We aren't wallowing in any musical nostalgia like the music papers' Clash/Dylan freaks. We might sound like the last 30 years of rock 'n' roll, but our lyrics address the same issues as Public Enemy. Richey (1991) We must write our thoughts without any regard for structure or tone. It's up to James to fit it in. Sometimes he has a really impossible line, or something he doesn't want to sing, so he cuts it. We usually give him a page of words and let him choose. We've never cared about our lyrics being cut up. Some of our favourite authors, like Burroughs, did that anyway. Kerouac never used full stops or commas. Richey (1991) You can never get the producer you want (for Generation Terrorists). We wanted Public Enemy, but that was impossible to produce the whole album. I'm glad they didn't do it, actually. I wouldn't want them working with a poxy band like us. Nicky (1991) We can only really make basic, straightforward white rock music, 'cos we're not patronising people. We don't pretend to understand the street, or pretend to understand New York City. You know, we live in a crap little town in Britain. Richey (1991) I currently spend eight or ten hours a day playing Sonic The Hedgehog on my Megadrive. That's all I've done while the others have been making the LP (Generation Terrorists). It took me a couple of weeks, to get to the end and kill Doctor Robotnik. Then, every day, I couldn't live with myself unless I tried to finish Sonic in a shorter time. I should be interested in learning to play my guitar, but Sonic The Hedgehog rules my life. I find that very sad. It's the same with Nick, having to go up and play on a fruit machine every day. Richey (1991) We'll never write a love song. We'll be dead before we have to do that. Richey (1990) I have to totally understand everything I'm singing, it's not just a throwaway thing. I think of myself as a redeemable Roger Daltrey. James (1994) When we write lyrics, sometimes we'll come up with something we think is really good and works really well with James' melody. And I hate having the thought in the back of my head that we can't possibly print this in a lyric sheet, because people will misunderstand it. Richey (1994) I've been getting better as a guitarist and I actually did play some guitar on this record (Gold Against The Soul). But I don't know if that was just to amuse the other members. Richey (1993) We recorded Gold Against The Soul in a fucking £2,000 a day studio. Snooker tables, swimming pools - and I thought, 'Shit, I'm turning into Primal Scream', you know, just hanging out, spending money. Something had to change, so we wrote, rehearsed and recorded this album (The Holy Bible) in some shithole studio in the red light district of Cardif. Not going out, just working and working, listening to Joy Division records, working, working some more. Nicky (1994) Richey's written about 70 per cent of this album (The Holy Bible). He just kept handing us complete lyrics that were absolutely perfect, absolutely beautiful and very personal. He's not here to speak for himself, but I think he's explained himself pretty fucking perfectly in those songs. Nicky (1994) 'Of Walking Abortions' (The Holy Bible) was one of the most extreme examples of Richeys lyrics - 'so wash your car in your X baseball shoes'. I just didn't know what the fuck he was on about. All the weight of reference to Eastern Europe or Nazi culture or figureheads. 'Revol'? I didn't have a clue what that was about. Even Richey said afterwards that he didn't know what it was about. It's lover spelt backwards, or so he tried to explain it. A decline in relationships... I don't know. Nicky (1997) The Holy Bible was created through an almost academic discipline. We sat down and gave ourselves headings and structures, so each song's like an essay. James (1994) I don't see The Holy Bible as a record, I see it as a state of mind. One we were all in. When we recorded it Richey wasn't suicidal or anything. He'd just bought a flat, he was still drinking and he'd come in about 12 o' clock, collapse and have a snooze and say 'Leave me alone, I've had a big drink' in a nice Welsh voice. Then he'd get up and do a bit of typing and we'd record for a bit, then go round Cardiff and have a shop. Nicky (1996) I was worried that, because Richey was undergoing treatment, he'd turn into Peter Gabriel, lyrically. He's living on a different proverb a day at the moment and I didn't want our songs to turn into psychobabble. But he's kept his own voice, which is admirable. It hasn't weakened us, but I'm not prepared to say it's made us stronger. James (1994) We thought 'Motorcycle Emptiness' was universal, and I still think it's fantastic. But 'life lies a slow suicide' and 'culture sucks down words' - it doesn't translate literally. A song like 'Yes' (The Holy Bible), which was a brilliant song, there were so many words there, and so many difficult words, that is was impossible for James to sing it. And if James can't sing it, there's no way a crowd can sing it, and there's no way you can digest from the radio. Nicky (1997) I'm in a privileged position of interpretation. Sean and I never use bits of music we have lying around. We start afresh when we hear the lyrics. I have rules: I don't have to accept, only understand. James (1994)

This time we seemed to be capable of saying everything we wanted to say. We weren't shoehorning the lyrics in this time, the lyrics suggested the melodies, these beautiful, beautiful melodies. James is so happy with this record, (The Holy Bible) and he's not a man who's easily pleased. Nicky (1994) I don't think we've ever made happy records. Maybe we've had uplifting moments, but I don't think lyrically we've ever been particularly joyous. Richey (1994) Sleep is constantly throughout every lyric I've ever written. It's a big thing because I'm scared to go to sleep. 'Cos the things I get in my head I don't like. That's the reason I started drinking - to knock me out. Richey (1994) Richey would always find something new to write about. Always. Whether it was a disease, or an article he read... he would always find some obscure reference which two people in the world would know about. Nicky (1997) I would like to be able to write 'I'm feeling supersonic, give me gin and tonic', but I just can't. I think that's a brilliant lyric, but I haven't felt supersonic since I was about ten years old. Richey (1994) We've always had a song about disease on every one of our albums. It's not a very good tradition to follow, really. Nicky (1996) People want well-played, good, sensibly-dressed songs, so I've convinced myself it's a kind of tactic to get in a position where perhaps the bigger we get it might be easier to subvert. Maybe then we'll dress up again and I'll strip again like I did in Thailand. If I've still got the guts to do it. Nicky (1996) I was like the McCartney to Richey's Lennon. But even Richey's lyrics on this album (Everything Must Go) are quite easy to understand. 'Black Flowers' is about something; 'Kevin Carter' is about something. With The Holy Bible and songs like 'Revol', people didn't have a clue what it was about. Richey was so intelligent that he ended up trying to condense so much that it was unintelligible. Nicky (1997) 'A Design For Life' is one of the best songs we've ever written. 'Motorcycle Emptiness' is one of the best songs of the decade, but there was no way it could be a hit in 1992. British culture was so divided: The Levellers, the arse end of Madchester, shoegazing, acid house. But I think we knew straight away with 'Design'. James phoned me after he'd written it and said it was something special. Ennio Morricone, a bit of Tamla, a bit of Spector. Our only reservation was it might be too epic. Nicky (1996) Having (producer) Mike Hedges around (for Everything Must Go) helped. Boring to say though it is, we can play now. It's so much easier to record now that I can keep up with James a bit. Nicky (1996) All our records are just collages of ideas, a reflection of our bedrooms. Our first album was an attempt to find answers from Public Enemy, Guns N' Roses, McCarthy and the Clash. I'm under no illusion that Everything Must Go is original either. Pick a song and I'll tell you exactly which records it comes from. I don't think we're original, but I think we're unique. James (1996) James loves all that Motown stuff, it's all he fucking plays on the bus. It's his sexmusic. You can hear it on Everything Must Go, even if it's clouded by a few rockisms. Nicky (1996) We're not saying that we've got to forget our past. Things like that will always be with you. But obviously, it is a new start in some ways. We did feel a bit free doing the album (Everything Must Go) - it is such a reaction against The Holy Bible, musically. Nicky (1996) Mike Hedges uses old gear but we didn't go there (Normandy, France) for a full on rustic valve experience. He's one of the last old-school fellas who really knows what he's doing with a band. James (1996) Our first three albums were a build up to this one (Everything Must Go). They're all flawed mind, occasionally naive records, but they were important. The Holy Bible was very dark, something we knew from the moment we started working on it that it wasn't going to be played at parties. But without Richey, we've become more optimistic on record, more positive. Having said that, I think some of the drama has gone now he's not around. Sean (1996) When I was young I used to keep myself to myself. I don't feel I have the right to intrude on anyone else, and I don't think anyone should necessarily want to listen to me. I think my lyrics are valid. I guess it's egotistical to publish your lyrics, but we always publish them because I want people to read them. Richey (1994) Everything Must Go is a more uplifting album than the ones we've done before. And it's what we wanted to do. We didn't want to make another mano-depressive album. We couldn't cope with going through the same misery again. But it's still a pretty dark album. In the position we were in, it was pretty easy to write, a lot of emotions surfaced and we only needed to catch that. Nicky (1996) James has a lot of ideas and, musically, I think the next record will probably be a bit more adventurous, a fusion of the polar opposites of The Holy Bible and Everything Must Go. But to be honest, I'm finding it really hard to write any lyrics. I'm really struggling, I've got writers block. Nicky (1997)