Ahead of Hong Kong debut, Shaun Ryder talks 25 years of Happy Mondays

When Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder signs off an interview with the words "Gotta go or I'll miss the school run," you know his declarations of being a reformed and sober man are genuine.

Where once there were parties and drugs, these days Ryder's life is filled with domestic chores, strict health regimens (more on that later), the business of launching a solo career and visiting Hong Kong for the first time with the newly resurrected original Happy Mondays line-up this month.

"I'm just not very rock'n'roll any more," he says by phone from his home in Manchester.

Ryder's sobriety these days is in stark contrast to the young singer whose ragged stewardship of the Happy Mondays saw them fuse indie rock and dance music in a giddy whirl of guitars and beats in the late 1980s.

His drug taking, outrageous antics (he once sold all his clothes to buy crack cocaine) and big mouth stirred controversy as much as his music thrilled fans. But half a lifetime of abuse took its toll and these days Ryder has submitted to the life of parenthood. "It comes to us all, responsibility," says the father of six, the youngest of whom is still in primary school. "Having kids again in my 40s helps — so does not doing this while I'm off my tits."