Manic Street Preachers‘ bassist and lyricist Nicky Wire has revealed that he’s set to stage his own art exhibition – while also writing a comedy with his brother, poet Patrick Jones.

Last week, the band released their acclaimed 13th album ‘Resistance Is Futile‘ last week. With a UK and Ireland arena tour kicking off next week before a busy summer of festivals, Wire will be putting his first exhibition ‘Paintings and Polaroids’ on at Tenby Museum And Art Gallery in Wales from September 14 – October 21.

“I bury myself much more in visual arts these days,” Wire told NME. “I find films a struggle and I haven’t really read on this album at all. I made myself not read just to try and strip myself of influences, so it’s mainly art. I’ve got an exhibition of my paintings and polaroids in Tenby this September.


He continued: “It’s loads of new stuff, combinations of the art itself with polaroids. It’s multi-layered and multi-faceted and a lot of fucking work I’ve got to get on with. It’s so tactile, it’s everything that I like. It’s acrylic paint, it’s polaroids, it’s sellotape, it’s Tippex, it’s gaffa tape, it’s everything. That’s really exciting.”

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This follows on from Wire releasing his collected photography in the book ‘Death of a Polaroid: A Manics Family Album’ in 2011. Having previously worked on a script for ‘Dr Who’, he’s now also writing a comedy.

“I’m writing with my brother [poet and playwright, Patrick Jones], but that is such a hard world,” Wire continued. “Whenever I start doing it, there are loads of ideas but I just think ‘fuck me, it’s better writing a lyric and pairing it down’. That’s probably why I prefer poetry to fiction. I prefer to just pair everything down to concise meanings, rather than something unfolding. I find it really hard to write and read scripts, but you know – they’re still there. Me and my brother have been working on a comedy. We’ve always wanted to write a comedy script, and we’ve had a bit of interest in that.

“It’ll be a comedy for radio or TV really, based on the comedy that we’ve been addicted to over the years – like ‘Human Remains’ or ‘This Country’, at the moment.”

Wire added: “It sounds like I’m looking for another life outside of the band, but I’m not!”


Meanwhile, the band also spoke to NME about politics and survival in the digital age for the NME Big Read, as well as sitting down with us at Rough Trade to discuss what their next record might look like.

Manic Street Preachers tour dates and tickets The band’s upcoming UK arena tour dates are below. Tickets are available here.

23 April NEWCASTLE, Metro Radio Arena

25 April GLASGOW, The SSE Hydro Arena

27 April BIRMINGHAM, Arena

28 April MANCHESTER, Arena

1 May LLANDUDNO, Venue Cymru Arena

2 May LEEDS, First Direct Arena

4 May LONDON, The SSE Arena Wembley

5 May CARDIFF, Motorpoint Arena