Chords for Manic Street Preachers Interview BBC Breakfast 2013

_ _ _ Yes, what were you going to say?
Come on.
Have you played it yet?
I was just going to say how Strictly go on.
Oh. _ _
In more than 20 years_
_ In more than 20 years in the music business_
I don't talk about Strictly [E] with pop stars anymore.
..they've
gone from self-proclaimed generation [Dm] terrorists
to being one of Britain's premier rock bands.
Manic Street Preachers are back with their 11th [Em] studio album
and they've described_
What are you giggling at?
They've described Rewind the film.
That's what we should do, Rewind the film.
As their quietest and most acoustic [C] work yet.
They're going to talk to us about it in just a moment.
In a moment.
Not yet, in a moment.
Just pause.
[E] Let's look back at some of their most successful hits.
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[A] HE SINGS
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_ [Am] THEY SING
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[Am] _ [E] James and Nicky from Manic Street Preachers are here.
Good morning to you both.
Good morning.
I've just discovered something about you.
After all these years, there's no definite article
in front of Manic Street Preachers.
You're a sort of collective now, rather than_
Is that right?
That was your decision, I think.
It was, yeah, cos there [N] were so many bands called The at the time.
But you are referred to as The Manics, colloquially.
I'm kind of happy with that now, the way we're just called Manics.
It feels nice and comfortable, like, you know,
like people are our friends.
Yeah, OK.
Which certainly wasn't at the start.
Yes.
We were the Preachers at the start.
And now we're the Manics.
You don't like the Preachers?
We can delude ourselves that we think that they're our friends.
[E] Yeah, they are.
_ [C] This is your 11th album.
Do you have _ _
[Em] trepidation, anticipation about how [Am] it's received?
[E] Or when you look back at all of that,
do you just think, this is just [C] what we do now?
I think we're always nervous about everything.
We are, I [E] think, just riven with nerves
every time we've ever released a record.
_ And it's never changed.
I think we've always been driven by more of a fear of failure
than anything [Ebm] else, really.
And that hasn't changed.
You [E] haven't failed, though, by any measure, have you?
We've had our moments.
_ _ We've made a bad record.
One particular bad one.
Which one would you mark as?
I'm not going to name it.
Go on.
Well, no, otherwise people will speculate
about [Eb] which one they think it is.
Well, amongst our fans, they all know that we thought
an album called Lifeblood was a bit of a failure.
And we've written some particularly bad songs as well.
[C] But if you've been going for 11 albums, it's going to happen.
Yes.
Well, [E] you have a new one,
which is bound to be a rip-roaring success.
It has a single on it called Show Me The Wonder.
Shall we show you The Wonder?
Yeah.
You don't want to go for it.
[B] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ Show [D] me the wonder of life!
70s.
What a _ _
[G] great decade.
It [N] was.
You know, I think history's been rewritten a bit.
That all it was was strikes and rubbish dumps.
By God's sakes, otherwise it was brilliant.
It was just like feral.
You just ran around enjoying yourself.
Yeah, exactly.
You knew that sort of thing.
[Em] Progressive rock first half, punk second half, new wave.
What could be better?
Great films, [N] great TV, bleak, depressing.
_ Great sideburns.
Yes.
And that video was done in Porth up in the valleys in Wales.
And we tried to source something,
which we wanted to make it look like the 70s,
and we didn't have to try at all.
It [E] just like was walking into the 70s,
into this working men's club.
I didn't have to try hard at all in the interview.
When you've done your songs and you've put the album together,
is [C] there a moment when you think,
yes, that's worked, that's what we were after?
[E] Or do you sometimes listen to it and go,
that's interesting, that's not what we planned at the beginning?
We do have goosebump moments.
We had it with [Eb] Show Me The Wonder
when we just looked at each other and [D] thought,
this can connect with people.
Because if it makes us excited,
we just think perhaps the wider world might [E] like it too.
We do.
Those goosebump [Ab] moments are really important.
Is there a different [Gb] tone to this album?
Because it's said that it's [D] more acoustic and quieter.
It doesn't strike me with that song.
Well, that [Eb] song obviously [E] sounds _ [Ebm] more optimistic in tone, obviously.
It sounds more upbeat.
[Eb] _ But when Nick started giving me lyrics for this record at the start,
they were obviously just much more reflective, much more gentle.
And there was a sense of mortality in some of the lyrics as well.
A sense of mortality?
Yes.
In terms of other people that have been around us in the past,
or even ourselves, I don't know.
Sign of it. _
You're getting older when you start thinking about your mortality.
We are 44.
We do realise [F] there's a certain little element of folly
of [Ebm] being rock and roll band once [F] you get over 40, perhaps.
But anyway, when he was giving me these lyrics,
I realised that my electric guitar couldn't fit over the top of them
because it would have just been preposterous [Ab] for me
to just be riffing over the top of these lyrics
that very much were more gentle in their nature.
Well, do you say more gentle?
There's some songs which are still quite angry [C] and political.
Yeah, one in particular.
_ _ _ [N] So you still feel the passion _ politically?
And against the establishment?
_ Well, sometimes it just feels like there's been an establishment coup.
You know, you look, survey the last 30 years of British politics
and the cover-ups and the kind of espionage
and the kind of where we are now.
And I look at the front bench, you know, when I'm watching Question Time
and you just think, I can't relate to a single person on there.
They have nothing to do with my background, the way I've grown up,
the way I'm self-originated and self-made.
And I look at them and I just think,
we're just living in a country kind of based on privilege.
And what do you think that's down to?
I mean, it's a democratically elected system.
Well, it's down to New Labour being such a [G] shambles by the end
and letting them get in.
I mean, also we have the most kind of pitiful opposition leader
I can remember in my lifetime.
And I've seen some good ones and [C] some bad ones.
Other political opinions are also available, Michelette.
[E] You had enough material, though, here for [Gb] a double album, actually.
You've made two [Eb] albums from this one recording session, [D] haven't you?
Yes, we did.
So why did you put out a double album?
I [E] don't think there's the attention span from either _ an audience
[G] or journalists to actually review a double album.
And I don't know if we've actually got [Fm] the attention span
to listen to a double [Db] album, [F] learn all the songs
and go out and play them live on a tour.
When a CD [E] comes out with 16 songs on it,
but I find you kind of lose interest,
unless it's utterly brilliant, which I'm sure yours [Em] will be.
[Eb] But it's the way through.
I mean, when you said it, kind of like, you know,
the 70s were kind of punctuated by progressive rock
or an interpunk kind of thing.
And there was a wide scope of things that people took in.
But it feels different now.
It feels very different.
Look, there [E] were rumours that Jeremy Clarkson,
in his frustration with politics, was going to stand as an MP.
So is that an opportunity [Eb] for you next?
One day.
Why aren't you running for office?
It would land, wouldn't it?
It would be a really messed up party, I can tell [E] you.
With the MSP party?
A good one.
If [Eb] Clarkson goes into politics,
surely he'll cut Wales adrift from his past statements about Wales.
_ _ OK, [E] thanks very much, guys.
We'll just leave it there at four minutes past nine.
The album Rewind the Film is out now,
together with Manic Street Preacher's new single,
Show Me The Wonder.
[D] Actress Maureen Lipman will be here to calm us all down in just a moment.
She'll be waltzing into the studio, quite literally, probably.
First, here's a quick last look at what's happening where you are.
See you in a moment.
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