“IT WILL BE TWO YEARS SINCE WE PLAYED A GIG. THAT’S THE FIRST TIME THAT’S HAPPENED SINCE I WAS FIFTEEN”

For the 14th Manic Street Preachers album, The Ultra Vivid Lament, James Dean Bradfield sidesteps his favourite Les Paul-and-Marshall tone, relying instead on a Gretsch Country Gentleman, 1965 Jazzmaster, Shergold Marauder, and Fender Parallel Universe Telecaster Troublemaker. Bradfield references Roxy Music as an influence on this album, saying “I’m not really playing big chords. It’s a lot of weaving in and out, playing little lead lines, so I didn’t use such big sound.” But his main focus right now is the Manics’ return to the live arena - as he explains during band rehearsals in the Welsh city of Newport.

What’s the first thing you play when you get into rehearsal?

I have a warm-up before Nicky [Wire, bass] and Sean [Moore, drums] start banging away, because they’re quite combative. They batter you into submission, so you gotta fight for your own sonic space. I always do the [instrumental] passage from Stevie Wonder’s , and the old jazz tune , the Harlem Globetrotters’ theme. I do that because it has passing jazz stuff in it which warms your hands. And I’ve got my own version of Randy Rhoads’ solo. Like a lot of guitarists, if I can get away with not using my little finger I will, but those pieces make you use your little finger. Oh, and by Billy Squier - I always play that riff and tweak my sound around that. Then when we get together we usually warm up with .