Manic Street Preachers bassist Nicky Wire has described himself as the “Peter Mandelson of rock and roll”.

It follows his recent comment that the band's new album 'Postcards From A Young Man' was their “one last attempt at mass communication”.

"It's one of my best quotes. I've become the Peter Mandleson of rock and roll,” he told XFM, referring to the Labour MP.

"But it did feel like that. These are tough times for guitar bands.

“We're on our tenth album, a lot of bands get to their tenth album and they don't really mean anything, I think luckily enough, we're still pretty relevant."

'Postcards From A Young Man' is due to be released on September 20 and features collaborations with ex-Guns N' Roses star Duff MacKagan and John Cale. >As previously reported, the Welsh band are set to launch the album at an intimate London gig tomorrow (August 5).

(by Jason Gregory)