The future of Manic Street Preachers has been cast into doubt, after bassist and lyricist Nicky Wire voiced his uncertainty of them releasing another album.
Earlier this year, frontman James Dean Bradfield told NME that while progress on new material had been slow due to them needing to find a new studio, he was keen to ‘rock again‘ with a heavier sound on their next album. This comes after collaborator Kieran Evans told us that the new songs he heard were sounding ‘classic and melodious‘.
Now, Wire has revealed that he’s “in a funny place” with regards to what they do next.
“I’ve kind of given up listening to music,” he told the BBC. “There’s lots of good music out there – St Vincent is great, Wolf Alice I really like – but I just listen to Radio 4.”
Speaking of the back-to-back sessions and release for their last two acclaimed albums ‘Rewind The Film‘ and ‘Futurology‘, Wire continued: “It sapped us of our creative juices. It’s really frightening actually because I just don’t know [if we’ll have another record]. It’s hard to see one coming out at the moment.”
However, offering some hope he added: “We might have a surge over the next few weeks and chuck something out. You never know.”
The band have just completed a summer of festival headline shows – which Bradfield told NME was to help pay for their new studio to continue work on their 13th album.
“I suppose in my head, not that it fucking matters, but I would like to kick against the oblique, delineated, opaque groove that everybody is into. I’d like to rock again,” he said. Asked if they felt inspired by the current state of politics with Donald Trump, Brexit and the rise of the right, Bradfield replied: “Not at the moment, no. I feel pretty misanthropic against all political sides at the moment.
“I feel as if the left have conspired to create some of the mood by having no empathy for what you might call a classic Labour vote, and the right have definitely conspired to get us into an actual vortex of horror. I feel like a man without a party at the moment.”
Speaking of new material with Gigwise back in 2015, Wire said: “James played me one [new] track the other night,w hich sounded really sweet and full of melody, that’s what he’s driving at, at the moment. But like I said, if it’s not good enough, it’s just not coming out. If won’t be out this year, maybe next. It could be a long gap for us, we’re not used to waiting this long.
“James has been listening to a lot of ELO over the last year and that’s what he’s focussing on. I’ve got a lot of lyrics nearly done, but I just need some time to find what I really want to write.”
He added: “Bizarrely, there are a couple of lyrics written outside of myself, which I don’t do very often. “There’s one called ‘Dylan and Caitlin’, which is me trying to imagine that relationship between Caitlin and Dylan Thomas. I’m not entirely sure if I’ve been successful in sitting outside of myself, but I have been trying.”