In The Words Of

It’s been a hectic month with interviews aplenty. Most of these are future offerings for you to peruse, such as cricket legend Phil Tufnell, rugby’s James Haskell and natures Steve Backshall. Keeping busy has made the days go quicker, as we all know that this time of year isn’t the best, to say the least! I am hopeful that the storms have not caused you all not too much of an issue. With myself living by the coast and rural, it’s been an exciting time chasing stuff around my property that was meant to be static, heavy, and free from flight! At least the seagulls have been kept out of our skies or from pinching chips.

The majority of February for myself has been glued to the TV screen watching the Winter Olympics in China. It was impressive once I’d gotten over the amount of fake snow and locations next to industrial chemical plant areas. I am hopeful that other nonendemic snow nations can hold the Winter Olympics in the future, using the technology that China implemented. Then again…

I don’t want to mention anything Welsh politics wise this month, as it’s pointless - a bit like Welsh politics!

by Carl Marsh

Ritchie is known, but with this being a remake of the French film “Cash Truck”, I don’t know how much he wanted or could have amended his version as I have not seen the French film. It’s a good film, worth watching, just not as good as I wanted it to be.

Four Stars

INTERVIEWS

There are two bands with new albums - one being a debut - and also touring in Wales for you this month, one being Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard (BBB) and the other, The Skinner Brothers. BBB are playing gigs at Clwb Ifor Bach (April 17th - two shows the same day!), and The Skinner Brothers are playing on March 17th at the same venue. I chatted to both the frontmen of the two bands, that being, Tom Rees and Zac Skinner, respectively. The debut album by BBB has been expected for a while, whilst the new album by The Skinner Brothers could possibly be classed as a debut, as this is more of a mainstream release. So I’d get both, then go and see the gigs.

Have a good March, and fingers crossed normality may be upon us soon,

Twitter - @InTheWordsOf_CM

REVIEWS - FILM

Wrath of Man - Amazon Prime

Who doesn’t like a Guy Ritchie film with the actor that starred in Ritchie’s first two movies, “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch”: Jason Statham? Wrath of Man might not be set in the UK and dark comedies like those mentioned above, but it’s more like “Heat” and carries itself well. Action is the order of the day, which we get plenty of. I would have expected some twists and turns for which Guy Facebook - @InTheWordsOf

YouTube - InTheWordsOf

Perhaps Cardiff’s best kept secret, but no more! The debut album is here. The band have gigs (two) at Clwb Ifor Bach on the same day: matinee and evening shows. Now they have just been announced as one of the support acts for the Stereophonics gigs at the Principality Stadium in June! A band about to explode on the scene even more! I got time with the lead hombre, Tom Rees.

Carl Marsh

Your band Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard have just announced their first major UK headline tour – what can fans expect from you on the night?

Tom Rees

I’m a big fan of packing as much energy as possible into such a small format so probably lots of noise, me flipping my fins about like an emperor penguin, amps dying halfway through the show, sweat bleeding into my eyes and making them all bloodshot and Ethan screaming “1, 2, 3, 4” - stuff like that.

Carl Marsh

In 2021, you recently headlined a big outdoor show at Cardiff Castle, the first Welsh live music event following lockdown – how did it feel to finally get back on stage after all that time?

Tom Rees

As it was our first show back it was most likely 70% anxiety in the first instance, but I have this theory about anxiety before a show insofar that I believe the more anxious I feel prior to a show, the more euphoric I feel after it - so that 70% anxiety was transformed, wilfully or otherwise, into sweet bliss after the show. Seeing that many people just at a show for us was a wild feeling. I’m not sure if it’s just me, but usually I get the feeling that we’re doing our own thing and that’s cool - and if a couple of people come along then that’s super cool - but Cardiff Castle was something else.

Carl Marsh

Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard’s debut album ‘Backhand Deals’ will hit shops in spring 2022. I am curious to know what is that title all about?

Tom Rees

There’s of course a lot to say about any debut record, but I think most succinctly it’s an amalgamation of the band we have transformed into since our first EP, since being kids really. Sonically, visually and performatively, I hope it shows a sense of growth and maturity, though who knows, it could still just be silly rock music. We came up with the album name when we were all playing Monopoly online during lockdown and Ethan kept musing that he’d love to play physically because then you can get away with a bunch of backhand deals. We named it that as a joke but then it kind of informed the writing process for the record, what the contextual content of the songs revolved around etc.

Carl Marsh

Tell us a bit about your previous single ‘Crescent Man vs Demolition Man’ – the subject matter deals with your fears for your hometown of Cardiff doesn’t it?

Tom Rees

It seems a little fickle: ‘Fledgling rock fanatic sticks it to the man with rock song about political injustice,’ but you’ve got to write about something, right? We’ve seen a number of music venues and other independent venues die away in favour of private developments of multi-storey-high-risemoney-printers for private landlords and the situation is so dark at the moment that there’s really only one street with properly equipped music venues on it now. Cardiff Council seem obsessed with allowing private developers to decimate the cultural soul of our city, and more so seem to enjoy watching it happen - like a voyeur, but with city planning.

The new album Backhand Deals is out now. Please also catch BBB at Clwb Ifor Bach on the 17th April.

With my cards on the table - and some of you will be aware - I know Zac, as I became a fan and mate since I was introduced to his music early last year. The band is playing in Wales again at Clwb Ifor Bach on 17th March. The band also have a new album out called Soul Boy II which could be classed as their real debut, but for new and hardcore fans, you can always check out that first release to see how the band have improved.

Carl Marsh

With this new album and headline tour coming up, do you now feel like you guys have made it?

Zac Skinner

You’ve probably seen it more times than me, but I see bands - I guess - at another level up than us. And you sort of see it happen right in front of your eyes sometimes, like a band will release something, and suddenly they’ll be the hot news of the week. You see it happening and think, “How do I get that then?”. I feel like we’ve been bubbling for quite a long time, and it sort of felt like we were there with the ‘Iconic’ EP, which is when we last had a private chat. That was the first release with the new management, but you don’t know what to expect. When’s our time when everyone goes, “They’re the ones for the minute”. [Laughs]

Carl Marsh

I don’t know, but I know what you mean. But it’ll just happen, mate. You’ll just wake up one day, and it’ll all be happening with all the money rolling in! [Laughter]

Zac Skinner

The money! [Laughs]. I was thinking then that you’d say that I’m gonna wake up one day and say something like Liam Gallagher just reshared me on Twitter. That’s what I was thinking! Someone just said to me that I’d got the blue tick, and I thought: “Oh yeah. Is that a wind-up?” So, I got it, and nothing changed! [Laughter] There was no great big bundle of money at the end of the rainbow. But, people will look at it and think, “They must be sound, they must be good”.

Carl Marsh

Do you find that you can devote a lot of your time to the music, as I know you are pretty [very] active on your socials?

Carl Marsh Zac Skinner

I am sure you’ll be ok with the album coming out; loads of blue ticked stars will flock to it on the social media platforms and reshare it. Just wait and see.

Zac Skinner

That doesn’t do anything as I just got the blue tick (a verified icon on social media platforms) the other month; it just appeared one morning, and I was like, “Oh, that’s great”. They [Twitter] didn’t tell me. Sometimes I try and fight to make the music - all the time - and balance my time. But, it’s quite a difficult period [album promotion], and I think you can’t balance your time well. I mean, I can’t go anywhere. I literally have no time; I use every single hour in the day. And I still ain’t getting paid! [Laughs]

The new album Soul Boy II is out now. Please also catch The Skinner Brothers at Clwb Ifor Bach on the 17th March.