Manic Street Preachers singer James Dean Bradfield could be set to join Queen – if Nicky Wire gets his way.
Manic Street Preachers are fans of pure, glorious rock music. The band’s early influences dwelled on the Sunset Strip scene, with groups such as Guns N Roses and Hanoi Rocks raising their blood pressure.
The Welsh trio have never forgotten their love of bombastic rock music, with their new album ‘Postcards From A Young Man’ containing plenty of sweeping strings and soaring vocals courtesy of James Dean Bradfield.
Perhaps their most anthemic work since 1996’s ‘Everything Must Go’ the band celebrated the release of the album earlier this week. Speaking to 5Live, though, Nicky Wire had other things on his mind.
The bass player believes that James Dean Bradfield was the obvious choice to replace Freddie Mercury when the remaining members of Queen decided to tour once more. Instead, Brian May and Roger Taylor chose Paul Rodgers who worked with them for five years.
“What do I think of Sacha Baron Cohen playing Freddie Mercury? There’s only one Freddie! I tried to get James to join Queen when they were reforming with Paul Rodgers” he explained.
“There’s only one person who can belt out vocals like Freddie, and that’s our James.”
Sacha Baron Cohen is set to play the Queen singer in a new biopic, focussing on the band’s career up until their triumphant performance at Live Aid in 1985.
Meanwhile, Nicky Wire’s motor mouth has also been applying itself to politics. Speaking to the NME the bass player slated the efforts of Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg, who he compared to ‘The Office’ character David Brent.
‘Postcards From A Young Man’ is out now.
