MANIC STREET PREACHERS - MANIC STREET PREACHERS' US BATTLE

MANIC STREET PREACHERS' US BATTLE

British stadium rockers Manic Street Preachers are desperate to conquer America nearly 20 years after their disastrous first attempt.

Manic Street Preachers are desperate to conquer America.

The British band - who have sold millions of records around the world - say they could lose £50,000 on their US tour, which they hope will make up for their disastrous first attempt to break the country nearly 20 years ago.

Bassist Nicky Wire said: "It's just bizarre looking back to think we ever had a chance out here.

"Grunge was breaking everywhere, everyone looked like a sack of s***, and then we turned up looking like the New York Dolls. It was never gonna happen."

Manic Street Preachers were due to embark on a big US tour in 1994, but on the eve of the first concert their guitarist Richey Edwards went missing and it was subsequently cancelled.

Edwards - who has never been found - was pronounced dead last year.

Singer James Dean Bradfield said playing to small crowds in America was disheartening.

He said: "You want the crowd just to be a liquid mass. The best thing about a show is when people lose self-consciousness and with a small crowd it's just not gonna happen."