Former Stone Roses front man Ian Brown is feeling good these days, and doesn't regret moving on from the band, he has told a newspaper.

In an interview with the Guardian, the 42-year-old, now a married father of three and about to release a greatest hits compilation, talks about music, love and life.

Brown's partner in the Stone Roses, John Squire, still haunts him. Brown hasn't spoken to Squire since 1996, when Squire left the band, and Brown is still angry at Squire: "It's down to him to phone me, isn't it? He left me to sink or swim, simple as that."

Brown says of why they chose the name Stone Roses. "We wanted something that said we were hard but we were beautiful and John came up with Stone Roses. Hard but beautiful, like a typical northerner. And it's something lasts for ever, a stone rose."

He praises the music that came out of Manchester and wonders at its origins: "It's gotta be down to dole culture. There are gangs of lads with loads of time on your hands, and you're all in the same boat ... you're never alone on the dole in Manchester. And they were also the glory days when you could get your bedding grant and your cooker and all of that."

He says of the song Fools Gold, probably the greatest Stone Roses hit: "See, I wrote that based on that film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, which tells a story of the music business and what man is and all the temptations that's put in front of him."

Brown has since been a gardener selling flowers to market: "What a beautiful, simple life. Really honourable. A beautiful existence."

Would Brown reform the Roses? "It's like a girl I used to love, man, and then she just binned me overnight. I've forgot about her. I've met another one. I've met a more beautiful one."