. Jane estimates about two hours, but I wouldn’t have a clue. it was all such a blur. I know we had at least two cups of tea as I have a picture of Mani making us one and Ian making us another.
Crazy how they were on this complete media lockdown at the time but when I asked if I could take pictures on my little 35mm Olympus camera, they were just like “fill your boots, so long as they are for personal use only”.
Although I’ve kept to my word with most of the pics, I asked them a few years ago if it was alright to show a few of them off now and they said yes.
The mad thing is, whenever I’ve been with Mani since, he always seems to remember more details about that afternoon than what I do. I remember playing the grand piano and Ian singing along, but it was Mani three years later who reminded me what the songs actually were, when we were on the maddest of weekends in Benicassim. A story for another time.
Smile!
