Just to be absolutely clear here, what I'm talking about is not just a matter of "tune your guitar up/down a halfstep and it sounds just fine".
The album "PHUQ" is indeed tuned a half-step low, but that's irrelvant. "I Wanna Go Where The People Go" is technically in the key of A flat... but according to the fretboard, it is in the key of A, meaning when you play it, no matter what your tuning is, your first note should be the A-string, open. Similarly, "Nita Nitro" is technically in the key of E, but according to the fretboard it is in F. Meaning that when you get to that main repeating riff with the driving beat, you should be making a power chord from the first fret of your E-string and the third fret of your A-string. F, F, F, F, FFF, F, F, F AAAA....
See, I always tune a full step lower than standard... meaning a half-step lower than PHUQ, but I always make it a point to play the songs the way they were written, rather try to find the different spots on the fretboard so it's in the same key. That just means that every song I play from PHUQ is actually a half-step lower than it is on the album. That's my preference because my vocal range doesn't go quite as high as Ginger's anyway.
For me, first fret E-string always means F... even if I'm tuned down and technically it's E-flat. Open A-string always means A. That means that "I Wanna Go..." is played in A, even though on the album it is in the key of A-flat and when I play it it's in the key of G. It's still that open A-string because honestly... it would be damn near impossible to play otherwise. Same goes for Nita Nitro. If you're playing that riff on your open E-String rather than on the first fret... there is a crucial chord in the choruis that you are definitely either not hitting at all or hitting wrong. If I recall, the tab that I've seen for it calls for that low E (in the key of F) to actually be played as a high D (In the key of E) which is wrong for two very important reasons: 1. It shouldn't be a high chord of any sort. Clearly we hear it is a lower chord than the one that came before it and 2. Even in the key of E, that chord should not be a D, but rather an E-flat.
By the way, if you've heard this a shrill shreaking rant, it's not meant to be that way. I'm really just trying to be informative.
For demonstration purposes, here again is my own recording of "Nita Nitro" played technically in the key of E-flat, one half-step lower than The Wildhearts' version and played in the key of F according to the fretboard.
Nita Nitro (Unfinished Instrumental Mix)
