I think this is as close to a love song to Richey as we’re ever going to write. It’s the oldest song on the album, I wrote the music and the words and I’d kept it hidden for about three years, because it’s one of those topics you just feel a bit… but then you realise it’s 20 years. We’ve done stuff like ‘Cardiff Afterlife’ and ‘Nobody Loved You’, but they were a bit more autobiographical - this is more, 'Fucking hell, it would be good if you were around, if you just turned up one day. Imagine how many festivals we could headline?' At which he would laugh. I just miss his pulverising intellect. It’s not just us - I think the musical landscape misses him. Then I lost a really good friend at Sony, our product manager for the last five years, and he died really young, so I changed a couple of lyrics because it had an awful impact. It became this song about redemptive loss. I think this is my best vocal, I put a lot of work into it. James said he thought this is the one my voice should be on, because it’s got that sort of cracked frailty in the verses. I’m dreading playing it live - I don’t like singing live.
Nicky Wire on As Holy As The Soil (That Buries Your Skin)