Biography
Aziz Ibrahim remains linked in public memory to the moment he stepped into the vacancy left by John Squire inside the Stone Roses, a move Noel Gallagher once labeled “the hardest job in the world.” Born in Manchester, England, to Pakistani immigrants, he displayed an instinctive gift for music while still a child. His earliest paid work came in the late eighties when he joined Simply Red on tour; several years later he spent time in the veteran prog-rock lineup Asia. In 1996 he was formally named Squire’s successor following the guitarist’s acrimonious departure from the Roses. Ibrahim’s sole live outings with the group occurred that summer at the Benicassim Festival in Spain and subsequently at Reading in the U.K., shows widely viewed as the conclusive evidence that the band, already fraying through five years of internal discord, had reached its end. Even so, his performances reproduced Squire’s parts with precision and authority, no small achievement given that Squire was counted among Britain’s elite guitarists. A technically gifted player, Ibrahim naturally blends the modal inflections of his South Asian roots with hard-rock drive, occupying a space between raga and amplified distortion.
After the Roses dissolved he maintained his association with vocalist Ian Brown, whose solo trajectory began with the 1998 album Unfinished Monkey Business. Ibrahim supplied guitar to multiple cuts on the follow-up record Golden Greats and settled into a regular role in Brown’s road band. Toward the close of the decade he launched his own projects, first issuing the track “Murassi,” which enlisted Talvin Singh and former Roses bassist Mani. In 2001 he delivered the full-length Lahore to Longsight on his own Indus Records imprint; the title juxtaposes the Pakistani city of his family’s origins with the Manchester district of Longsight where he was raised. Among the label’s early roster was vocalist Denise Johnson, known from the Madchester era. The guest list for Ibrahim’s debut album—Paul Weller and drummer Steve White, together with the ex-Smiths rhythm section of Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce—underscored the regard in which fellow British musicians hold him.
After the Roses dissolved he maintained his association with vocalist Ian Brown, whose solo trajectory began with the 1998 album Unfinished Monkey Business. Ibrahim supplied guitar to multiple cuts on the follow-up record Golden Greats and settled into a regular role in Brown’s road band. Toward the close of the decade he launched his own projects, first issuing the track “Murassi,” which enlisted Talvin Singh and former Roses bassist Mani. In 2001 he delivered the full-length Lahore to Longsight on his own Indus Records imprint; the title juxtaposes the Pakistani city of his family’s origins with the Manchester district of Longsight where he was raised. Among the label’s early roster was vocalist Denise Johnson, known from the Madchester era. The guest list for Ibrahim’s debut album—Paul Weller and drummer Steve White, together with the ex-Smiths rhythm section of Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce—underscored the regard in which fellow British musicians hold him.
Albums