An Interview with Greg Haver

steve naish
Sep 8, 2018 · 4 min read

When did you first meet the band and how did the working relationship begin?

I owned The Big Noise Recorders studio in Cardiff, with Ceri Collier, a friend of James Bradfield’s (And still on the Manics live crew) when they came into record some B sides and finish up some tracking with Dave Eringa on the “Everything Must Go” sessions. I ended up playing some percussion on tracks like “Dead Trees and Traffic Islands”. This led onto my engineering some demos for “This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours” including some work on “You Stole the Sun…” and “”I’m Not Working” for that album. I worked with James on Patrick Jones’ “Commemoration and Amnesia” album which we released on the Big Noise label, he then asked if I would do some production work with them moving forward.

I, alongside with many other fans of Manic Street Preachers, have always been able to distinguish the tracks they have recorded with you, or that you have engineered. What differences in sound or style do you think you bring to the band in comparison to say Dave Eringa or Mike Hedges? What makes your work unique?

We all have different styles, this along with the constant input James has into the production on the sessions makes me guess we just bring different colours to our work with the band. I possibly bring a slightly more ethereal quality to the sound and used a lot of effects and spacious sonics on some of my productions. I also really enjoy working with Sean as we are both drummers, James and Nick once said I had a mystical hold on him, I think it was just the Drummers Union.

You have production and engineering credits on “Royal Correspondent” and “Freedom of Speech Won’t Feed My Children” from Know Your Enemy, did that require studio time with the band? If so, do you recall the environment? stressed? Relaxed?

We did my work on those songs with just myself and James on a little 16 track at my label offices, we even used a cassette machine for the acoustic guitar sound on “Freedom…” there was some interesting additional work for Dave Eringa, David Holmes and Kevin Shields from My Bloody Valentine on that song. It was really enjoyable. I was surprised when they made the album and it certainly helped my career as a producer.

Did you have a hand in any of the other KYE tracks?

No, most of my production work came from then on, work on the “Greatest Hits”, “Lifeblood” and “Send Away the Tigers”

What was your own reaction to KYE? Is it somewhat underrated?

It actually sold very well, by today’s standards, I think everyone, including the band, think it was a bit long, but it’s a great body of work. I also have great memories being in Cuba recording the “Louder then War” show promoting that record.

How did it differ from the studio/production experience of Lifeblood?

Less stressful! ‘Lifeblood” was a very hands on record for me that started with my doing the demos and some work in New York with Tony Visconti (One of my heroes). It was while I was there that they asked if I would like to do some production work on the album. Despite the mixed reaction I am very proud of some of the work on that record.

One of the arguments I’m making (I’m sure I’m not the first!) is that Manic Street Preachers tend to use B-sides as bridges towards future records. I see this in ‘This is My Truth…” era B-sides ‘Prologue to History’ , ‘Montana/Autuum/78’ ‘Socialist Serenade’ as bridges to KYE. What role did you play on these tracks? Do you believe this is a correct assumption?

I believe there is some truth to that, “Grace of God” , although not a B side, was certainly a bridge to “Lifeblood”.

You also worked on James and Nicky’s solo records, which I kind of see as invigorating the band towards Send Away the Tigers, a fair assessment?

Totally correct in my view. They were very different experiences for me. I was drummer on both records and a member of Nicky Wires Secret Society (and our four legendary gigs). We had a lot of fun with Nick putting that record and shows together. My drumming on “The Great Western” is probably the best I will ever submit to record as James really brought the best out of my playing and pushed me into areas I had never tried before. An interesting fact is “Your Love Alone” is a rejected chord progression from James’ album and the middle section from Nicks album. There was certainly a change in energy after the solo albums and tours, I think they realised that they needed each other!

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