‘It has obviously been a huge shock to us all’

The original Northside line up, with Warren front centre(Image: Manchester Evening News)

Iconic ‘Madchester’ band Northside has announced one of its founding members, Warren Dermody, has suffered a heart attack. The band said in a statement it ‘regretfully’ meant they could no longer take part in a tour with the Happy Mondays.

Posting to social media, Northside said it was ‘totally out of the blue and unexpected’, but thankfully confirmed Warren, a writer and the band’s vocalist, was ‘recovering in hospital and being cared for by our wonderful NHS‘.

Northside – 1990s Manchester favourites and the last band to be signed by Tony Wilson’s Factory Records – had three top 40 singles and a top 20 album with Chicken Rhythms.

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Dates with the Happy Mondays were scheduled for April.

The band’s statement said: “Following last week’s announcement that we had to pull out of the weekend’s dates with Happy Mondays and The Farm, we are now in a position to give you a further update.

“Unfortunately last week Dermo suffered a heart attack and was taken to hospital. This was totally out of the blue and completely unexpected.

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“We are grateful to be able to tell you that he is now recovering in hospital and being cared for by our wonderful NHS. It has obviously been a huge shock to us all. Regretfully, we are now obviously unable to take any part in the Happy Mondays tour as Dermo needs good time to recover.

“We are very disappointed, but we know our mate’s health is of most importance – and we hope you all understand. New music is on its way and we’ll be out to see you all once we are fit and well. Thanks as always for all your support, we truly appreciated you all and the Northside will rise again.”

Northside’s song ‘Shall We Take A Trip’ was initially banned by the BBC, but eventually broke into the Top 50 in the UK Singles Chart. It was also used as Granada TV’s Soccer Night theme tune throughout the 1990s.

The band was named Northside because all the members came from the north side of Manchester, Blackley and Moston. They split in 1992 after the demise of Factory Records, although reunion tours followed.