Electric Picnic Archives: Manic Street Preachers

Two sleeps and counting to Electric Picnic and with Manic Street Preachers gracing the Main Stage at 20.45 on Sunday evening, we're getting seriously excited about seeing the incendiary Welsh trio again.
As good in an interview scenario as on stage, we thought it was the perfect time to relive some of their most memorable HP moments.

OH LORD, PLEASE DON'T LET ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD...
"Being in a band doesn't give you licence to act like a complete wanker." – Richey Edwards, 1993
Stuart Clark had geared himself up for the mother of all slanging match in this very early Manics interview. The Welsh lads had caused controversy for throwaway remarks on Michael Stipe getting AIDS and travellers (amongst other things) but, instead, Mr. Clark found the late Richey James Edwards to be utterly charming and articulate.
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TRUTH DECAY
"The Holy Bible-ites, so to speak, cerebralise everything, they imbue everything with a symbolism. Like, y’know, we left a gap on the side of the stage, and that was us paying homage to Richey – it wasn’t!" – James Dean Bradfield, 1998
This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours was landing and Manic Street Preachers were becoming a very different band. Here, singer James Dean Bradfield talks to Peter Murphy about how their fans (and they) were struggling with the changes after Richey's disappearance. Of course, they were just about to have a No. 1 hit single with a song about the Spanish Civil War ('If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next'), which Richey would undoubtedly have adored. Also included: Jon Bon Jovi talk.
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BUENA VISTA SOCIALIST CLUB
"What I admire about Fidel Castro is that rather than caving into them, he's told America to 'fuck off!'" – James Dean Bradfield, 2001
It was a long way from Blackwood for the Manics and a long way from Trinity Street for our man in Havana, Stuart Clark. As James, Nicky and Sean decided that the best way to promote their sixth album Know Your Enemy was by playing a massive gig in Cuba, Hot Press was side of stage. Oh, and Fidel Castro was in attendance, telling the boys beforehand that a rock gig "cannot be louder than war, can it?" During this surreal time, James Dean brad field gathered his thoughts and talked Bill Clinton, Top Of The Pops, Bono, Elian Gonzales and the band's new album.
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THE ELECTION MANICFESTO
"The way [Kurt Cobain] returned there, into the abyss, all the money and he’s still in a shit motel doing heroin. He had no interest in being cool. That’s a trait of people who come from those kinds of places.” – Nicky Wire, 2008
Revitalised in a way that shocked everyone on Send Away The Tigers Nicky and James took time away from troubling the charts once more for a sit down with Peter Murphy. A wide-ranging conversation ensued, taking in Bono, Kurt Cobain, Sinéad O’Connor and, of course, Richey.
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SOME LIKE IT GOETHE
"I can’t vote just through habit anymore, I can’t do it. I can’t bring myself to vote for people that don’t represent anything I believe in. And I don’t want to feel like that because I’ve loved politics all my life and did a degree in it and I feel a shallower person for feeling so disillusioned with British politics. It's getting to the point where, unless I create my own political party, which would be entertaining at the very least…” – Nicky Wire, 2014
With commercial pride restored and a brilliant line drawn under Richey's old material, Manic Street Preachers were now looking firmly ahead with Futurology, the daring European album they'd always been threatening to make. Clearly knowing his band had nailed it, Nicky Wire was in roaring form when he spoke to Craig Fitzpatrick last year. In a politically-charged interview, a sloganeering, funny and engaged Wire expounded on Morrissey and Russell Brand telling you not to vote, our current white wash culture and how it was probably for the best that he didn't share a One Show couch with former British PM John Major...
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