Ahead of a special screening of Manic Street Preachers‘ acclaimed documentary Escape From History, watch an exclusive clip from the Kieran Evans-directed film on NME above.
The film first premiered in 2017 and tells the story of the making of the band’s fourth studio album – their breakthrough record ‘Everything Must Go’ – which they recorded in the aftermath of the disappearance of lyricist and guitarist Richey Edwards.
Escape From History picks up following the band’s final gigs with Edwards at The Astoria in 1994 in the wake of their seminal cult album masterpiece ‘The Holy Bible’, before he was last seen at London’s Embassy Hotel ahead of a US promo tour for the album with frontman James Dean Bradfield in February 1995.
“As ‘The Holy Bible’ didn’t do as was expected, we pretty much knew that we were on the back foot,” said drummer Sean Moore in the exclusive clip. “We were just waiting for that moment where the record company were going to say, ‘Well, that’s it – we’ve spent enough on you’. I think possibly, the reason we went to the studio so quickly to carry on with demos.
“With the Astoria and the way we trashed the gear, we pretty much thought that was going to be it for us.”
Before Edwards’ disappearance, the band recorded demos for future ‘Everything Must Go’ tracks ‘No Surface All Feeling’, ‘Further Away’ and ‘Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky’.
“On the day that session finished, we all packed our bags, Nick [Wire, bassist] and Sean went back to Wales and me and Richey went back to London ready to go back to America the next day for that promo trip,” explained Bradfield in the clip. “We drove the The Embassy Hotel, which is obviously the last place where I saw Richey.”
It was during their final hours together that Bradfield played him the demos, with Edwards saying that the one he liked the most was ‘Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky’.
Edwards was officially declared dead in 2008 by his family as a means to settling his affairs.
‘Everything Must Go’ included the huge singles ‘A Design For Life’, the title track, ‘Kevin Carter’ and ‘Australia’, reached Number Two in the UK Albums Chart and picked up the Album of the Year prize at the 1997 NME Awards as well as a handful of BRITs.
Now, to mark the 30th anniversary of the recording sessions for the album – which took place at producer Mike Hedges’ (The Cure, Siouxsie And The Banshees) own studio in Normandy – there will be a one-off screening of Escape From History at Picturehouse Central in London on November 13. Find tickets here.
Following the screening, frontman James Dean Bradfield and director Kieran Evans will be on hand for an in-depth Q&A session with Heavenly Records’ Robin Turner for those in attendance.
The BAFTA-winning Welsh director Evans is a long-time collaborator with the band, overseeing the ‘Holy Bible’ anniversary tour concert movie, Be Pure, Be Vigilant, Behave, as well as the ‘Generation Terrorists’ documentary Culture, Alienation, Boredom And Despair, and many of the band’s official music videos.
The band spoke to NME about the film at the time of its original release in 2017, with bassist Nicky Wire saying: “We’ve told this story so many times, so it’s great to let it breathe with so many other voices. Over that period we had quite the support network. We were pretty fucked up and odd, but a lot of people stood by us. It feels like there’s nothing else to say about ‘Everything Must Go’ any more. So this is a relief and a pleasure.”
Bradfield added: “To be honest, to be brutal, I’ll never have to talk about it again. I’ll never have to make a film about it again. I wouldn’t want to do it any more. It is nice to actually put a cap on it and nice to know that you have a definitive film, it’s there, it’s done.”
The Manics released their acclaimed 15th album ‘Critical Thinking’ in February, with NME awarding it four stars and noting: “Sonically, ‘Critical Thinking’ has touches of the European modernist propulsion of 2014 renaissance record ‘Futurology’ and the graceful ABBA pop flourishes of 2021 predecessor ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’. But its uplifting warmth met with provocative spikiness feels like an album written staring up at the posters of their teenage art-pop and indie heroes – meant for the crackle of a record or the buzz of a cassette.”
The band were also the subject of journalist Keith Cameron’s new book 168 Songs Of Hatred And Failure, featuring interviews with the band to run through vast catalog and “illuminates 35 years of songwriting history with immense skill, expert research, dedication and boundless patience,” as Wire put it.
