asked Whelan to join them. By the end of 1982, the band – now named Penguin Dice – were writing original material. In early 1983, the name was changed to Happy Laws, and eventually to Happy Mondays. During one conversation, Happy Mondays talked about Whelan's schoolmate Paul Davis, who Ryder used to see around the neighbourhood. Davis attended a few rehearsals, before joining the band on keyboards. Following an encounter at a club, Phil Saxe became the band's manager. Over the next 18 months, the band would frequently perform at venues across Manchester such as The Boardwalk and The International, and supported New Order on the final date of their tour of the United Kingdom in January 1985. Saxe met Mike Pickering, who was working as A&R for Factory Records, and told him about Happy Mondays. Factory founder Tony Wilson, alongside directors Rob Gretton and Alan Erasmus, subsequently saw the band at The Haçienda; the trio were impressed. Happy Mondays released their debut EP Forty Five EP, produced by Pickering, on Factory in September 1985. Happy Mondays met Mark "Bez" Berry through mutual friend Little Mini; Bez had previously attended school with Davis, Day and Whelan. At the band's next gig, Bez was invited to dance on stage with him as Ryder had a bad acid trip earlier that evening. Shaun Ryder befriended Terry Hall, who he knew from the latter's work with the Specials and Fun Boy Three. Ryder and the rest of Happy Mondays (with Bez in tow) supported Hall on tour with his newest outfit the Colourfield, observing that band's stage presence in an attempt to improve their own. Happy Mondays' next single, the Bernard Sumner-produced "Freaky Dancin'", was released in June 1986. It saw wah wah guitar over a backbeat, which could become the band's core sound moving forward. During a promotional shoot while making the song, Bez graduated from being the band's friend to officially becoming their percussionist and dancer. Recording Vini Reilly of labelmates the Durutti Column was being touted as the producer for Happy Mondays' upcoming debut album. The band, however, wanted to enlist Sumner again; he took a temporary break from producing to focus on New Order's Brotherhood (1986). Sumner had worked on remixes for other acts, and had mixed From the Hip (1984) by Section 25; both projects he felt were too energy consuming, and felt his efforts were best spent