Manic Street Preachers mural painted in hometown

The Manic Street Preachers put Blackwood on the music map of the world, and now Blackwood has put them on a wall.

A mural, which took nine hours to complete, was painted to honour the band, showing them as they were in 1991.

Street artist Paul Shepherd, from Caerphilly, is part of a project called Valley Street Art in which people donate their walls for art.

When one came up in Blackwood, in Caerphilly county, Mr Shepherd, who works as Walls by Paul, said he could not resist.

The Manics formed in the town in 1986 and went on to become a global sensation.

So the fact that it has taken 38 years for a mural to appear where it all began is perhaps a little surprising.

"The mural has been a long time coming," said Mr Shepherd.

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast, the artist said: "I've been dying to do a Manic Street Preachers mural for quite some time," so when a wall came up in Blackwood, he "jumped on it".

He said: "As I was painting, so many people were coming up to me asking 'who are they', as the band is unrecognisable as they are today."

The mural includes Richey Edwards, who vanished from the Embassy Hotel in London ahead of a flight to America in 1995.

His car was found abandoned near the old Severn Bridge, but no trace of him has ever been found.

Mr Shepherd said it was a "good tribute" to the guitarist.

The artist said: "The 90s for me are the Manics.

"[They] burst into the scene and I jumped on it straight away."

He first saw them on Top of the Pops in 1994 and has "followed them ever since."