Manics' Nicky Wire still 'emotionally floored' by Richey Edwards' disappearance 30 years on
He went missing on 1st February 1995
Manic Street Preachers bassist Nicky Wire says he’s “still emotionally floored” by the disappearance of his band mate Richey Edwards almost exactly 30 years on.
Manics lyricist and rhythm guitarist Richey Edwards disappeared on 1st February 1995 on the day he and James Dean Bradfield were due to fly to the US on a promotional tour for the band’s seminal third album ‘The Holy Bible.’
The Welsh musician was declared dead in absentia in November 2008, and the following year Manic Street Preachers released the ‘Journal for Plague Lovers’ album featuring Richey’s lyrics.
In a new interview with the Observer to promote Manic Street Preachers’ upcoming 15th studio album ‘Critical Thinking’, Nicky Wire reflected on the band’s early days with Richey.
“On 1st February, it’s 30 years since Richey disappeared – that’s longer than he was alive. It does still emotionally floor me,” Wire said.
“Those images bring back brilliant memories. But you’re constantly challenged with how to repurpose your former self into now, for yourself. You know, I’m 56.”
“There are so many myths in rock n’ roll and we were steeped in them,” added frontman James Dean Bradfield. “I remember Richey going missing, and then two weeks later, just thinking, ‘Oh, is this it? Are we that story now?’ These things happen in rock’n’roll.
“I remember thinking, ‘Wow, it’s us. F---. It’s us.’ And then you reproach yourself and you go, ‘No, it’s his parents, it’s not us. It’s his sister, it’s not us.’ It was just. ‘I can’t believe this. I can’t actually f---ing believe it.’”
Nick Wire went on to say he believed Richey would still be a powerful “cultural commentator” today: “He wrote so much, it would have just been endless articles and essays. A lyric like ‘PCP’ (‘Holy Bible’ track about political correctness) is such a portent of what’s happened.”
Featuring the Absolute Radio playlisted single ‘Decline & Fall’, Manic Street Preachers’ new album ‘Critical Thinking’ is released this Friday (31st January).