Manic Street Preachers by Alex Lake
Thanks to a punishing regime of breathing exercises, eating cheese and complaining about dire indie music on Twitter, tQ co-supremo John Doran has recovered enough lung integrity to rejoin Luke Turner in hosting the Low Culture podcast.
The pair celebrated so-called Freedom Day recently – and the fact the Low Culture podcast has successfully survived its first 12 months – by meeting bass colossus, Nicky Wire of Manic Street Preachers.
There has been some discussion behind the scenes as to whether this podcast is the best the team have produced so far or simply joint best, but either way it was an absolute treat for the pair of editors to spend an hour or two in a palatial hotel in Marylebone, discussing the work of Echo And The Bunnymen.
Normally when planning Low Culture we ask our guests to pick one cultural artefact but Wire picked an entire period of a band and he gave us this bold reasoning: "Echo And The Bunnymen from 79 to ‘Bring On The Dancing Horses’ in 85 is just beyond an imperial phase of a band; it is as near to perfection as any band has ever been".
During our talk he gave us useful tips in recreating Ian McCulloch’s famously lush and gravity defying barnet – sugar and water bad, Coca-Cola good – and the real reason the Manics were always angry.
He traces a history of the band, going to watch The Bunnymen live all the way to an emotional joint performance between the Manics and McCulloch on television.
The podcast also features John and Luke talking about about their cultural picks for the month: the Crowlink EP by Shirley Collins and the Songs In The Key Of O cassette by For Breakfast.
This responsibly produced and socially distanced podcast was recorded remotely in accordance with the latest COVID-19 guidelines.
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