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

As the Manic Street Preachers prepare to tour again, guitarist/ vocalist James Dean Bradfield speaks to TG from the band’s rehearsal space in Wales and reveals how he gets his chops up - by jamming classic rock and soul tunes, and working that little finger...

- Jonny Scaramanga

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 Sir Duke, and the old jazz tune Sweet Georgia Brown, 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’ Crazy Train 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 Lonely Is The Night by Billy Squier - I always play that riff and tweak my sound around that. Then when we get together we usually warm up with You Love Us.

What are you rehearsing now?