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Happy Mondays Dancer Bez Harvests ‘Viagra-Honey’ From Beekeeping Hobby

Happy Mondays Dancer Bez Harvests ‘Viagra-Honey’ From Beekeeping Hobby

The band’s trademark vibesman says he has been stung ‘f***ing hundreds of times’ in the process

Mason Jones

Mason Jones

It's not the most predictable hobby for a professional maraca-shaker, but the Happy Mondays' freaky dancer Bez is now a beekeeper - and says his honey has 'unbelievable effects' on his libido.

The dancer, who was once as notorious for his chemical intake as he was his onstage moves, has hives dotted around the UK and says some of his bees produce honey that could rival Viagra.

Bez, real name Mark Berry, told LADbible: "I've got a terrible honey habit, my Mrs always rolls her eyes when she sees how much honey I've got through.

"The stuff I've got on some common land, that's like Viagra.

"When you eat that, your hard-on is like that in the morning - like an unbelievable effect it has on you."

Manchester dancer Bez tucks into some of the golden stuff.
PA

Keeping erection-inducing bees doesn't come without its dangers though, and the Mondays' trademark vibesman has found out the hard way in the trouser department.

Bez said: "I got excited when I was doing our first honey harvest - when I got going - and I left my f***ing fly open, didn't I?

"They all got inside, and they don't just get one in there, they get a gang in there and then they attack. There was some very high-pitched squealing on that occasion.

"When I first started I used to tuck my jeans into my socks but I had yellow polka dot socks on and I got stung that many times on my ankles I was seriously struggling walking for weeks afterwards."

Bez puts his penchant for bees and the nectar they produce down to his granddad returning from war with 'nothing but four massive tins of honey' - leading to it being a family staple in the Berry household.

While some of his honey is sold for charity, Bez also experiments with psilocybin-infused batches for personal use.

Bez has experimented with psychedelic honey.
PA

He told LADbible: "I do magic mushroom-infused honey, that's really good - that's f***ing magic. But I've not done the CBD.

"I actually stopped smoking weed about four years ago. I did this thing called the Vision Quest and it completely changed my life.

"I need to do it again because I gave up meat, I even gave up drugs for f***ing over 12 months but I went to Glastonbury and Glastonbury is not the same without drugs, you know what I mean, and I ended up f***ing crumbling there.

"I'm back to eating meat again, but the one thing I haven't done is start smoking weed again. Nobody can believe I don't because I used to be such a weed monster, smoking ganja all the time.

"I'd drive a thousand miles for a spliff - one of them type of fellas."

The Happy Mondays at The Sunday Sessions Scotland, Edinburgh.
PA

These days, the nectar-loving freaky dancer has eased the pace of touring and made moves into the world of reality television.

After winning Celebrity Big Brother in 2005, Bez has gone on to appear on Most Haunted and Celebrity Mastermind, and recently joined Mondays' singer and best mate Shaun Ryder on the couch for Celeb Gogglebox.

While Bez reaps the benefits of occasionally appearing on our screens, he did confirm that we won't be catching him with his kit off for Channel 4's Naked Attraction - after he turned the risqué show down.

He said: "I never say no, but I did say no to that one. They asked me to go on there but I'm not the age to get my todger out on telly and I've got a bit of a beer gut these days.

"I'm not at my best anymore - so yeah, I draw the line at that."

Bez' real bread and butter is still the band he's spent most of his life with and the Happy Mondays have just seen all of their albums reissued by London Records.

The reissues of Squirrel And G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out) (1987), Bummed (1988), Pills 'N' Thrills And Bellyaches (1990) and ...Yes Please! (1992) have been cut from the original Factory Records lacquers.

The Happy Mondays photographed by Paul Husband
The Happy Mondays photographed by Paul Husband

The artwork from each album has also been redrawn by the original designers, Central Station Design, and there are new sleeve notes by journalists John Robb (Squirrel And G-Man...), Andrew Perry (Bummed), Sylvia Patterson (Pills 'N' Thrills And Bellyaches), and Miranda Sawyer (Yes Please!).

Bez added that although he likes to maintain the band's debauched image, the group have settled down in recent years and you're more likely to catch someone with a crochet needle after a gig than a bag of class As.

He added: "It used to be sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll backstage. I try and fly the flag for the old way of doing things but it was crocheting backstage [on the last tour].

"I was like, 'F***ing hell, what's happening? You're ruining our legend!' And all the women are sat backstage crocheting and talking about Craft Corner.

"I said, 'F***ing hell, what's happening to our band?'

"The band are all really good friends now which is nice cause in the early days we were going through all the ego s***, money coming into your life, and it caused that obvious bickering among each other but all that's in the past and everyone's getting along great now."

The new reissues from London Records are available here.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: uk news, Celebrity, Music

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