Throughout The Stone Roses there was one guy perched behind a drum kit powering the band into the stratosphere with some of the most unique, brilliant drumming in history.

Reni was the best drummer of his generation, certainly a genius, and we’re here to take a look at the man, his bucket hat, and why he was so bloody good.

He’s the guy that got us into drumming during a formative years around 2001. And since then, we’ve only become more appreciative of his remarkable playing style.

Reni Bangs the Drums: Exploring the Beats Behind a Drumming Legend

Reni is a naturally gifted genius often hailed as the best drummer of his generation by many producers, journalists, and music industry professionals.

But one of the unfortunate things is he remains quite obscure in the drumming community. You never see him in, say, a Rolling Stone magazine list of Top 100 Drummers.

Quite ludicrous, really, when Dave Grohl is always up there in the top 10. As much as we like Grohl, he’s nowhere near Reni’s level.

In fact, we keep coming across people unaware of Reni’s brilliance, dismissing him as mediocre or worse. This viewpoint is usually down to ignorance, listening to the upbeat pop of She Bangs the Drums on the radio and thinking that’s it.

It’s like listening to John Bonham on Kashmir and going, “He’s a bit overrated.”

Watching Reni in his heyday, he was obviously one of the best drummers on the planet. If not the outright best. As Pete Garner, formerly of The Stone Roses, said:

“Reni was so much better than any drummer in a little band, like another level. He’d learned his craft. Everyone else I knew in bands had started like we did and you work at it, but he was already…. He’d been doing gigs when he was a kid. Those early gigs basically people would just lock onto him, it was pretty mindblowing really. Now, he’s gone down in history as the hat and the Fools Gold riff but most people have not seen Reni drum like he can drum. Later on in the band he toned it down. Those early gigs it was always him people would talk about afterwards, ‘Where did you find that fucking drummer?'”

It’s an odd state of affairs. There’s very little footage that’s been released of Reni from early Stone Roses gigs.

Some of it is on YouTube, gigs from 1985 at the Haçienda. There’s a short section of that at the start of this feature. From the 30 minute gig that’s pretty much the only time the cameraman spent recording Reni, instead focussing 99% of his efforts on watching Ian Brown leaping about the place.

Meanwhile, in the background, you’ve got one of the greatest drummers in history going ballistic. It’s annoying to have lost that golden visual opportunity.

Alan John Wren (“Reni”) is now in his late 50s. His drumming style has varied during the numerous iterations of the band.

He joined The Stone Roses in 1984 and immediately became a sensation, with Mancs flocking to see the band just to see the guy play (the band’s music wasn’t particularly good at the time, largely being a post-punk noise).

Reni didn’t do many interviews during his career, but he did note in 1988 this:

“When I auditioned for them I thought they were a horrible racket but they were exciting and totally committed. I was struck by how different the whole band where. Long-haired scruffs and shirt.”

That’s the reason he joined them and stuck around. A drummer of that quality could have been in far greater projects right from the off. The Who’s Pete Townshend saw Reni’s first gig with the band—Townshend was hosting an anti-heroin charity do in London, late 1984.

Once he saw the band play he immediately recognised the 20-year-old as the most naturally gifted drummer he’d seen since The Who’s very own Keith Moon. Townshend then tried to nab Reni for his solo album, offering him the job there and then at the gig. The drummer declined.

It takes incredible fortitude to do that.

For a 20 year old, that’s essentially your big break right there. But Reni seemed intent on forging ahead and making his own legacy, which did pay off in spades… eventually.

And the opportunity came when The Stone Roses made a mid-80s musical shift after deciding not to release what would have been a punky debut album—Garage Flower.

A Change of Tune: The Evolution of Reni’s Playing Style

The above gig at the Hacienda on 15th August 1985 shows what The Stone Roses were about in their early days.

But not long after that, they sounded like a totally different band.

From 1986 onwards, The Stone Roses found the classic sound that turned the members into legends. It was a mix of Sixties psychedelia, jazz/blues, and rock. Indie… if you will.

Ian Brown, in particular, denied they were psychedelic and accused journalists of being lazy for bracketing the band under that term. But the influences of the Sixties (particularly with Love’s Forever Changes) are there.

They had the perfect drummer to allow for this musical shift. And it allowed Reni to hone in on a more personalised sound, rather than the Moonisms of The Stone Roses’ early punky work.

Unusually, he cut back to a three-piece kit, added in his backing vocals to many songs, and let his live performances do the talking.

All of this helped him define the sound of the Madchester generation (see 24-Hour Party People), as he and Mani influenced (and riffed off) the burgeoning dance music craze of the late ’80s.

But the drummer kept his core influences of rock, funk, and jazz at the heart of his playing.

Elephant Stone: A Three-Piece Kit and a Wall of Sound

The band’s recording of propulsive tom tom numbers like Elephant Stone was something of a turning point. Ian Brown has said one reasons for the record was to show the world what Reni could do.

It’s a highly energetic number, fantastic to listen to live. The above is from Valencia Barraca 1989, AI used to isolate his drumming patterns.

But his feel for the drums was also perfectly suited for quieter moments.

Standing Here is a classic example of his ability to move across various both styles, with the closing segment relying on a soothing complement to Brown’s contemplative lyrics.

And his jazzy influences are present on Waterfall (a song on which his backing vocals are incredible). It’s the inverse of Standing Here, with the drummer let loose in the song’s exhilarating closing segment.

Well worth watching on the famous Blackpool 1989 gig, by the way, get your earphones in for that one. The final 40 seconds are immense.

But his chillout style was arguably at its very best on the band’s most relaxed number—Shoot You Down. Below in August 1989, that distinctive Reni style is there in all its glory. One snare, one tom tom, and the result is some beautiful drumming.

Joy Division and New Order bassist Peter Hook once said Ian Brown and John Squire were lucky to get Reni. Without him, they wouldn’t have entered the “stratosphere” (as he put it) with the other, few great bands out there.

And we think he’s right. There aren’t many bands where that’s the case—The Who, Led Zeppelin, Can, The Police, Cream… and The Stone Roses.

It’s the amazing thing about music. That final step, to get someone of that ability behind the kit and suddenly you’re an era-defining group.

Standing Here: A Classic Example of Reni’s Drumming Style

Box Set Go has, very kindly, isolated some of Reni’s live drumming performances on his/her YouTube channel. This one of Standing Here’s funky drumming highlights what we’re banging on about. Just listen!

All the trademarks are these. Loose and inventive—almost an element of Ringo Starr’s washy Beatles sound, elevated with some funky as heck chops. Then cutting over to his single tom-tom to shake up the mix.

It makes you want to dance!

And that was the crucial thing with the Roses, they tied in with the Madchester dance scene and the drummer was a hugely important aspect of that.

Reni’s Live Performances Confirm His Status

Reni really showed off his full skillset during live performances. Unfortunately, there aren’t many recordings of the band’s ’80s heyday.

Luckily, someone was smart enough to get one gig down. And you can see throughout the Blackpool 1989 gig the level he was at.

Across the full 60 minutes his drumming is incredible. We make the claim it’s one of the all-time great drumming performances. Nuanced, subtle, thunderous, energetic—all the hallmarks of genius.

But again, for the official recording of that gig, the camera crew spent far too much time lingering on Ian Brown.

The few tantalising shots we get of the drummer show the then 25 year old at his spectacular best. A blur of energy, fusing John Bonham’s technical prowess with Keith Moon’s showmanship.

Keeping it all funky and danceable simultaneously with that charismatic energy and passion for playing.

What made him so good? Reni was a natural talent as a kid and hung around instruments in his parent’s pub, with locals classing him as a “freak” due to his unnatural abilities.

So from a young age there’s a mixture of gaining experience rapidly, plus his natural abilities as a drummer.

By the time he was 20, he was highly accomplished across a wide range of music (and could also play the bass, guitar, and piano).

And he has a distinct style. Speaking in 2009 for the 20th anniversary of the eponymous debut album, producer John Leckie said:

“Reni just had a collection of drums – you can’t say Reni plays a lovely drum kit – every tom, cymbal, and drum is from a different kit. That’s how he makes it up. He’s such a great player. When I listen to him play, I just sort of think, ‘Fuck! No-one else plays like that!'”

His style is a merger of rock, jazz, and his own energy and enthusiasm. He was very creative with his approach. Some of The Stone Roses’ songs required a more traditional approach, such as with She Bangs the Drums.

So we think some of the confusion with music fans over Reni’s abilities come from records like that, where he plays it straight.

Keep in mind Bonham, Moon etc. also did these on studio albums. The former on tracks such as Kashmir—great drummers know what great songs require.

But live performances are a different matter.

And Reni was spectacular. You can see his brilliance in the band’s live performances, where he sings and drums simultaneously.

Take this Finland 1990 performance of a favourite for everyone—Sally Cinnamon. He’s effortless. Fluid, energetic, and he unleashes a physics-defying roll at 2:30 that most drummers just wouldn’t physically be able to do.

From our understanding after 20+ years studying drumming, it’s his limb independence matched with an intrinsic ability to know where to fit into a song.

At his peak, he was extremely loose-limbed and capable of unnerving bursts of physics-defying playing. All whilst remaining subtle, innovative, and a showman.

We don’t know how he did that. Perhaps it’s his way of holding the sticks and natural agility. The best drummers are incredibly nimble-fingered. Combined, it simply meant he can do things other drummers can only dream of.

Then there’s the singing element and his brilliant backing vocals.

Now, singing drummers aren’t anything unusual. But for Reni’s incredibly physical drumming style, to reel off relentless backing harmonies the way he was is remarkable.

Elephant Stone, for instance, is a relentless battering of the right tom-tom, including sweeping one arm under and over the other.

And yet he did it al with those distinctive backing harmonies.

For Posterity: A Rare Reni Drum Solo

Okay, recently we took a look at the history of drum solos. Hell of a lot of amazing drummers around and there are some find examples on that.

There aren’t many recordings of Reni doing a drum solo, although he did occasionally have a few short moments during the band’s reunion shows.

Otherwise, most of what’s available are from the Second Coming album rehearsal bootleg recordings (of which there’s a fair amount online).

He’d adjusted his playing style again during that time (mid-1990s). Which you can hear in the isolated drums Love Spreads video.

The fact this drummer called it quits for 16 years after the above recording is a tragedy for music. He was at his absolute peak here and to lose that is a real shame.

Reunions, Bucket Hats, and the Future

It was a great shame we didn’t get to see him touring with the band in 1995 as we feel he was really hitting the absolute peak of his skills around then.

All of which seems lost on the drumming community! And this is the main reason we spent the time piecing this feature together.

There’s just not much about online about the guy. Certainly not enough praising his drumming skills to the extent they deserve.

Oh yes, so what happened to Reni after he suddenly quit The Stone Roses in 1995, not long before the band’s US tour? He became highly elusive and very little was heard of him. From what we gather, he was working as a landlord around Manchester.

Other old articles from the mid-late 1990s hint he was working on solo projects. He’d even built a small studio next to his house, but then when it was robbed his projects were once again delayed.

In 2001, he did reappear with his band The Rub (named after a Shakespeare line, “To sleep; perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub“) playing the guitar and singing his songs.

Unfortunately, there were never any official releases and The Rub quickly disbanded.

And Reni went AWOL with The Rub. Barely anything was heard from him between 1995 and late 2011, other than a few bits and bobs.

He provided a random interview in 2005 with Mani to Ceefax. During that he mentioned a Stone Roses reunion wasn’t an impossibility. But it feel like it at the time…

Lo and behold, in October 2011 Reni suddenly reappeared in public with The Stone Roses for the band’s reunion press conference! And the four members promptly went off on various world tours up until June 2017, after which (and without officially announcing it) they called it a day.

For the reformation, his drumming style changed again.

Taking to a double bass drum kit, he expanded the array of drums and cymbals to a much greater degree.

After a tentative start in 2012, in subsequent tours he was full of wild enthusiasm and relentless creativity. The Guardian said of a May 2016 gig:

“On the face of it, the drummer is the most obviously replaceable component of a band, but while fans are divided over the merits of a live Led Zeppelin without John Bonham, or Black Sabbath minus Bill Ward, the idea of a Reni-free Roses is untenable …

With an extra bass drum, what look like new teeth and a grin that never leaves his face, Reni has regained his youthful pomp and is playing as well as ever. His backing singing and those trademark funky grooves are powering the band with a gusto that they haven’t had in years.”

He wasn’t as unnervingly brilliant on his return, age having cost him of the flexibility and energy he had at his peak around age 25.

But a Reni with diminished abilities is still one of the best drummers on the planet. And we got to see him live twice in Manchester—a real privilege.

And The Stone Roses did a (on the whole) great job with their return, playing on their strengths and providing strong live shows.

Also, a note here on the various hats the drummer wore during his time in the spotlight.

During the band’s heyday the drummer would always wear what became known as the Reni hat. These remain popular in England, especially since the band reformed.

Even if it is now all over (which would be wise—after six years the band simply toured and only released two new songs), Reni hats and the drummer should reach legendary status.

To be awkward about it, we’ve included a few clips from the band’s reunion shows. He did take to wearing the Reni hat for the live shows, although he also regularly wore a strange dreadlock hat thing.

As the band didn’t give interviews to the press, it’s rather unclear what was going on there— but that added to the guy’s elusive nature.

As the band is now gone for good, we’re sincerely hoping this doesn’t cause him to disappear again.

Always elusive and keen to steer clear of the limelight, the very few interviews he’s provided show a ready wit and great sense of humour.

But he’s made a bunch of money now from the reunion tours. And we’re happy about that—the guy deserves reward for his contributions to music.

But how about a one-man drumming tour, Reni? If not, then all the best.