Manic Street Preachers Film To Be Premièred At Swn Festival 2012
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Written by Jon Stickler
A one off screening of 'Culture, Alienation, Boredom and Despair' – a film about the Manic Street Preacher’s album 'Generation Terrorists' - will be showing at this year’s Swn Festival as a Welsh exclusive.
Twenty years on from its release, 'Generation Terrorists' remains the blueprint for Manic Street Preachers’ career. Planned as a magnum opus that would sell sixteen million copies and lead to the band’s dissolution, their debut album – much like the band back then - was wildly ambitious, confused, exciting and utterly unique. It remains the truest distillation of their ever present us-against-the-world strategy.
'Culture, Alienation, Boredom and Despair' was originally planned as a DVD extra. It would consist of a short chat about 'Generation Terrorists' between acclaimed filmmaker Kieran Evans (Finisterre, Kelly + Victor), longtime Manics collaborator Robin Turner and James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire and Sean Moore in the band's Cardiff studio. The twenty minutes of planned interview time quickly grew into an afternoon long reminiscence about the Manics’ early years, from Blackwood to Hollywood and all points in between.
'Generation Terrorists' represents a period of wide-eyed optimism in the Manics’ career – a fact clearly reflected in the warmth of the conversations captured in the film. Covering everything from self-financed singles and pay-to-play gigs through to the emotional resonance of the band’s epochal eighteen-track major label funded debut album, 'Culture, Alienation, Boredom and Despair'’s eighty-plus minutes see the Manics and key players such as Bob Stanley (Saint Etienne), Martin Hall (the band’s longtime manager), Steve Brown ('Generation Terrorists' producer) and James Brown (ex-NME) talk candidly about the band’s early career, their debut album and the circumstances that helped spawn it. These conversations are framed by a rich archive of video and printed material that the filmmakers were granted access to by the band.
A version of 'Culture, Alienation, Boredom and Despair' is included in the forthcoming 'Generation Terrorists' reissue set (due for release on November 5th). This extended cut of the film adds unseen live footage and contains interviews that aren’t included on the version included on the 'Generation Terrorists' reissue.
The Manic Street Preachers said: “We’ve a huge amount of respect for what Swn Festival does for Cardiff and Wales in general. Over the last five years, they’ve brought hundreds of bands to the city, many of whom may never have found their way here without the enthusiasm and dedication of the people behind Swn.
“We’ve wanted to get involved somehow for a while and – being as we’re currently out of action live wise in the UK - we thought a one-off Welsh screening of the 'Generation Terrorists' film, 'Culture, Alienation, Boredom and Despair' might be a good way of saying thanks to the people behind the festival for what they’ve done for the local music scene”.
The film will be showing at Cardiff's Chapter Arts Centre on Saturday 20th October at 6pm.
There will be a limited amount of £2 top-up tickets to the screening, available to Swn Festival wristband holders. Tickets will be available to buy in person from Chapter Box Office from midday Thursday 18th October. A wristband or proof of wristband purchase must be shown when purchasing a £2 top-up ticket (max 2 per person) and also on entry to the screening. All proceeds will be donated to Young Promoters Network.
General public tickets will also be on sale priced £6 and will be available via Chapter Arts Centre Box Office.
For six years Cardiff has played host to the annual Swn Festival, bringing some of the newest and most exciting local, national and international acts to the Welsh capital. Whilst still focusing on new and emerging acts, Swn Festival 2012 will also play host to some well established headline acts, as well as broadening the programme to include arts-based fringe events.
The four-day multi-venue festival will be held this year between Thursday 18th to Sunday 21st October 2012 at various locations across Cardiff. For full details including line-up, venue details and ticketing go to www.swnfest.com
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Twenty years on from its release, 'Generation Terrorists' remains the blueprint for Manic Street Preachers’ career. Planned as a magnum opus that would sell sixteen million copies and lead to the band’s dissolution, their debut album – much like the band back then - was wildly ambitious, confused, exciting and utterly unique. It remains the truest distillation of their ever present us-against-the-world strategy.
