James Dean Bradfield

In Interviews etc.

• We were all born within a mile of each other. All born in the same town. So we’ve always shared the same influences, the same language, basically, and that makes us very close. There’s no ego involved. When we formed the band, it wasn’t like, oh, I want to be the singer, or I want to be the guitarist, or I want to write the lyrics, we just found what we could do, we found what we were best at.
  • American radio interview (1995)

• Strats always seemed like a slutty guitar -- too easy! It just lets you play it, doesn't let you discover anything about it. I sound so old now, but when I see young kids putting on a Les Paul and saying, Aww, it's very heavy... I just think, Ponce! You feel you have to drag the music out of Les Pauls. If you put heavier strings on, it's even better. You have to fight it, they're much more confrontational to the player, but I think that's good. I like the fact that they're like ballast on-stage and when you just back down they nearly take your shoulder out. I love all that...
  • Guitarist Magazine (2004)

• To be universal you've got to stain the consciousness of the people. You've got to dig out a truth that everybody knows, but they don't want to hear, then tell it in a manner that's so articulate and so aesthetically indignant, so beautiful, that they've got to accept it back in their lives again. That's what I want to do. Touch something universal in your own language.
  • Q magazine

• We were four dickheads from Wales. No other dickheads from Wales were making music at that point. And we were kind of pretentious beyond belief. We looked like complete and utter fucking pricks.