Manic Street Preachers Remember The Indie Wars

added 21 September 2011 at 13.22

James Dean Bradfield claims Greatest Hits show is "a celebration"...

James Dean Bradfield from the Manic Street Preachers has told Xfm why they've decided to release a new singles collection to mark their 21st anniversary as a band. The album National Treasures will be followed by a show at London's O2 Arena on December 17 in which the legendary Welsh group will plow through their entire singles back catalogue and will reflect on the ongoing battle against terrible pop music.

"You kind of get a sense that guitar bands don't really have hit singles any more," James said. "Because the Top 40 is so full of pop records now. We just want to show what the era was before this era. We want to be positive about it and say: this is what happened in the Indie Wars.

He continued: "This is going to be the only time we play ever major single we've ever released. We'll be playing chronologically, mostly. We'll be playing for about four hours!"

JDB also commented on the Manics' cover of The The's 1983 track This Is The Day, which will be included on the compilation: "I remember being really impressed by this song. There was a sense that Matt Johnson was rewriting the rules as to what a songwriter could do. It was so basic, but there was something so personal in the song."

National Treasures is released on October 31. Tickets to the O2 show are available from the Xfm X-Change at www.xfm.co.uk/gigs.

Tagged as Manic Street Preachers, Albums, Interview, Live, Tour Dates