Join Neil Collins and James Cuff for a podcast celebrating Welsh music and culture - past, present and future.
(8)
“The Cool Cymru era moved the goalposts in Wales in that there isn’t that heavy burden of representing your country any more.
“In the past, there would always be some rubbish, clunky headline about Welshness, but that doesn’t happen now. Artists are entirely deemed on their own merit, as they should be.”
Here’s a great feature from the Weekend supplement in last Saturday’s Western Mail. Thanks to Jenny White and WalesOnline for this!
The Llandudno Waterstones tour date for International Velvet has now been rescheduled to Tuesday 1 October at 6.30pm (previously Sun 15 Sept).
I’m delighted to confirm Andrea and Paul Adams of Melys will still be involved and they may even perform a song or two acoustically on the night!
The Betws-y-Coed band will also be on tour and showcasing new music later this year.
Tickets are £5, or £20 including a signed copy of the book https://bit.ly/3Z7ToF7
📖COMPETITION📖
Fancy winning a signed copy of International Velvet: How Wales Conquered the 90s Charts?
To be in with a chance of winning, simply:
1. Like / Follow Welsh Music Podcast.
2. Share this post.
3. Comment with your favourite 90s Welsh album.
A winner will be chosen at random on Tuesday 1 October. Good luck!
The International Velvet tour date at Newport Cwtsh on Friday 13 September will now be a Welsh Music Podcast special with my good friend and co-host, James Cuff.
Dubbed by renowned rock writer Neil Strauss as ‘the new Seattle’ in response to the grunge movement, this talk will have a focus on Newport’s explosive underground scene of the mid-90s spearheaded by the likes of 60ft Dolls, Dub War, Flyscreen and Novocaine.
The event will also feature chat about other great Newport bands like Feeder and The Darling Buds, as well as a tribute to the late Carl Bevan.
Starts at 7.30pm with £3 admission on the door. See you there!
On Thursday 12 September at CWRW in Carmarthen, I’ll be talking about all things Wales in the 90s with indie legend Huw Williams of The Pooh Sticks and Swansea Sound.
As well as discussing International Velvet, Huw will also share stories from his career including managing the 60ft Dolls, advising Catatonia in their early career, recommending Stereophonics to V2 Records and working in publishing at Sony with the likes of Big Leaves and Mo-Ho-Bish-O-Pi.
Huw also released the classic compilation Dial M for Merthyr and co-founded the Welsh Music Foundation.
Join us for all this and more at 7pm next Thursday - FREE tickets: https://bit.ly/478GR64
SLUSH FUND
I’m delighted to be joined at Waterstones Aberystwyth on Wednesday 18 September by Owain Schiavone (Editor of popular Welsh-language music magazine Y Selar) and Dylan Hughes of Ynys.
A former member of Radio Luxembourg and Race Horses, Dylan has just been nominated for the 2024 Welsh Music Prize for the latest brilliant Ynys album, Dosbarth Nos.
Tickets for this International Velvet event at 7pm are £5 (including refreshments) and can be booked in-store or online here: https://bit.ly/3MqUbsW
The shortlist of 15 great nominees for this year’s Welsh Music Prize has just been announced!
A winner will be unveiled at Wales Millennium Centre - Canolfan Mileniwm Cymru on Tuesday 8 October.
Who’s your pick?
Yesterday Went Too Soon by Feeder is 25!
A self-produced follow-up to the Swim EP and their 1997 debut Polythene, it reached No.8 and landed Melody Maker’s Album of the Week.
Initially named A Life Through Headphones, the band opted for a change due to Robbie Williams’ similarly titled chart-topper Life Thru a Lens earlier that year.
Featuring the singles Day In Day Out, Insomnia, Yesterday Went Too Soon and Paperfaces, it was eventually certified Gold in the UK in 2003 after the success of Echo Park and Comfort in Sound.
Kerrang said: ‘The music that accompanies Grant Nicholas’ soul-bearing is a suitable mix of grand gestures and heart-tugging melancholy.
‘Like a rock equivalent of Radiohead’s OK Computer, Yesterday Went Too Soon is a record charged with emotion and driven by turmoil and rage, and one that manages to be both giddily insistent and genuinely moving.’
Day In Day Out: https://bit.ly/2QEIB0I
Insomnia: https://bit.ly/31Eudvu
Yesterday Went Too Soon: https://bit.ly/3hH7mVZ
Paperfaces: https://bit.ly/31H5ZAN
Released on the same day in 1994, Oasis’ debut Definitely Maybe and Manic Street Preachers’ bleak masterpiece The Holy Bible remain absolute classics 30 years later.
There’s an in-depth piece comparing and contrasting the two albums in International Velvet: How Wales Conquered the 90s Charts, which is available here: https://linktr.ee/neilcollins123
Below is an abridged extract:
‘I’m feeling supersonic, give me gin and tonic...’
With their debut single in April 1994, Oasis captured the growing, euphoric zeitgeist that brighter days were ahead in Britain. Scowling down the camera lens, the Burnage brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher introduced themselves to the world with the opening line: ‘I need to be myself, I can’t be no one else.’
Four months later, Supersonic became a focal part of Definitely Maybe, which steamrollered to No. 1 and became Britain’s fastest-selling debut album at the time. If Definitely Maybe celebrated the hedonistic, carefree abandon of youth, then an album released the same day was its complete antithesis.
Described by the NME as a ‘vile record’, the Manics’ magnum opus, The Holy Bible, was a searingly intense examination of man’s potential to inflict cruelty. As Richey Edwards said: ‘I’d like to be able to write, “I’m feeling supersonic, give me gin and tonic”...but I haven’t felt supersonic since I was about 10 years old.’
Bereft of any kind of humanity and with a working title of The Poetry of Death, the album is best summed up by one of its samples. During the instrumental break of Mausoleum – a song recalling the horrors of the Holocaust – J. G. Ballard utters: ‘I wanted to rub the human face in its own vomit and force it to look in the mirror…’
While Definitely Maybe burst into life with Rock ’n’ Roll Star, The Holy Bible opened with Yes - inspired by the Manics seeing the exploitation of s*x workers on their ill-fated trip to Bangkok. Elsewhere, Liam Gallagher sang, ‘You and I are gonna live forever,’ while James Dean Bradfield screamed, ‘I want to die in the summertime.’
Bradfield elaborated to Select: ‘I really enjoyed how The Holy Bible confronts the audience, but that album confronts us too. You play it onstage and you can feel Damien round the corner. It feels like handling a cursed chalice. You can feel the lesions breaking out all over your body…’
The Holy Bible is 30!
Reaching No.6, the Manic Street Preachers’ third album was a bold change in direction sonically as they eschewed the glam metal and stadium rock of Generation Terrorists and Gold Against the Soul. In its place was a claustrophobic, motorik, post-punk sound akin to Gang of Four, Wire, PiL, The Skids, Bauhaus and Magazine.
Recorded with Alex Silva at Cardiff’s Sound Space Studios, The Holy Bible is a dark, intense and uncompromising examination of humanity’s propensity to inflict cruelty.
The majority of the lyrics were written by Richey Edwards, and the album is widely regarded as their best. Yet, the performance of James Dean Bradfield cannot be underestimated either with an incredible vocal versatility that retained melody from so many words and syllables whilst keeping the music rhythmic and accessible.
Preceded by iconic, balaclava-clad appearances at Glastonbury and on Top of the Pops, the first single Faster perfectly set the tone for the album. The song was a double A-side featuring album closer P*P, while Revol and She is Suffering were also released in the subsequent months.
From its Jenny Saville artwork to its lyrics, vocal delivery and blistering, post-punk sound; The Holy Bible remains the Manics’ greatest artistic statement.
Faster - Top of the Pops: https://bit.ly/3gKmvnU
Faster - Glastonbury ‘94: https://bit.ly/31L4bah
She is Suffering & 4st 7lb - MTV Most Wanted: https://bit.ly/34YCZqz
Released on August 30, 1994, the Manic Street Preachers' third album The Holy Bible remains one of the most unique, singular albums in history.
The International Velvet book tour continues on Wednesday 11 September at The Hours Cafe & Bookshop in Brecon at 6.30pm with acclaimed writer, Richard King.
Born into a bilingual family in South Wales, for the last 20 years Richard has lived in rural Powys. He is the author of the bestselling Faber books How Soon Is Now? (2012 - Sunday Times Music Book of the Year), Original Rockers (2015), The Lark Ascending (2019 - a Rough Trade, Mojo and Evening Standard Book of the Year) and 2022’s Brittle With Relics: A History of Wales 1962–1997.
Earlier this year, Travels Over Feeling was published - a biography of maverick musician, Arthur Russell.
Richard’s writing has appeared in The Guardian, Vice and The Observer, and he was also co-editor of Loops - a journal of long form music writing published jointly by Faber & Faber and Domino Records.
Admission is FREE!
📚TOUR UPDATE📚
The International Velvet tour resumes next month on Wednesday 11 September at The Hours, Brecon where I’ll be joined by multi award-winning writer, Richard King.
It’s CWRW in Carmarthen (Thurs 12 Sept) the following evening with Huw Williams of The Pooh Sticks / Swansea Sound and Gruff Owen of Libertino. Then it’s onto Cwtsh in Newport (Fri 13 Sept) the next night before Waterstones Aberystwyth (Weds 18 Sept) - special guests to be confirmed for both events.
Into the following month, I’m joined by the brilliant music journalist Jude Rogers at [book-ish] in Crickhowell (Weds 2 Oct) and Paul Jones shares stories of his time in Y Cyrff and Catatonia at Storyville Books in Pontypridd (Sat 19 Oct).
Due to unforeseen circumstances the events at St Tyddyn Street Arts Centre in Mold and Waterstones Llandudno (14-15 Sept) with Rhys Mwyn and Melys will be rescheduled.
We are also working on dates in Wrexham, Abergavenny, Hay-on-Wye and another talk in Cardiff.
Ticket links here (Brecon and Newport will be available ASAP): https://linktr.ee/neilcollins123
RIP Dewi ‘Pws’ Morris of Tebot Piws, Edward H Dafis and star of Grand Slam - a great guy and talent, who will be sadly missed.
I will be on Midnight Mastermind at 12.30am on BBC Radio 2 where the host will have the duration of a song to research Manic Street Preachers and then I’ll be grilling him on his knowledge of the band!
Here’s the last time I was on BBC Radio 2 back in August 2021 after the Manics had played a socially distanced gig at St David's Hall in front of just 150 people.
It was great fun to appear as a guest on the new Hellishpod where I chose a selection of tunes that will torment me for eternity in the netherworld.
The polar opposite of Desert Island Discs, I gave out dishonourable mentions for the likes of Wheatus, Toploader, Limp Bizkit and even to an unforgivably bad song from my first loves Oasis, plus perhaps the world’s worst video from Lionel Richie.
It’s not all bad news though, there’s an infectious earworm from The Wannadies and a deep cut from James Dean Bradfield.
Available to listen here: https://tr.ee/PQLPm4WkLE Give the guys a follow!
Endaf Emlyn’s classic album Salem is 50!
Tune in to BBC Radio Cymru tonight from 7pm when Rhys Mwyn will be revisiting this masterpiece with Pwyll ap Siôn and Rhodri ap Dyfrig https://t.co/zL3LTucyQX
Originally released in 1974, Salem was made available for the first time on digital platforms in 2020 via Sain Recordiau along with Syrffio Mewn Cariad (1976) and Dawnsionara (1981).
Following his debut LP Hiraeth in 1973, Emlyn returned with Salem - a Cymraeg concept album based on Curnow Vosper’s famous 1908 painting that depicted a scene at Capel Salem in Pentre Gwynfryn, Gwynedd.
Emlyn said: ‘Salem is intentionally Welsh, and draws from my experiences of going to the chapel, my knowledge of the extraordinary painting by Curnow Vosper of Salem, and my childhood of singing hymns and folk songs.
‘Its entirety was recorded in my kitchen, on a 4-track tape with the limitations influencing the style and the arrangements. I was helped by my friend Mike Parker - even though we have very different roots, we have the same musical soul.’
Here’s a in-depth interview with Wales Arts Review from 2022 where Endaf Emlyn talks of his life in music: https://bit.ly/46TTa6d
‘Dealing with such a vast subject and such a long period of time was never going to be easy, but Collins has done the whole thing justice…This is a valuable book!’
Great review of International Velvet by Rhys Mwyn for Nation.Cymru here: https://bit.ly/4cvTp8I
Have you got your copy yet? https://linktr.ee/neilcollins123
Former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher dedicated a song to Carl Bevan at a festival in Europe it has emerged. Headlining at Hungary’s biggest music festival Sziget on August 9th, the day it was announced that talented artist and musician Carl had died suddenly, aged 51, the singer took a moment to s...
Here is last night’s interview with Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 6 Music about International Velvet in case you missed it!
🏴ON THIS DAY / AR Y DIWRNOD HYN🏴
60ft Dolls’ debut single Happy Shopper is 30 today!
Sharing its name with the British convenience store, it was released on their manager Huw Williams’ Townhill label and was recorded and mixed by Chris McDonagh and Geraint ‘Harley’ Farr of fellow Newport band, The Darling Buds.
Awarded Melody Maker Single of the Week, Everett True hailed it as a ‘three-chord, two-finger salute to a world, which long ago gave up caring about them’. NME’s Johnny Ci******es called it a ‘riff-chomping pop metal belter that recalls The Wildhearts’ breed of rock ’n’ roll scuzz’, while the same paper’s Simon Williams said: ‘Say hello to 60ft Dolls and Happy Shopper - their viciously crunchy 45, which dares to s**g The Jam and the Manics at the same time and not apologise for the mess afterwards!’
Its original release in 1994 featured London Breeds as a B-side, which also appeared on Newport bands compilation I Was a Teenage Gwent Boy that same year. In 1996, Happy Shopper was reissued and re-recorded with flip-sides including Dr. Rat and covers of Afterglow of Your Love and Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me by Small Faces and The Beatles.
I’ll be chatting with Huw Stephens about International Velvet: How Wales Conquered the 90s Charts on BBC Radio 6 Music shortly after 6pm tonight!
Listen live: https://bbc.in/3AlPFJv
It was an absolute pleasure to appear in the latest episode of one of my favourite podcasts to talk about International Velvet.
If you haven’t listened to the Indie alternative podcast, you’re in for a treat. Host Chris Olden is a great interviewer and there are tons of episodes to get through including Richard Parfitt of 60ft Dolls and Owen Powell of Catatonia, as well as appearances from the likes of Ash, Ocean Colour Scene and The Cardigans!
Available to listen to here 🎧👉🏻 https://linktr.ee/IndieAlternativePodcast
Tigertailz smashed it at Tramshed Cardiff last night - I’ll forgive you for not playing Heaven!😆
Great visit to Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru in Pontypridd and lovely to hear that International Velvet was sold out in the Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru / Books Council of Wales tent!
Such sad news. A hugely talented artist and drummer, and a great guy. Carl Bevan RIP.
Have you ordered your copy of International Velvet: How Wales Conquered the 90s Charts?
Available now in bookshops and online here: linktr.ee/neilcollins123
Here’s what it includes from some of your favourite Welsh artists:
From the Ankst EPs to their three 90s albums on Creation Records, there’s tons of Super Furry Animals, SFA in International Velvet! There’s also analysis of The Man Don’t Give a F**k, Ice Hockey Hair and Out Spaced as well as a Mash Up at the CIA and Mwng.
The book is packed with Manic Street Preachers content too from Motown Junk to Masses Against the Classes! There’s in-depth analysis of their five albums from the 90s, plus stops at the Heineken Festival and Nynex Arena before an epic finale at Manic Millennium.
As the title suggests, CATATONIA are featured loads in International Velvet from the Crai EPs through to Way Beyond Blue and onto the No.1 successes of International Velvet and Equally Cursed & Blessed and the euphoria of Margam Park.
Stereophonics emerged from the Cynon Valley weaving real-life tales of their humble hometown on Word Gets Around. The book also includes their No.1 album Performance & Cocktails, plus their classic gigs at Cardiff Castle and Morfa Stadium.
Mixing Beatles melodies with the psychedelia of Soft Machine and Captain Beefheart, GORKY’S ZYGOTIC MYNCI possessed a prodigious talent that belied their age. International Velvet covers their six albums from the 90s, plus the Llanfwrog and Amber Gambler EPs.
Famously dubbed “the new Seattle” by renowned US rock writer Neil Strauss, there’s a chapter devoted to the explosive Newport scene of the mid-90s spearheaded by 60ft Dolls, Dub War, Flyscreen and Novocaine. Look out for analysis of other 90s Newport bands too like The Darling Buds and Feeder.
Last but by no means least, International Velvet is crammed with stories including Anhrefn, Datblygu and Llwybr Llaethog. There’s also indie heroes Helen Love, The Pooh Sticks and Melys; The Alarm and Donna Lewis’ transatlantic success and the “world’s wildest band” Tigertailz!
The National Eisteddfod concludes this weekend with Pontypridd hosting the event for the first time since 1893.
On exactly the same dates in August 1996, Super Furry Animals, SFA drove a tank into the festival! Here’s a flashback extract from International Velvet: How Wales Conquered the 90s Charts.
linktr.ee/neilcollins123
Alffa are back after a near five year break, ready to reignite the fire they lit with their 2019 debut ‘Rhyddid O’r Cysgodion Gwenwynig’ (Freedom From The Poisonous Shadows). After releasing the electrifying Welsh anthem, ‘Pwythau’, in May, the North Wales rockers are dropping another bomb...
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Welsh Music Podcast / Podlediad Miwsig Cymreig posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Send a message to Welsh Music Podcast / Podlediad Miwsig Cymreig:
I will be on Midnight Mastermind at 12.30am on BBC Radio 2 where the host will have the duration of a song to research Manic Street Preachers and then I’ll be grilling him on his knowledge of the band! Here’s the last time I was on BBC Radio 2 back in August 2021 after the Manics had played a socially distanced gig at St David's Hall in front of just 150 people.
I’ll be chatting with Huw Stephens about International Velvet: How Wales Conquered the 90s Charts on BBC Radio 6 Music shortly after 6pm tonight! Listen live: https://bbc.in/3AlPFJv
“Tonight Matthew, I’m going to be James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers!”🤩🤩🤩 Happy 25th Birthday to You Stole the Sun from My Heart!
#DyddGŵylDewiHapus / #HappyStDavidsDay! Here’s legendary guitarist Tich Gwilym of Geraint Jarman a'r Cynganeddwyr with his Hendrix-inspired rendition of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau!👌🏻
“We’re the Red Wall of Cymru”🏴🏴🏴 The Alarm St David's Hall
#DyddGŵylDewiHapus / #HappyStDavidsDay! Here’s legendary guitarist Tich Gwilym of Geraint Jarman a'r Cynganeddwyr with his Hendrix-inspired rendition of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau!👌🏻
“It was Christmas Eve babe in the drunk tank…” Here’s James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers and KT Tunstall with Fairytale of New York on Chris Evans’ BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show in 2010. Originally performed by Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, it narrowly missed out on 1987 Christmas No.1 to Pet Shop Boys’ Always on My Mind, and was later featured on the classic album If I Should Fall from the Grace of God. This radio session also featured James Dean Bradfield’s cover of Last Christmas, which he had previously played on Chris Evans’ Channel 4 show TFI Friday back in 1996. Forever Delayed News R*E*P*E*A*T
Join us at 8.30pm on Thursday 2 September for a Welsh Music Podcast video special for SFATV https://superfurry-animals.lnk.to/SFATVFA Co-hosts Neil Collins, James Cuff and David Owens discuss the genius of Super Furry Animals, SFA’s Rings Around the World album including memories of its 2001 release and how it still sounds incredible 20 years later. Delighted to be part of this - thanks for the invitation Ric Rawlins! Also follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and please leave us a review / rating on your podcast platform. We’ve already released episodes on Fuzzy Logic, Mwng, Rings Around the World (with special guest Greg Haver) and Phantom Power. Plus, we’ve got Bryn Law on Radiator and Ric Rawlins on Guerrilla still to be recorded!
Tune into SFATV via YouTube on Thursday 2 September from 8pm for an exclusive hour of Super Furry Animals, SFA content to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Rings Around the World! https://superfurry-animals.lnk.to/SFATVFA 8pm: Gruff Rhys, Cian Ciarán and Guto Pryce chat with co-producer Chris Shaw and engineer Eric Tew about the making of Rings Around the World. 8.25pm: Pete Fowler talks us through the HD premiere of his video for Rings Around the World. 8.30pm: Welsh Music Podcast co-hosts Neil Collins, James Cuff and David Owens discuss the legacy of Rings Around the World two decades on from its 2001 release via Epic Records.
Here’s our co-host Neil Collins chatting with OJ Borg and fellow fan Emma Wilbraham on BBC Radio 2 about Manic Street Preachers’ triumphant return to the stage at St David's Hall. #manicstreetpreachers #bbcradio2live Forever Delayed News R*E*P*E*A*T
Want your business to be the top-listed Media Company?
