PLUGGED IN Magazine Issue 9

THE MUSIC MAGAZINE FOR WALES

Issue 9

LOSTPROPHETS

Back Home & Giving Lessons

CERYS MATTHEWS

Traditional Welsh Girl?

RENEGADES

Feeder Go Back To Basics

THE STORYS

End Of The Chapter

CHRIS REES

Voodoo Drums For Haiti

PLUS

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Clinigol Straight Lines Lucius Billy Gone Bad Allan Yn Y Fan The Kix FightStar MiniViva

MANAGING EDITOR & PUBLISHER Gail Griffiths CREATIVE DIRECTOR & CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER Darren Warner CONTRIBUTORS Abi Jones, Adam Perkins, Adele Williams, Brandon Lane, Carrie Morgan, Chloe Bezant, Colin James MacFarlane, Corey-Leigh John, Danielle Hill, Demi Myhill, Gary Bolsom, Gregor McCann, Hannah Griffiths, Jake Healy, James Bannister, Jessi Probert, Kadesha Drija, Kevin McGrath, Kim Halliday, Kirsty Hussien, Ky Jones, Kyle Rees, Lisa Derrick, Lloyd Davies, Mark Tambini, Melissa Latham, Nadine Hussien, Nathan Roach, Nia Liversuch, Portia McGrath, Rachel Thomas, Rhys Taylor, Richard Evans, Rob Jones, Robyn Kennedy, Seanna Fatkin, Stephanie McNicholas, Tom Richards, Victoria Turner, Wednesday & Stephen Lewis

Get your copy of PLUGGED IN, the music magazine for Wales — for FREE! All eight back issues are now downloadable from

www.pluggedinmagazine.co.uk

PLUGGED IN magazine is a not-for-profit social enterprise, run by unpaid volunteers.

Printed in Wales on recycled paper using vegetable inks.

Contents editorial@pluggedinmagazine.co.uk www.pluggedinmagazine.co.uk

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ELCOME to another packed issue of PLUGGED IN magazine!

We’re very excited that for this issue we were given exclusive access to one of Wales’s best bands, LostProphets, for a fun Q&A session before they played one of their first gigs in quite a while. We were able to give a group of youngsters with links to PLUGGED IN a day to remember, as they got the chance to interview the band and then see them perform at an invitation-only gig afterwards. Among those invited was Sean Smith from Merthyr rockers The Blackout, cover star of issue 8.

Read all about the Prophets day on pages 10-15.

But, of course, the pages of PLUGGED IN are crammed full of top Welsh artists.

We also have exclusive interviews with over a dozen other artists, including Grant Nicholas of Feeder telling us about his side project Renegades, songstress Cerys Matthews explaining why she has released a collection of old Welsh songs, and Swansea-based band The Storys — whose members Steve Balsamo and Andy Collins thought our interviewer Gary Bolsom had a passing resemblance to Spiderman actor Tobey Maguire! See photos left — do you agree?

And look out for our flag-waving Welsh artists CD section in the reviews starting on page 48. A real example of the amazing talent that we have within our borders.

Enjoy the magazine — happy reading!

Gail & Darren We would like to thank Fframwaith for their very generous support in funding this issue of PLUGGED IN

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Music News

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Rising Talent

10 LostProphets 16 Renegades 18 Cerys Matthews 20 The Storys 22 Chris Rees 24 Clinigol 26 Straight Lines 28 Lucius 30 Billy Gone Bad 32 Allan Yn Y Fan 34 FightStar 35 MiniViva 36 Live Reviews 48 CD Reviews

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It’s very rare we publish an issue of PLUGGED IN without mentioning local legend Stuart Cable, who is photographed here after completing his 3 mile run for Sport Relief — hence the big hair looking rather flat. Stuart told us that everything is ready for a 31st May release of the first Killing For Company album...which gives us another reason to chat to the boys and feature them in the next issue. Stu also hits the airwaves again with his new show for Radio Wales — so expect some good ol’ Rock and nothing namby pamby if you tune in!

PLUGGED IN magazine’s Managing Editor Gail Griffiths becomes everyone’s favourite pin-up, as she is featured on one of a series of four posters highlighting career paths into the Creative Industries. The posters are also designed by PLUGGED IN regular Stephen Lewis with others dedicated to our friends Dave Driscoll of Push 4, Andrew Chainey of Tantwrm and actor Carys Parry.

And that’s not all, Gail with her two daughters Elin, 8, and Mena, 6, took part in the Pontypridd leg of the Sport Relief Miles, walking a mile circuit around Ynysangharad Park and raising money for the charity. Where’s Darren you may be asking? Well someone had to take the photographs!

Following in the footsteps of solo singer-songwriter Kadesha and Mark Tambini of the fantastic Jam With Robina, this issue’s guest reviewers are the girls from The Kix. Read their thoughts on your music on pages 49-51, and find out more about the girls themselves over the page as they are featured in our Rising Talent section.

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Cardiff and Penarth-based band Cheatin’ Hearts celebrate 10 years together this year. Singer Steph McNicholas recalls some of the highlights of the past decade.

“Country bands in South Wales are as few and far between as Shane MacGowan’s old teeth, so I was lucky to find the Cheatin’ Hearts.

The band were rehearsing at the Royal Oak pub on Newport Road in Cardiff and I’d heard they were looking for a female singer. I went along for an audition and got the gig! That was back in June 2000, and since then, we’ve played hundreds of gigs together and made many good friends. The Cheatin’ Hearts are founder members Keith on drums and Phil on guitar and vocals; John on guitar, Rich on bass and me on lead vocals. Honorary member is our soundman, Richard.

The line-up has changed a number of times over the years and we’ve been fortunate to play alongside some very talented musicians. Our set-list is more Johnny Cash than Johnny Rotten, and includes songs

by Hank Williams, Ryan Adams, Tom Petty and the Rolling Stones. One of our most memorable gigs was when we played on the bandstand in Ponty Park in summer 2005. Pontypridd is my hometown, so that was a dream come true. We also got to play at the fantastic Wales Millennium Centre a few years back. We were meant to play outside that day but there was a gale blowing — in May! — so the organisers had to move us inside. Our most surreal gig was probably at the Pop Factory in Porth, where Richard Attenborough, the veteran actor and director, was a guest. What are the chances of having one of the stars of The Great Escape in your audience! Talking of great escapes, one of the most disastrous gigs we ever played was in Bedwas. The crowd were heavy metal fans who stood with their backs to us all night. At one point, a drunk staggered on to the mic stand and the microphone hit me in the front teeth. He didn’t even notice. We should’ve had danger money that night! Redneck drunks aside, the past 10 years with the Cheatin’ Hearts have been a privilege and an absolute blast.”

For more info on the band, go to www.cheatinhearts.co.uk

JOHN SICOLO R.I.P. John Sicolo, owner of legendary music venue TJ’s, Newport, died on 14th March 2010, aged 66. John, who owned the Clarence Place bar for almost 40 years, passed away at the Royal Gwent Hospital. Thousands of music fans have posted internet messages paying tribute to him.

Darren Warner, PLUGGED IN’s Creative Director, said: “John and his staff always had an open door to help and promote young talent within Wales. He showed the same enthusiasm for our magazine, allowing us to use the venue as one of our most important outlets in Newport and also giving us access to any gigs that we wanted to cover. His generosity could have meant that PLUGGED IN had a journalist permanently stationed at TJ’s. Virtually every band that came from Wales played there at some point in their career, with very few exceptions. John will be sorely missed by the Welsh music scene.”

Around 50,000 bands have played at the venue over the years.

In the 1980s, TJ’s hosted the Cheap Sweaty Fun Promotions gigs, which brought many exciting bands to South Wales and gave local bands the chance to play support slots. Those gigs really were the cheapest, sweatiest, greatest fun you could have in public. In the 1990s, Newport was dubbed the ‘New Seattle’ by the music press because of the town’s thriving music scene — with TJ’s at the heart of it all.

From all of us who have magical memories of visiting or playing that unique place: Thanks, John. SM

Only Men Aloud are on the hunt for the next generation of male singers in the Welsh Valleys to create Only Boys Aloud.

If you’re aged between 14 and 19 and would like to join the choir to become “one of the boys” singing a mix of modern and traditional music then they want to hear from you. Members of Only Boys Aloud will take part in a diverse programme of concerts and events throughout 2010 and beyond. But be quick to learn those songs as the first of these performances will be alongside Only Men Aloud at the televised opening concert of the National Eisteddfod on 30th July in Ebbw Vale in front of a packed audience. Rehearsals will be held in venues across the Valleys — so look out for a poster near you!

To show unity within the world of music, at the launch of the initiative Only Men Aloud were joined by members of the Dowlais Male Voice Choir as well as icons of Welsh rock Mike Peters, Stuart Cable and Darran Smith — the only member of FFAF who doesn’t actually sing on stage!

For more info, go to www.onlyboysaloud.com

Legendary opera singer, Sir Geraint Evans (1922-1992) has had a blue plaque put up in his honour on the house where he was born in Cilfynydd, Pontypridd. His career spanned over 40 years, starting when he joined the newly formed Covent Garden Opera Company in 1948 after being demobbed from the RAF. He played over 60 leading roles, but his genius was best seen in his performances of comedy characters such as Verdi’s Falstaff. His talent was recognised not only in Britain, but also in the opera houses of Europe and America at a time when British opera singers were less wellknown abroad than they are now.

PLUGGED IN’s Creative Director Darren will be playing Welsh music, alongside presenters Adam and Lee, on GTfm’s New Music Showcase as usual when the latest issue of the magazine hits the shelves. The programme has changed it’s time slot and is now on Monday nights from 10pm — tune into 107.9fm to listen to the best new music in Wales.

Pontypridd four-piece band Ladies Love A Superhero and female rock duo Sweet Manics from Treorchy have made their own promo videos after winning an annual competition. They were chosen along with a group of young people aged 14-19 from Rhondda Cynon Taf with an interest in media, to take part in the 2010 Make It! Music Video Project. The media team included Alex Knill, Adam Davies, Bethan Harvey, Darian Rees, Lucy Evans, Adam Jenkins and Portia McGrath. The team met up for the first time in January 2010 and spent the following weeks planning and storyboarding their music video ideas which they filmed during February half-term and premiered at the Muni Arts Centre, Pontypridd in April. Rhondda Cynon Taf Council’s Youth Arts Project worked with MAKE IT! on the project, which is funded through the 14-19 Learning Pathways Fund and Fframwaith.

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The Kix The Kix are a three-piece rock band from Aberdare.

They formed in April 2008 when sisters Sam and Charlotte Bolderson discovered bassist Kate Marshall. With powerful influences such as AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, and many more prestigious artists from the classic rock era, there was no question as to what genre the girls wanted to perform. The girls quickly made a name for themselves gigging locally, winning various band competitions, and were even selectively invited to perform with the Welsh National Opera in a one-off exclusive show. Word soon spread about The Kix and they were asked to perform abroad. This lead to bigger and better things for the girls. As the venues and crowds increased in size, the fan base became more significant. Following this, the girls worked harder, and their confidence and ability grew.

Media attention helped The Kix gain exposure.

Onlookers can’t get enough of the compelling performances packed with punch. Their quirky personalities and the witty humour that they produce on and off stage is infectious. The energy they put into their gigs make it clear for all to see that they have a real passion for music, and a professional attitude beyond their years. Being the tender ages of 20, 18 and 17, The Kix take pride in proving wrong people’s misconceptions of them, as people are quick to assume they are inexperienced due to their youth. As soon as the girls start to perform, their ability to excite a crowd creates an electrifying atmosphere, leaving the audience pleasantly surprised. Throughout 2009, the fan base continued to expand as The Kix performed at more substantial venues. The girls completed a prosperous tour of the UK, and follow-up shows abroad in Germany and Holland. In December 2009, The Kix we lucky enough to be invited to support American tribute act Tragedy at the O2 Academy, London. The success of this gig opened up opportunities for 2010, providing more gigs in London for the near future. The Kix are also heading back to Germany by popular demand. The girls recently entered Live & Unsigned UK and after auditioning against thousands of other competitors, The Kix were pleased to hear they had made it through to the area finals in London, and now await this date to show what they can do in the next round. To date, they have attracted attention of established artists such as Phil Campbell (Motorhead), and Stuart Cable (ex-Stereophonics, Killing For Company). Both Phil and Stuart have said that the girls have a promising career ahead. “We would love to make it in this industry as musicians, as we simply love to perform. Music literally means so much to us. We are excited about our up-andcoming album release and hope it’s successful.

This year is already turning into a roller coaster ride and we welcome that. Things are progressing quickly and it would be amazing to be recognised as established artists.” So, 2010 looks to be an eventful and exciting year for The Kix, bringing more achievements and prospects. The girls will continue to enjoy what they do, travelling around in their van, The Kixtery Machine, radiating fun and entertainment everywhere they go. They treat the world as a stage and are definitely ones to watch for the near future. www.myspace.com/thekix

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Photograph by Darren Warner with Chloe Bezant, Melissa Latham, Kirsty Hussien & Gregor McCann of the Hawthorn High Photography Group

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kylin S y t i en C

Words by Adam Perkins

Alun Bowen started Bridgend band BCS when he was 16, initially with friends from school, but as people dropped out they were replaced by his brothers Dewi (piano/vocals) and Marc (drums). Then around a year ago they were joined by Danni Kennedy on bass. Influenced by everything they listen to — Panic At The Disco, Biffy Clyro, Mumford & Sons — the boys have developed their own sound. “We try and come up with songs that people enjoy listening to.

Dewi usually comes up with an idea for a song, we all work on it, test it out live and work on it some more. We’ve released three EPs and one single so far, and we’ve also recorded quite a few other tracks for myspace. Our first two EPs First Signs Of Sunrise and Looks & Hooks were both done before Danni joined. Last summer we recorded our It’s So Dark On The Outside EP and we have just released our new single City Lights. We record and mix everything ourselves.” The band has had some great experiences, including organising a 10-day tour last summer up to Glasgow and back. “We’ve also had some funny experiences, like the time we ended up sleeping in the van, and when we woke found out we’d parked in a graveyard in the dark!” BSC say they want to gig, write and record as much as possible, and have fun doing it. “Getting people to the gigs is a big thing for an unsigned band so we’ve started a mailing list, which people can sign up to on our myspace for free tracks and news on what we’re up to. We’ve also done a few live radio sessions lately, which were great for letting people know about us so we’d like to do some more.” They did quite well in last year’s Surface Unsigned Festival, getting to the Welsh Semi Finals, as well as recently winning Off The Chart Radio’s battle of the bands. “There were six bands from across the world and one band was voted out each day based on email votes. We won some festival slots in the summer, and we’re really looking forward to that. We really enjoy what we do, and we’d now like to take the band to the next level, play some bigger places and festivals.” www.myspace.com/brokencityskylineband

Brok

Wyn Williams West Walian Wyn Williams goes under the moniker of Monkey Sea Monkey Doo. He is also a part of Dafydd ap Llwyd (myspace.com/ dafyddapllwyd) an acoustic duo with Huw Llwyd. Singing in both Welsh and English, Wyn’s sound is of picked Spanish mixed with folk and acoustic vibes. “I’ve got a semi-acoustic Spanish guitar, which I find easy to manipulate the strings of. It’s a leading instrument really, and not generally something to sing over. But I like the sound of it.” Offering an eclectic mix of songs, each is crafted and backed up by great technical ability, shown on songs such as Darn O Dy Galon (A Piece of your Heart), in which guitar and vocal harmonies are well designed, and the eccentric Overtaken, a track produced behind a drum beat and violin backing. This experimental attitude is also showcased on the Oxjam charity track featuring famous weather girl Sian Lloyd — Weather (Or Not) With Sian Lloyd — which has a slow techno drum beat. Wyn’s most recent EP is called The Spanish Elbow Orchestra and features The Spanish Elbow Orchestra, which is of Flamenco/Mexican style, and was recorded on BBC Radio Wales’ Adam Walton’s Mystery Tour.

Writing in Welsh helps Wyn keep up with his roots. “I was brought up in a bilingual house, so the Welsh is more of a moral and personal thing that I put into my songs. Plus there is not so much of it around, so it helps keep it alive.” Wyn’s bilingual ability opens his talents to different audiences, so if you enjoy a good pint and some intriguing acoustic tunes then don’t hesitate to pop out and catch Wyn or Dafydd ap Llwyd. You won’t be disappointed. www.myspace.com/wyn.williams

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Intensive Square

Recluse A former Nirvana cover bands band from Pontypridd, reformed and transformed eight years later in mid 2008 to create a straightup balls rock band called Recluse. Sound good? Well, yes, it sounds great! The threepiece have nailed themselves a cracking sound, grinding out some real ‘dude tunes’ in somewhat of a ‘Nirvana meets Led Zepplin’ showdown. “We just love music. We love getting together and doing our own stuff… we need to rock.” Recluse make very likeable music, something you can pick up and listen to without getting confused. It’s straight up rock ’n’ roll, whilst offering more than its fair share of ‘wow’ and ‘oh yes’ factor moments. “We’re all into late 70s to early 90s rock which is quite balls out. It’s not laden with effects, and it’s something which is straightforward and good to listen to.” Current EP, Baby Monster, offers musical growls and scowls with vigour and venom, whilst laying the smack down with some monster riffs. It’s layered with great musicianship and determined grungy bounce throughout that shows a lot of character and style. “We used to play a lot of pop-rock stuff, but we just kept getting heavier and heavier and most of the older ones just don’t work any more.” Set opener Come On Over and Back In The Ground Again offer a raucous and racy ride of raw power, and Britt’s gritty vocals are spot on. Lover is a cool and bouncy track with an awesome dirty and grungy riff to intro, before distorted bass kicks in. A new EP out sometime soon will introduce more kicks and slides as new track Passing Cars finds more depth as the cool and flavoursome lead guitar dances between the bounce and determination of the drum and bass. “The new stuff has a lot more rhythm and there are a lot of changes in the melody and the tempo. There is never a shortage of rock.” www.myspace.com/recluseuk

All of the members of Intensive Square are from Pembrokeshire (Middle Earth), and have all shared stages in various capacities over the years, but the band as it is now formed in 2007 off the back of a shared desire to create, hear and perform some truly devastating music. Tired of the dull conventions of contemporary metal, IS decided to leave the weaklings of the genre identifying with mock pessimism and false mythology in the mirrors of their parents’ bathrooms, whilst they forged tales about abstract universes of impossible science and apocalyptic horror. The band’s primary influences are Pantera, Meshuggah and Crowbar, and are also heavily influenced by jazz music, particularly Naked City, John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. They’ve spent the past few years creating a consistent and cohesive sound of their own that remains extremely focused, despite its eclecticism. Using hulking rhythmic passages, dense chromaticism, downtuned guitar riffs and saxophones, the band delivers an original and devastating smack to the teeth of its listeners, assuming that its listeners have mouths in their ears! Notable bands that they’ve played with include Hexagram, Romeo Must Die, Seven Year Kismet, Brigade, Chaos Trigger, Necrocest, Kryophere and Nihilist. Notable venues they’ve played include Water Rats London, Clwb Ifor Bach, Barfly, TJ’s, Queen’s Hall Narberth, Celtic Blue Rock Festival West Wales.

Having just completed their second demo, The Colour of Love, a self-released three-track EP, the band are constantly looking for gigs and any other means of exposure to push their incredible vision to the masses of the metal community. “Our live shows carry all the weight and mystery of a quantum event, whilst charming both new and familiar audiences into a unified compliance to surrender to some of the heaviest music being performed in the world today.” The boys have recently parted ways with singer, Sam Lewin, and wish him the best of luck in London. “We are currently trying out some new guys and are feeling confident that we’re going to be able to deliver exciting news very soon. And then aim to be back gigging locally before the summer.” www.myspace.com/intensivesquare

Rob Lear Rob Lear is an artist with undoubted quality, which shines throughout the quirky and creative pop-rock tones. The former front-man of Valleys favourites Lear, as well as recent project The Enormous Sizes, Rob Lear commands a great respect as an artist. This is backed up in the skilful ability to write likeable, catchy and bouncy tunes that make you sit up and smile and want to hum along. The summery Blue Bikini is a cool, fun and upbeat track. It’s got a really funky picked verse running to this big chorus, and the fantastic new track A Million Stars is a laid back and relaxing tune with fantastic rhythm and melody. There is an awe-inspiring air following Rob around because of the exemplary standard set in the ability to create such simple yet mindbending songs. “It’s more about enjoying and exploring the fact that I can make music. Being in some great bands has allowed me to get some cracking gigs, and last year The Enormous Sizes supported Status Quo.” The Enormous Sizes (www.myspace.com/theenormoussizes) was Rob’s most recent venture (My Cartoon Elvis and The Proud Marys are others past) in which his writing ability is demonstrated through tunes like the magical, rhythmic and dreamy Magic Bones and Last Of The 45s, which is a cracking, edgy rock song that’s so easy to get into. Rob continues to play some of the more ‘suitable’ E-sizes tracks within his set, as well as having members Terry (bass) and Elliot (Drums) in his backing band. Rob Lear is still a refreshing talent, and showcases his continued dedication through a brand new mini-album, A Million Stars, which also includes the floaty and adventurous Beautiful Face, and the surreal Heaven Help which just grows and grows. It’s a great record. If you’ve not heard Lear then you’ve missed out. But now’s the chance to grab a piece of the action. Rob Lear is an artist you just have to go see, have a pint, and let the music wash all your worries away. www.myspace.com/roblear

White Dice Three-piece White Dice are from Swansea/Port Talbot and originally formed in 2005 with Lucus Williams (vocals/guitar) and Kris Williams (drums/percussion, and Craig Morgan (bass/ backing vox) joining in May 2009. This young band has been touring non-stop from one end of the UK to the other, while continuing to sell CDs across the water to America, Germany, Australia, Belgium and many more — releases such as What We Left Behind and Better Than Wednesday. Influenced by bands such as Third Eye Blind, Goo Goo Dolls, John Mayer, Flickerstick, Black Lab, Jimmy Eat World and Queen, the boys produce an American Indie sound that has also been classed as “American Teen TV Music.” In 2007 they won a Battle of The Bands that was judged by 96.4fm The Wave radio and the year after were picked up to be on the soundtrack for a porn flick True F*****g Love. “We were contacted via our myspace

by Burning Angels, the DVD’s producer, and asked if they could use our track in the movie — amazing! But due to the adult DVD website being unable to accept my credit card, I had to persuade my mother to buy the porn DVD just to hear the band’s music being played!”

In 2008 they played the Birdman Festival in Ilfracombe, supporting The Wurzels, and this year have played the world-famous 100 Club in London. “We plan to keep touring and producing music!” www.myspace.com/whitedice

Colours Of One This Bridgend-based band formed in early 2008 originally under the name Evil I. Mike, Miff, Paul and Rhys were school friends/friends of friends and had played in various bands together growing up, then Chris answered an advertisement for a new bassist. COO produce melodic alt-rock influenced by bands such as Pearl Jam, Incubus, Coheed & Cambria, Funeral For A Friend, Paramore and Biffy Clyro. “There’s definitely a wide range of musical taste amongst us, but it makes for very interesting ideas.” Their first EP Kicks was self-released in early 2008, and since then they have released a mini album called Bad News Makes Big Noise on their own label Rogues Gallery Records — and they’ve recently signed a European Distribution Deal with Londonbased Cargo Records to physically release the record in stores throughout UK and Europe on 17 May. “Our aim is to get our music heard by as many people as possible, and on our own terms. We would like to be able to have the opportunity for writing and performing music to become our full time jobs. As a band we decided to set ourselves up as an independent record label in mid-2009, after being in talks with a couple of London-based indie labels. It became evident to us that we’d very much like to have full control over every aspect of the

Dead Surf Country Meg, Mark, Lizzie and Glenn (the Hat!) make up the remarkable alt-country/Americana project Dead Surf Country. With their vibrant and heart-warming tones and light atmospheric electronics there is so much to like about DSC. It is subtle genius. Starting as a highly talented father/daughter combination Meg (vox) and Mark (acoustic guitar) set out to write some music, Lizzie (vox) and then Glenn (electric guitar) came on board in 2006, helping to make some fine music that can be supped upon via their EP Area 51 Revisited, but is best experienced sat out in the sunshine with a nice beer. “Live music in a field with the sunshine gives a really good atmosphere and brings a community together, so it’s nice!” Melodically brilliant, the acoustics are wonderful, light and free-flowing and easy on the ear, whilst providing perfect serenity for the eloquent duality of Meg and Lizzie’s vocals and harmonies. “We’ve started harmonising and working together on songs because before we used to try and keep our voices separate.” This is showcased in up-tempo number Lost, featuring a cool and funky electric riff complimented by fantastic harmonising from Meg (who leads this song) and Lizzie. Alongside these two very competent and sexy lead singers, the art of Dead Surf Country is provided by light, floating atmospherics from Glen’s electrical input, heard on the bluesy Then I Met You and the serene and tender Crush, while the tender lullaby Hold On is a wonderful piece of music.

“We like making music and we love playing together, we just gelled when Glenn came on board. Being friends makes life so much better, with lots of evenings drinking cider, making music and mucking about.” Dead Surf Country offer something completely different to your average acoustic artist. PLUGGED IN has uncovered a true gem. Check them out! www.myspace.com/megandmark

band, from creative direction to the way we are portrayed, so we felt like this was the best way to go for us. To this effect we officially set up Rogues Gallery Records in June 2009, and made the decision to self-release all of our own material from this date onwards. This was also partially in response to the ever-changing climate of the music industry, as now bands don’t necessarily need to have the backing of a major record label to make considerable progress in their careers. Aside from the business aspect, we’ve had a few pretty weird experiences over the past few years, and even death-defying — if driving down the M4 with no headlights and a van steadily losing power counts as that! We consider ourselves a fanorientated band, and try to involve our fans in everything we do as much as possible, by sending out free music monthly as a thank you for signing up to our mailing list, by rewarding members of our street team, and even letting them influence our radio interviews! We often ask our fans to give us a list of words to try and squeeze into a radio show we appear on, and you can imagine it’s hard to get ‘pigeon’ or ‘meow’ into your usual interview!” www.myspace.com/coloursofone

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t has been a harsh winter and many of the schools in Wales had to close due to the heavy snow falls, though as we drove though the streets to Hawthorn High School in Pontypridd, the desperate weather had lifted and allowed us a respite from the cold. Today we’re going back to school because PLUGGED IN is hosting a massive question and answer session with the town’s most famous sons, the LostProphets. Returning to the school where three of the band were once pupils, they had come home to support a Welsh Assembly Government initiative that is aimed at stimulating economic activity and increasing tourism numbers in the area by getting Valley residents to say what makes them proud to be from The Valleys. After the press conference the guys were to play an exclusive gig in the school hall for older pupils and specially invited guests. Prior to that, however, PLUGGED IN had exclusive access to the Ponty boys for over an hour so that we could co-ordinate a unique question and answer session for 60 lucky young people with connections to the magazine, to meet their heroes and ask them just about anything, with Editor Gail Griffiths checking the questions and Creative Director Darren Warner compering the event. Sandwiched between the band and the seated audience, Darren certainly felt the glare of the six TV crews whose cameras seemed to be directed at him — though we’re sure they were looking more in the Prophets direction! This was a unique occasion, a true exclusive to inspire the young people there and a brilliant example of what PLUGGED IN is all about ­— giving opportunity. What follows is a transcript of the questions asked.

Photographs by Darren Warner, James Bannister & Corey-Leigh John

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW LOSTPROPHETS ON THE BETRAYED You’ve recently released your fourth studio album The Betrayed. Why did the band feel so strongly about working around this theme and does the content of the album reflect personally on your life experiences in any way?

Lee: Yes. Next question! [laughs] I think lyrically most definitely. On the last three albums Ian has been singing about everyone else, while this time it’s more personal to him. He was in a bit of a dark spot and The Betrayed is what came out of that. You can’t bottle these things up.

What were your inspirations and influences for The Betrayed?

Ian: We are listening to new music all the time and are constantly evolving as a band but one of the most important things is not forgetting where you came from. We toured Liberation Transmission for two and a half years and went to some great places and also went to some bad ones. Everywhere you go you take on as an experience, whether you’re conscious of it or within your subconsciousness. Spending two months touring America, playing to sparse venues was definitely an influence. Also it depends what mood you’re in. If you’re, shall we say, peeved, that’s going to come out in the music more than if you’re on top of the world.

How does working with Stuart Richardson as a producer compare with working with Bob Rock?

Stuart: Really good, right boys? [said with a laugh and a thumbs up sign] Lee: Much easier. Bob Rock was awesome but the trouble with working with him was the studio was based at his place and if he didn’t like something, which happened a lot, he’d literally get up and walk out of the studio into his house and we wouldn’t see him for five hours or more. With Stuart, we originally started out with him producing, so it was like going back to the old days. It was really comfortable.

Mike: It was cool also recording with someone that we already knew, one of our best mates.

So we by-passed that awkward phase at the beginning of a session. Bob turned out to be a knight in the end, but there was that phase in the beginning where we needed to know each other better. It’s difficult to approach and tell someone that you don’t think what he was hearing was very good which was followed by the wierdness Lee mentioned. While with Stu it was more like, “No way. It’s crap!”

Lee: How can somebody outside the band, even though they listen to all your old records and come and watch you live, understand you as much as someone who is in the band. We only ever had to tell Stu once what we were talking about.

Mike: He kind of got it before we even had to tell him. It was like we finished each other’s sentences.

Lee: So I think this album sounds more like us than any of the other ones.

Stuart: So if you like it, cool, if you don’t then I’m the one to blame.

Your album The Betrayed — by whom do you feel betrayed?

Ian: Everybody, at some point in my life. Have you ever felt betrayed yourself? We feel like we’re the underdogs, on a mission.

The Betrayed is probably your darkest album

to date. How do you lift yourselves above these dark thoughts when you play them on such a regular basis?

Lee: We don’t. We revel in them. That’s the point. We are generally a happy bunch, but we all know that reality isn’t all about flowers and puppies and we have had our fair share of bad experiences. This album reflects that.

This album took a while to come out with talk of you rejecting much of the initial work you produced. Why did you find it so difficult?

Stuart: We didn’t. It was simply a bad choice of producer. He didn’t understand where we wanted to take the songs. That was the catalyst for us doing it ourselves. Only we knew how The Betrayed should sound.

Now the album is out, what is your opinion of the media critics’ view?

Lee: You learn a valuable lesson in this industry: to not worry about the media but concentrate on the fans. The media don’t buy records.

LOSTPROPHETS ON LOSTPROPHETS How did the band start?

Lee: Ian and myself started it as we weren’t happy with the way our previous band was going. Me and Ian have been in bands together since 1991.

Why did you call yourselves LostProphets?

Lee: It’s after a Duran Duran bootleg.

If you play one song in one place in the world, what would the song be and where?

Stuart: I’d like to play Walking On The Moon, on the moon! [everyone laughs] Lee: I’d like to play somewhere in South America. Kids keep asking us online, “When are you coming”, but in 10 years we haven’t been there yet.

Mike: Moscow is on our list of places to go. Two years ago we went to Indonesia and Hong Kong as well as other parts of the Far East that we’d never been to before.

Lee: As for the song it’ll have to been something from The Betrayed, though if it’s somewhere that we’ve never been before then it has to be Shinobi Vs Dragon Ninja, as that’s what they’ll ask for.

How did you get your first big break?

Stuart: We played a show in London and met Julie Weir [Visible Noise records]. We kept her address and sent her a demo 18 months later.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Who were your musical influences?

Lee: The Police, The Cure, Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Duran Duran, Joy Division. Our tastes are very eclectic. That’s what makes LostProphets.

Have you ever been faced with a difficult audience?

Stuart: Metallica. Anywhere on that tour.

When you support Metallica, people only want to see Metallica. A bunch of guys doing our sort of music to Metallica fans in our skinny jeans were asking for it.

Lee: Ireland was especially bad. They threw everything at us there. It was good fun, though a bit dangerous.

Stuart: Saying that, I’d rather play and be hated than meet complete indifference. That really gets on my nerves. We were playing in Paris with Rage Against The Machine and we thought it was going to be amazing but everybody was

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just staring at us non-plussed. I would rather raise fury in people than have indifference, though you just have to get on with it.

Did you download The Rage Against The Machine single last Christmas to stop that X-Factor blokey getting to number one?

Stuart: Yeah we did actually.

What is the craziest thing that has happened to you while you were on the road?

Mike: Where do we start. Our old drummer used to like to drink and smash up stuff. We smashed up a few hotel rooms until we realised that we had to pay for the damage. You heard that Led Zeppelin used to smash places up and Keith Moon [The Who] was hell of a boy, so because we’re in a rock band we thought that we were supposed to do it.

Lee: We had an iron out of an Australian hotel room.

Mike: We had everything out of that hotel room until we reached the bed and realised that we could do some serious damage. Also the first time we went to the Kerrang Awards (Julie, close your ears) we went into this hotel room in London and the first thing we did was kick the wardrobe door in and carve Ian’s name on the wall. Then we got the bill through and were like, what! We’ve got to pay for this?

Stuart: We were just a bunch of kids like you guys. A bunch of kids from Ponty and the first time we were dumped in LA and see famous people we’d shout out, “Oi! Butt.” We saw

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Chandler from Friends and we were smashing on the window and shouting “Chandler, Chandler, Oi! Chandler Boy!” The first time we got into a record label in New York, they said to us to go into a cupboard and take as many CDs as we wanted. Of course we went big some, being Welsh boys we’d take whatever you can for free. Anyway we came out of there with two carrier bags full of CDs each and were crossing Madison Avenue, which is five lanes wide, when his [pointing to Lee] bag split.

Lee: Yeah I was kicking the CDs across the road cause in New York they don’t wait for nobody.

What current music do you like and hate at the moment?

Lee: Real bands are still good but there’s too much of that Pop Idol, X-factor crap about.

Mike: The bands that were around when we were growing up became hugely influential on us, with less interference from other media.

Groups like The Clash, The Jam, Duran Duran were all brand new and doing something new.

Nowadays it’s very difficult to do something different without sounding similar to others.

Lee: It’s a kind of re-hash music world.

Mike: You can say it’s a lot better actually with a lot of great bands out there.

Stuart: There will always be great bands around.

Lee: It’s like the same when we were younger.

The bands we were into never made it into the charts.

Stuart: I remember Iron Maiden got to number

one with Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter and Radio 1 refused to play it. They were very popular at the time.

Lee: Yeah, they took a truck into London and played nothing but that song all day.

Stuart: It’s more acceptable now. Liking rock music is cooler now than when I was kid. There are lots of good bands, especially in South Wales — The Blackout, Kids In Glass Houses, Attack! Attack!, Funeral For A Friend and Save Your Breath...we could keep going.

Do you enjoy playing smaller venues or larger open air concerts?

Lee: Both are good fun. Like a few nights ago we played to 500 people in London where they were really close to us. Though playing Download in front of a sea of bodies is pretty awesome also.

What advice would you give to people starting a rock band?

Mike: Do it because you love it, don’t copy people, and write music that you want to. Also stick at it as it takes a long time.

Lee: You might not get where you want to be straight away but at least you’ll be true to yourself.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW What song do you enjoy performing the most?

The Light That Shines. It has the perfect mood.

I love stuff like The Cure and tried to channel that feel when writing it.

What advice would you give a young band trying to get a head start in the music business?

Lee: To be honest. To only play for the love of music. Then everything else will come to you.

Do you believe your success inspires the young people from this area?

Ian: I hope so. The Stereophonics inspired us and we said if someone like Stuart Cable can do it, then we can do it.

If your music career hadn’t worked out, what jobs do you think you’d be doing today?

Lee: Another job was never an option. I did want to be a zoologist but I quit school early to rock!

What’s it really like to be famous?

Lee: Overrated.

How did you guys make the break and take the first step?

Ian: We just did it slowly. Like how did we go about getting our first gig, well we knew nothing about that when we first started but did it our way. The bands nowadays tend to try and run before they can walk, thanks to things like the internet. They’ll be around four weeks, have songs on myspace, a demo out and T-shirts printed.

How do you think your life has changed from average Valley boys to being in one of the most well-known rock groups?

Lee: We’re still the same as we’ve always been other than we’re lucky enough to have been around the world a few times and to have a job that we love. Whenever we’re here we slip straight back in to the Valleys way of life!

We know that Jamie is a talented painter but do the rest of the band have any hobbies outside music?

Lee: I am a dedicated cinephile! I watch loads of movies with a penchant for foreign film.

What’s been a really memorable moment in your career?

Lee: Every time we’ve played Reading has been a pivotal step for us.

Do you socialise with any other Welsh bands?

Lee: Yes, of course. Funeral, Kids, The Blackout, Attack! Attack!

You support up-and-coming bands in Wales.

You also know many other bands in the music industry. If you had to choose any band you know, who would you most like to work with?

Lee: To be honest, as much as I love other bands, I like to keep LostProphets as a separate entity. I’m not into collaborating. As for touring, we have played with Metallica, so I’m satisfied.

What did you aspire to be like when starting out?

Lee: Just the best we could be. Looking back we were pretty bad when we started, but that just shows how far we have come.

What inspired you to be in a band?

Lee: Life itself. Profound?

What would you do if Kanye West ever tried to interrupt you while you were making a speech?

Stuart: I’d nut him!

LOSTPROPHETS ON SCHOOL DAYS What is your funniest memory of the school and how does it feel like returning here?

Mike: I really liked school.

Stuart: I didn’t.

Mike: Coming back here today is pretty cool.

It’s funny how everything feels really small.

Any teachers you used to love or hate?

Mike: Mrs Clinch, she was really cool. She was going to take us to see Metallica but it never came off. She’s not called Mrs Clinch now.

If you could travel back in time, what advice would you give yourselves?

Stuart: Don’t smash up hotel rooms!

Mike: I don’t know really. Even though we made mistakes along the way, as cliched as it sounds, you really do learn from them.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW What are your funniest memories from your time at Hawthorn High?

Lee: Throwing test tubes out of the science lab.

Calling the emergency gas board to the school and watching the vans turn up in convoy.

How much course work do you still owe your teachers?

Mike: All of it.

Did you enjoy coming to school at Hawthorn?

Lee: Some of my best memories are from that school. That’s the age that you find out who you are and where you want to go.

If you could turn back time, would you want to live your school life at Hawthorn over again? What would you change?

Lee: I’d have studied harder stayed for the exams. It’s a drag learning it all when you’re older!

Do you still keep in contact with the people you were in school with?

Lee: Not really. We have different agendas.

Some people I try to keep in touch with. I used the band to escape my then current clique of friends as they were headed for disaster.

What’s it like to play your old school?

Ian: We’ve played here before! Once in the school Eisteddfod and once in the old sixth form block. At the time it was mainly sports orientated but a few teachers supported what we were doing. We’ve recorded platinum selling albums but still come back to Ponty. I’m currently living with my mum, up the Common (the Belle Air of Pontypridd) but get no airs or graces. That’s what’s real about it. You can go round the world from city to city and it’s all hyperbole with all this industry nonsense and you can just see through all the crap. I loved my school years, it made me what I am. We played The Full Ponty a couple of years back in Ynysangharad Park, which was amazing and it’s a shame it didn’t keep going. It could have been something that built into a legitimate musical event. At the Full Ponty you had real bands playing live, Welsh bands like The Blackout and The Automatic playing alongside Paramore.

Mike: Unfortunately Ponty doesn’t have much going for it now and it’s a shame the town is in such decline.

Do you think that there’s a better music scene in Wales than most places? Do you think there is an innerness that comes out with the bands around here?

Mike: Yeah I think so. All the bands have a camaraderie with each other and help

each other out. Like we took Funeral on tour, Funeral took Kids on tour, we took The Blackout on tour and The Blackout took Save Your Breath on tour. Everybody helps each other out and everybody is mates. It’s not a competition between us all. It’s really a great scene in South Wales and really cool to be in a band around here.

LOSTPROPHETS ON PONTYPRIDD & THE VALLEYS How Important is Pontypridd and the Valleys to you?

Ian: Very important. You don’t realise that until you leave. We spent all of our teenage years trying to get out of Ponty and the Valleys, then you see the world and value where you come from. You can’t appreciate that until you’ve seen everything else.

Mike: Where you come from puts a stamp on you and inspires you to become who you are.

Ponty did that for us.

Ian: The Valleys is instilled in you, taking no crap and being working class. It’s like Billy Elliot without being Northern and all the dance.

Stuart: I loved growing up here. I grew up in Pontypridd right next

I

to the park with all the mountains around. I used to go camping in those hills.

Lee: We used to ride a rubber dingy down the River Taff to Taffs Well and catch the train back.

I was living in a Welsh version of Stand

By Me going on adventures and finding disused factories that were awesome to play in.

Ian: At the time we just took it for granted but now looking back it was some of the best times. There has always been a sense of community and family with no airs or graces. Everybody knows everybody. “Oi! You’re Tina’s boy! Still in that band or what?” I haven’t lived back here since I left in 1995 and you don’t realise how important growing up here was until you leave. We spent our youth watching American movies and just dreaming.

Do you think that as successful artists you have a responsibility to promote the Welsh Valleys as you did at Hawthorn High?

Ian: Absolutely. We are all very proud to be

Welsh and to have grown up in the Valleys.

It’s what keeps us grounded and makes us who we are.

Have you found that people outside Wales have a stereotypical view of the Valleys?

Lee: Yes they do. I think that the Valleys generally are how people perceive them, to be fair. When I go back there I love it, but I also see how other people see it the way that they do. That’s not a bad thing though.

Do you think it’s important to give the outside world a better view and understanding of a community like the Welsh Valleys?

Lee: We take them with us wherever we go so I think the answer is yes.

You’ve come home to write. Why? Ian: I used to live in LA but came back here because it seems to centre me — as cliched as it sounds that’s the truth. We came back to Wales to start the second version of the new album and the current single Where We Belong is our love letter to being home.

Questions asked by: Abi Jones, Adele Williams, Brandon Lane, Carrie Morgan, Colin James MacFarlane, Corey-Leigh John, Demi Myhill, Hannah Griffiths, James Bannister, Jessi Probert, Kim Halliday, Kyle Rees, Ladies Love A Super Hero (a Make-It project band), Lloyd Daniels, Nadine Hussien, Nathan Roach, Portia McGrath, Rachel Thomas, Robyn Kennedy, Tom Richards, Victoria Turner & Hawthorn High School Media Department.

t’s a bleak Tuesday afternoon, but the atmosphere in Hawthorn High School is absolutely buzzing with excitement. Today is no ordinary Tuesday. Today, LostProphets are giving a live performance in the school.

Throughout the day the Press were walking round with video cameras and photographers.

The car park is full and there are yet still more people arriving. In Hawthorn’s usually small, dark theatre there’s enough sound equipment for the school gig to be heard in Cardiff.

Anticipation mounts as the time draws closer for their live performance and kids all around me are getting more excited. Being a prefect I have to assert some authority and tell them to “Get a grip and calm down.” Rushing to the front of the hall to get right up to the barriers that have been erected, just adds to the thrill. Waiting for Ian and the band to make their entrance on stage allows the surreal thoughts to sink in. This concert is going on in my SCHOOL! The band come bursting on to the stage with all the energy of an over excitable puppy and cheeky grins making them look just like they belong. After their first song they play all the tracks everyone knows, loves and have grown up with. Tracks such as Last Summer, A Town Called Hypocrisy, Can’t Catch Tomorrow and Last Train Home. But it’s their massive hit Rooftops that has the crowd singing along allowing the boys on stage to catch their breath as the crowd fills in for them. At the announcement of the old and favourite song Shonobi Vs Dragon Ninja the avid Prophets fans scream. Before bursting into last song Burn Burn, Ian Watkins makes another shout out to the teachers still here that taught him. One of which is my English and form tutor who had that morning showed me his first piece of work — a poem in the shape of a firework. As the final bars to the last song ring out everyone applauds loudly with cheers and wolf whistles ringing through the crowd. Most people exit the building with autographs, keyrings and a new love of LostProphets firmly with them.

And I get to go home on a high after finding out The Blackout lead singer Sean Smith is here with the Prophets — the band I had been privileged to meet with the PLUGGED IN team earlier. The concert was just the icing on the cake! SEANNA FATKIN

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Words by Darren Warner

F

eeder was over! This in the end of Feeder!

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. A band that I had followed and watched grow from the earlier days of their Polythene tour had changed their name and were cutting ties with the past. I was hearing this all wrong and the only person who I knew who could put it right was now speaking to me at the end of the phone. Frontman, songwriter and guitarist Grant Nicholas.

“I wouldn’t say that this is the end of Feeder because Feeder will never go away. It’s been part of our lives for too long. I wanted to go back to being a three-piece when it was more about the music and not worrying about the production. We couldn’t really do that as Feeder because our fans would come along and expect to hear their favourite songs and the singles. It would be unfair for them to come to a Feeder show and we don’t play those songs, except maybe some very early ones. So Renegades was just a way of getting out there and playing new material and seeing what the reaction was like. Renegades is based on early Feeder, and since that time we’ve made a lot of records. We’ve now finished that contract and our label Echo has folded, so it seemed the right time to get back into the studio and see what happened naturally. We had no plan, it just felt the right course to take.”

OK panic over, Feeder are still going to be Feeder and Renegades...? “It’s a kind of band inside Feeder and, I won’t lie to you, it still retains the basic chemistry. We’re never going to turn into a dance band or something like that. The idea is the same behind it all, it’s just we felt we had to approach it in a different way. It’s a natural idea we just came

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up with. I’m not great at PR or that kind of thing but doing it this way, even though it was a bit of a gamble, has actually created a lot of interest, getting lots of people talking on our Facebook and other internet sites. I also think it’s been a lot of fun for us.”

Why not re-invent yourselves, David Bowie did it with Tin Machine, Mike Peters had a come back with The Poppy Field, even our Charlotte Church had returned to the music world with dance track The Opera Song (Brave New World), though as I listen to Grant speak while sitting in the PLUGGED IN office and flicking through the Renegades website on the computer in front of me, I feel a fresh series of questions I needed to ask. The last time I had seen Feeder play was in Newport on their tour for the Silent Cry album and I believed that they had regained some of the spirit that I had witnessed in their formative years. I personally felt they seemed stronger than I’d ever seen them play. Was this a signal to what was now happening in the band? So I asked Grant a few probing questions.

He said that Renegades is about re-capturing the early excitement of it all. What did he feel was lost with the success they gained with Feeder? “I don’t think we lost anything, but people tend to pigeonhole you and I believe that we have always been a difficult band to place in a particular hole. We have our heavy side but wrote and produced cross-over songs that had acoustic elements and strings on them. Those elements have always been there since day one and appeared on our first two albums Polythene and Yesterday Went To Soon but were more prominent since our third album and the massive success of the single

Buck Rogers. So when your band has been about as long as we have you may feel you’ve lost that edge. You can get paranoid about that sometimes and sometimes people get a little small minded wanting the same thing.

Doing it as Renegades meant people could decide whether they like it or not without affecting Feeder. Having a brilliant fan base, which Feeder has, is a great thing and it puts us in a strong position, but it can sometimes work against you.”

It says on the Renegades website that now Feeder are outside their former recording contract Grant can write songs for himself without worrying about anything else. I was shocked to see that statement as I thought the comment seemed out of place. Do you not feel that the songs over the last few Feeder albums were for yourselves and if not who were they for? “I didn’t actually write that and I don’t actually like that statement because to me that is not strictly true. There are songs that we performed on many of the albums that I’m really proud of. I would say in all honesty that the only time we made a compromise was when we had to chose the first single and that sort of thing. Every album that Feeder has created has never been a compromise musically and it felt right at the time of release. Though you could actually take that answer either way, I do understand why you asked me that question.”

I repeated the fact that I had seen them at Newport on their Silent Cry tour and to me they seemed stronger than I’d ever seen them play. “The Silent Cry tour in general was following a really positive album. OK, I know the album didn’t do as well commercially as

we hoped it would, but that can be down to a number of factors like lack of airplay for the single which is one of the key elements when you’re playing in such a commercial field. I’m really proud of the album and to me that was a step in the right direction and the way we are heading now. It was a bit more produced but if you compare it to Pushing The Senses you can definitely hear us returning to the big guitar sound.”

Getting back to Renegades, it’s a well-known fact that Grant is a prolific song writer and had told Xfm in London that he had already penned over 25 songs. “More than that now!”

Busy man. So does this mean we can expect a Renegades album soon? “Well, we have enough material for another two albums at present, though I didn’t write down the material and say this is for Renegade while this track will be for Feeder. Anyway, Renegades is really more of a live performance thing.”

So what was it like for a band that had played massive stadiums to go back down to a small grass roots level? “I love it and really missed it. You know, being in a van together with the crew and having to tune my own guitars, giving a performance with no lighting rig. It was great. I see some great young bands and sense that excitement in their freshness. I wanted to get some of that again. That’s what Renegades is all about because, without it sounding bizarre, you can’t do that at a higher level.

It’s a risky thing and I’ve had people telling me that we are mad and why would we want to do something like that, though more people

were intrigued by it than were negative about what we were doing. Playing live as a threepiece again with the songs stripped down to a minimum gives you a confidence in what you are doing and your song writing ability.”

It makes your songs have to stand out on their own merits, much stronger and more powerful would you say? “Definitely more powerful, but more exposed as well. Saying that, we’ve always been a noisy three-piece.

It actually feels normal to us because the three-piece is what we have always started with on any of the songs. Once we get into the outside world and we’ve included the strings and big production on the albums we needed to represent that live in a similar way. With Renegades we’ve turned that approach on its head. As long as we are playing in the right key, in time and have the same basic riff then I don’t think people are going to mind that much. When you see a good three-piece live who are really connected with each other then it’s the most rocking thing you’ll ever see. I saw Nirvana live and they proved that point without a doubt.”

Gail and myself were lucky to see Feeder as a three-piece with the late John Lee on drums at the Manic Street Preachers’ Manic Millennium on New Year’s Eve in 1999. They were fast, furious and amazingly kicking.

“That was an excellent gig. I remember the stadium was all new and we had this rugby ball, and I said I was going to kick it out into the audience. We started messing around in our dressing room throwing it around to each

other when John kicked it straight up in the air and straight through the ceiling. The roof tiles shattered and the room was trashed. Actually you’d better not print that, they’ll be after us... [Of course not...sorry mate! D.] It was a really good night, though we were terrified as it was the biggest thing we had done at that time. I just looked out over the massive crowd thinking ‘Oh my God!’.”

Fairly inspirational being in front of so many people in your home country. So what inspiring words would you say to any young hopefuls to make them believe in themselves. “You know what, that’s a tough question. I was never top of my class at school, but I had a real passion for what I wanted to do. Follow that passion, take any necessary risks really, there are no rules. I thinks it was passion that kept us going even after all the knocks and setbacks.

Of course some people love what we do, but some people don’t — but then that’s the same with anything you do in your life. With passion you can achieve an amazing amount in your life. Don’t let your situation hold you back, you’re as good as the next person.”

Wise words indeed and with years of albums full of brilliant songs you know they are told to you with true passion. Renegades is another path that Grant wants to follow, a path that will be successful for him because you know he’ll give to it 110 per cent.

For more info and to download the new EP, go to www.renegades.com

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Words by Gail Griffiths

W

henever Cerys Matthews brings out a new album, I just have to have it. I love her songwriting and the beauty of her vocals, so always get her albums without reading anything about what it’s like. This time, when the package landed on the doormat and I put the CD on to play — yes, I’m old-fashioned like that! — I was pleasantly surprised to discover that TIR was a beautiful collection of traditional Welsh songs, not an album of tracks written by Cerys herself. Hmm, interesting. So I decided to ask the songstress why she wanted to record these particular songs.

“I wanted to find out more about them.

They form part of everybody’s history if you’ve spent any time in Wales or have Welsh connections. I wanted to collect them together along with a little of their background, why they became popular where they come from, who wrote them , how old they are and then present them with old photographs that may bring them even more alive, or at least colour them in too.”

OK, but why release the album so soon after Don’t Look Down? “It’s very different from Don’t Look Down, a completely unique project so I don’t think they interfere with one another. Also I am lucky to now have my own label Rainbow City Records, so I don’t have to persuade a board of governors that this is so.

This is a labour of love and one I have been planning a long time so as soon as it was ready, I was keen to release it.”

Having such Welsh roots, singing these songs must mean something to Cerys personally.

“I have always known these songs. Hearing them being sung by great crowds of people on the terraces of the stadiums of Wales have certainly coloured my life. They are so inherent in our culture and something so magic, I couldn’t imagine not having known them. To sing them here, so small, so simple, I wanted to pay homage to them personally to every word, to every turn of phrase, turn of melody — to maybe try and unlock the secret of their immortality? I’m not sure, but I certainly wanted to pay respect to them.”

The album is full of some beautiful photographs that hark back to a bygone age.

I asked what she thinks is good and bad about Wales in the 21st Century. “I would love to see a world where an individual regains some responsibility back from the (nanny) state and from the huge companies that run businesses by set rules and regulations rather

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than being able to trust an individual’s quirks and unique way of working. I would love to move away from beaurocracy, of health and safety rules, electronic telephone services and chain restaurants and businesses, media manipulations and stats in schools where headmistresses/headmasters/teachers cannot just simply do an important job well. I’d love to see a world where children are safe but well disciplined, politicians stop spinning and lying, newspapers find morals again, and a person and can be proud and responsible personally but also play a part within the community he/ she is part of. We seem to have completely moved away from having trust, respect, pride and responsibility both for ourselves and for others. If politicians and media moguls are such weasles, what chance the rest of us?”

Cerys once sang the line “I come alive, outside the M25” when she was in Catatonia.

So I posed the question of whether this is still true and what it is about Wales that draws her back. “I think everybody can understand the freedom one feels on leaving a built-up area and entering the countryside, but Londinium was one of Mark Robert’s songs not mine so the feelings in this song are mostly his. I love sushi, I love London, and many other capital cities, and I’ve always loved travelling, exploring other places, other cultures.”

Don’t Look Down was released in English and Welsh, which is a great achievement. I wanted to know why she had decided to do this. “I just did. I love languages and the music from this particular release lends itself to being translated into any language.”

We all know Cerys loves Wales, but what does being Welsh really mean to her? “It’s where I come from. But I always stress that this interest in my own culture is equally mirrored in a keen interest in other cultures.

Being too engrossed in one only would not be very enlightening, nor progressive.”

PLUGGED IN, the music magazine for Wales, is about inspiring people to think outside the box and try something that they may never have considered. Cerys is an inspiration to many people, both through her music and strength of character. How does she create this strength and what words of inspiration could she give to people who’d love to be in her position?

“Lord what a question, but what good aims — to encourage thinking outside the box and trying out new things. I always like to encourage

opinion and for one to trust one’s own instinct.

So when it comes to music for example, on my 6 Music radio show, if an established act like Massive Attack or Blur release a single, one should always keep an open mind to whether it’s actually good or not — not just presume because they are established or because they are cool and popular that they can do no wrong. And trust your ears. I always think of the ‘Emperors New Clothes’ fable through all of life to keep questioning what’s put in front of you.”

Cerys has been in the public eye for both good and bad reasons throughout her career.

Have there been any points at which she wished it’d all go away? “It would be hard to spend time regretting some things that were not ideal when there is so much good going on. So no, I carry on and look for the good in a situation, and I love my work — doing more and more interesting documentaries now too as well as having my own radio show and running a label and TV production company.

The fame element really is just a little silly though can be quite fun.”

We hear people say that when they go into the jungle for I’m A Celebrity, or when they go into Big Brother, the experience really does change them. Did she think her time in the jungle changed her as a person, or was just another new experience — like any other? “It was an experience, and I learnt from it.”

As a presenter on BBC’s 6 Music, I wanted to know if she believes the possible closure of the station will be bad for Britain? “It’s the bigger picture that I’m looking at. Once the BBC tries to appease critics and slim down its programming and tries to ratings chase, we lose what makes it unique and great. Once it becomes streamlined the critics will say it has lost its role, TV licences will be scrapped and we will lose the BBC forever. I have always been a huge fan of the BBC, not least since I spent six years in countries that have no such service and commercial service is so, so poor in comparison. The BBC is there to educate, inform and inspire not just to entertain, though it manages to do this too — look at Brian Cox’s Solar System series, amazing! If we lose the BBC, we have lost every jewel in every crown we have ever had.”

TIR is released on Rainbow City Records on 14th June. You can pre-order it from www.earthquakeltd.com

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n a surprisingly sunny day in March, I sat outside a coffee shop in Swansea Marina waiting apprehensively for the vocalist/ guitarist Steve Balsamo and vocalist/bass player Andy Collins of Swansea-based American country/rock-influenced band by the name of The Storys. This was only my second interview, but the boys made me feel comfortable after a pre-interview chat over a cappuccino.

The main reason for this meeting was The Storys are calling it a day...for now, and have a third and possibly last album out soon called Luck. They are due to perform a few farewell gigs for their fans, and Steve told me the reason for this move: “We write tons of songs non-stop, both as individuals and as a band, almost like we’ve got some sort of strange songwriting disorder. We’re all also trying to become better songwriters by collaborating with lots of different people. In truth we’ve made two albums and are finishing a third and we want a little break. To get away from it so we can come back to it.”

Steve goes on to say that this might not be the end of The Storys. “Being in the back of a van for seven years wears you out. Although we say it’s the end of the road, it’ll never be the end of the road. Who knows, Leona Lewis might cover I Believe In Love — the music business is incredibly mad! Andy adds: “It costs a lot both physically and emotionally, a hell of a lot, which people don’t see. All people see are the 45 minutes to an hour and a half on stage, all singing and dancing. But there is a lot of travelling and a lot of misunderstandings with people you like. At some point you need to take stock and think how do we get over this. I believe we get over it by taking a break, recharging and coming back with a fresh perspective on life.”

Being an aspiring journalist I was interested in why there was bad grammar in the band’s name. This gave the boys a bit of a laugh and Andy explained: “Bands famously do that!

It’s a bit like The Beatles, It’s just a bit of wordplay that we came upon and it stuck.”

I then realised that this wasn’t as uncommon as I had first thought, thinking of other bands who have done this are Megadeth, The Black Crowes and The Monkees among many others.

Many of the band members are songwriters in their own right which is an uncommon thing in today’s music industry, so I decided to dig deeper into the songwriting of The Storys and ask what it’s like to work together as a bunch of talented writers.

Steve told me: “How we did it originally was by getting around a table with a couple of bottles of wine and started writing tunes.

Very quickly we’d written loads. It’s all about chemistry. Like with any collaboration, whether you’re a chef sourcing the right ingredients, the ingredients of The Storys was right for that period of time. Andy is my favourite songwriter in The Storys, he is the most commercially minded with all the songs that he has written becoming our single releases, but we all bring stuff to the table and kick ideas around to see what happens.” Andy adds: “It’s been a large learning curve, though it’s great because we’ve never really trampled on each other’s egos, and God knows we’ve got them. We just shut the door, sit round the table and say ‘Right!

I’ve got this thing. Take it, change it, listen to it, destroy it, do whatever you want to do with it to make it better!’ You can hear whether it comes from Dai, Rob, Steve or myself, but we just put it to everybody and by doing that the blend comes into it.”

The band were probably way ahead of the recent music scene like The Magic Numbers

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Words by Gary Bolsom

and The Fleet Foxes with their harmonies and song structure and what Steve finds interesting is “If you’re American you’re allowed to make the kind of music that we gravitate towards.

But if you’re British, you’re not supposed to make that sound. It’s very strange. It’s like entering a cul-de-sac of a world of Americana that was generated in the United Kingdom, which, no matter how good it is, doesn’t seem to connect. So, yes, it’s a learning curve about ourselves and our songwriting ability, which I believe is a true craft.”

With the band about to release their final album, I asked them why they wanted to release an album when they are about to split.

“What happened along the way was that Dai, who was one of the founder members, decided to leave and do his own thing, which was a real blow to the rest of us. We had to re-group and had lots of debates on if we were going to replace him. Do we carry on as a five-piece rather than the six members? Although Rosalie Deighton had been touring with the band for a couple of years we thought that if we get another guy in the band we would be going ‘It’s not as good as Dai’ or ‘It’s better than Dai’ and we didn’t want to enter into that conversation with anybody. So enter Rosalie with some obvious advantages. One, she is gorgeous which helps with the image; while, two, her voice is beautiful (her parents were folk singers). She’s added a different dimension to the band, a lot of beauty and a lot of poise.

“At the time we started the album, I was doing other stuff, the rest of the boys were doing their thing, but we went back into the studio to listen to a couple of the tracks and realised that it sounded fantastic. We had planned to pass the songs out with Andy taking some, Rob some and me, but we thought we couldn’t do that because the strength is in the sum of the parts. So we are going to release it and pray that something beautiful will happen like a song taking off because there are some good songs on there. You know how many bands release a record and immediately split up. It’s a bit of a quirky thing to do.”

So if the album really took off, would they still consider calling it a day? Andy jokingly replied: “We will eat our words! But we would seriously have to take stock. If the record was to go ridiculously major it could be the payback for everything that hasn’t gone the way we’d hoped before.” Steve adds: “We’d have to take a look at the whole thing, where the band stands, where we personally stand and if there is the energy there to carry on.

Photographs by Terry Morris

I’m into this idea that when you put a lot of hard work into something the energy has to go somewhere and eventually it’s going to come back. It’s the Einstein theory: all energy is transformed not destroyed. And who is to argue with Einstein!”

Making music that’s not been commercially successful in the UK, the chances are, dear reader, that you would not have heard of The Storys — though their music has also been featured in many American TV shows, such as One Tree Hill, and British gangster film The Bank Job, in which they also appeared as themselves! But not gaining commercial success in the UK hasn’t hindered the band, and just looking at the artists they have supported is mind-blowing: Elton John, Celine Dion, Katie Melua, Joe Cocker!

“We’ve had amazing success getting to play with our peers and heroes. We played Radio 2 DJ and fan of the band Bob Harris’s 60th birthday party. Not long before Jim Capaldi, who was the drummer with Traffic, died. Jim’s wife asked us if we would play at a memorial concert to him which we of course agreed to do. When we turned up it was like a who’s who of the music world. Pete Townsend, Paul Weller, Joe Walsh, Simon Kirk from Bad Company, Gary Moore and…us! What was good was the respect these guys, our heroes, showed us. We came off stage and Pete and Gary said, ‘That was great!’ Everything in life happens for a reason. That’s why we’re calling this album Luck, because we’ve had loads of good luck.

Everyone we’ve had the pleasure to meet has been incredibly generous to us and incredibly humble, including Elton John. He was a massive help and without him a lot of the other doors would not have opened. We will always be eternally grateful to Sir Elton of John.”

Soon it will be on to pastures new for the band, and Andy and Steve are already looking to the future. So I asked the boys about their new project Oystermouth, which they were surprised I knew about — I’m getting the hang of this journalism thingy I thought happily to myself, but being mentored by PLUGGED IN’s Gail and Darren I knew before an interview it’s essential to do some research on your subject before meeting them!

“Oystermouth is where we had other songs that maybe didn’t fit the criteria of The Storys,” explained Andy. “It goes back to what we said earlier about us being different songwriters. When we got together a song would manifest in a different direction, while with Oystermouth or any of our other projects

they are more of what we personally are. God help us when I release my stuff as it’ll be so damned morose!” Steve adds: “A mate of mine has this little group, a kind of songwriters anonymous — like, ‘My name’s Steve and I write songs.’ We love the process of it. I love the name Oystermouth and it’s just this little side thing. We’re going to put out an Oystermouth EP and let it go and have its own life. Songs are like strange little children, you give birth to them and some go off and earn their keep while others stay at home.”

New member Rosalie Deighton is also doing other stuff outside of The Storys. Having previously released her own material she too has a new album out of the acoustic folk/pop kind. Judging from her tracks on myspace it’s definitely something I’m interested in listening to. Other band members too have something in the pipeline, with bands called Eaglebush and ChimpanA — with the latter’s future a wellkept secret, though I learned that an album had been released back in 2006 and hopefully there’s more to come.

So with the end in sight for The Storys I asked Steve to tell me his most memorable thing about being in the band. “The process.

Firstly we’re sitting round a table writing a couple of songs, next we’re recording them.

One of our songs I Believe In Love has this big stomp on it that we recorded by stamping on the studio floor. Two years later and we’re touring stadiums throughout Europe and that stomp opens up our show, echoing around the stadium walls. As songwriters you want your music to touch people and move people. If you can put money in the bank that helps.”

I know that the band are looking forward to playing to their fans for the final time and also performing with former member Dai Smith who left in 2008. The gig will be in Swansea’s Grand Theatre on 19th June with a warm-up acoustic gig lined up for the day before at the same venue. I’d advise you to get tickets for the gig...if there are any left! If not then you can check The Storys out on myspace or purchase their album from iTunes or any online music store.

So are these last gigs going to be a happy ever after for The Storys or just an end to another chapter? Only the band can answer that question. For now I will call this period in their lives their Unfinished Symphony — and lads, feel free to steal that name for, hopefully, your fourth album! www.myspace.com/thestorys

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Words by Gail Griffiths 22

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Photograph by Tom Strickland

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hat I love about PLUGGED IN is that we’re always discovering a wealth of inspiring musicians. One of whom is Christopher Rees, who grew up in Llanelli with a very sporting background but found music in his teens. “I bought my first guitar at the age of 18 and immediately started writing songs. From that moment on I pretty much knew that was what I wanted to do with my life. I came to Cardiff to go to university but although I enjoyed my degree in Sport & Human Movement Studies, I knew that a career in sport was not for me. So I spent as much time teaching myself how to play guitar and developing my songwriting as studying for my degree! After I graduated in 1994 I took my guitar to America where I worked at a summer camp in Vermont teaching canoeing and kayaking. I then travelled around for a few months in the summer playing in coffee houses and bars — living out a bit of my romanticised idea of America, and my obsession with Jack Kerouac’s classic road-trip novel On The Road.

It was a huge eye opener and just reaffirmed my intent to forge a career in music.”

Most of Chris’s musical influences came from America — Elvis, Johnny Cash, Tom Waits, Townes Van Zandt, The Velvet Underground, Otis Redding and Kristin Hersh among others — so it was fascinating to make a journey around the cities and landscapes that had informed and influenced them. “When I later returned home I began to slowly start gigging around Cardiff and the UK. I’ve been slogging away for 15 years now — but I do believe that attempting to have a career in music is a lifestyle choice and a commitment to your craft. I do enjoy the journey however difficult it can be at times. I’ve been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel the world and work with some of my musical heroes, including John Cale, Kristin Hersh and Billy Joe Shaver, so I count myself very lucky to be doing what I love.”

Earlier in the year PLUGGED IN picked up on Chris’s album Haiti Vodou: The Voodoo Drums Of Haiti, which is not only very interesting musically but has an interesting story behind it. “I was invited to visit Haiti on behalf of The Haiti Fund (a charity set up in Wales in 1996 to help the people of Haiti through educational initiatives). I travelled there in October 2002 with Steve Garrett who runs an organisation called Cultural Concerns here in Cardiff, with the aim of working with schools in the north of the island to try and help introduce some new teaching methods into their system that incorporates the use of music. We later returned to the capital Port Au Prince to research and record the sound of voodoo drumming.

“When I first heard voodoo drumming it was the most intense and mind-blowing experience of my entire life. I didn’t really know that much about the nature of the drumming and its significance in the ritual before I arrived, but it was very soon obvious that this was unlike any other African drumming I may have heard before. We visited four voodoo drumming ceremonies in total and each one got more authentic, raw and intense as they went on. It was strange how we had some kind of natural introduction to different levels of vodoo culminating in the last ceremony with Societe Diab En Deuil which makes up the majority of the Haiti Vodou CD. That one was just mind-blowing. The atmosphere, the colour, the energy, the spirit. You must remember that this is the Haitian people’s religion and it was clear that it gave the people there a great deal of support and strength to

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW make those connections with their ancestral spirits. I walked away with a great deal more understanding and respect for the religion.

“We recorded several hours of material and later selected some of the best moments to make up an album. For various reasons the recordings remained unreleased for eight years until I heard of the awful news of the earthquake disaster in Haiti. I was on tour in The Netherlands and had just returned to my hotel room and turned the TV on. I was so shocked because I could recognise the places it was showing in Port Au Prince like the Presidential Palace in the centre of the city and I was completely shocked to see the devastation. So as I sat there glued to the TV screen it occurred to me that now was the time to finally release the recordings to try and raise some funds to send over there for the relief effort.

“As soon as I returned home to Cardiff I got the ball rolling and people rallied round to help. I have given up a lot of my time for free to make this release happen and Red Eye Music [Chris’s own record label] is donating 100 per cent of the profits to the relief effort and not taking a penny in any administration costs. I was also very lucky that Burning Red generously donated their graphic design services free of charge for the cause and Key Production even gave us a healthy discount on the manufacturing costs so that we could keep the expenses to a minimum and ensure that the maximum amount went to the Haiti relief effort. We pressed 1,000 copies and it’s doing really well. In general people have been very interested in the musical content of the recordings as most people have never heard anything like it. It is pretty mind-blowing stuff!”

The album is released on Chris’s own label, so when and why did he set up Red Eye Music?

“I co-founded Red Eye Music in 2003 with Dave Stapleton (who has since left to form his own Jazz label) so that we could have a platform to release our own work and other music that we love. I’ve released four of my own albums since then along with several albums by other artists like Michael J Sheehy and Keith Tippett which I’m very proud of. There are many challenges to be faced by being truly independent but it’s also often empowering and very rewarding.

Haiti Vodou: The Voodoo Drums Of Haiti is a good example of that.”

Red Eye is also a film music production company, I was curious as to what that entailed. “I’ve always been very interested and influenced by film music and the way that it works around the visual image and the story.

The way directors like David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino and Jim Jarmusch use music in their films to create atmosphere, intrigue, light and shade, to enhance the story has always fascinated me. We started out working with some local Welsh directors on short films and animations but last year I had some music used in two feature length international films.

A Canadian film called Taylors Way used the song Mary Lee from my 2007 album Cautionary Tales, and I was commissioned to produce three pieces of music for Franny Armstrong’s brilliant film about climate change called The Age Of Stupid starring Pete Postlethwaite. I worked with another Welsh composer called Deri Roberts on that for three pieces of music to soundtrack the scenes about the devastation left after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

The success that film has enjoyed around the world is amazing and I’m very proud to have been involved with it.”

Chris likes to keep busy and told me what he

was currently working on. “I’ve just returned from an amazing month in Austin, Texas, and Nashville, Tennessee, where I recorded 12 tracks with The South Austin Horns for my next album. I’ve been earmarking songs that I felt were calling out for a horn section and putting them to one side for quite some time, so I’m thrilled that I had the opportunity to record and realise my vision for the songs with such an amazing and authentic group of American musicians. I’m a huge fan of the whole ‘Stax’ southern soul sound with people like James Carr, Mavis Staples, Otis Redding, William Bell and all those 60s recordings from Memphis, as well as the stuff that came out of Sun Records, so I guess that the recordings do reflect that, but I think I’ve still managed to maintain my own identity in the songs and the energy of the recordings. The next album might surprise a few people. There is a bit more work to be done on the songs now that I’m home but I’m really pleased with the way they’re sounding.

The album will get released either the tail end of this year or early 2011. Before that, however, I’ll be on a UK tour in May opening for Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express on nine of his 11 UK dates. There’s no shortage of other material already recorded too so I’ll also be chipping away at those songs. There is quite a lot of material waiting for a more pure acoustic album as well as various other ideas in the pipeline. I try not to censor the songs as they come through and just try my best to serve the song and allow them to achieve their best potential in whatever style or direction they dictate.”

With loving American music so much I wondered if Chris thought that being Welsh/ coming from Wales has had any influence over his creative abilities. “Absolutely! Despite the fact that a lot of my musical heroes come from America, it was John Cale’s story that really inspired me. Learning of his journey going from Garnant in the Aman Valley (not 30 minutes from where I grew up) to college in London, moving to New York and ultimately changing the face of alternative rock music by joining The Velvet Underground really inspired me as a young aspiring musician. Seeing him perform solo at the Brangwyn Hall in Swansea back in 1992 was a very significant moment for me.

I also love our great singers like Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, Dorothy Squires and of course the poetry of Dylan Thomas. Giant voices all of them. I’ve always been drawn to really passionate big voices and it just so happens that Wales has produced some of the best. But apart from the individual performers that have come out of Wales I do firmly believe that the environment and the way that we communicate here has an influence on the way that we express ourselves creatively. I don’t know if it’s a West Wales thing or not but I believe that there is an intensity in both the landscape and the way we communicate that I think is certainly reflected in my creative output.

Looking back on my early creative output in art, painting, photography, contemporary choreography and then in music and poetry there is a pretty consistent amount of dark intensity within the work. And I definitely feel more inspired in the countryside than I do in the city, which is why I regularly retreat to the mountains outside Aberystwyth to write and record. Maybe there is just something in the air up there, but it’s a very productive place for me.”

Haiti Vodou: The Voodoo Drums Of Haiti is available from www.redeyemusic.co.uk — go check it out!

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Words by Lisa Derrick

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Photograph by Darren Warner

fter being introduced to the music of the Welsh-language band Clinigol, I met one half of the Pickard-brother duo for a PLUGGED IN interview. Geraint represented the band alone in his brother Aled’s absence, and when I asked him to describe their sound in three words, he selected ‘pop’, ‘dance’, and ‘fun’. Their music is about getting people up and dancing on a Saturday night, by producing tongue-in-cheek, hooky, well-produced pop songs — and as nobody else is doing what they do in Wales, they feel they have a license to dabble, so veer between reverberations of synth, pop, dance and electro, with a variety of interesting results.

Last year’s debut album Melys (Sweet) met good reviews, but Geraint feels very proud that the new EP Swigod (Bubbles) is their strongest yet, and said that each release brings a better response. Huw Stephens is currently giving Clinigol airplay, even declaring theirs one of his 2009 Welsh albums of the year. High praise indeed for any act in this country.

The EP title track Swigod is a Calvin Harriseque dance/pop with S4C’s WAW Ffactor contestant El Parisa on vocals. Pergyl (Danger) is a journey to another world, with Rufus Mufasa and BBC radio presenter Nia Medi at the helm. Legendary Welsh soprano Margaret Williams gets the first electro makeover in her 40-year career courtesy of Plyci on Gormod/ Digon (Too Much/Enough). Then John Rea brings some hip-hop break beats to his remix of Gwertha Dy Hun (Sell Yourself), featuring Caernarfon rapper Cofi Bach and the awardwinning DJ Jaffa. There are also two stunning acoustic versions of album tracks Dim Ond Ti Sydd Ar Ol (Only You Left) and 93, featuring iconic folk singers Heather Jones and Nia Medi.

Finally, the EP features the band’s first Englishlanguage track Oh My Days. A collaboration with Cardiff hip-hop/electronica outfit Bleed Electronic, the track is an infectious piece of urban-electro which is guaranteed to have you singing it in your head for days afterwards!

So where does the band see Welsh-language music heading in the future? Geraint predicted a continuation of current strength in the folk and indie genres, amongst which he said there are a lot of very good acts. Clinigol are trying to inject something different into the scene, and would love to get other bands involved, ideally with just as many pop acts as other varieties — but for the record, they are definitely not edgy. As relative aliens within the Welsh music scene, the siblings have been given a ‘cutting edge’ label by the Welsh-language media, but

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as Geraint bemusedly enquired, “Since when is pop music cutting edge?” He would like this fear to be taken away from their music, which he states is, in fact, very accessible.

User-friendly pop it might be, but I’d argue against use of the word mainstream.

There’s nothing middle of the road about the impressive host of Welsh acts who got involved with their latest release! Geraint described how honoured he’d felt at their contribution, and how flattered he felt at the 85 per cent ‘hit rate’ of artists he’d asked to get on board saying yes — describing the females involved as the ‘Clini-babes’!

I wanted to know where the boys’ inspiration comes from, starting with their childhood bedroom posters and first music buys. Despite the possible embarrassment factor, Geraint confessed good naturedly! Howard Jones, Nik Kershaw, Five Star and Bucks Fizz featured for him, with The Pet Shop Boys being a favourite for Aled. More contemporary influences include Tracey Thorn (lead singer of Everything But The Girl), Roisin Murphy (of Moloko fame), and Goldfrapp. Their brotherly partnership works as Aled’s taste veers more toward the cool end of the spectrum, with Geraint’s toward the cheesy, so the resulting pull and push of sounds meet somewhere in the middle. They do of course, being brothers, argue a lot, but on the other hand, they benefit greatly from the flexibility a family tie brings. As Geraint said: “Nothing can break that, whatever happens.”

So despite the occasional quarrel, they can call one another at any time, and don’t have any complications in communication. They’re not alone having family ties in Welsh music, other bands of brothers include Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog, Brigyn and Sibrydion. And a great thing about being in such a band is that they make their Mam proud!

So why the name Clinigol? It’s all very logical when explained. Geraint Pickard’s initials are GP…a GP is a doctor…doctors practice at clinics…cue the Welsh-language translation Clinigol. Smart hey! And where does the future of Clinigol lie? They’d love the opportunity to not just perform, but to be theatrical.

They’d like themes and costumes in their live shows, story-telling linked with music. In the meantime, they’ll continue to be fun, to experiment, and keep people dancing. They’re headlining at Clwb Ifor Bach on Saturday 15th May, where I’ll certainly be dancing. How about you? www.myspace.com/clinigol

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW Words by Adam Perkins Photograph by Darren Warner

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traight Lines are unique. They offer a great mix of the cool and the crazy through heartfelt and vibrant tones which immediately hit home. There is nothing not to like about this awesome quartet from Pontypridd. From the marching elegance of Dane’s drumming to the unique sound of Tom’s vocals, in the offering is a selection of indie-rock-pop tunes that are immensely satisfying on the ear and swept along by great lyrics that really make you feel the music. To Be Honest is a fast and sweeping track, with dynamic guitars and pumping chorus, and then The Ballad Of Peter Devine is, well, balladic and divine! It’s a beautifully crafted song with passionate sing-along lyrics, and showcases the depth, quality and diversity that Straight Lines deliver.

“Our songs reflect our own personalities really, because we don’t really have one genre. We are all kinds of unique players in our own way… A lot of songs on the album sound really different, so you couldn’t really say that we have ‘a’ sound. If you play two of our tracks without vocals, potentially you may not know it was the same band.”

It’s no news to anyone that Straight Lines has evolved from the ashes of SaidMike, with former SM members Tom and Dane forming the base of a line-up which was completed in early 2009 by Todd (also of Dopamine) and James. But this is not just any evolution. This band is not just any Frankenstein. Instead, one truly beastly monster has been created, and it’s awesome. From top to toe in riffs, hooks and hits! This is the design of the true grit, determination and passion that seeps out of their every pore. This is the hybrid of guts and gore that has helped them create something special. Summed up by the title of their debut album Persistence In This Game, and backed up by a damn fine-sounding set of tracks that cry to be played over and over and over again. And there is a real buzz around them at the moment: “The album could have been out in November, but we held it back.

We think it’s turned out for the best because there seems to be more of a buzz now going on. It’s only been out a while and everyone seems to love it.”

Straight Lines’ sudden emergence on the scene, as well as their superb 12-track record, was in the making before SaidMike had been put to rest. Indeed, the boys admit that the record is an offering somewhere between the popular former and immediately likeable new sound: “There are four songs on the album which were SaidMike songs that were never released. And personally we thought that they were good songs and it would be a shame to waste them. It’s been thrown together. We had lead guitar parts and strong song structures before we went into the studio. But I think we are going to develop our sound even further now. We hadn’t played a gig before we recorded so we are still finding our sound as a band. We are yet to find ‘a’ sound, and on the album there is a completely diverse style of songs.”

Persistence In This Game is a finely crafted album and given the speed of its conception leaves you wondering how good the next batch of Straight Lines songs will be. It kicks you in the face with a belter of an opening track — first single Versus The Allegiance.

It’s quick, bouncy, catchy and full of balls.

It’s held together by an awesome riff and contains a sing-along chorus that really gets you going. Unsurprisingly it’s one of the

opening tracks of their live set, and really fires up the audience. Indeed, Straight Lines transmit the energy and passion of the album through to the live arena. Their album launch tour show at Clwb Ifor Bach in February was epic. Rock track Antics picks up the business both mid-way through the album and mid-way through the live set, whilst band favourite A Place To Stay offers the diversity and great musicianship, whipping up a frenzy as the chorus hits.

The boys’ album launch tour proceeded after a support tour with Inme and preceded one with The Automatic, in which a tourending gig at the Barfly on 31st March proved that the quality produced in their Clwb gig was no fluke. It’s the kind of company they will no doubt be keeping in times ahead, although they still have their feet on the ground. “I don’t think we are going to do so many headline tours, but we’ll be trying to steal a few fans over the next couple of months through support. We don’t really know how big the album is going to go, so we’ll just play it by ear! Overall it’s a lot better than we were expecting, so we were chuffed to bits.

The CD had only been out a week and people were showing up who knew the words to all the songs, and it was like wow!”

The sky’s the limit for Straight Lines, especially if they can continue to produce tunes like those on the album which contains a lot of tracks considering it was quick in coming. “There were 10 songs, and then there was an 11th song which was Oh Blue Eyes, which is quite slow, and Tom said, ‘I’m not having the album finishing like this, its depressing’, so we wrote another song which seems to be everyone’s favourite, so it was a bit of a happy accident!” Indeed, closing track Set Me On Fire And Feed Me To The Wolves has a great sense of fun. It’s cool and bouncy and has a wicked sing-along.

However, to underline all the qualities of musicianship is the pure passion, desire and enthusiasm that Straight Lines have for making music. At the Clwb gig, this is not only transmitted through the live performance when Tom said: “We’ve got a lot of songs and we want you to hear them all”, but also comes through in the heartfelt energy of slower and mellower track All My Friends Have Joined The Army, and in the swinging sounds of Loose Change and new single Runaway Now, which was released as a digital download on 1st March. “I think it’s good to be lyrically strong on an album. All the songs are based on true stories. I guess they just range from songs about losing people in your life and relationships and friends joining the army. I think the easiest way to write lyrics is to write about things that have happened to you rather than just making stuff up.”

PLUGGED IN can reveal that the boys are already looking into the recording of album number two. “We’ve already started on the second album. We’ve already got a few tracks.” Let’s hope that they can grow and develop with the help of others. “Because we produced it ourselves, next time it’s going to be really nice to have someone else’s input on the record. When you do it yourself you are too close to it. You are on your own!”

Straight Lines are passionate, enigmatic and full of desire. And best of all they write damn good music. Without doubt, Straight Lines are truly awesome and heading for the top! myspace.com/straightlines

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Words and photograph by Darren Warner

O

n occasions here at PLUGGED IN, a CD drops through our door that opens our eyes even wider to the music that is coming out of Wales. In this issue alone we are featuring three very different Welsh artists that are breaking down the perceived view of the current music scene within this domain (Clingol on page 24-25, BillyGoneBad on page 30-31 and the singer/songwriter Luke Morgan aka Lucius). It was Lucius’s melodic guitar driven pop single Enemy with its synth loops and infectious beats that got us hooked and discovering that he was from Swansea we made a conscious decision to find out more.

Fast forward a few weeks and I find myself driving along the sea front in Aberavon, near Port Talbot, with its interesting collection of sculptures that stand strong against the skyline overlooking the bay towards Swansea in the distance. The day is bright but cold and the sculptures with their twisted frames and inter looping metal are stark against the deep blue sky that is reflected in the waters in front of us. I watch the dog walkers strolling the beach, briskly hurrying from the bitter wind that blows across its sandy lengths while waiting for the appointed time to meet the rising star whose track had been playing on my car’s stereo.

On arrival we settle down with a view out to sea and I ask Luke whether he thinks that living in Wales has hindered his progress because of the strong musical identity that is associated with the country.

“There really is a two-sided answer to that question. Living in Wales to a degree can put up a barrier, but that’s not due to the music scene itself it’s more of a location thing. One of the things I’ve had to battle with in the past with my former bands is people just expecting to play Cardiff or Swansea and get noticed.

Obviously that’s not true and you have to move further afield travelling to Bristol and London for a start. I’ve been getting a lot of airplay from a London radio station which is encouraging because that is the centre of the British music scene, so I need to follow it up.

Being here in the dark depths of Wales can appear to be a hindrance, if you let it. Saying that though, bands like LostProphets have really helped to put the country on the map and that can only be a good thing as it helps other bands that are trying to break through.

It makes you more hungry to get where you want to go. My surroundings have helped what I have created today with the nature of the Welsh culture influencing the music.”

We look out over the beautiful scene that is set in front of us and Luke adds, “I don’t want it any other way. I wouldn’t want to live in London because it would bring unnecessary

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frustrations and the hunger wouldn’t be the same or even there at all.”

Born and bred in Swansea, Luke says though he’s not from a musical background his father was always listening to artists like Bob Dylan, The Beatles and the infamous Chuck Berry.

“Chuck Berry was the first gig I ever attended with my father in St David’s Hall in Cardiff.

It was shortly after the gig that I picked up a guitar playing in school bands that were around at the time.”

Luke attended Olchfa Comprehensive School in Sketty, on the edge of The Gower. It was a school that encouraged songwriting and it was here that Luke starting writing at the age of 15. I mentioned that promoting song writing skills was unusual for a comprehensive school.

“Yeah, it was pretty cool. I think Olchfa was a pretty weird school at the time with lots of classically trained musicians alongside this bunch of guitarists. I was one of them and they didn’t really know what to do with us, almost saying. ‘You’re not going to learn sheet music so go away and write some songs instead.’ So that’s what I did and when it really started.

Of course with my father’s musical influences, especially Bob Dylan, I learnt how to structure a song. After school I went to Swansea University and got more involved with the local music scene, meeting many different people. I was in a couple of bands, one of which supported Funeral For A Friend at the Patti Pavilion in Swansea. We had a bit of label interest at that time, but just at a point when we seemed to be getting somewhere it all fell apart. At that point I decided if I wanted to move forward I was going to have to do it by myself and that’s when Lucius was born.”

So is it all you on Enemy? “Pretty much. I play everything except for the drums.”

It must be a lonely existence. “Very lonely at times. But it sort of works out well. I have total creative control but also have to learn to edit myself, which is one of the hardest things to do. Also it can be difficult to be self-critical though I have a good manager who is not afraid to voice his opinion and is honest with me. I’m a bit of a control freak really but what’s good is I can get away with it.”

Luke has a bit of a complicated musical listening history after getting into Bob Dylan, searching out alternative American stuff that was hard to find in Swansea and not really liking straight rock music. “The reason that Enemy and my other songs tend to stand out is that I didn’t want it to be typical 4:4 guitar rock. I wanted to add something more like keyboards to make it slightly different.”

I comment on there being a lot of different levels involved in the songs. “I work quite hard on each and every song to make it so you won’t

hear the usual cliches.”

Lucius’s music does stand out against the rest, but I ask Luke whether he feels that this could have a negative impact on his progress as many people within Wales tend to be afraid of experimenting with their musical tastes.

“Personally, though without trying to sound too much into my own self, I don’t really care.

I make what I want to make and I’ll put it out there. If the people like it then that’s great, if they don’t...well that’s great as well because I’ve got to have this attitude that’ll keep me sane. If I bow down to what other people want then I think it’ll be damaging. Being me, I believe in all honesty, will help my progress.”

The reviews of Enemy have been really positive, leading James McLaren of BBC Wales to regard it as “Frenetic indie pop with big choruses and an imagination” and others talking about the fact that it is totally unexpected from the Swansea source and something completely different.

“You have the Prophets and Funeral then you get hundreds of copy bands. I love those bands as well as many of the other great Welsh acts but they are them for their reasons while I’ve made my decision to do my music my way.

I must admit I did have one pretty negative review, though he was comparing me to his favourite band the Manic Street Preachers just because we both come from South Wales. It went something like ‘You don’t sound like the Manics...’ A bit pointless really.”

And so what about the future? “An EP is the next option. I spent last year writing songs and being really hard on myself and have between 22-24 that I’m happy with and ready to go. I’ll record three tracks at Screamadelica in Cardiff and put that out soon after.”

Will the EP be self-financed? “Pretty much, I work full-time and have to be wise in what I do making a conscious decision to only perform acoustically at present as it’s cheaper than putting together a full band.”

I say that he really believes in himself. “Yes. I’ve progressed so much in the past 10 years getting to a position I’m happy to be in with the songs that I’ve created that I’ve only got positive thoughts and believe they will go a long way.”

And so our short time together ends, with the waves in the distance lapping gently on the shore. I like the sea’s relentless motion and see it as a metaphore for Luke’s relentless waves of positivity. A positivity that will surely carry his singular vision and unpredictable talent forward. www.myspace.com/luciusmusic Enemy is available from all major download sites including Amazon and i-Tunes

Words by Jake Healy

Photograph by Stina Preece

www.myspace.com/billygonebad The album The Acceptable Face Of Rioting is available now

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B

illy Gone Bad is the alias of Matthew Strangis, a Drum ’n’ Bass artist from Cardiff who tries to focus exclusively on self-created sounds, giving him a unique voice in the sample-dominated world of dance music.

He’s making a big splash in Wales and the rest of the UK, as proven by the praise given to him by some particularly influential Radio One presenters. PLUGGED IN caught up with him to discuss influences, the Welsh dance music scene and retro video game systems.

Tell us a bit about growing up, were you always a creative kid?

I was never an ultra confident sing/dance/ perform-at-every-opportunity, Disney Club type of kid, but I always enjoyed creative stuff like drawing, art/craft and writing. I felt more of an affinity for arts-based subjects at school rather than maths and science, and I used to enjoy experimenting with the creative possibilities of my old Spectrum computer, messing around with art, desktop publishing and video titling software packages.

How did you get in to making music?

Sadly, being forced to play the recorder at school never quite did it for me, but I’d loved music from a young age. By the time I was 15, I’d started to teach myself to play the guitar. It was an instrument I could relate to, and I thought it’d be a good way to immerse myself in music more. I started buying guitar magazines so that I could learn how to play other people’s songs, and this eventually inspired me to try writing my own music. From then on things just kept spiralling — the more I experimented with writing and recording, the more I wanted to write and record! Playing with other musicians and discovering new equipment, as well as new bands, genres, DJs and club nights, all influenced me to want to make more music.

You moved to Cardiff to study in university and have lived here ever since, what was it that attracted you to the city?

I have many good memories of visiting Cardiff for day trips when I was a kid living in Merthyr — Chip Alley, arcade machines, Spillers Records, buying computer games in Toys-R-Us, the smell of Wally’s Delicatessen — so I think part of it was nostalgia. Also, in the couple of years before I went to university, I’d travelled to Cardiff to see loads of bands play live so I knew the city could offer a lot of excitement.

It’s also got a good cultural variety considering it’s so compact.

How did you get interested in dance music?

Although my earliest tastes in music were for acts like Adam & The Ants and Madness, The Prodigy were probably the first dance act I became a big fan of — hearing their tune Out Of Space for the first time blew me away, it had so much energy! In the mid-90s, artists like the Chemical Brothers, Leftfield, Bentley Rhythm Ace and Underworld got me more and more into dance music, especially after I saw them all play live in Newport and Cardiff. My brother got me into d&b in the early 2000s through Ed Rush & Optical’s The Creeps album, and by encouraging me to see DJs live in Cardiff. I remember us sneaking into a d&b event which was being held above a rock night in Clwb Ifor Bach years ago!

What influences you to do what you do?

Music’s been my obsession for so long I don’t often take a step back to consider that!

Loads of things feed each other in terms of

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW inspiration. Hearing inspiring artists, wanting to create something which might inspire other people, appreciating how much music-related technology has moved on over the years and the freedom it offers…plus needing an outlet from the mundane things like the office job!

How do you create a song? Is it the beat that comes first or is there some sort of weird sound or melody you create that you build around?

I think it all depends on what mood I’m in, If I’m in a technically minded (and patient!) one then I’d normally start off with the beats.

Other times I might just want to get some lyric, melody or bass ideas down quickly and roughly whilst they’re fresh in my head, and then I‘d work off them. Sometimes it’s nice to start off by spending time mangling sounds with various processors until you come up with something inspiring. I also write stupid amounts of notes to myself about what to do on existing tunes, or what to do for future songs, whenever ideas come to me. If I’m walking around I’ll write them on my phone!

Do you think artists who just rehash old melodies from 80s one-hit wonders are holding back the possibilities of what dance music can do?

The sample/rehash debate is a tricky one.

Personally, I like creating new sounds as I like the process, and also the fact that no-one else will have that particular sound in their song. At the same time, I also respect the fact that drum and bass’s history is completely intertwined with the art of sampling, and I appreciate that it can create genuinely new and interesting sounds, and it can make people see things in a new light. Unfortunately, I agree that on the flip side, too many people in the music world just rely on lazy sampling and rehashing old tunes as a way of avoiding doing anything new or challenging. A reliance on familiarity is a quick and easy way to engage people’s attention. Tried and tested formulas are a shortcut in the world of money making.

Some of your less drum ’n’ bass sounding songs on your myspace, such as the excellent Capiche?, brings to mind acid house music from the late 80s and early 90s. Does any of that stuff influence you or do I need to start thinking more modern?

I’m no expert on that scene but its influence has been felt down the line by so many people, such as The Chemical Brothers who I’m a massive fan of, that it makes sense. I remember I was going for a more old skool vibe on the drums on that tune, and I’ve also used old Roland 101 and 202 synths on my tunes, which might well explain your comment!

Here’s another influence I think I picked up on in your music, mainly through the sounds you’ve created yourself. Again it’s older and obscure, but it’s something I’ve wanted dance artists to be influenced by for a very long time — Sega Mega Drive soundtracks.

Am I right? I do hope I’m right, because that would be awesome.

I’m sure you’re right! It’s not something I consciously think of when I’m writing, but the Mega Drive was a big part of my childhood, along with the Spectrum, the Amiga, the NES and arcade games like Gauntlet and Ghosts & Goblins, so I’m sure they’ve all had an impact on me. Thinking about it, when I was young, I worked out how to play the music from the Spectrum version of Robocop on my guitar…

I’m sure other kids had better things to do!

What do you think of the way dance music is looked upon in Wales? It’s very big with students, of course, but do you think it deserves more attention from the majority?

When I was growing up in Merthyr, there was very little in the way of an alternative music scene there, especially for dance music. Wales has few major cities, so away from the student orientated bigger areas, we haven’t always had the resources to cater for the widest range of musical tastes. From a mainstream point of view, many people might also still think of Wales in terms of rock rather than dance. I think if you look more closely, things are looking positive. The success of High Contrast has put Wales on the map in terms of drum and bass, and the internet means that people can check out alternative styles of dance music through downloads and digital radio stations, regardless of what their local night club plays. Escape In The Park has built up a very respectful reputation for itself and promoters are working to ensure that a variety of big dance names are visiting Wales. So I think some of that majority have been pricking up their ears!

Following the many other bands and genres you’ve been involved in, is this drum ’n’ bass work just another phase or is it something you intend to stick with?

I’ve been producing drum ’n’ bass/breaks for around five years now, but I still feel there’s a huge amount left to enjoy experimenting with within the genres, and there’s always the challenge of pushing the production levels further, so it’s definitely something I intend to stick with. But at the same time, I don’t like pigeonholes so it’s always nice to try something different in the background!

Say someone wants to get into drum ’n’ bass music, or maybe even the whole of realm of dance music, what releases or compilations would you recommend?

For me, Andy C’s Nightlife compilation is a perfect testament to why drum ’n’ bass is so exciting. For darker tastes, Ed Rush & Optical’s The Creeps is a classic, hypnotic album which has an amazing ability to get under your skin.

Some metal fans might be able to relate to releases by Tech Itch, Cooh or Dylan, who are at the heavier end of the d&b spectrum.

Royksopp and Lemon Jelly are great for chilling out and for the barbecue season! I think the more you look into dance and electronic music, the more variety you’ll discover.

Finally, as we enter the new decade, which surely promises lots of new bands and ideas and maybe even genres of music, what do you think is the future of drum ’n’ bass?

Although there’s a lot of good stuff coming out, I also think d&b is currently getting a bit swamped with both Dubstep and Pendulum clones, as happens with any musical genre when a style within it gets popular. So I think we’ll see a lot more of that, but I’m sure we’ll also see other artists react against it and push things back into more challenging directions. Who knows, we’re at the stage where so much has been done in music that to do something completely new and unique is seemingly becoming pretty much impossible.

Most crossovers have been tried, but you never know when something inspiring will emerge as a surprise! Maybe in the meantime we’ll get a barber shop quartet drum ’n’ bass act, or one featuring a Welsh male voice choir, with 15 guys providing a lovely low end bass sound!

PLUGGED IN

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Photograph by Darren Warner

A

fter watching the unique and brilliant Welsh folk band play another powerful live performance that was a vibrantly happy affair at the Taliesin Theatre in Swansea, PLUGGED IN asked the guys to tell us about themselves.

Geoff and Linda have known each other for years — grew up as nearly-neighbours, went to the same school and were both involved in the running of the Islwyn Folk Club, sometimes frequented by Chris. Geoff was also a member of a groundbreaking Valleys band The Chartists.

However, the real common denominator was Garden Festival Wales in 1992. Geoff, Linda and Kate all worked there and Chris used to perform there as a 25-year old child prodigy accordionist and dancer.

It was only after GFW that things started to come together. Chris had heard that Kate played the flute and finally persuaded her to play a bit for the Brynmarw folk dance group — and also to join his friends Geoff and Linda for the odd twmpath gig. At the time Geoff was working for Action Aid and Chris and Linda were joining him for fundraising events as The Jones Gang.

It might have been Geoff who said he fancied a trip to Ireland, but strangely the very next day Kate received a call from Declan from the Brideswell International Celtic Festival asking her if she could put him in touch with some Welsh musicians who could help fulfil the “International” bit of their brief. Kate made up the Allan Yn Y Fan name on the spot because their brochure was about to go to print.

That first trip to Ireland was an eye-opener because it proved that we had something to offer — and that other people beyond Wales were interested in hearing our Welsh music.

At the beginning of our first Irish session there were some terse comments about “playing it right” when Chris first launched into his high-energy accordion power chords — but, amazingly, he just ignored it and carried on playing in his own inimitable style. We all thought he had either been very brave or completely mad, but it later transpired that he hadn’t actually heard the comment! Luckily for us, our Irish colleagues decided that they quite liked our unconventional style and “attitude”, so we were allowed to get away with it! This started a long-term friendship that continues to this day.

Initially, much of our music was based around playing for dances, but the Irish trips encouraged us to include more and more tune slots as well — and to write some stuff ourselves. Our first album Off The Map reflects our Irish connections (or as a journalist once put it, our “creeping Hiberianism”) with Declan’s Dilemma, Air Miles On The Irish Ferry, Hoffed Minnie Sullivan, The Roscrea Triangle and Famous Jimmy Murray.

Much as we love playing traditional Celtic tunes, we are also passionate about creating our own music and contributing to “the living tradition”. Our own tunes are often inspired

by the people we meet and places we visit.

Pieces such as Girl On A Rock, Amazing Grapes and Affordir Llydaw from our second CD Belonging reflect this trend – although food is also another common theme (Chris has even written a set of tunes celebrating the delicious French patisserie we once had for breakfast).

The foursome became a quintet in 2002 when Emma Trend joined us for a Queen’s Jubilee event and we realised the benefits of having a fiddle player in the line up. Meriel Field took over from Emma at the end of 2007.

There was no “decision” to follow this particular musical route, we just play the music that we enjoy. We also like to share decent Welsh music with a wider audience so that people don’t think that Celtic music is just what comes out of Scotland and Ireland.

We are proud of our Valleys connection, and like the idea of putting the area on the map, even though our style probably wouldn’t win us any Eisteddfod prizes!

There are always people around who enjoy a good tune, so if we don’t fit into the current climate of pop that’s fine by us. It may be true that Welsh music is more appreciated outside Wales. We’ve made several tours to the European mainland where we’ve been very well received (complete with floral tributes and ridiculous rock star riders).

The direction we’ve taken musically rarely achieves massive commercial success, but that’s not our goal in life. What drives us forward is wanting to do things as well as we can and to keep changing and improving.

It’s important to keep moving forward and stretching ourselves. We think that our CDs demonstrate this progression — we don’t ever want to be in a time warp or complacent.

Performing well in a decent venue or sharing a stage with some of our favourite performers, definitely gives us a thrill. As several members of the band have a great deal of experience in running festivals and venues, we have a pretty good idea of what promoters want, and we always aim to deliver what is needed and get invited back.

There’s a still a good market for twmpaths — particularly for weddings. Even though this might not have the kudos of performing in a major festival, we still want to do good job and maintain a reputation for being the best, although it is annoying when people think of us as just a twmpath band.

We also love the fact that our music takes us to some weird and wonderful places including some marvellously eccentric and quirky gigs that are frankly unmissable in our reckoning, including The Nordlingen Mediaeval festival where we were flanked by a hatchet throwing competition and a bathtub full of naked Germans; playing outdoors in a blizzard at Rhug Farmer’s Market; launching a new brand bottle of wine on the deck of an old fishing boat; sharing champagne and cake with some extremely lucky residents of a French old people’s home — we’ve already put our names

down for rooms there!

As for influences and inspirations for our latest album, well definitely the biggest influence this time has been the adoption of Meriel Field into the band, giving us a great vocalist as well as a fiddle player. This has inspired us all to sing — and the Welsh language traditional songs help consolidate our identify as a Welsh band and hopefully this will open doors for us as in the past, as instrumentalists, we’ve often been beneath the radar. Our version of Ar Hyd Y Nos with the three girls singing in harmony together is quite unlike anything else we have done before (especially as it also features a string quartet in the arrangement).

Another big influence was the wonderful cottage we stayed at while we were working up the material for the CD. It had a stunning view of the Brecon Beacons and we thought it deserved a tune of its own (Trosnant), becoming the CDs title track. It’s a big broad air that mirrors that amazing view.

Some of the songs (such as Moliannwn and Deio I Dwyn) were deliberately chosen to cheer up our repertoire as some of our favourite songs tend to be a bit on the morbid side. It’s really not the done thing to sing Lisa Lan at a wedding, so we wanted to include something a bit more jolly.

As ever, a lot of our own material is inspired by the people we have met — this new CD contains pieces commemorating our German friend Thomas Roth’s hospitality (Castell Thomas), Kate’s mum’s stint as Mayor of Teignmouth (Madam Mayor) and our Caller Gina’s manic preparations for her recent nuptials (Ms Gina Morgan’s Delight At The Prospect Of Matrimony). We had an alternative title for the latter — but it was banned!

We’ve also borrowed some tunes from our favourite performers, with some offerings gathered from Brian McNeill, Emily Smith and Stephen Rees.

Every time we record a CD we surprise ourselves with an unexpected musical encounter. On Off The Map it was a piece where we weaved two tunes together, playing them both simultaneously (Tipsy Butterfly).

When we recorded Belonging, it was the dreamy slowed down version of The Road To Lisdoonvarna. The one that has crept in beneath the radar is Abergenni, a stately dance that sounds like something straight out of a Tudor great hall. It’s completely different from everything else on the album.

We’re currently touring the album in Wales, Ireland and Germany, and have some great festivals to look forward to. As for the future, we’d really like to be better known on the festival/concert circuit, release a “Greatest Hits” album, collaborate with the Ministry Of Sound on the dance remix version and get asked to do the soundtrack for the next British blockbuster film! www.myspace.com/allanynyfan

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Words by Gail Griffiths

T

Photograph by Darren Warner

he new album Be Human by FightStar is a brilliant piece of rock which I think has set a level that’s brought the band out into a class of their own. I asked Charlie to explain why he believed the band had made such a good album.

“I think this album was very ambitious by nature. We tried to incorporate a vast spectrum of sounds whether it is from instruments or voices, which I think helped to make the record sound so big. Using the orchestra to create a cinematic background for some of the songs was also something that I think contributed hugely to the sound of the record.”

So do the boys regard this album as a call to arms, encouraging fans to ask questions?

“We hope it does. It’s always nice when fans take things from our lyrics. I like to think that our songs mean different things to different people. We are not a band that likes to preach our own views to people, but instead raise the questions that we believe people should take an interest in and let them investigate the answers for themselves. On the other hand when we are writing about relationships, there can be a connection with people that have been in the same situation and so it’s nice to think that a song we have written could be helping someone through a difficult time.”

I wondered what question Charlie would like to ask right now and who it would be directed at. “I would probably ask the US government exactly what happened to Building 7 on 11th September 2001?”

It’s good to see an anti-war song (War Machine) on the album. Do you believe that protest is dead, with most people being too busy watching the X-Factor to really care?

“I think that as long as the war is going on there will always be people protesting to end it.

There are some very brave individuals fighting for our country at the moment and no amount of sh*t reality TV will ever make this country forget that.”

What then are your favourite inspiring songs of protest? “I think that Rage Against The Machine get it pretty bang on when it comes to antiwar songs! I also like the song Pure Massacre by Silverchair.”

You say about the track The English Way that “Everyone’s ashamed of being English, I wanted to capture a positive appreciation of our country.” Why do you believe that the English are scared of shouting about their national identity?

“I don’t think people are ashamed of being English, the reason we wrote the song The English Way was because I felt as though we had lost a slight sense of patriotism of late that I see on display on a daily basis when travelling around Wales, Scotland and Ireland. We should be proud of being English and not be afraid to show it. We know quite a few bands from Wales and they all seem very patriotic and proud of where they come from. There seems to be a

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great sense of camaraderie when we are on tour with Welsh bands.”

Recently the LostProphets returned to the school where three of the members were pupils to perform an exclusive live set. Do you think that playing at such a grass roots level would be something FightStar would ever consider doing?

“Yeah I think that would be a lot of fun to do.

I did actually go back to my school recently to judge a battle of the bands competition which I really enjoyed doing. It was great walking through the old music halls where I used to rehearse with my bands.”

And would you want to return to your own schools to play live — or do you have memories of some very scary teachers?

“I would definitely consider playing a show at my old school. I got on really well with most of my teachers at school, especially my music teachers, and so it would be nice to go back and see them again.”

Why did you decide to self-release your album rather than staying in the safe confines of a record label?

“I think that with the current state of the music industry there aren’t necessarily any ‘safe confines’ anymore, so it seemed like the best thing to do for us was just take everything into our own hands and be in control of our own destiny. We had learnt a lot from making the first two records, both on the production side and the record company side, so it felt like a natural progression for us to do it ourselves at that point in time.”

FightStar

Millennium Music Hall, Cardiff FightStar hit town and despite the deceptive lull of activity outside the venue, upstairs was buzzing — illustrated by the EPIC queue at the bar. After lively support from the Xcerts, the man of the hour Charley Simpson entered the stage, introducing the band, met by a massive roar from the crowd. The hype was pretty big for this gig and the fans weren’t going to be disappointed.

A City On Fire, from their album Be Human, filled the room with an extremely catchy riff that echoed in my head for days. Instantly the venue witnessed a sizable circlepit, and with FS and the crowd bouncing off each other a really exciting atmosphere was created. The English Way was met with yet more screams from the crowd, the slightly more chilled, but still with FightStar’s unique symphonic rock style was a contrast to some older songs that were played but still fitted in well with the feeling of the set.

After a well deserved encore, FS left the stage with echoes of “We want more” ringing around the room. A good night and good show, despite the wait for a drink! JAMES BANNISTER

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

MiniViva are the latest pop-duo sensation, Britt Love and Frankee Connolly, who crashed into the charts with their debut single Left My Heart In Tokyo and are following up that success with a soon-to-be-released album later this year.

PLUGGED IN asked Britt what’s it like to be hailed as the next big thing. “We want to be at the top of our game and so to be regarded as the next big thing is amazing. We’d love to be as big as Girls Aloud.” But don’t you feel pressurised? “No not really...well maybe, but it’s a good pressure.”

Flip back a year and a half. Frankee had spent three months in a small-time girl-band in her home city of Manchester when a request came through on their myspace page for the band to audition for the Hit Factory that is Xenomania.

Britt was at a breakdancing competition in her native Newcastle when her mum spotted a flyer from the production team looking for girls to audition for them. “To be honest, I didn’t want to do it,” Britt told us. “I didn’t believe that anyone would be interested in me or my singing.”

As it turns out, it was to change both of their lives. Before that audition, the biggest audience the girls had individually sung to was an audience of one: in the mirror, in classic girl-pop education tradition, with a hairbrush.

“At the audition we both just clicked, chatting away at the back while the other stage-school girls tried to out-do themselves by singing. It’s that rapport that make us perfect for each other.”

I mused that due to the fact we haven’t really had a glut of girlie pop duos in recent times, MiniViva have been likened to 80s hitmakers Mel & Kim. So what was Britt’s feelings on being likened to the Respectable duo?

“Being compared to Mel & Kim is great. What a brilliant and inspirational act to be placed alongside. Though I must admit I’m not into those 80s shoulder pads! We have a totally different sound and really the only similarity is the fact that we’re a girl duo.”

But, of course, the pop world is a fickle thing.

So how are MiniViva going to make your mark and stand out above the other pop acts in this ferocious market? “Our album and music will prove the talent we have. We wrote over 80 per cent of the content and we add a quirky take on today’s pop scene that will set a new level to the music currently out there.”

I sit in my car on my mobile phone with the hills of the Welsh Valleys in front of me listening to Britt chat away, and both things together add a brightness to the gloomy day. She’s perky, enthusiastic and unaffected by the storm that, together with Frankee, they are creating — casually mentioning the fact that she saw Bono in a restaurant recently.

I asked her about coming to Wales. “Wales.

Aren’t you the country with the dragon on the flag?” Err...yes. “We’ve been there before and have recently supported dance troupe and Britain’s Got Talent winners Diversity at the CIA.” They also played Rhyl in March.

So who knows the fate of this latest pop duo?

If infectious laughter and positivity created fame alone then these girls will be topping the charts forever. They have a talent, as proven by the releases so far with their hi-NRG grooves, and I’m sure will impact on your i-pod soon. www.myspace.com/miniviva

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Lady GaGa

Cardiff International Arena Since being plucked from obscurity and given a support slot by the Pussycat Dolls, Lady Gaga has become a phenomenon all over the world in just over a year. Her marketing has been superb because, let’s face it, she’s a bit out there for the mainstream music scene. But the public, or “little monsters” as she refers to them, have been captivated by her style and glamour and discovered a really good songwriter who knows how to entertain. Just going to this gig proved this to me.

The gig was more like a musical than anything, with Gaga herself telling the story of the Monsters Ball in between songs. I didn’t quite get what the story of the Monsters Ball was, as I was just mesmerised by the many ‘odd’ things happening on the stage — but I think she describes it as, “Where all the freaks are outside and I locked the doors.” Now I’m no fashion guru but the costumes on display were truly amazing and two stand-out ones for me were the mechanical dress and something that looked like a furry tooth with a little peephole! Weird you say? But that is just something we have come to expect and what keeps the whole Gaga thing interesting — otherwise she would just be another run-of-the-mill pop diva, albeit one with some really good songs. Looking around the CIA all I could see was Gaga wanabees showing their love for her — and as her silhouette appeared on a black canvass on the stage the crowd went wild. At a little under two hours long the show seemed to fly by, even with the costume changes. She performed all the favourites from the recently released double album Fame Monster and with impeccable vocals, which is a craft considering she has these tight choreographed dances to perform at the same time! The stand-out part of the show for me was when she took to the piano in her bra and panties (keep it together!) and performed Speechless and Brown Eyes.

Speechless is one of my favourite tracks and really shows Lady Gaga’s ability as a songwriter, and I think the lyrics have a deeper meaning to her. Brown Eyes was just a magical and memorable performance as she spiced things up a bit halfway into the track and changed the style of the song to something a bit more jazzy and swinglike. She was playing a grand piano for these tracks, but I have to tell you that the piano was actually on fire! Gaga doesn’t crumble, crash or burn during these tracks and with so much going on, she just gets on with the job and delivers a stunning performance — which she carries on for the whole show. So much time and effort is put into her shows so that she can show her appreciation to her adoring fans, but she had one more trick up her sleeve. In her performance of Paparazzi, someone special joins Lady Gaga on stage...yes, you guessed it — not! It’s a 20ft giant mechanical inflatable sea monster! All this comes to a climatic end of the night with one of the biggest songs of last year, Bad Romance. Everyone singing, everyone happy, everyone different, everyone the same. Lady Gaga stunned Cardiff and I am proud to say that I went gaga for Gaga. GARY BOLSOM

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Richmond Fontaine Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff

Six months after headlining RCT’S Across The Border Festival at Pontypridd’s Muni Arts Centre, seminal American band Richmond Fontaine were back in South Wales again, this time playing to a packed out Clwb Ifor Bach on St David’s Day. Frontman Willy Vlautin, good-naturedly sporting a daffodil to mark the occasion, has been enjoying huge critical acclaim recently for his third book Lean On Pete, and it’s his novelists eye for detail that remains the band’s trump card and makes tonight’s gig such an emotional experience. After the opening salvo, the scorching instrumental El Tiradito, the band play a brace of songs from last year’s exceptional album, We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River. The Boyfriends typically stark tale is enriched

by Paul Brainard’s sombre trumpet, whilst on 43 the band kick up one hell of a racket as Willy, predicting disaster, hollers “It’s gonna hit” in increasingly manic fashion. Rollicking versions of the band’s alternative Country classics Capsized and Two Alone keep the crowd firmly on-side, but it’s the plaintive ballads Allison Johnson, Two Broken Hearts and Postcard Written With A Broken Hand, that reveal the compassion Vlautin has for the bewildered loners that wander the wracked landscape of his songs, and that provide the night’s most truly affecting moments. It may be some time before Richmond Fontaine, purveyors of the finest Americana of the decade, play these shores again. So nothing remains, except to go out and buy the records — every last one you can find — to read and re-read the books, and to wish Willy and the Boys a safe passage home. KEVIN McGRATH

30 Seconds To Mars Cardiff International Arena 30 Seconds To Mars religiously promise an unforgettable experience at their concerts and from start to finish this one did not disappoint.

Support LostAlone opened the night with their heavy brand of rock, complete with sharp guitar riffs and melodic vocals. They were energetic and lively, with catchy hits such as Unleash The Sands Of All Time and Blood Is Sharp guaranteed to be future crowd-pleasers.

The band was confident and their style was upbeat and cocky, bringing a lively mood with them However, by the end of the set the crowd had lost interest, which was unfortunate as the band deserved more attention — especially as famous fans include Hayley Williams of Paramore and Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden. Look out for them, as they show a lot of potential for the future. Street Drum Corps began their set wearing Slipknot–style masks and beating an aluminium drum in an aggressive fashion — definitely an interesting start. Their music combined brutally heavy drum beats with electronic and dance melodies with a punk edge, which really livened up the crowd and got everyone moving. Their singer was energetic, leaping around the stage, dancing to the music, screaming out lyrics and soaking himself, and most of the front row, with water. This animated performance made them obvious crowd–pleasers, and there were several comments made about how innovative and original they were — one drummer pounded out rhythms on a stainless steel dustbin using a baseball bat. Street Drum Corps definitely made an impact, and their past touring success with 30 Seconds To Mars and Linkin Park hints that they will continue to be an adventurous and popular hit on the alternative music scene. After a lengthy wait which left everyone in suspense, 30 Seconds To Mars took to the stage accompanied by a troupe of drummers. They launched straight into album opener Escape, which ends with a stirring roar of

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This Is War!, immediately followed by the dark and edgy Night Of The Hunter. In the course of their set, they played hits from A Beautiful Lie, ranging from the title track to favourites such as Attack and From Yesterday, as well as numerous tracks from their latest album This is War!, including Closer To The Edge, Search & Destroy and their new single which is the title track. Jared Leto worked the crowd effortlessly — his stage presence being so strong that he only had to say “Hello” to be greeted by roars and cheers which never fully died down. Drummer Shannon Leto and guitarist Tomo Milichevic, although silent, provided an enigmatic mood, especially with their atmospheric performance of L490, complete with the Gothic–sounding chanting of monks at the close. They utilised the entire room, Jared one minute appearing on the balcony to perform an acoustic version of A Modern Myth to an entranced audience, the next magically materializing onto the B stage with Tomo and Shannon, wrapped in a Welsh flag, to play Buddha For Mary from their self-titled first album, and a stunning rendition of The Kill, introduced by Jared as “A little song we wrote on the train.”

There were some minor disappointments, such as the band expecting the crowd to sing along to some tracks from the new album, but most people didn’t know the words, and the often wearing banter from Leto, as well as long waits whilst the band returned to the main stage which dragged out the set unnecessarily. However, these did not spoil the experience and the invitation for fans to join the band on the stage was well received by everyone. The set ended with a rousing Kings & Queens — which Leto called “Epic” on his Twitter page later — and everyone left the CIA completely satisfied. An outstanding performance from 30 Seconds To Mars, and one which will be difficult to beat — and, of course, no one will forget Jared Leto’s mohawk. NIA LIVERSUCH

GLC

Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff Goldie Lookin’ Chain’s pre-Christmas gig went down a treat at Clwb Ifor Bach. Hosting the bash as only they could the Chain wowed the crowd with slick moves that put MC Hammer to shame. The Clwb was packed out with die-hard fans, chomping at the golden bit to party with team GLC, in fancy dress of course as is almost a requirement at a GLC shindig. Fans bounced to the slamming base that pounded the walls to the beat of HRT, Guns Don’t Kill People, Rappers Do and Half-Man Half-Machine. As the set progressed, the temperature rose until boiling point when in one spontaneous flood the dripping crowd lurched over speakers and onto the stage, joining the band in an all-out hectic rave. Most bands would back off at this point, but the Chain rocked on into the night being the very bad influence that they are. As in any GLC gig as a member of the audience you have to expect the unexpected and true to form Adam emerged from backstage donned in an inflatable Santa suit. Christmas was kicked off by a rapping Father Christmas — safe as f**k! JAMES BANNISTER

Photograph by James Bannister

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Call Me Albert

King’s Arms, Abergavenny The launch of a new album wasn’t an occasion to pass up. I’d seen Albert at Blaenavon Blues Festival and in Hereford and had been impressed, so it was a chance to check out how they sounded now. The King’s Arms (great venue) was packed. Support act was Huw Chidgey (great voice and material, worth following up), and there was real anticipation in the crowd. Call Me Albert were bang on time for the first of two sets.

They didn’t disappoint. Kicking off with Blues Band number Come On In, they were tight, powerful and buzzing. Then straight into a couple of their own tracks — from their first album, and very good too — and a storming On The Road Again. Then came the new songs from album Blue Eyed, scattered throughout both sets and excellent. Call Me Albert really do play the blues (slow burner Place Of Safety and barnstorming Slow Down particularly outstanding), but the songs also stretch boundaries to take in rock, jazz and folk. CMA mixed their own songs with classics blues covers, and were hard driving, tight as hell and clearly having a ball. The lively banter with a very enthusiastic crowd was led by vocalist and harpmeister Big Rich. Rob Feasey (bass) and Paul Worthington (drums) were rock solid and uncluttered, topped off with Rich Jones’s storming lead guitar. The band were on stage for over two hours in total, rounding off with Pride Of The Working Man, the final track from the new album, and a full-throated anthem on the 25th anniversary of the Miners’ Strike. Encores were loudly called for and loudly delivered! A cracking gig, and the CD sounds just as good.

One to watch! RICHARD EVANS

Ffred Jones

Buffalo Bar, Cardiff Thursday 25th March saw hundreds of cities across the world coming together in support of education for all, hosting local events to raise money for the global phenomenon known as “Twestival” — the Twitter Festival. WelshUnsigned aficionado Bethan Elfyn did her part by hosting a gig in Cardiff and integrating the event with the new EP launch for Ffred Jones: Feed The Fire.

Although the dismal weather did its best to keep folks away, the start of the night saw a budding crowd of 20-30 supporters turn out to form a sophisticated mid-20s audience, which grew throughout the night until the venue was crammed full to bursting.

First on stage was Joshua Caole, who managed to immediately silence the room with his soft guitar and gentle vocals, which built to a crescendo incorporating his powerful voice.

With a gentle, somewhat melancholic style of bluegrass, Joshua proved himself a capable musician — with a notable performance of Running After You and a moving tribute to the late Alex Chiltern.

Under The Driftwood Tree followed up with a profusion of styles, techniques and instruments as they injected a little more rhythm and picked the pace up a bit. Starting with a ukulele, bass, lead guitar and brush work on drums, the group moved on to include other instruments throughout their set, such as harmonica and didgeridoo. Adopting a reggae-style, relaxed feel to the set, the band really knew how to pull in and play to the crowd, with some refreshingly inspired songs.

Especially entertaining was the mash up of covers, including TLC’s No Scrubs, turning into Will Smith’s Fresh Prince rap, then Macy Gray’s I Try, and so on, with some brilliant handdrums work. Finishing the set with a piratestyle song, the group were a definite crowd-

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pleaser, who turned up the energy and really set the festival spirit going.

At the apex of the night were Ffred Jones and the finale of Spindle & Wit. When Bethan appeared to remind everyone of the fire juggling entertainment that was happening outside, the raffle taking place later that night, and to introduce Ffred to an enthusiastic audience, the event really had developed a festival feel.

Playing the opening track from his new album, Ffred was well received and the song was given a great reception. The whole set was inspiring, with an amazing rendition of Stand

By Me on guitar, with Ffred’s stunning vocals really doing the song justice. Somewhere Over The Rainbow was also covered, garnering the full attention of the audience; and as the set developed, so too did the songs and styles — with Ffred moving on to add drum and bass guitar for his next track. Overall, Ffred Jones certainly did himself justice and took the opportunity to promote the fact that the EP was available to buy from iTunes, with half the profit of all sales being donated to Ty Hafan children’s hospice — a brilliant artist, supporting a brilliant cause.

Spindle & Wit brought the live music portion to an end, following Ffred with a full, fastpaced band. The London-based indie quintet brought in an Irish/drinking feel to the night and reminded the audience that, despite the serious nature of the causes being supported that night, festivals were still all about having fun and letting loose. DJ Bethan was then joined by Lady Fi, from the Vinyl Vendettas, to finish off the night with music that went on til past my bedtime. Overall, the Twestival was great fun, with a variety of music and entertainment crammed into the diminutive bar. Add in the enjoyment of an album launch and you have a great night out! WEDNESDAY

Paramore

Cardiff International Arena If you had been walking through Cardiff High Street at six o’clock in the evening of the 14th of December, you may be forgiven for thinking that the city, or even the world, had been taken over by teenagers. In fact, for that day only, teenagers did rule over Cardiff — most of them your average common-or-garden teenager, but occasionally you might have caught a glimpse of the rare and most probably quite famous variety that were hoping to go unnoticed amongst the crowds, but who would later be on display in front of hundreds of people, showing off their talents without the inhibitions they had previously held. Because it must be acknowledged that every single band onstage that night consisted of teenagers hardly older than those giggling excitedly through Cardiff, yet they are already — or are on their way towards being — massively famous, selling millions of records worldwide (Paramore even knocked Madonna off the top spot in the UK album charts with their latest album Brand New Eyes) and boasting countless numbers of fans. They are young, they are free, and they want to take over the world.

The atmosphere inside the CIA was crackling with electricity by the time the first support band Now, Now Every Children took to the stage. Their soaring, atmospheric music obviously transfixed a large proportion of the audience, but unfortunately did nothing for the others. They plunged straight into their short set without introduction (not even mentioning their name or those of their songs), and left the stage, and a mostly unmoved audience, swiftly. This was a great shame, as the energy and drive was obviously there and their songs, once sampled on YouTube, show great promise. There is also a certain appealing similarity between the sentiments they express and those of Paramore’s — Hayley Williams raved about them in a recent interview and has been spotted sporting their T-shirt. But unfortunately tonight was not their night, possibly due to technical difficulties or to the difficulties experienced with a crowd who wanted desperately to see the more wellknown acts.

Paper Rough burst onto the stage with a lot more energy and bounce than Now, Now Every Children. Their bubbly and energetic lead singer jumped about the stage, shouting encouragement to the crowd and advertising at every possible moment that the band’s merchandise was on sale. Their music was more upbeat and with a heavier edge to it, and the band’s excitement was extremely infectious. Although they were the less well– known of the support bands they managed to engage the crowd effectively, and to have everyone jumping and dancing by the end of their set. A band to definitely watch out for in the future.

Unsurprisingly, the room filled with wild screams when YouMeAtSix bounded onto the stage — they were as much a part of the appeal of the concert as Paramore. They have received a lot of press recently, and this year has been a good one for them as their set definitely showed. They blasted out the hits

off their first album Take Off Your Colours, including Kiss & Tell, Finders Keepers and Save It For The Bedroom, to a crowd who couldn’t get enough. The band’s frontman, Josh Franceschi, entertained with his mid– set chitchat and his joking threats aimed at anyone who didn’t join the circle pit that he created in the crowd, and this increased the rapport that the band had with the crowd.

Tracks from their new album, Hold Me Down, were premiered during their set and seemed as upbeat and poppy as their predecessors.

An unexpected but extremely welcome event was the involvement of Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams during Always Attract, showing how close the bands have become during their heavy touring schedule. YouMeAtSix definitely lit up the stage, and their energetic set shows that they deserve every success that they have achieved, and will achieve in the future.

Finally, after the seemingly unbearable wait which created a tension as taut as a tightrope, Paramore appeared. Launching straight into their hour-long set with no need for an introduction they proved how they have risen to the fame and idol worship normally reserved for gods in such a short time, with energetic rhythm and guitar playing and the power of Hayley Williams’ voice creating an awe–filled atmosphere. Seeing them on television is amazing, but in the flesh they are incredible — and it is even more difficult to contemplate how such a strong voice and relentless passion comes from a tiny figure as that of Hayley Williams. To the disappointment of some of the female members of the audience she sported a head of (normal) blonde hair rather than her usual orange or red locks, but this did not remove anything from her or the band’s performance. And nothing she did could disappoint the male members of the audience, as was obvious when a glance was cast at the expressions on the surrounding faces. Paramore did not let anyone down with their flawless set. They put all the energy that they could muster into performing hits old and new, such as Ignorance, Emergency and That’s What You Get, and had every single member of the audience singing along to every single song. Their new album, Brand New Eyes, had obviously been a success in the fans’ eyes as well as those of the chart-watchers, and they chose the best songs from that album to debut to a live audience, including Careful, Turn It Off and the slow and enchanting Misguided Ghosts. Their first exit did not fool anyone, and after five minutes of the crowd chanting and clapping in unison they were “enticed” back onto the stage. Here they excelled even further, if that was possible, by singing the song that launched them to fame, Misery Business, to the absolute adoration of the crowd. The night was then ended with a soaring Brick

By Boring Brick, Paramore’s latest single, complete with a “badabadabadabadabadah” section which everyone, including members of the support acts, sang along to with all their hearts. An excellent set and one which will be difficult to beat for many of those present that night. NIA LIVERSUCH

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The Dubliners

St David’s Hall, Cardiff Legendary Irish folk band The Dubliners have taken their inspirational music around the world for an incredible five decades. Sadly, three of their original members — Ronnie Drew, Ciaran Bourke and Luke Kelly — have departed this world.

Tonight’s show was an opportunity for the current Dubliners line-up to remember their old friends in songs and poems — and remind us what a great band they still are. Early on in the set, drinking song I’m A Man You Don’t Meet Every Day literally brought a tear to the eye. Then there were plenty of jigs and reels, beautiful ballads and more raucous traditional Irish songs like Whiskey In The Jar, Dirty Old Town and The Wild Rover.

Star of the show for me was Barney McKenna — now aged 71 and not so agile, he entertained with anecdotes, singing, banjo and squeezebox. A captivating show from veteran musicians. Long may they continue. STEPH McNICHOLAS

GO-X

Solus, Cardiff

The Automatic

Brangwyn Hall, Swansea Swansea’s Brangwyn Hall played host to The Automatic and promised an all-out ‘tune fest’ as part of the St David’s week build-up of celebrations. I’ve been to a few of The Automatic’s smaller venue gigs now and at every single one have been bludgeoned by the same gaggle of kids who can mosh with the best of ’em. The Automatic’s diehard fans (although mostly aged 12!) are lethal, trust me. I say this with painfully misshapen ugly bits and a slight limp since my first encounter. Aaaanyway, as usual the press pass that was guaranteed to be at the door waiting wasn’t. So the usual name dropping and butt kissing that I’m getting dangerously good at ensued. I talked to Tim who sent me to Meg who sent me back to Tim again — which didn’t achieve anything apart from p**sing off a few door staff.

Witnessing the whole thing the ticket man let me sneak in when the boss-lady had her back turned. I can’t remember your name but you, Sir, are a legend and I still owe you that pint! After that I just wanted to hear some music and sweet music it was. Straight Lines hit the stage first promoting their new album Persistence In This Game, from which every song played in their set came. Oh, and it’s blinding, so BUY IT! Some sweet ones being Versus The Allegiance and All My Friends Joined The Army, which are both amazing and were played tight as hell. The sound quality was awesome as well so a shout out to the guys that sound tech’d. After the mother of all intervals, which wasn’t helped by the lack of alcohol due to the fact pints were about four quid a pop, no thanks guys. Things began to stir backstage and to the delight of team teeny bop TA came alive.

Swansea was the stop before the sizable tour of the UK began and was also witness to a juicy wad of tracks ranging from every age of The Automatic’s career, notably appearances from the second album This Is A Fix. The guys were also debuting tracks from the latest album Tear The Signs Down and the strain of playing new songs didn’t show. From what was played there are some slightly more mature tracks on it but don’t worry guy and girls, there is still plenty of handclapping and chorus chanting to be had. Of course it wouldn’t be TA without an appearance from Steve McQueen and the juggernaut that is Monster, which talked the talk but for me the more melodic and rhythmic feel of Magazines did the all walking.

The new single Run And Hide is equally catchy with a more indie feel than we are used to. The sound is defiantly changing, becoming more traditional, which is definitely what should be coming over the hill! JAMES BANNISTER

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The atmosphere was electric on this cold Friday evening (Black Friday I might add), but despite the cold there was quite a queue forming on the steps to Cardiff University’s Solus Bar. Mainly this queue consisted of young teenage girls all hoping to reach out and touch the hand of the main attraction performing. But, these girls will have to wait, as first up to perform were Payton.

Having played with Go-X many a time before, they’ve managed to win over a lot of the fans with their catchy tunes. As they bounced on to the stage to cheers from the ever expanding crowd, they launched into their songs. With the crowd singing along to favourites Energy and Harder Than Heartbeat, they set the bar particularly high for this evening, especially as the lead singer had decided to dress as Father Christmas. It had people thinking that there were more surprises to come. Next was upand-coming band Her Game Is Over. The entire room was filled with the boys’ electric and unforgettable sound. Songs such as Russian Roulette and Indigo Plateau had the fanbase they’ve built up moving to the sound and singing along to the chorus with amazing enthusiasm. The Calling Card was next on the bill. Many of the audience, myself included, had not heard this band in the past, but despite this they immediately grabbed the audience and heads quickly turned to listen to the sounds being emitted from the stage. With songs such as Weight Of The World and Don’t Let Go, this band is one to watch in the future. Headliners Go-X built the crowd’s anticipation by dragging out their entrance.

Finally they came bursting on to the stage starting an eruption of screams from the waiting crowd. With no hesitation the boys burst into the songs on their new EP, which consists of all new sing-a-long songs that will soon have you up and dancing and after a few listens singing along to the words without fail. Songs like The Australian and IDDQD had the crowd moving in time to the beat and melody. Throughout the set crowd participation is played to the max. Lead singer Josh had girls physically fighting as he threw T-shirts into the crowd. Josh and bassist Murphy also had the audience battling in two halves, seeing which crowd could scream the band’s name the loudest. However, it is the band’s well-known song Dance Again that gets the best reaction — shouting gets louder and energy is let out of every person in the room. Unfortunately half way through the song guitarist Avalon had technical difficulties, but in one smooth and fluid sweep the boys picked up where the malfunction happened and finished the song and set with vigour. As Ian Watkins strolled on to the stage to check his equipment for the DJ set a squeal of excitement came from every single girl in the room. As his set begins you can tell it’s going to have everyone in the room up and dancing. For the next hour the audience shook their hips and moved their feet continuously. As his DJ session drew to a close there were many smiling faces exiting the building, talking about how good the night was. I think it’s safe to say that Go-X’s EP launch was a massive success and that every band that played will benefit from being on its bill. SEANNA FATKIN

Hjaltalin

Norwegian Church, Cardiff Standing in the wooden surroundings of the Norwegian Church on the edge of Cardiff Bay, you can imagine this place being a distant haven for any traveller arriving into port and away from the bitter sea that they had to endure, with it’s textured lighting and warm homely glow. I stare out of the arched window across the bay at the neon lights in the distance, whose reflections play upon the water while the space craft roof structure of the St David’s Hotel sits atop the building glowing like a lighthouse to the wealthy. I like this place and I love this area of Cardiff, removed from the nightclub glitz of the city centre but still attached like a beckoning hand on the end of a persuasive arm. Despite all this romanticising, it wasn’t any religious calling that had drawn me to this church on a cold Tuesday night, but my enduring fascination with music from Iceland, that faraway northern island that seems to create unique individuality from the musicians that hail from there.

Initially, it was the Sugarcubes who inspired me, followed by their extension in the guise of Bjork, the band’s enigmatic and talented singer/songwriter who carved out a bizarre form of international success with her truly unpredictable talent. Later on Sigur Ros perfected minimalist melodic classicism with their outstretched ambient landscapes, a music that held me tight to its bosom and has never let me go despite their current hiatus from the music scene. Today though, I needed something different, something inspiring, something unique and I hoped tonight was going to deliver that to me. Because today had been a bad day and I needed cheering up. Dry The River, tonight’s support, were to put it plainly, excellent. I was drawn into their music by their hauntingly original style from the first song Demons with its layer-building technique and was held captivated throughout the performance by the high falsetto voice that was thrown out by their lead singer Peter. I wanted to be in this band, travelling around the world and playing small intimate venues like this church on places like the Isle of Mull, producing music like they played. Again I say, excellent, and I want to see them again. Headliners Hjaltalin (pronounced Hatta-lin) were nothing like I expected, which proves what I’ve already said about Icelandic bands. Their music was unpredictable, almost as if they were playing three songs in one and toying with the audience as to when to clap, challenging them to decide when the song had finished. They not only enthralled the audience but they controlled them as well. The eight-piece band whose instruments pitted electric and acoustic guitars against traditional violas and oboes, mixed folk styles alongside rollercoaster rushes of noise that would be happy on any rock stage in a series of carefully constructed songs.

There were beautiful moments as the violin floated gently alongside hypnotic rhythms and jarring guitars which burst into sudden violent frenzied assaults on the senses, before allowing female vocalist Sigridur Thorlacius to ride through the storm for her moment in the spotlight, while lead singer Hogni Egilsson with Viking blond locks of hair flowing over his face, held court at the centre of the stage leading the charge of the songs from all points of the compass. Tonight was unique, different and challenging. Maybe something spiritual had happened tonight after all. Whatever, I had come away having been affected. DARREN WARNER

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The StopMotion Men The Globe, Cardiff

Cardiff progressive rock four-piece The StopMotion Men, keen to gig after recording for a year, took the Globe by storm. The exclusive hour-long set was used to launch their new EP What Now? If you’re into Muse or Placebo’s definitive sounds then definitely check these guys out as the EP is a gorgeous blend of both. The set consisted of 10 songs broken up with a three-song acoustic set in the middle, including the brilliant Subtle Buzz. Attention is manic, vigorous and definitely has a hard-edged sound, which is representative of TSM’s overall vibe. The narrative behind the tracks is brilliant, unlike many meaningless repetitive tracks we are bombarded with daily this band are filled with emotion, experience and are truly genuine, which I for one am grateful for.

What Now? rounded off the set with its hectic guitar sounds and heavy bass-line, with the piano really adding another element to the track — and helping towards the dynamic sound that TSM are able to create with so few members. JAMES BANNISTER

Colours Of One Barfly, Cardiff

The Undivided

The Garage, Swansea I have heard some great things about up-andcoming band The Undivided, so I was looking forward to their gig in Swansea, and I was not disappointed. The four-piece who all come from South East Wales are an indie band, with their influences being the Manics, Bloc Party and Smashing Pumpkins. They burst on to the stage with great vigour and excitement. The front man, Joe who plays guitar and sings, had a great presence and commanded the stage.

The crowd seemed to enjoy the set and in particular the song SOS, which had great vocals with a thumping chorus. One of my favourite songs of the gig was The Undivided’s new single Devil. The chorus was great with a prominent bass line played by bassist Fergus, and catchy riffs by lead guitarist Lewis. Also there was an acoustic set which I really enjoyed, as many bands don’t seem to feature acoustic sections in gigs anymore. I predict good things for the future of The Undivided, with lots of gigs coming up and singles in the pipeline, it seems like 2010 is going to be a great year for the boys. Afterwards, I asked the band to describe their music in three words and they said, “Raw, melodic and intense” — which sums the band up brilliantly. A great new band who I will be going to watch again. VICTORIA TURNER

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The Bridgend five-piece didn’t hold back on their event management on Friday. The band themselves shipped in a coach load of local fans to crash the party in Cardiff. Support was supplied by the one-fifth Welsh and four-fifths South African band Starseed on their UK tour along with Firetone, who defiantly showed us what SA has to offer in terms of good meaty rock. Firetone completed the line up offering heavy riffs and fearsome breakdowns, playing well for such a young band, not phased by the more experienced groups. Firetone were first up and set the scene with an alt-rock sound, featuring songs such as their new single Gravity, which has an echo-ey Prophets-style tinge and features some nicely placed breakdowns. Starseed followed, bringing an awesome heavy rock sound somewhere between Nickelback and Rise Against. Their set was really exciting and left everyone wanting more and me questioning why I had never heard of them before! The song Shine represents their sound perfectly with its soaring vocals and burly guitars. These guys left Colours Of One with something to aim for and definitely deserve big success. Much to the delight of the cheekily imported fans Colours Of One began their hooky guitar driven rock set — home team imports were certainly a good idea as the crowd, who were word perfect, yelled along with COO. This meant that the atmosphere was guaranteed to be electric, and COO gained energy throughout feeding off the crowd. Mike’s job was almost done for him as once the mic entered the crowd to spark off the sing-along it wasn’t to be returned without effort.

Halos has a catchy melodic style that isn’t far off Tiger Please’s memorable sound, which undeniably left a satisfied audience who got what they came for and more. JAMES BANNISTER

4th Street Traffic

The Maccabees

Millennium Music Hall, Cardiff

Solus, Cardiff

A very anxious and screaming audience awaited PLUGGED IN favourites 4th Street Traffic as they came on stage. The band came on with an energetic feel, and straight away I could tell this was going to be a good band.

The crowd got riled up and dancing as they played their first song A Friend Of Mine. Fans travelled from as far as England just to hear the catchy chords and some pop/rock lyrics of this highly energetic band. They thrilled the audience with their well-known song Second Thoughts, the lyrics of which fans sung back to the band. The boys bring a lot of different techniques to their set to make their music stand out. They played their new song Wrong Way Round off their new EP Kick The Habit, which added screaming to experiment with a different genre. 4th Street Traffic rocked out with headbangable electric guitaring from lead guitarist Darryl Robertson which is heard in most tracks. The clean cut vocals from Alistair Britton worked extremely well with the rest of the band. Overall this band really took me by surprise and I really loved their edgy sound. If you’re into bands such as Kids In Glass Houses then I highly recommend you go see 4th Street Traffic. DANIELLE HILL

The NME Tour is always very popular, as relatively unknown bands can often be catapulted into fame after taking part in the tour. A perfect example is Florence & The Machine and White Lies. This year it was newcomers The Drums who were hoping for similar recognition from the press and music fans alike. From New York, where they have already received a lot of praise, the boys hit the stage with confidence, immediately bursting into catchy, rhythmic songs. Frontman Jonathan Pierce danced robotically, occasionally accompanied by the guitarist, who leapt around the stage wildly playing a tambourine. Their music had energy, and combined with infectious lyrics and bouncy guitar rhythms, held a lot of potential.

It could be said that the main attraction of this tour for many was the presence of The Big Pink, newcomers who exploded on to the scene with their highly successful hit Dominos in 2009. They took to the stage accompanied by pulsating electronic music and strobe lighting, which sent the crowd into a frenzy.

The Big Pink were in complete contrast to the other bands on the tour as their music is more edgy and rock tinged, with heavy beats and electronic influences that originates from the fact that they are an electronic duo joined by a drummer and bassist. Their set was dark and heavy, with the atmospheric sounding voice of the lead singer, Robbie Furze, and the pounding drum and guitar beats adding the tension in the room. They played their enigmatically catchy hits Velvet and Too Young To Be Loved, wisely leaving Dominos until last, and it was predictably met by a passionate sing-along from everyone in the room. An excellent set, and a band which will definitely remain firmly in the current music scene for a long time to come. The Bombay Bicycle Club brought a lighter atmosphere to the stage.

There was a happy-go-lucky and innocent feel to their upbeat songs complete with soaring choruses. The thoughtful aspect of their lyrics was reflected in the wavering fragility of lead singer Jack Steadman’s voice, and the crisp but soft guitar and drum beats added to the sense that their music told a story of the band’s journey through life and into stardom. For such a mellow band it was a pleasant experience when their hit It’s Always Like This caused the crowd to erupt into a collective sing-anddance-along, and the Bombay Bicycle Club left the stage with some new fans. By the time The Maccabees graced the stage there was a tense atmosphere, people wanted them and were fed up of waiting. The band used this to their advantage, making a drawn out entrance and then playing song after to song to constant cheering. With cheeky grins and uplifting music they were an endearing band to watch.

Their songs were jaunty, with broken beats and sharp guitars, and lead singer Orlando Weeks’s lilting and often spoken vocals added variety to their music which elevated them above bands of a similar style. Despite their fame, they still seemed overjoyed to be there, thanking fans for their support. They played songs old and new, with the catchy First Love being an obvious favourite, and new single Can You Give It illustrating great promise of things to come. They left the stage accompanied by a mixture of cheers and disappointment as people wanted more. Their one-song encore was worth the wait, and the crowd left feeling satisfied. NIA LIVERSUCH

Helen Morgan Trio

Shot In The Dark, Cardiff Tonight was Jazz night at Shot In The Dark and the Helen Morgan Trio treated us to a taste of traditional numbers performed with a hint of Latin and swing about them. The room was dark and candlelit, while the city’s hippest and hairiest students lounged around drinking wine by the bottle as the music wafted around the room like a sweet aroma. Helen was in her domain, enjoying the environment that she was placed in, wrapping the audience around her little finger as she crooned her way through the repertoire of the evening.

Was this Cardiff or was this Chicago? Either way, you got lost within the music of the night. After the HM Trio we were then treated to the voice of Melanie, who had organised the event, followed by Hodgeheg who were joined by PLUGGED IN’s second favourite pin-up, Kadesha (the first being Gail, of course — see News pages), who did an excellent version of Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy. Sweet and cool man! DARREN WARNER

Phoenix Factor Parc Hall, Treorchy

Back in March I hosted the final of a music competition — the Phoenix Factor (www. phoenixfactor.co.uk) — that aimed to showcase the talents of young artists, while raising money and awareness for the Community Cancer Support Charity. Contestants had been chosen from auditions held across RCT and included a mixture of bands and solo artists.

The finalists were Treorchy girl-band Sweet Manics (who came runners-up in the contest), singer Hanna Wakeford (who finished third), Llantrisant band Four Words Later, Pontypridd band High Demand, solo artist Sam Leon and 13-year-old singer Alysha Morgan. The winners of the show, however, were Merthyr band Man Of The Hour who beat off the stiff competition with their mix of guitar rhythms and pop-punk.

The atmosphere on the night was friendly, with people from across the Valleys turning out to support and cheer on every performance.

The show was judged by PLUGGED IN’s very own Darren Warrner, alongside 4th Street Traffic’s vocalist and guitarist Alistair and Twice My Size’s Lloyd and Bob — who all had the difficult task of choosing a winner. The show also featured guest performances from both 4th Street Traffic and Twice My Size, who got everyone in the audience up on their feet dancing. The night ended too soon, but before leaving I managed to catch up with Rich from Man Of The Hour. “It was a good experience and a very rewarding one. The night was just a barrel of laughs really, all the competitors backstage were really friendly and all got on well with one another — especially the guys and girls from Sweet Manics, they were good fun to be around. We were very pleased we won, we were pretty surprised actually as we felt we could’ve given a better performance, but our months of hard work paid off. I think it was because we hadn’t gigged in such a long time, we thought that we maybe could’ve played better. It was a great feeling to hear Man Of The Hour being called. Winning this has given us the confidence to complete a 5-track EP which we’ve had on the cards for a long time. We’re also going to gig as much as we can in the coming months just to promote ourselves as much as possible.” Congratulations guys — I look forward to seeing you play again sometime soon. KY JONES

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The Gathering Bridgend Rec

It had taken five heats throughout South Wales to get to this position, so now eight bands — all with members below the age of 19 — were trying to gain the ultimate title of being crowned winner of The Gathering Battle of the Bands. This event wasn’t going to be easy to judge because every band had a certain quality about them. To win this they needed, well, to coin a phrase, an X-factor about them. Something that took them above the rest, a professional quality and a real sense of the showman about them. But don’t get this event confused with that TV programme because, unlike the people who we see displayed for ridicule to line Simon Cowell’s pockets, the bands I witnessed could all play their instruments and performed sets of songs that were mainly their own compositions. This was where you’ll find the true Welsh Rising Talent. The kids with real X-factor. The bands were varied, starting with the traditional rock-influenced Stars & Flights, followed by the unique four-cello performance of Nexus, who I personally thought were fantastic but could have done with a vocalist. Throughout the event we also got to see The Venue with their excellent lead singer holding the stage, Librarian’s Worst Nightmare who captivated with their indie-rock cross, Offset who powered through a strong set and third place overall winners The Decoy, who dominated the stage. But for me the battle was between fun-loving Ponty boys Ladies Love A Superhero and Innovence, whose cool indie sound had me bouncing round the room. To get me feeling the way I did about the music these bands produced was no mean feat. I see hundreds of bands in any given year and it takes a lot to impress me, which both these bands did.

So after Innovence, the last band to play, finished their set I didn’t envy the judges task of having to choose a winner.

After much deliberation, the results were finally announced to a tense waiting crowd — Ladies Love A Superhero had been given the highest accolade of taking the top position.

The Ponty boys had won! Their set was full of passion and, I believe, was helped by the inclusion of Lady GaGa’s Bad Romance — they performed a pumped-up indie boys’ version of the Monster lady’s song that had everyone in the crowd going dance crazy. They say that there are no losers, only winners. At the Bridgend Rec I saw a host of winners and I believe we could hear a lot more from all of the bands I had seen perform during the night. DARREN WARNER

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CDs, EPs Downloads & Demos

For the past few months the offices of PLUGGED IN has been inundated with a glut of recordings

by Rising Talent and established artists from Wales and we felt that we needed to do a bit of flag waving to highlight these amazing artists.

Firstly, we kick off one of the best live acts that has graced our stages here in Wales over the last few years. The brilliant debut here in the UK from Circle Of One is Tied To The Machine, an album that has been on sale in Japan for a while now but finally gets its audience here on our home turf. I wouldn’t have expected anything less than rock perfection from these guys and, of course, Tied To The Machine delivered it from the air raid sirens that open the album to the epic track Unify that ends it. If you like good melodic rock then this is a must-have album and I urge you to add it to your collection. Excellent stuff...

Following on we have the difficult third album from PLUGGED IN favs The Automatic titled Tear The Signs Down. I say difficult because, unfortunately, this album doesn’t have the quirky humour of Not Accepted Anywhere or the strong melodies This Is A Fix gave us. The album has nothing to key into or sing along with, and although musically the elements are all present, the songs just don’t reach the band’s usual standard. Sorry guys. Still their live performance is something else... The self-titled album from Void is full of strong melodies that pull you in and have you singing along, and although they may not be breaking any new ground here don’t let that detract from the fact that this is solidly brilliant stuff.

Track 5, Wide Awake, with its piano intro is one of those numbers that should be receiving Radio airplay everyday... Five-track EP Jack The Lad from The Gubbins is a cocky selfassured set of powerful indie rock songs that are infectious from the opener Is This Your Life to the last number Regressions In Sessions. The stand out track Means To The End explodes through your speakers hitting you full force in the face. Powerful stuff... A band that graces our Rising Talent pages in this issue, Broken City Skyline, release the single City Lights, a competent piece of melodic pop/rock that has

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a strong sing-along factor about it. Strong stuff that proves these guys are at the forefront of new music that is coming out of Wales... Quirky like only the Welsh can be Twmffat release nine tracks of pure joy called Myfyrdodau Pen Wy that are made for summer parties. I couldn’t stop dancing as the hints of reggae, ska and folk came to the surface. This isn’t your runof-the-mill music, these guys have taken a side street that proves to be a preferred route.

Brilliant... Winterburn on the other hand follow a different road and deliver us with a heavy noise-fest of strong powerful rock on their three-track Curing The Plague. Frenetic full-on rock, this ticks all the boxes when it comes to signing up to rock heaven. Thanks for providing the lyrics with the CD guys... Twotrack sampler from Ensnared follows in pretty much the same way, with strong overtones of doom-laden growled rock played at a frenetic pace, interlaced with slowed down bass-driven interludes. The five-piece Bangor boys are leading the way in North Wales rock and these two tracks show they are ahead of the game...

Hailing from — as they describe — the bleak streets of Swansea, Bambi Killers produce a new generation of punk rock for the masses that await them. Cluffy’s vocals, reminiscent of the great Bexi Bondage are backed by a powerful force of hurtling noise. A definite for a review in our live pages in the next issue, but until then this taster of five fab tracks, including the excellent opener Invisible, will have to alleviate my punk side for the time being. Love it... The Gathering 2010 winners Ladies Love A Superhero are young upstarts who deliver a pair of highly professional indie/ pop songs. Opener Danger!Alert!Monster! is probably a warning to the world as to what they are about to unleash on us, so I say it now, be prepared. These boys are going somewhere called fame... Another of our brilliant Rising Talent bands Colours Of One have a 7-track

mini-album Bad News Makes Big Noise which is a collection of highly professional traditional rock songs with a vocalist whose voice is to die for. Strong, well-constructed numbers like Burning Ants and Halos prove that our Welsh boys don’t just have talent to play their instruments but they can deliver excitement by fusing them together like a perfect recipe.

Excellent... Following a different path altogether, Call Me Albert have released Blue Eyed which is a fun-filled piece of bluesy rock in the vain of the great John Lee Hooker.

The guitars really do sing on these numbers, though I must mention the stirring epic final track Pride Of The Working Man that builds into a beautiful arrangement of guitars that take you on a journey through life and ends with Dowlais Male Voice Choir’s performance of classic Welsh anthem Myfanwy. Beautiful...

Three-track release Television Killed The Eskimo from Piblokto is a bass guitar-driven set that leads you into a false sense of security as you gently become one with the hypnotic guitar sound before it screams at you with aggression and venom. Highly originally, this Newport four-piece have created a fairly unique sound and another for my list of mustsee live bands. Love it... The new album from John Mouse takes a wry look at life with some of the best song titles that have graced these page, including Got You Shakin’ Your Head (Like David Gray) and Shinobi Vs My Little Pony. What you get with this little beauty are some beautiful crafted songs that are amazingly fun and enjoyable to listen to. Very clever... Kyshera release Paradigm, an amazing collection of music wrapped up in one hell of a strong album. The diversity of musical styles makes the band hard to categorise — other than exceptional. Standout tracks are Frequency 1 and Frequency 2, an amazing experimental orchestral piece and instrumental fantasia respectively. DW

Twin Atlantic Lightspeed (single) Soft rock/pop-rock sounding track. A nice, full sounding recording, which is what we like to hear. Our ears pricked up a bit when the vocals started, the singer’s voice is, in a positive way, distinctive and unusual. Good strong, catchy chorus, the transition of which from the verses is clean and definite. The part of Lightspeed that really stood out to us was the impressive, skilful middle 8 section which eliminated any doubts that we had about the track as it was a little repetitive up until this point. Well done Twinys. THE KIX Shy Child Liquid Love (album) New Yorkers Shy Love are masters of the summer electronic soundscape. Musically they offer a straighter version of Friendly Fires, but with softer, more instantly hooky choruses and stunning lilting melodies. A good summer soundtrack. MARK TAMBINI French For Cartridge Liquorice (album) This follow-up to the critically acclaimed 2006 album Cases is a compilation of experimentation and innovativeness, pushing the boundaries of typical ‘pop’ music. A number of the tracks on the album are complicated, yet laid back and casual, using a number of different instruments and themes, allowing the audience to familiarise and connect with their music from the very beginning. Both male and female vocals were used throughout the album creating a whole load of harmonies, sitting together throughout all 10 tracks of the album.

Although Liquorice isn’t something I would normally have chosen, it gave me an insight into the different types of experimental music out there today. Saying that, I do have two favourite tracks — Two Feet In The Water and Loosening The Structures, which I believe are the album’s best material simply because of the appeal in the simplicity of the tracks.

The different material that Catherine Hentz and Henri Vaxby produce is a perfect example of the wide variety of music that’s out there today, and I enjoyed the inventiveness of French For Cartridge. I’d definitely recommend this album to anyone who’s looking for something new. RHYS TAYLOR Stanley Odd Oddio (album) Not a huge hip-hop lover, but this band secretly surprised me by their high-quality production and interesting instrumentation throughout each track. The feel-good groove of each song gets your head bopping and body shaking! Interesting mix of female vocals alongside the rap which gives these songs a different R&B flavour. An album to look out for! KADESHA The Dangerous Summer Reach For The Sun (album) From the first notes of the opening track, Where I Want To Be, I knew I’d be looking a lot further into this band. The catchy choruses and AJ Perdomo’s rich vocals were pleasing to the ear, whilst the gripping lyrics struck a chord with a lot more class than its soft rock genre’s many predecessors.

Although the songs may blend together a little, the brave range of topics covered in this album (some of which include addiction, suicide and religion) present enough food for thought to keep the listener intrigued, whilst the angsty riffs keep the pace. To put it simply, The Dangerous Summer are a fresh, catchy band with an intelligent edge that sets them apart from their label-mates, and their debut studio album certainly does them justice. With the help of their up-and-coming management, Hopeless Records, this band might just be the next big thing! PORTIA Morrissey HMV/Parlaphone Singles ’88-’98 (album) Morrissey covers all bases during a decade of diligence that made the Top 40 a more interesting entity. Monumental ‘A’ and ‘B’ sides has the Mancunian bard deliver lustrous lyrics and musical melodies that confirm his status as a peerless pop star! Everyday may be like Sunday but Sing your Life away to these anthems and help override a lot of that daily drama that drags us down! 3 CD’s and 62 tunes from the Last of the famous international Playboys…this is true genius! Do not ignore, get close! ROB JONES Sienna Essence (album) Sienna as a musician has Japanese and Scandinavian influences due to her varied background, and this eclectic mix of cultures is apparent in her music. Essence contains songs bursting with electronic and dance beats interspersed with additions of jazz melodies to create a distinctive and enthralling sound. The album may be classed in the easy-listening category, but only because the music it holds falls pleasantly on the ears of the listener. Tracks such as Precious! and Heaven’s River intertwine enigmatic and often haunting vocals with the dance rhythms, while Zen is layered with Oriental echoes which entrance the listener. The Garden Of Nostalgia produces said nostalgic mood, using atmospheric melodies and rhythms which transport the listener to a peaceful world occupied solely by their own memories and thoughts. Essence is a very effective and fascinating album which is unique and original in its style and presentation. NIA My Ceramic Rabbit 6-track demo My Ceramic Rabbit could perhaps be touted as Welsh urban rockers, with a hint of pop.

This 6-track demo album starts off fast, with Why Do You Dance? having deep tones to the instruments in stark contrast to singer Danial’s higher-pitched tone. Devil In The Detail has a deeper timbre, with a slower style. Third track It Goes On opens with mysterious typing sounds and is a little reminiscent of Aha. High Heels & Low Lives brings things back to a faster pace, while the vocalist experiments with some curious tongue-rolling which is in stark contrast to the next track, where he draws out the words. The final track seems the most promising, with some enticing harmonies and a nice tune. These young lads know their instruments and put their heart and soul into their playing, which will doubtless continue to improve as they grow and settle into their unique style. WEDNESDAY

Voga.Parochia With No Certainty (demo) Love this! A beautifully sung CD with minimalist electronica atmospherics that tickle your eardrums. There are some interesting lyrical concepts on offer too, the type of CD that brings out your reflective side. Very mellow and perfect for lazy summer mornings. Buy it! MARK TAMBINI Admiral Fallow Boots Met My Face (album) Very interesting song titles indeed on this album. Squealing Pigs is a particular favourite of mine! Working-class lyrics give this band a very down-to-earth vibe with beautiful instrumentation to accompany.

Folksy vocals and chilled acoustic music is a perfect combination and this band pull it off brilliantly throughout their album. The beautiful harmonies, spine-chilling and subtle melodies have created a beautiful album from these guys! KADESHA X-Ray Spex Live At The Roundhouse, 2008 (CD/DVD) The Virgin Encyclopaedia of Popular Music states that X-Ray Spex was ‘One of the most inventive, original and genuinely exciting groups to emerge during punk’. X-Ray Spex has released a CD/DVD recorded at a reunion concert, and this first live outing since 1979 has a rendition of the classic Germ Free Adolescents album. Dynamic diva Poly Styrene and bassist Paul Dean are joined by Sid Truelove, Gt Saxby, Flash and 3,000 fiery fans for a nuclear night of electric energy.

ROB JONES Kakuzi Sun Kissed Planet (single) Started a little slow as it took a while to get going, but once it did, the song was pleasant and the vocal harmonies were tight. Instantaneously reminded us of The Lion King — which we’re not saying is a bad thing — due to the almost African-influenced drum patterns and instrumentation. We’re a little thrown as to what genre to place the track in, but we’ll settle on African tribal meets chill-out, meets acoustic…ish. There’s also some oriental sounding parts too which throws another ethnic sound into the mix.

Would recommend to fans of chill-out music.

And fans of The Lion King. THE KIX Mathew Glenn Thompson The Garden & The Arcade (album) Right from the first track, End Of The Parade, you can hear the quality of this indie/ alternative rock musician. A strong, magical voice that gives you goose-bumps from the get-go. The songs are complex, multi-layers of music, which is not so surprising as this isn’t Thompson’s first foray into music — to his credit is the 2007 film The Lycanthrope, in which he juggled the many roles of executive producer, editor, cameo actor and composer.

Just as the first track shakes you awake with its energetic beat, the next tracks I Get Lost and Daylight calm things down a notch, with firm-but-gentle melodies and some pretty piano. The lyrics are poignant and emotive, as evidenced in Ordinary Girl and Half Of The Whole. Hovering Over Hell is exceptionally moving and deserving of special mention. A stunning debut album. WEDNESDAY

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Alight Eyes Aflame/Warm Wreckage (single) Both singles were quite mellow and reminded us of something Nickleback would produce.

In our opinion, they’d fall into the genre of soft rock, and were both were fairly slowpaced and didn’t really build to anything too exciting, but the harmonies were good and added a nice touch. The cover of the CD was really professional and eye-catching, so top marks for presentation. Overall, we think the tracks were quite enjoyable, but slightly lacked the creativity as they were a little too similar to each other. THE KIX Tell It To The Marines Bridges (EP) This was not quite my cup of tea. The strong accent of the lead singer is irritating at best and the fact that the boys hail from Cambridge (suggesting that they are exaggerating it) makes it even worse!

However, regardless of that, I can see why Tell It To The Marines are as highly regarded as they are on the up-and-coming music scene. The band’s debut EP is a catchy dose of pop that takes you through the cool tones of Flare Guns, which promises to leave, “alive, alive!” chanting in your head for hours after, to the angsty My Best Friend, followed by the echoing sincerity of 806 and the sure fan-girl favourite Fireworks, and finally, the album showcase, title-track, Bridges.

With rippling guitars and the strongest lyrics of the EP, Bridges would be first choice single material in my book. In general, the album didn’t impress as much as it promised.

However, it’s downbeat pop, reminiscent of one-hit-wonders, is an easy listen and has potential to be a teen-girl favourite. PORTIA Karl Culley Bundle Of Nerves (album) Bundle of Nerves entrances from the beginning, with its interesting combination of folksy melodies and atmospheric vocals.

Karl Culley’s unique voice adds an enigmatic mood to the album, and allows the listener to feel involved in the stories he tells with his songs — In Her Nature has echoes of animalistic fables. Opener Elephant Juice uses a fast – paced, Flamenco-style rhythm for an upbeat start to the album, while I’m Not Proud Of Myself is haunting with Culley’s wounded voice heavy with emotion.

The bare, raw vocals is emphasised by the crisp guitar to produce a distinctive sense of both the musician and the listener being united in a journey of musical discovery.

Title track Bundle Of Nerves is bursting with lively rhythm and literally suggests a build-up of nervous energy exploding through and forming music. An album is full of imagery and a creativity that makes it stand out from the crowd. NIA Hot Chip One Life Stand (album) For those of you who, like me, couldn’t get beyond the geek chic glasses and general “weird lab-guy” look and actually give Hot Chip a good listen, please do so. They write

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fantastic songs with a beautiful mix of all things synth and some lovely vocal work to boot. I challenge you to listen to title track One Life Stand and not be moved by the emotional lyrical content delivered by the fragile voice of Alexis Taylor. This album offers a wide range of musical styles for the listener to dip into. Take Slush for example, a stunning love ballad, or Thieves In The Night, which is just 80s synth heaven. Ignore the Thunderbirds image and listen to some fine musical craftsmanship. MARK TAMBINI April Maybe May April Maybe May (album) This band brings out the chill in chill-out!

Their melodic melodies and soothingly haunting vocals combined make the perfect acoustic folk music. Beautiful lyrics to accompany the tunes make this band a definite recommendation for a summer’s chilled-out day. Acoustic lovers keep your eyes peeled — this band is definitely gonna be your cuppa tea! KADESHA Jack Rabbit Slim Hairdo’s & Heartaches (album) The title track sets the initial scene of the Rockabilly sound, featuring a chorus line that transports you back to the early 50s, with the innocence of teen-romance and the heartache of unrequited love. Everyday’s Gonna Be Like Yesterday picks up the tempo with a perky, optimistic tune and chipper lyrics that coax out a grin; but this is quickly followed by a very fast-paced Typhoon, with a raw turn and some steaming guitar in the middle. Then singer Butfoy develops his badboy persona in The Prisoner with its angsty lyrics and sonorous rhythm; closely followed by the sleaze of 21st Century Bettie Page — slick and animalistic. Time Is A Wastin’ is the most catchy song in the collection, that gives the feel of being in a small-town American bar. Another track of note is Shake Rag, which features some memorable harmonica and a nod to Elvis. Overall, an album with a swinging, catchy feel, though highly suggestive lyrics that teeter on the edge of decency at times — for example, Skin, with its rather explicit suggestions that had me blushing. WEDNESDAY Lovvers OCD Go Go Go Girls (album) This album is full-force 70s US punk rock via a band from Nottingham! This is a nopretence tribute to fast and furious new wave that aims for the jugular not the grandiose!

As the pop market wallows in over-produced, neatly packaged bile, the four fighters of Lovvers go for an old school riot! ROB JONES Swing Youth Jennifer/Hey Keith (single) In wake of the recent smattering of indie bands cropping up over the country, I often find myself asking, “What’s new about this band? What actually sets them apart from all the other finger-picking, horn-rimmed spec-wearing types?” In Swing Youth’s case, I didn’t have to look far for an answer. The spooky, Ghost Busters-esque undertones of Jennifer perfectly complement the chorus of

“Jenny’s here again,” to bring a shiver down your spine. Hey Keith, on the other hand, provides a catchy, sing-back chorus of “hey, hey Keith” that you just know is going to be echoed around concert venues across the country! In all, this rhythmic, catchy sound is a refreshing change from the robotic groans of “my girlfriend left me,” that we are so used to hearing these days. PORTIA Admiral Fallow Squealing Pigs (single) We like this one. A happy, sunny and bright acoustic/folk track. A feel-good summer song. Musically well-written and the structure of the song is even better. Dynamics were awesome and in all the right places. We are fond of the lyrics and also we liked what we suspected was a Scottish twang on the vocals, and thought both voices complimented each other really well, providing a nice contrast. A cheerful track which made us smile and do a little dance. Nice job guys. THE KIX All Or Nothing/Chaos Days (split artist ep) For two fairly unknown bands it may seem quite a risk to release a split album together.

However, it was a well made choice for All Or Nothing and Chaos Days, as their unique music styles complement each other perfectly. All Or Nothing are upbeat, playing their own brand of edgy punk-rock that would appeal fans of a range of genres. Hate Being The Dip Guy boasts a catchy chorus that is sure to stick in people’s minds for hours, while Don’t Do This is heavier with hard riffs and a pounding beat that promises to be spectacular live. Chaos Days are just as impressive, with light and frothy vocals that have echoes of Fall Out Boy in them. You & I could be a candidate for the next Summer hit with its buoyant rhythms and vocals.

The screamo elements in At Heaven’s Gate contrasted well with the melodic vocals in the rest of the song to produce a memorable track which showed the band’s versatility as musicians. Both All Or Nothing and Chaos Days are impressive. NIA Crazy Arm Still To Keep (1-track demo) This track is full of promise with its catchy, feel-good rock track with a definite radio friendly, pop vibe. Classic rock vocals ripping throughout the song will appeal to many music lovers. Looking forward to hearing more from this lively band! KADESHA Tinie Temper Pass Out (single) With a name like Tinie Temper, I have to admit, my first expectations were either of a softcore indie rock band with a penchant for a sensitive love song and a clever play on words, or a “kooky” female artist who’s main inspirations are La Roux and Ladyhawk.

However, I was very, very, sorely mistaken!

This lighthearted, beat-driven dance-rap tune is crammed with nightclub nostalgia and is sure to get your blood pumping. I can guarantee that you will soon find yourself hearing this song almost daily, and with the amount of airplay it has already racked up, be it Radio One, Soccer AM or blasting from a mobile phone at the back of a bus, this song is a sure hit. If you liked Calvin Harris

& Dizzee Rascal’s Dance Wiv Me (and let’s face it, who didn’t!?), then you’ll love Tinie Temper, and with the single offering three versions of the song, you’re spoiled for choice! Go on, you know you like it! PORTIA Bad Lieutenant Never Cry Another Tear (album) This is the best album from the New Order dynasty for years. New Order lads Bernard Sumner, Phil Cunningham and Stephen Morris join for a CD that resonates of their previous work with a taste of the Electronic era! A truly uplifting record that Doves devotees will love and there are extra vocals from new talent Jake Evans, plus input from the likes of Alex James (Blur). ROB JONES Esmee Denters Outta Here (album) Esmee Denters burst onto the music scene in 2009 with her catchy single Outta Here, and her album of the same title follows the path set by the single’s success having a mix of pop and R&B made unique by Denters’ strong and soulful voice. Her songs are upbeat, with rhythms it’s hard not to dance to and memorable melodies, but her lyrics are not hollow as in many pop songs in the current charts. Victim combines R&B beats with deep and meaningful lyrics, while tracks Love Dealer and Casanova are full of cheeky attitude. The variety of songs on the album maintains the interest of the listener and helps it to stand out from the mainstream crowd, and Denters’ powerful voice carries the mixture of styles well. Outta Here is an album that has the ability to appeal to everyone, and has a timeless quality that will ensure its success well into the future. NIA Knievel Genius Down With The Fairies (demo) No nonsense rock offerings here. Down With The Fairies is a rather raucous affair that smacks you in the face like a wet hand slap (not quite a fisty punch — a bit too gleaming for that). Houdini Pt1 is a more epic gargantuan affair, with down-tuned guitars and big chunky choruses. The song features sweet variations on forte that serve to show off some stunning clean guitar playing in the verses. Performed with passion, I’d love to see how well this comes across live as I have a feeling it would be monstrous.

MARK TAMBINI Isa & The Filthy Tongues Dark Passenger (2-CD album) Dark and dirty, the deep beats pound your heart in Jim’s Killer as Stacey’s soft-yetedgy vocals whisper the sinister lament in an ominous way at the start of this postpunk/psychobilly debut album. Follow-up track New Town Killers is then taken on by alternative singer Martin, sounding like a story-line response to the initial track, not only in terms of the subject and lyrics, but with its competing and complementing fast rhythm and punchy tune. A great start to a great album. The rest of the tracks on the first CD are catchy, though lyrically dark and intentionally uneasy, with the typical off-key drops in vocals which remind the listener of the punk influences. Inside Out is one to pay particular attention to, with deep, lulling vocals and strong, enigmatic bass; while

From The Treetops is truly mesmerising.

The second CD is a remix album, beginning with some inspiring percussional elements and spoken-word overdubbing that pushes the music further into the punk genre, and this is followed by fully instrumental pieces that entrance the listener. Dreamcatcher is the most electro of the remixes, with a changeable rhythm that should infuriate the club-floor dancers. With the first CD, you can definitely hear the influence of Nick Cave’s Murder Ballads, while the bonus disc is an eclectic collection of styles and influences that should appeal more to the trance fans. Some nice remixes of a few of the corresponding tracks from the first CD and a definite bonus for the listener. WEDNESDAY The Hush Now Constellations (album) I must admit, to begin with, I was skeptical about this album. The intense sound of The Hush Now takes a little getting used to, but about halfway into track two, Hoping And Waiting, it was as if something clicked and suddenly I found myself getting more and more into what I was listening to. The distinct vocals of Noel Kelly reminded me of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo, and the songs were each as classy, well-structured and memorable as the last. With a summery, Beach Boys vibe, the poppy fun of Weezer and the lyrical finesse of The Cure, The Hush Now are an intelligent and adventurous band who are fond of offering the odd genre crossover. For example, there’s a banjo intro to Fireflies, and even an unexpected opera piece in the middle of Hoping And Waiting. A highly recommended album that’s worth a listen, even if it’s not what you’re used to. You never know, you might just like it! PORTIA Volcanoes Sugar & Snarls (ep) Volcanoes couldn’t have named their EP any more aptly, because it does exactly what it says on the tin. The band combines sugary vocals and melodies with snarling guitars and sharp lyrics to produce a catchy blend of indie–rock that is sure to catapult them into the limelight. Level Up contains a cheeky rhythm that entices even the most stonyhearted listeners to dance and adds a synthy tone to the EP. As an opener it is perfect as it sets the bar to a high position immediately, and allows the band to consistently impress with each follow-up song. Fret In The Half Moon provides a contrast with its heavier beat and contagious chorus, allowing the chatty vocal sounds to engage the listener, whilst Pigs In Blankets uses a rumbling bass line and a light-hearted tone to create a funky and memorable track. Closer Fathoms begins with grungy-sounding guitars and escalates into an angsty and impressive tune, with crisp vocals enunciating biting lyrics. As soon as the final track ends it’s an immediate reaction to press the replay button in order to experience the individual and captivating Sugar & Snarls again and again. NIA Ian McNabb Great Things (album) Ian McNabb has an impressive history.

His music career spans 27 years and he has enjoyed success with The Icicle Works on both sides of the Atlantic and has recorded with

bands like Neil Young’s band Crazy Horse, to name a few. This latest effort is a bit of a slow starter, but when given a chance to flower, blossoms into a diverse collection of mature compositions. All About A Woman dives into darker territory with programmed beats, distorted vocals and haunting, jaunty fiddles. This Love showcases Ian at his songwriting best (except for the dodgy solo), stripped back with an acoustic guitar. At times though the album does drag a little. A little more of the passion in the chorus vocal of Stormchaser would be nice. MARK TAMBINI Sergeant BuzFuz Here Comes The Popes (single) Wow! Loving the funky bass introduction to this album’s grooving atmosphere which leaves you waiting patiently for the vocals to kick in and take the song flying in the air — and it doesn’t disappoint! Vocals are interesting. Kinda like marmite, you’ll love it or hate it. I definitely recommend you check out this band for yourselves! KADESHA Echo & The Bunnymen The Fountain (album) The Fountain is a much of a muchness album from Echo & the Bunnymen, and a sole standout song is the updated Velvet Underground vibe of Proxy. Gone is the post punk pop perfection of the 80s albums — Crocodiles, Heaven Up Here, Porcupine and Ocean Rain — as the Bunnymen now seem content with melodious guitar rock mediocrity. Ian and Will survive from the original line up and let’s hope that this once dynamic duo can return to the diamond days of Bunnymen brilliance! ROB JONES Broken Links The Fine Line Between Choice/Decay (ep) Broken Links play their own brand of rock tinged with a Goth edge, the booming vocals of the lead singer reminiscent of Joy Division (who the band name as one of their influences) and newcomers White Lies. The electronic–sounding Reinvent brings the album to a pounding start, closely followed by the heavy Therapy Sessions In The Dark and the soaring Choice/Decay. The album is full of sluggish beats and thundering bass lines complete with deep and soulful lyrics, and this proves to be an impressive combination. Closer In Your Headlights introduces sharp guitar riffs and hard drum beats to the mix, producing a headbanger of a track and leaving the album on a cliff–hanger with the listener craving more of this outstanding music. The Fine Line Between Choice/Decay is a brilliant album and Broken Links are sure to get the recognition they deserve very soon. NIA Frankie Knuckles Motivation Too (album) This album has the pioneer of house music uniting fresh tunes by performers and producers from the scene. The buoyant beats can fuel feet to the dancefloor and the mood is in the momentum, but this genre can filter into an interminable slice of one-tempo sound. This debit is evident within several of the songs and the track schedule. The Dr Gary Gray and G Club entries offer slightly better beats, but apart from that Knuckles cannot make a fist of this homogeny. ROB JONES

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Careers at Costain in Engineering and Construction

The Costain Group is one of the UK’s leading engineering and construction companies. We have a famous heritage, a well-defined culture with strong values and a strategy entitled ‘Being Number One’.

A key part of the strategy is to focus efforts and develop even stronger positions in our targeted markets.

Costain has specialist project teams working in water, health, education, rail, highways, marine, waste and nuclear sectors with detailed market knowledge and full understanding of individual customer needs.

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Accredited by the relevant professional institutions, the programme is designed to help you achieve chartered status or become professionally qualified in your chosen discipline as quickly as possible. It will give you the best possible start to your career.

We are looking for graduates from a variety of disciplines across construction and engineering. You will be committed to the industry, enthusiastic, motivated and willing to learn. In return, we offer a competitive salary package. You will be integrated into the business from day one, initially based on a project, and wherever possible, in your chosen location. You will drive your own development with guidance from mentors and supervisors across the business, with a mixture of training and work based learning.