VIDEO PREVIEW: Black Grape's Kermit promises Shaun Ryder 'lyrical Kung Fu' battle in Leeds Millennium Square

It may not be the advice you expect from a chart-topping rock and roll star but Shaun Ryder's Black Grape co-frontman Kermit is speaking from experience.

In an exclusive chat - ahead of their headline gig with Cast and Dodgy at Leeds Millennium Square on Friday, August 2 - the rapper has revealed he died twice from drug abuse but was brought back to life.

His heart stopped and he was given the last rites after developing septicaemia caused by dirty needles, he told Graham Walker in a video interview - watch their chat in full on our YouTube player or CLICK HERE.

Now he says every day is a bonus and he wants today's fans to learn from it.

BUY TICKETS: Tickets to Black Grape, Cast and Dodgy at Leeds Millennium Square on August 2 are £25 plus booking fee, available at www.millsqleeds.com and from the city centre box office at Leeds Town Hall on 0113 376 0318.

Kermit, real name Paul Leveridge, who started out with Ruthless Rap Assassins, teamed up with Happy Monday's icon Ryder when their bands split up. That was 26-years ago. And a lot has changed.

"Shaun's mellowed a hell of a lot but so have I. He's more measured," says 49-year-old Kermit.

"When you throw drugs, money and success into the mix, it's a recipe for disaster. Give 20 year old kids loads of dough and they're going to do themselves in or cause some damage.

"I actually died twice. I caught septicaemia, my heart stopped twice and I got the last rites and everything. So anything for me now is a bonus.

"That was through drug abuse. Dirty needles.

"Don't do drugs kids. Well not nasty ones anyway."

Madchester back then in the 1990s was a byword for sex, drugs and rock and roll.

The title of their 1995 hedonistic chart topping debut album, It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah, was itself a sneer at the very thought of not taking drugs, the word yeah mocking the idea.

But had the album been released today, Kermit reckons they would have dropped the Yeah.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he says.

"I don't walk around in a stupor nowadays. I own my space now.

"How do I get a buzz? Learning stuff. I'm a big one for this whole counterculture thing. I read about Chaos Magic, Robert Anton Wilson and things like that and John Higgs - his book on the KLF we call it the gateway drug.

"Pick up a book man. Turn off your mobile and pick up a book. Don't do audible, you know, what I mean."

Black Grape bounced on to the Manchester scene in the ’90s, with a unique fusion of indie, funk and hip hop hits including Reverend Black Grape, In the name of the Father, Kelly’s Heroes and England’s Irie.

Fans at Millennium Square can expect the hits and some "lyrical Kung Fu" from Kermit and Ryder, 56, as they try to out do one another.

Kermit explained: "We have a little joust on stage, like fencing with words. It's lyrical Kung Fu and that's how we get our buzz and people seem to dig it.

"Basically Shaun is a rapper. The way that he writes and records is the same way that I worked with the Rap Assassins and do my stuff.

"He's a very intelligent man. I wouldn't hang around with him if he wasn't."

Kermit added: "We try to be as authentic as we can. It's never been about making dough or anything with Black Grape. It's been about making the best music we can for us and like-minded people like us. We just want people to come down and enjoy themselves,"

The Leeds gig - also featuring Liverpool's Flying hitmakers Cast and Good Enough chart stars Dodgy - has been billed as something of a Britpop reunion.

But Kermit is quick to distance Black Grape from that scene..

He said: "Personally we don't consider Black Grape as part of the Britpop scene because we're not too big on the jingle jangle guitars..

"We had this idea of fusing the stuff we like but giving it a Mancunian sound.

"Happy Mondays was not as funky as us. Me and Shaun listened to things like the Geto Boys, Stones, Sly and the Family Stone, Funkadelic, Hendrix. We listened to a lot of stuff, we were reading books and watching movies. It was more like a score, that first album, for what was going on in our lives at the time. Every track is a true story

"I was still smarting about the Rap Assassins and he was about the Mondays and it was kind of like we'll show them."

Black Grape originally also included Happy Mondays' larger then life stage dancing percussionist Bez.

"Bez was around at the start. He doesn't do Black Grape gigs. He hasn't done one for a while. But he's an old man," laughs Kermit.

"I've known him for years and that's how I first met Shaun. We used to hang out and said we should record something. When the Monday's and my band imploded and we were spending more time with each other.

"Instead of sitting around watching Star Trek and getting stoned we decided to make some music and it sounded pretty good. It all happened quite quickly.

"We wanted to do something new. It was a long time ago. The first album went straight to number one. Of course it was a surprise. People really took to it. But we were trying to do our own thing.

"That's why that Britpop thing makes me wince a little bit."

They are talking about a fourth album but there are no plans.

Ryder is busy performing with a reformed Happy Mondays and Kermit has his own projects, while the two continue to sell out venues with hits from their three Black Grape albums, including 1997's Stupid, Stupid, Stupid before a two decade wait for Pop Voodoo.

Kermit said: "It's no secret me and Shaun fell out big style. We didn't talk for 17 years. But we've come a long way since then. We are both different people. We are more rounded characters and there's less effervescent around these days."

H's looking forward to meeting old friends in Leeds - with lots of stories of nights out with local music scene legends including Dave Beer, Greg Wilson, Cleve Freckleton and the late Howard Marks.

One fond memory includes a Dave Beer club night at the Church to see a performance by Madonna's early producer and JellyBean Benitez

"He used to play at Studio 54 back in the day. DJ royalty. Greg Wilson, a mate of mine for almost 40 years, was playing as well so I had to go and it was an excellent night. I always have a good time in Leeds.

"It's just that it ends up being a long night when I end up at Dave Beer's house. I get home in a state and need a rest for a week. All good clean fun though."