Page 27 - Black Velvet Issue 84

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Richey Manic...

This Is Yesterday

n Feb 1st it was the 20 year anniversary of the day that
ORichey Edwards, guitarist and lyricist of Manic Street
Preachers, disappeared. Richey checked out of the Embassy Hotel
in London and was never seen again – except for a few rumoured
sightings. His car was later discovered at the Severn service station.
We’d discovered the Manics at some point in 1992, when a pen-
pal at the time (who later wrote her own book about the Manics) sent
us a copy of ‘Generation Terrorists’ on tape. They hit a chord with
us and by their tour in October 1992 we’d become huge fans - so
went to not one, not two, but three Manics shows – Sheffield, Leices-
ter and Wolverhampton. This was two years before Black Velvet was
even born. The band’s shows didn’t disappoint and we met Richey
and all of the guys before and after the shows, outside the venue
and when they invited friends and a few fans into their dressing
room to say hi. There was something about Richey that was so com-
pelling. Quite possibly it was his intelligence, his knowledge, and
his fragility. Maybe also his panda eyes. He was soft-spoken, yet had
so much that he could say... and would say when prompted. I re-
member my friends and I sitting by Richey listening to him talk, al-
most in awe.
The band’s lyrics stood out. They sang about things that others
didn’t. They didn’t write about boring subjects like love, or boyfriend
meets girlfriends, this was something more intellectual. Who else
has a song called ‘Natwest – Barclays – Midlands – Lloyds’ with
lyrics about the ‘blackhorse apocalypse’? Who namechecked the
likes of Yeltsin, Zhirinovsky and Le Pen? ‘The Holy Bible’ got more
personal and included songs about anorexia – in the form of ‘4st
7lb’. Richey had become too concerned with his own weight and lost
a lot of weight himself, trying to become the perfect ideal, while giv-
ing James lyrics to sing that included ‘I wanna be so skinny that I
rot from view’. It was obvious that Richey
was unhappy with himself. TV. It was out of the blue and I was
I saw the band again in 1993 when shocked. But it was also less than
they supported Bon Jovi for two nights a year after Kurt Cobain’s death,
at Milton Keynes Bowl. I was probably so there was also something
one of the few Bon Jovi fans who actu- about it that almost seemed to fit.
ally really loved the Manics and was ec- It was also after Richey’s dog,
static they were on the bill. I sang along Snoopy, had died. The Manics’
to their songs in the crowd, while every- manager, Philip Hall, had also lost
one else was just waiting for Little An- his life.
gels to be up next. But for some reason Looking back, Richey was no
after that I didn’t go to any other of their doubt going through an awful
shows until after Richey had gone miss- time. He self-harmed, was un-
ing. I gained a boyfriend and lost touch happy and had entered The Priory
of their tours and goings-on. In hind- mental health hospital. I remem-
sight, I regret that. I remember when the ber reading about fans who had
news of his disappearance was on the Meeting Richey in 1992 given Richey knives to cut him-
self. Awful. Why would someone
even do that? (Give the knives, not self-harm).
One thing we will say is that if you ever feel like
Richey did, please don’t give up. A lot of young peo-
ple have problems, feel like they can’t cope, hate
themselves, we get in relationships and then go
through heartbreak, we clash with our parents, have
feelings of failure, whether at school or in life after-
wards. But things always get better. Everything im-
proves, even if you think it won’t. Life does get better.
I really hope that Richey didn’t end his life. I hope
he’s out there somewhere. Our thoughts go out to his
sister Rachel and mother Sherry who have had to
spend the last 20 years not knowing. We were sad to
read that his father, Graham, passed away in 2012 –
he passed away without ever discovering what be-
came of his son. We’d love one day for a sighting of
him to be true. For him to really be... for real. Whether
this happens or not, he has left an amazing legacy.
The early Manics’ songs have many qualities which
other songs lack. Depth, beauty, thought, passion,
fire. This is Richey to a T. This is yesterday, and this
is forever.
Shari Black Velvet
Photos By Shari Black Velvet

RICHEY MANIC