MANI has thrown down the gauntlet to the remaining members of THE STONE ROSES to reform and "close the book once and for all". Speaking exclusively to NME.COM, the bass player, now a permanent fixture in Primal Scream, said: "I'm of the belief that you should never say never. Who knows what might happen - I'd love to reform to just do the summer festivals and give all these people a chance to actually see us and see us doing it well. For me it finished in such a smelly and horrible way that I'd like to just do something to close the book once and for all properly and then I'd be happy."

He also confirmed that the band had been offered "absolutely astounding financial incentives" to reform, but had declined. He said: "You'd be just doing it for the money and we always aid we would never prostitute ourselves that way."

Despite his willingness, Mani said any chance of a reunion in the near future was unlikely. "I wouldn't hold my breath really. It'd be a nice thing to do but I don't know whether it would ever happen."

Although Mani is now on amicable terms with all three original members, a reunion could also be scuppered by the ongoing feud between Ian Brown and John Squire.

The details of a much-touted STONE ROSES remix album featuring PAUL OAKENFOLD, GROOVERIDER, 808 STATE, MINT ROYALE and JON CARTER are being finalised, nme.com can exclusively reveal The album, titled 'The Stone Roses: The Remixes', has been touted by the band's original record label Silvertone for some time, but it has now been given a provisional release date of October 30 on CD and double vinyl.

The album will consist of previously remixed tracks "from the vaults", as well as brand new remixes by artists such as Mint Royale and Jon Carter. Speaking previously about the project, Mint Royale said: "It's the sort of thing that everybody owns a copy of. It's nice to be given the chance to pick a track and fiddle around with it. We want to remix 'Elephant Stone' because it's a favourite track and it's the right kind of speed and it's got bits we can use", while Jon Carter admitted to nme.com he was involved because the Stone Roses are "quite simply the best band of my time".

IAN BROWN says he's ready to record a song with PRIMAL SCREAM following GARY 'MANI' MOUNFIELD's recent declaration in the NME that he'd love to work with his old STONE ROSES partner.

Speaking to NME, Ian confirmed he'd like to record with the Scream, saying: "If they come up with a decent tune, yeah, sure." Brown also revealed that he's started work on the follow up to 1999's 'Golden Greats' album. He's written five new songs toward an album he hopes to finish by the end of this year, for release early next year. In addition Brown is continuing work on a book of his prison memoirs. He said: "I want it to have literary merit, be of literary worth but I want it to be really funny as well. I've got loads of funny stories in there. "I'm gonna do a chapter about Stone Roses. I'm gonna do a chapter on my feelings on the music business and I'm gonna do a chapter on the year 1999, and contrast it with what it was like in prison at the end of 1998."

Currently in Manchester at home with his new baby, Brown is "slowly" learning Spanish, the language he is hoping to re-record his material in for release at a later date. Brown's next UK gig meanwhile will be at the Homelands festival May 27 with Public Enemy where he hopes to entice PE's Flavor Flav onto stage with him. He said "If there's two acts you wouldn't want to follow it'd be Busta Rhymes and P.E. It'll get us in the mood for definite. "I'm gonna ask Flav if he'll come and do a bit with us at the end. Hopefully I'll meet him and ask him if he fancies joining us for a ten minute spot."

PRIMAL SCREAM bassist Gary 'Mani' Mountfield says he is ready to record again with his old STONE ROSES bandmate IAN BROWN. Mani ran into Brown at New York City's Soho Grand Hotel last Monday during the Primals' tour of US and told nme.com he'd love to work with him again.

Mani said: "I went, 'No fucking way man, it's Ian Brown'. And we were just all, like, we embraced and even though we don't see each other in like a year, it's like we met yesterday." "I kind of miss working with the guy. If we wrote a song that merited an Ian Brown excellent vocal then, yeah man, he can do it. "He's always been a funky monkey. He's working with a couple of really good programmers, you know, and more of a technology-based thing. It's something he's always wanted to do and I'm happy for him."

Mani has also been in contact with ex-Stone Roses drummer Alan 'Reni' Wren who is working on getting a record deal with his new band. Mani played bass on some of Reni's recent demos, but it's highly unlikely he'll join the band.

Ian Brown is writing a book about his prison experiences and plans to re-record his back catalogue in Spanish. The book's also set to feature a chapter on Ian's days as the singer in the Stone Roses.

Speaking to the NME, the ex-Stone Roses frontman revealed: "I've started it, I've done about 100 pages. I want it to have literary merit. It's about being in the jailhouse when you know... so that jailhouse becomes a zoo. "So it's the story of me going to jail so I can address the lies that have been written about me and I can write about all the funny things that happened to me. I can also do a chapter about The Stone Roses, I can do a chapter about the year after I was in jail." The book was started in jail where Brown said he made, "little notes in little spider writing of scenes that had happened, stories guys would tell me."

Ian's plans to re-record old tracks in Spanish were inspired by his wife Fabiola's Spanish heritage and the impending birth of his third child. He said: "I want to be the first kid from the UK to sing in Spanish in Spanish speaking countries. I want to tour South America singing my set in Spanish, I want to go to Spain singing in Spanish and I want to re-release some of my tunes in Spanish. "I want to work with this group Babasonicas from Argentina - they gave me the music for the last track on the new album. I've got to learn Spanish because my girl's Spanish speaking and I don't want me girl and me baby talking about me in a year's time laughing at me and I don't know what they're saying. "I want to do this set that I've got now round the world and then when I get to South America to do this set in Spanish and to write new songs in Spanish." "I want it to sound triumphant, the next one," he said, "I want to get in some strings. I want it to be great, like Curtis Mayfield."

The Seahorses split has sparked rumours that The Stone Roses might reform, especially in the wake of the Happy Mondays' comeback.

Shaun Ryder and Bez's band are known to be getting a huge financial incentive for their comeback and interest in their dates was so vast that tickets sold out in an hour and extra shows were added in Glasgow and Brixton.

Former Roses bassist Mani, now with Primal Scream, added further credence to the idea. Currently supporting Roses tribute band The Complete Stone Roses on dates around the UK as their official tour DJ, Mani told Irish website Muse: "Some musicians really resent the idea of other people making money out of their music in a nostalgic context. At the end of the day... it's only fuckin' music and you can't be too precious about it."

Mani has also recently been in close contact with Roses drummer Reni, who is not believed to have ties with any other band. Brown also appears to have put behind him the feud with Squire which was the beginning of the end for the Roses. In a recent interview with iD magazine, Brown said: "John's a great guitar player. One of the greatest. I don't want John playing flat or dull songs. I don't associate his playing with those feelings. I'd like him to come out with a great record again."

Nothing is known of the whereabouts of original Stone Roses dancer Cressa.

A spokeswoman for The Seahorses said that there was no word from Squire as to whether the Roses reunion rumours were true. She said: "He's not mentioned anything like that. But people will make that assumption and always speculate because they have these romantic notions about the Roses."

Ian Brown played a show embraced by New York fans as 'if it was at the Hacienda' according to an NME journalist. Brown played his usual short set, with 'Love Like a Fountain,' 'Set My Baby Free,' and 'Dolphins Were Monkeys' amongst others.

He endeared himself to the crowd by wearing fans personal possessions, including the obligatory Kangol Reni hat. Brown's band were reported to be tight, but he seemed somewhat dissatisfied with the sound.

Both Ian and Mani had bad experiences at the Homelands event. Ian's performance was not his best, and the computers broke down halfway through the set, causing a big interruption.

The set included a cover of Altered Images 'Happy Birthday', presumably for one of his band members. Rumours went round the event before Ian came on that he was going to do a whole set of Michael Jackson covers.

Meanwhile, Mani and Primal Scream had gone through a great set, everything was going well until before the encore Mani shouted out a well known Irish Republican saying which did not go down well with the audience, and many of them left during the encore. It was not the first time Primal Scream have spoken in favour of the IRA and Sinn Fein, both Bobby and Mani have voiced their opinions in the press before, and even at the Stone Roses gig at Feile Festival in 1995, Mani took the mic and voiced his support for Gerry Adams.

Dom Joly used Ian Brown's show at the Hammersmith Palis last night to film a sketch for a future series of 'Trigger Happy TV'.. The comedy series, which was broadcast in January and February on Channel 4, features Joly performing unusual events in public. One sketch, which ran through the entire series, featured people dressed in full animal costumes attacking each other. At the London show, two people dressed as dogs, supposedly independently of each other, were in the crowd. After Brown took to the stage, the dogs made their way to the photographers pit and started beating each other up. Dom Joly was at the side of the stage, recording everything that happened. An eyewitness told nme.com: "I noticed two dogs just wandering around the venue and I didn't really know what was going on. I didn't think anything of it until I got to the front of the stage for the gig, and the dogs were right in front of me, kicking seven shades of shit out of each other!" A spokesperson for Channel 4 told nme.com that a new series of 'Trigger Happy TV' had been commissioned, and joked that it "sounded like the kind of trick he'd pull!"

Brown's friendship with Joly has also led to a 'Trigger Happy TV'-themed video for his new single 'Golden Gaze', which is released on May 8 through Polydor. In the video, which is directed by Joly, Brown is seen running through the streets of London, with a number of unusual events happening to him as he runs, including being attacked by a gang of samurai warriors.