IT was like an episode of the X Files, only this one was 4 Real. Richey Edwards, the troubled, tortured guitarist and lyricist with Welsh pop sloganeers The Manic Street Preachers, disappeared without a trace in February 1995, leaving his passport behind in his hotel room, and abandoning his car somewhere near the Severn Bridge. Investigations proved fruitless, and to this day it still hasn't been determined whether Richey jumped off Wales's notorious suicide spot, or whether he simply sneaked away into anonymity.
Edwards' disappearance left the remaining Manics - James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire and Scan Moore - in turmoil and confusion. Should they disband the group, find a replacement for Richey, or just carry on as a three piece, leaving a symbolic empty space onstage for their missing colleague? They decided to go for the last, but it took nearly a year before the trio played their first gig without Richey, supporting The Stone Roses at Wembley Arena.
The real comeback came, however, with the release of A Design For Life in April of last year, the first taster from the band's fourth album, Everything Must Go. The song's lyrics, a paean to a lager fuelled lifestyle of blissful ignorance, were written by bassist Nicky Wire, and they featured the unlikely opening slogan Libraries gave us power". It wasn't quite the "Wipe out aristocracy now kill kill kill" polemic of old, but the song got its social message across with subtle magnificence, and became the Manics' best selling single ever.
The song's parent album revealed a band which had changed utterly, from a scatter shot burst of rage and fire to a calm, carefully aimed spear hurled straight into the eye of the hurricane. They'd swapped their neopunk combat fatigues for sporty, casual gear, changing their look from generation terrorist to yuppie existentialist in one smart fashion move. The music had changed its cloth too, from a ragged, defiant cut to a smoother, more velvety style of vitriol. The Manics were always epic in their musical sweep, viz Motorcycle Emptiness and La Tristessa Durera, but with Everything Must Go they had added an extra sheen, a protective veil of orchestral sound which kept the wounds stanched while keeping the fever at high level. It was masterful music, full to bursting with grandeur and grit, and the album deservedly topped many critics' lists at the end of 1996.
Two years after their guitarist went AWOL, the Manic Street Preachers are now riding high on a wave of critical acclaim and commercial success. After their two sold out gigs at Dublin's Olympia Theatre tonight and tomorrow night, the band begin a massive UK tour which will culminate in their biggest ever headliner, at Manchester's Nynex Arena on May 24th. The album is certified double platinum in the UK, and last month the band picked up three Brat Awards (Best Album, Best Single and Best Live Act) and two Brits (Best Group and Best Album). At the Brit Awards ceremony, Nicky Wire spoke about their missing bandmate, saying "There is still a space but, even if we never see Richey again, we will never fill that gap."
In recent weeks, however, a rumoured sighting of Edwards in Goa has re opened some old wounds.
If Richey really is in the popular hippy resort in India, he should be fairly easy to find: just look out for the "4 Real" scar on his left arm, which the guitarist carved in front of a shocked Steve Lamacq in 1991, in an attempt to prove his band's authenticity.
