I was never very interested in clothes back then (at university), and I never shopped at thrift shops. I was a bit of a nerdy casual. I was into golf so I even used to wear Pringle jumpers. We did used to get stuff from Oxfam when we started spray-painting shirts for the band, but that's different. It was only the rich kids that wanted to dress down like that. Nicky (1994) Individually we've always been pretty powerless, but together we make up each others inefficiencies. Nick's handsome and has always been the most popular with girls; Richey never had any musical talent but he's so articulate and sensitive to everything around him. Sean is brutally personified, he pisses everybody off because he doesn't like anybody or anything, and then there's me who's a bit musical and a bit of a lad. James (1994) We were rock's equivalent to the TSB. The band that likes to say 'yes'. Nicky (1994) We looked at ourselves while we were recording the album (Everything Must Go) and thought either we go for a latino thing - put on as much weight as we can, grow beards and come back as Robert Duran or Marlon Brando in a fat phase, or go for something simple. The only thing people got wrong was calling us the Littlewoods Street Preachers. Sean was deeply offended by that, because everything he buys is by Paul Smith or Katharine Hamnett. Nicky (1997) When you're playing the songs off The Holy Bible to a really partisan audience, and you're all dressed up in military gear like a fucking soldier, it makes you feel more aggressive. I still feel like doing it. I don't feel like smashing things up so much anymore, because... my back's bad, and I'm just a bit older. Nicky (1997) What's heavenly? Pure rock 'n' roll, dolphins, waking up and realising we're the sexiest, most intelligent, hateful rock 'n' roll band in the whole world. Richey (1991) We all decided that from the start, me and Richey can't write music but we can write lyrics and look pretty tarty. Richey's the spirit of the band. Nicky (1991) Every morning Richey would wake up with a really bad hangover after drinking a litre of vodka. Then he'd go to the gym, exercise, swim, do lots of weights, have a jacket potato with all his grapes, and then not eat anything else for the rest of the day until he started drinking again. He knew full well that in the rock 'n' roll world it's either the food or the booze in order to keep one's figure. Not both. Nicky (1993)

I remember Sean used to feel a bit awkward with the glam look as well. The camouflage he didn't mind, 'cos he could buy a lot of it. We'd get a pin-on badge and Sean would come in with a £180 Russian medal. Nicky (1997) If we were as big then as we are now, the four of us in camouflage could have put on the most scary, fantastic live show ever. I have this picture of us at Glastonbury in 1994 with balaclavas and Russian hats, thinking we were in the army and we could take anyone on. We'll never feel like that again. Nicky (1997) I feel past it at 27, but I still try to make a semblance of an effort. It's up to a younger band. But I look around, and there are no bands out there who take risks in the way they dress. It really disappoints me. It's either sports gear or black casual shirts. With us it was always, 'come on Mooro, get this fucking blouse on'. Nicky (1997) You could say that I had an eating problem because if I ate too much, and I was drinking, I got all puffed up and blotchy. And I'm too vain to be like that. I couldn't handle looking in a mirror. All is vanity. Richey (1994) In the past we would follow Nick on how the band looked. Like, the army stuff, that was just what Nick was wearing. The only time I felt uncomfortable was at the start, when there was all the androgyny. I just didn't have the bone structure, did I? James (1997) This phase of supposedly being the band at C&A is fine by me. Except I've got my Harvey Nics charge card now. Pop down to the sales, pick up Armani jeans for £40. Sean (1997) In the last year I've been doing loads of exercise. I do about 1,500 sit-ups every day. I do some weighs as well. I take them on tour with me. It's about trying to control my body, to eat less and get fit. I want a flat stomach, I want a six pack, I want a stomach like Brad Pitt. I'm incredibly vain. Richey (1994) Richey once dressed up as a semen for Rag Week, and painted himself all white. He soon learned the error of his ways. Nicky (1994) We are the scum factor of the Mondays meets the guitar overload of Five Thirty/Ride while killing Birdland with politics. Richey (1989) We're going to die young and leave good-looking corpses. Nicky (1992)