Manic Street Preachers Scrap Two-Year Hiatus

Back So Soon?

Welsh rockers Manic Street Preachers have axed their two-year hiatus after less than four weeks, announcing they will be playing gigs outside the UK this year.

The Everything Must Go hitmakers told fans last year they were taking a break from music during 2012 and 2013, sparking speculation they were planning to split up.

They played a special final show on 17 December at which they performed all 38 singles they've released since 1991 to celebrate their career - but less than a month later, bassist Nicky Wire has revealed the band is "not really" going on hiatus after all.

He tells NME, "We'll be doing small bits, obviously (in) places you go (to) less. You've still got to satisfy fans' needs so there'll still be little gigs around the rest of the world... In terms of the UK, we just need to disappear into our own world, into our studio...

"We're not really going to be taking a break from music. We'll be making music for ourselves and figuring out what we can do to still have a place in this ever-changing world, if we can."

During their 'final' show in December, the band were joined by Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys and The Cardigans' Nina Persson to perform several songs.

And Wire also took the time to mark their former member Richey Edwards during the gig, who went missing in 1995 and was declared presumed deceased in 2008.

The musician told the crowd that their track Faster was Edwards' "f**king masterpiece" before the group launched in to the song.

Close

What's Hot