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Manic Street Preachers on 'Lifeblood'
The Manic Street Preachers continue their seemingly endless re-invention with the darkly sublime, uplifting 'Lifeblood'. Hear the new album plus track-by-track commentary from Nicky Wire and James Dean Bradfield only with Xfm.
One of the most critically lauded - and pilloried - bands in Britain, whatever else you accuse the Manics of you can't call them predictable.
Evolving from the scratchy, bratty punk of their 'Generation Terrorists' to the polished Arena rock of 2001's 'Know Your Enemy' via the bleak, industrial 'The Holy Bible' and the stridently melodic 'Everything Must Go', the Manics have consistently confounded expectations. Their seventh studio album, 'Lifeblood', is no exception.
Hear 'Lifeblood' in full here, or hit the links below to hear James Dean Bradfield and Nicky Wire talk us through the album, track-by-track.
'1985'
"It was the year we came together as four young people and formulated all our ideas, started listening to the same records, started watching the same films, reading the same things, looking the same way. It wasn't necessarily the year we started making music, but it was the year we started making our own world."
[listen]
'The Love of Richard Nixon'
"Some people are just going to remember Manic Sreet Preachers for... well, London cabbies are especially - 'How's that guitarist then? Has he turned up yet?' There's always gonna be that side to it."
[listen]
'Empty Souls'
"When we actually realised that we had to start breaking our own rules and our own code of conduct in the studio, that's when things started going well on this record."
[listen]
'A Song For Departure'
"I remember the first time we played it, in Cardiff, and James said to Sean 'Drum it like 'Beat It' by Michael Jackson.' Then he said to me 'You've got to play bass like that as well' which is when I shit myself."
[listen]
'I Live To Fall Asleep'
"When Nick first gave me the lyric and I wrote the tune, my instinct was that it should be as you hear it now, but we tried to push it in a different direction, we tried to make it sound like 'Orange Juice' and it just sounded like a bunch of 12 year-olds from Scunthorpe trying to get themselves in a battle of the bands competition."
[listen]
'To Repel Ghosts'
"The lyrics were inspired by Basquiat, a New York painter. He had a painting called To Repel Ghosts and I just thought those three words put together - such an odd and such a strong phrase. It's really unusual."
[listen]
'Emily'
"It's the idea that an icon of Emily Pankhurts's standing - who got women's sufferage and got women the vote, that whole movement that was so important - can be replaced by someone as obviously empty as Princess Diana."
[listen]
'Glasnost'
"It's about the idea of us opening up as a band, opening up to new ideas, getting rid of string sections and huge guitar solos. Our albums have tended to be dominated by hatred or bitterness and this album has a more serene quality with, dare I say it, some love on it."
[listen]
'Always/Never'
"I think we've just got a natural, subconscious checklist in our heads where we just won't go somewhere. We're almost too scared to do it in front of each other 'cos we know someone'll go 'What're you doing you cretin?'. And of course slap bass would be one of those things."
[listen]
'Solitude Sometimes Is'
"In modern society we're forced to talk to people, we're forced to make friends, we're forced to chat... The idea of a book club! Why can't you read a book on your own? I just do not understand this fascination with being with people."
[listen]
'Fragments'
"I think it's just a beautiful song, I really love 'Fragments' it makes me feel at ease with myself, which I don't think Manics records do that often. It's restful."
[listen]
'Cardiff Afterlife'
"The biggest mistake you can make as a band is to release everything, that kind of Ryan Adams territory - 'I've recorded a cover version in a hotel in Bermuda and I'm releasing it as a single even though it's absolute shit...'"
[listen]
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