Nicky Wire

Nicky Wire made his mark as the bassist and lyricist for the Welsh indie-punk outfit, the Manic Street Preachers. Wire, alongside the tragic (and assumed dead) Richey Edwards, was the architect of the band's glam-terrorist look and politically literate lyrics, leaving the music to singer James Dean Bradfield and drummer Sean Moore. With the band on hiatus, both Bradfield and Wire took the opportunity to release solo albums in 2006. Unsurprisingly, Wire's full-length, I KILLED THE ZEITGEIST, was the more stripped-down, musically abrasive effort, bearing the marked influence of the Jesus & Mary Chain.