Manic Street Preachers will host a screening of their ‘Everything Must Go’ doc Escape From History next week.
The film premiered in 2017 and tells the story of the making of the band’s fourth studio album, which they recorded in the aftermath of the disappearance of lyricist and guitarist Richey Edwards.
The record included the huge singles ‘A Design For Life’, ‘Kevin Carter’ and ‘Australia’, reached Number Two in the UK Albums Chart and picked up the Album of the Year prize at the 1997 NME Awards.
Now, to mark the 30th anniversary of the recording sessions for the album – which took place at producer Mike Hedges’ (The Cure, Siouxsie And The Banshees) own studio in Normandy – there will be a one-off screening of Escape From History at Picturehouse Central in London on November 13. Find tickets here.
Following the screening, frontman James Dean Bradfield and director Kieran Evans will be on hand for an in-depth Q&A session with Robin Turner for those in attendance.
The film’s synopsis reads: “Visually striking and emotionally charged, Escape From History is far more than a music documentary. It is a hauntingly intimate portrait of three musicians standing on the edge of collapse, and of the extraordinary act of creation that carried them through.”
“The film doesn’t simply recount the making of a landmark album – it captures the human drama behind it, revealing Manic Street Preachers as never before: fragile yet unbreakable, vulnerable yet fearless. Evans’ film is a powerful cinematic portrayal of how, out of the darkest moments, can come a work of blazing light.”
The BAFTA-winning Welsh director Evans is a long-time collaborator with the band, overseeing the ‘Holy Bible’ anniversary tour concert movie, ‘Be Pure, Be Vigilant, Behave’, as well as the ‘Generation Terrorists’ documentary ‘Culture, Alienation, Boredom And Despair’, and many of the band’s official music videos.
The band spoke to NME about the film at the time of its original release in 2017, with bassist Nicky Wire saying: “We’ve told this story so many times, so it’s great to let it breathe with so many other voices. Over that period we had quite the support network. We were pretty fucked up and odd, but a lot of people stood by us. It feels like there’s nothing else to say about ‘Everything Must Go’ any more. So this is a relief and a pleasure.”
Bradfield added: “To be honest, to be brutal, I’ll never have to talk about it again. I’ll never have to make a film about it again. I wouldn’t want to do it any more. It is nice to actually put a cap on it and nice to know that you have a definitive film, it’s there, it’s done.”
The Manics released their acclaimed 15th album ‘Critical Thinking’ in February, with NME awarding it four stars and noting: “Sonically, ‘Critical Thinking’ has touches of the European modernist propulsion of 2014 renaissance record ‘Futurology’ and the graceful ABBA pop flourishes of 2021 predecessor ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’. But its uplifting warmth met with provocative spikiness feels like an album written staring up at the posters of their teenage art-pop and indie heroes – meant for the crackle of a record or the buzz of a cassette.”
