Household Gods. No 1: James Dean Bradfield.

This is a section which I will add to over the coming weeks, months, years. There are certain artists, musicians, writers and filmmakers who have their own little place on my imaginary household shrine of worship and in this column I shall try (and most likely fail) to put into words what they mean to me.

This week I shall be concentrating on James Dean Bradfield of the Manic Street Preachers.

The Manics are a band who you either love or hate it seems. I unapologetically love them and always have and always will. Whilst in New York recently I was prompted to spend $15.99 on an imported copy of Guitarist magazine just because there was a feature on James Dean Bradfield and it got me wondering, what other guitar player and singer would I have done that for? 

My ongoing love affair with this band started the day 'The Holy Bible' came out, 29 August 1994. I was 16 and on holiday in Jersey with my parents and sister and I picked up a copy based on amazing reviews I had read in the NME and now the defunct Melody Maker, I had been curious about them for a while and I got the first Oasis album too, which was out on the same day. I remember thinking that 'The Holy Bible' blew 'Definitely Maybe' out of the water on every conceivable level. I loved everything about it and still do, Richey's lyrics, James voice and guitar playing, the production and the unrelenting sense of despair that clings to every note of music. This was also around the same time that I was teaching myself guitar on my trusty black and white 1993 Korean Fender Squier Stratocaster and I felt so fortunate that I had this incredible album to shut myself in the bedroom with and copy the riffs (badly at first). That December on the 21st I witnessed the best gig I have ever been to when they played at the London Astoria, this tragically turned out to be Richey's final gig with the band and he subsequently disappeared on February 1st, 1995.

16 years later and I was eagerly downloading the latest Manics album 'Postcards from a Young Man', again the day it was released and I thought to myself, how many other bands have been together for 20 years and are still releasing some of their best music? And how many bands have I followed that long?


James Dean Bradfield has to be one of my favourite guitar players. His songwriting and the way that the riffs and solos fit in, never overshadowing the songs in 'look at me' theatrics, his tone and that fact that he plays an alpine white Les Paul Custom and makes it look so effortlessly cool. I can remember my 16 year old self standing in the London Astoria with my jaw on the floor as he tore into the end solo to 'Motorcycle Emptiness' whilst he stared up at the audience on the balcony and I'm not sure I ever really recovered, realising that no matter how hard I tried, my Squier through a 10 watt Yamaha amplifier wasn't going to sound like that, plus the other realisation that when I eventually did master the solo, I wasn't going to be playing it in front of 2000 adoring fans. On top of that he has a ridiculously good voice, filled with passion, commitment and power, I still get shivers down my spine when I sometimes stick on 'A Design for Life' really loudly and his voice almost cracks at the end amongst the cascading string arrangments. I could go on and on about the solo at the end of 'Archives of Pain' but I would probably bore everyone to tears, myself included. Also he seems do be devoid of all the 'rock star' nonsense that has come and gone over the years, perhaps due to the fact that despite huge popularity, it has never been 'fashionable' to like the Manics, something I'm sure they couldn't care less about. They have always just got on with it and made great music, outlasting nearly all of their contemporaries.They have always been their own musical island and remained stronger for it.

I think he is a true guitar hero in an age where there are hardly any left, and love them or loathe them, there is no other band like the Manics. I hope that they carry on and make another 10 albums.