The reformation of The Stone Roses was, aside from the tragic death of Amy Winehouse, arguably the biggest music news story of 2011. Moments after her death was announced on Sky News, a several-minute long, carefully constructed, pre-prepared video package of Winehouse’s life was aired, confirming the morbid inevitability of the singer’s passing. Given that comebacks, reunions and tours based around much revered records have effectively become part of a band’s career arc, so too was there a touch of inevitability about the return of Ian Brown and co.

Rather than a shock to the system, the sight of Messrs Brown, Mounfield, Squire and Wren sitting side-by-side for the cameras had the feeling of a well-planned surprise party. While not a note of music has been offered up by The Roses 2011, the operation is already a hugely successful one. Along with the handshakes and smiles, there are significant figures at play here. One hour, 225,000 tickets sold and £12.3 million banked. And then there are the two record deals and future dates planned including a trip to Dublin next July to consider.

All good then. But for one member, things are slightly more complicated. Mani’s return to the band that made his name calls time on a 15-year stint with Primal Scream, lending a bittersweet touch to a year of celebration. The 20th anniversary of Screamadelica proved fruitful for the Scottish rockers, with fans lapping up the classic album in a live setting all across the globe. As Mani prepares to depart, his soon to be ex-bandmates are looking ahead to 2012 with optimism and excitement.

“These things tend to happen, don’t they?” ponders Scream mainstay Andrew Innes, his tone one of jovial acceptance. “As long as everyone is still alive, they tend to happen! I don’t know when we knew it was happening. We heard the rumours and they were keeping it quite tight, they must have had to sort a lot of business out. It’s going to be pretty good for them. They seem quite excited about it.”

Did Mani sit Innes and the rest of his Scream cohorts down for a quiet, clandestine chat before the news broke?

“He told us in a bar in Buenos Aires at about two o’clock in the morning!” laughs Innes. “It’s hard for him, he’s got mixed emotions. But yeah, it was about two o’clock in the morning and he plucked up the courage… I don’t know if it was drink-fuelled or if he was going to tell us anyway! It was never going to surprise me if it happened. It’s good for him. I think they’ve got unfinished business with each other because it didn’t end too well. I think there’s a bit of unfulfilled potential there.”

There’s not a trace of bitterness to be found in Innes’ voice. In fact he sounds a mixture of proud and excited. With Mr. Mounfield wished well, does that mean the door is left open for a future return?

“You never know what is going to happen,” he considers. “But as we said to him, the Take That reunion has lasted seven years so I don’t know how long the Roses reunion is planned for, but they’re doing a record as well.”

To more pressing matters then. Primal Scream’s last shows of the year mark not just Mani’s final dates with the band, but also brings the curtain down on all things Screamadelica. Innes is typically vague on what the next record will sound like but he’s hopeful it will live up to the heights scaled by Screamadelica and 2000’s political polemic; XTRMNTR. Innes is acutely aware of the nature of timing where the impact of both records is concerned. Alex James recently said that were Blur to happen along today as a new band, no label would deign to sign them up. When Hot Press offers up the logic of the Blur bassist and noted cheesemaker, Innes’ grin widens considerably.

“I wouldn’t have signed Blur back then!” he laughs, before turning his attention to whether or not Screamadelica could resonate so deeply if debuted in 2011. “I think no because it was a product of its time, it was a reaction to the era of Tory government. It was great, that feeling when you went to clubs that there was something positive going on and when you went to those clubs and saw the kids at an illegal venue, in an old warehouse, having a great time and the government knew nothing about it and there was that feeling of ‘we can change the world’.

“It was probably naïve and stupid but it was a great feeling at the time and I don’t know, maybe it is still out there, because I’m probably too old to be going to illegal raves now, but maybe there’s something going on now, a reaction to what’s going on with people’s lives now because it’s terrible, it’s back to the mid-80s with unemployment and that philosophy of just looking after yourself and grabbing as much money off your neighbour as you can. It seems to be back to the early 80s again. Thatcherism is a real naked form of capitalism going on where people are just being discarded.”

Perhaps mindful of the soapbox he’s suddenly perched atop of, Innes reels himself in a little.

“You can only shout so much and then people go, ‘Ah, it’s that guy shouting again’. It’s hard to get noisier than XTRMNTR and get more aggressive with the lyrics. If every record you’ve got is just you shouting and bawling and making a noise then people will switch off.”

While fans maybe shouldn’t expect a record as angry as XTRMNTR to surface in the near future, could a tour of that album work?

“You'd need to ask promoters about that!” Innes chuckles. “They’re the ones who’ll tell you what will work and what won’t work. Ask Dennis Desmond, he’ll know! Being a musician you find that what you think is your best stuff isn’t necessarily what other people think is your best stuff. And one song might really be emotional, you put a lot of emotion into it and people just don’t like it as opposed to the obvious hits like ‘Rocks’ or ‘Movin’ On Up’ that everybody loves so it’s a bit hard to know what’s your best music. You just have to go to Spotify and see what your five most played songs are and then you get an idea of what the public think your best stuff is.

“I would love to do an XTRMNTR tour because I love the music on that record. It’s loud and it’s aggressive and it’s my kind of music. And it would be nice to get a band with Kevin Shields again, because it’s always great having Kevin in your band. That takes it to a different dimension.”

Our time together nearly at an end, I feel it would be remiss not to ask a veteran of the Britpop era and what he cheerfully refers to as “all the craziness” of the 90s, his opinion on the seemingly never-ending feud between Liam and Noel Gallagher.

“I love the pair of them! I love the pair of them. I do! They’re always great to us and they always make me smile, no matter what they do. It’s sad they won’t talk to each other but you know what, they’re fuckin’ great. The world would be a whole lot worse if they weren’t about. I think they’re genuine. If it’s a PR stunt, it’s some PR stunt. They don’t strike me as guys who’d make up stuff for the papers. But what a poor world it would be without that pair…”

Primal Scream bring the Screamadelica tour to The O2, Dublin, on Thursday December 29.