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AmeriCymru:  Many thanks for agreeing to this interview. Care to introduce the band, CVC for our members and readers?

CVC: Thank you for having us! We have Francesco Orsi on lead vocals, David Bassey and Elliot Bradfield singing guitarists, Nanial on keys, Tom Fry on drums and Ben Thorne on bass.

AmeriCymru:  Where in Wales is Church Village and how would you describe it?

CVC: Church Village is about half hour drive from the capital Cardiff, it’s a small little village but looks quite nice when the suns out Full of characters, and lots of good rugby players.

AmeriCymru: ( will be re ordered) How vibrant is the Welsh music scene at the moment? How easy is it for a Welsh band to get noticed?

CVC: There’s all sorts of great music going on in Cardiff now, too many great bands to name! And I think it’s quite hard to break out of the Cardiff scene, it took us a while, and we know loads of great band and musicians that are struggling to make a dent in England or the UK, so anything we can do to shine a light on that we will do. There’s untapped potential aplenty over in the land of sheep hear me now!

AmeriCymru:  What can you tell us about your current / recent tour of the United States? Any plans to return and perhaps visit the West Coast?

CVC: We’ve played New York and Toronto so far and the reaction has been incredible! To have people over the other side of the world singing back to us is a crazy feeling, and yes hopefully a West Coast trip in October fingers crossed!

AmeriCymru: Care to tell us a little about your recently released album 'Get Real'? CVC:

Get Real was recorded in guitarist Elliot’s kitchen during lockdown, we sent it around everyone we could find and ended up getting a response from Jonny Bradshaw and Geoff Barradale, our managers, and then they put us on the road and on the radio! It contains nearly all the songs we’d written up to that point, and we recorded everything from real Welsh rain to pots and bongs and shoe horned it all in to this DIY home grown recording.

AmeriCymru: How would you derscribe CVC's sound? What are the bands main influences?

CVC: I’d say it was like groovy harmony based rock music in a nutshell We love harmony bands like Frankie and the 4 seasons, groovy stuff like the Doobie Brothers and the Atlanta Rhythm Section and hip hop music from guys like Biggie Smalls and NWA.

AmeriCymru: Where can people go to hear you play and buy your music?

CVC: Well after this first American tour we’re going home to play our second UK tour, and then we’re out in Germany for Reeperbahn! All dates are on our website www.CVCband.com !

AmeriCymru: What are your future touring and recording plans? Any new tours or albums in the works?

CVC: We just about to start recording album 2, since most of it was written about a year ago, so we’re raaaaring to go!! We want to take it all over the world, especially Japan, we’re all sushi lovers!

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?

CVC: Get Real, Stay Real! Look after each other, look after yourselves, and keep it peace and love!

FORTHCOMING TOUR DATES

THE BAND

Life in Church Village is laid back and simple. Situated at the top of a hill in the Welsh Valleys around 10 miles north of Cardiff: there are a couple of rugby pitches, a few pubs all within walking distance of one another and that’s about it. Like many villages of this kind, it appears on the outside as quiet and serene, but there’s a bubbling underbelly, of kids itching for a chance to explore the wider world.

CVC (or Church Village Collective in full) represents this. But as the name suggests, they’re not divorcing themselves from the identity of the ‘small town’; if they have it their way, international renown will soon be brought to their village.

The outfit is comprised of singer Francesco Orsi, bassist Ben Thorne, drummer Tom Fry, keyboardist Daniel ‘Nanial’ Jones and singing guitarists David Bassey and Elliot Bradfield. It’s worth noting that the latter two, despite never having met them, are related to Welsh royalty Dame Shirley Bassey and Manic Street Preachers’ James Dean Bradfield, respectively. Maybe owing to genetics, Bassey states “I don’t think I’d be able to not do this, I don’t actively choose to, I’m just drawn to it”. But the band are all as equally talented with different skills that aid the cacophony of their sound. Simply put, CVC are a democracy, greater than the sum of its parts, and destined for world domination - perhaps!

It’s a lofty but not impossible dream - but if there is one band that’s up to that challenge, it’s them. “The point of being in a band is to have fun and to make music that people enjoy” Dave adds, “We listen to music to feel something and if we can give a bit of that back to other people - to hear them say they like the art you’ve produced, that’s the best thing ever”. The band’s rallying cry? “Peace and love and good times; stay real, stay true and that’s it.” Ultimately, they are essentialists and their music appeals to universally felt, primal instincts.

Again, there are no add-ons with this band, no gimmicks. They grew up on rock music’s building blocks: The Beatles, Neil Young and The Beach Boys - rich and melodic music steeped in rock’s history, while adding a contemporary feel; think the sunny sounds of Mac Demarco and Super Furry Animals coupled with the virtuosity of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

There is a hint of chaos though. Partly owing to the fact that they started as a ‘jam band’ says Orsi, and partly to their ingrained love of 70s psychedelia, it’s maybe the big three-part harmonies that stand out. Orsi, Bassey and Bradfield’s vocals are able to conjure moods of any palette, sweet but also explosive.

“We like big sounds,” sums up Bassey. “We like the big-big stuff. You’ve gotta have a keyboard player, two guitars, that’s a must, and three singers - “You definitely want to get to the top of Everest before you start coming back down.” Thorne adds.

The love of harmony comes from a surprising place given their knack for rebellion. “When I was in primary school, my music teacher would have six or seven hundred pupils singing four part harmonies and it was banging,” says Bradfield. “Like, it was loud as fuck in the hall. I remember getting goosebumps and thinking, ‘This is so class…’”

Real to Reel, their debut EP released in mid-2022 neatly summed up their identity. It’s an urgent manifesto that appeals to classic tastes but implanted in the present. ‘Docking the Pay is full blown energy’ says Thorne, despite being made in lockdown; a time when the world was invariably still. NME called the EP an “assured achievement” and highlighted  ‘Winston’ saying “[it] recaptures the groove and glory of late ‘60s psych-pop…with swirls and reverb”. It’s otherworldly.

In January 2023, Get Real, CVC’s 11-track debut album, will offer a similar transcendency. Keeping it local, they recorded in Bradfield’s’ living room over four sun-baked summer weeks; cooking up some of the rhythms in the kitchen using wooden spoons and pots and pans - with Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys) coming on board to mix the finished product. They were efficient, “We’d start in the morning, crank the amps up and then be home for dinner… Great fun,” says Bassey. “We do everything for the greater good of the band, rather than as individuals, that’s how everybody looks at it” says Jones.

As expected, the album betrays the four-walled confines of where it was recorded. Songs that rarely stray beyond four minutes, they’re arena-filling epics in miniature. ‘Knock Knock’ weaves an undulating groove, ‘Music Stuff’ brings a bit of Laurel Canyon to the Valleys, ‘Mademoiselle’ shakes, rattles and rolls.

‘Docking the Pay’ rightfully re-features on their debut album and fits perfectly, “it’s the ideal track to introduce the band”, says Thorne.

Elsewhere, there’s the anthemic ballad ‘Sophie’, named after Jones’ girlfriend and the jazz- inflected ‘Anogo’, which was written about the time the keyboardist broke both his arms (“The moral of the story is don’t be inebriated and climb trees,” he says).

When the album lands, an indispensable new band will be uncovered. “We want to be on massive stages with massive crowds, big gigs, big albums, top of the stack, like…the bigger the better.” Teeming with exuberance, they’re primed and prepped for this.

Around the release of Real to Reel, they played scuzzy, sweaty venues like London’s The Lexington and Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach as well as the greater plains of Electric Picnic and Reading & Leeds, converting crowds along the way. This was no more evident than at their EP release party at London’s Shacklewell Arms, where new and seasoned fans alike loudly chanted “CVC” at the end of the set; it felt spiritual, almost cultish.

The sound of ‘real Welsh rain’ pitter-patters across this self-produced album. CVC bring it all  back home on Get Real. It’s local and far-reaching; atop hills but firmly grounded; it’s bursting at the seams. It’s the Church Village Collective.

THE TOUR

CVC ON THE SOCIALS

LinkTree: @cvcband | https://linktr.ee/cvcband

Facebook: @CVCband | https://www.facebook.com/CVCband/

Twitter: @CVCband_ | https://twitter.com/CVCband_

Instagram: @cvcband_ | https://www.instagram.com/cvcband_/

YouTube: @cvcband | https://tinyurl.com/24fp9a75

TikTok: @cvcband | https://tinyurl.com/ye95bd2h

Cardiau Chwedlau

 
Photos: 5

AmeriCymru: Hi Eifion and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. What inspired you to launch your new company Cyfrinachau Cymru?

Eifion: Thank you very much for opportunity to speak to you, i was aware of the great work you do for Welsh and American links so I was eager to discuss this project with you. The inspiration came for the game due to my opinion that not enough is done to market the lesser know locations and amazing tales of folklore and mythology our great country has to offer. I live high up in the Bannau Brecheiniog very close to where my family are originally from in Myddfai, the tale of The Lady of the Lake is associated with Myddfai and is widely recognized as one of the greatest folklore tales that has ever come out of Wales. I'm also very active in networking with numerous Welsh groups from all around the world and I hope initiatives like this can help Wales recover from a barren spell recently by promoting the Welsh language, history, culture and also offering a game for all ages. Another inspiration for me was a chance meeting with a member of a local church in Arthenrhy Ireland, who explained to me how members wrote a book hundreds of years ago in that location, which focused heavily on folklore and mythology.

AmeriCymru: What is the company's mission statement? What kind of products will you be making available?

Eifion:  "Cysylltu Cymru a'r byd"

AmeriCymru: Care to tell us more about your new Welsh folklore and mythology card game?

Eifion: I've attached several photos which can be viewed from the photo album on this page.

AmeriCymru: What age range is the new card game aimed at?

Eifion: We are really hoping to get this product introduced to the Welsh education sector, we believe this will be a great resource for anyone to learn Welsh, and learn about our history and culture at the same time, whatever their age.

AmeriCymru: Where can people go to learn more, or purchase from, Cyfrinachau Cymru?

A new book published this week offers a glimpse into some special words and phrases that are unique to Wales. From well-known words such as  cwtsh ,  hiraeth ,  crachach  and  Jac Codi Baw  to lesser used words and phrases such as  paneidio ,  ansparadigeaethus  and  pendramwnwgl   Wales in 100 Words  is an off-beat collection of words that are in some way unique, evocative and special. Some are ancient and derive from Early Welsh, and others like  dim gobaith caneri  draw on Wales’s rich cultural and social heritage and many like  popty-ping  and  co bach  are new-born inventive creations for the digital age.

According to Garmon Gruffudd from Y Lolfa, publishers of the book,

“We should celebrate the rich vein of ancient evocative words and phrases we have in Welsh and also use some of the inventive, often colloquial and slang words we have, rather than official unimaginative words, often slavishly translated from English. In the days of  cyfieitheg  (translateish) and Google translate I hope that this book will prove that a language is far more than just words and that some things just can’t be translated.”

Although aimed at tourists and Welsh learners  Wales in 100 Words  will also teach something new and bring a smile to the faces of people who have spoken Welsh all their lives. It is also another contribution to the never-ending discussions on the most loved words in the Welsh language.

The book includes humorous illustrations by Osian Roberts. Originally from Llanerchymedd in Anglesey, after graduating at the Manchester School of Art Osian now lives in Porth in the Rhondda valley.

Priced at £3.99, Wales in 100 Words (Y Lolfa) is available now in bookshops and  www.ylolfa.com  
 

The top 100 words in alphabetical order

Annwn, Ansparadigaethus, awen, bach, bara brith, beic berfa,bendigedig, blodyn pi pi’n gwely, bochdew, bolgi, braich hir, buwch goch gota, bwci bo, bwrw hen wragedd a ffyn, calennig, Cantre’r Gwaelod, cariad, cath i gythraul, cawl, ceiliog, cerdd dant, chwyldro, chwyrligwgan, co bach, clatsho bant, cnapan, codi sgwarnogod, crachach, cromlech, crwth, cwm plu, Cwm Sgwt, cwrwgl, cwtsh, Cymru, cynefin, cynghanedd, cythraul canu, daps, Dic Siôn Dafydd, dim gobaith caneri, dros ben llestri, dwylo blewog, echnos, eisteddfod, englyn, esgyrn eira, glo mân, gog, gorsedd, gwdihŵ, gwynt traed y meirw, hiraeth, hwncomwnco, hwntw, hwyl, iechyd da!, igam ogam, Jac Codi Baw, jiw jiw!, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwll llandysulioygogogoch, ling di long, laeth mwnci, llwy garu, llwyth dyn diog, llyncu mul, MOM, mabinogion, manymanymwnci, milltir sgwâr, noson lawen, OMB!, paneidio, pendramwnwgl, pendwmpian, pengwin, Penmaenmawr, pibgorn, pili-pala, plygain, popty ping, pryd o dafod, randibŵ, Senedd, shwmai?, sinach, Sioni bob ochr, Taffia, traed dan bwrdd, twll o le, twmpath dawns, tŷ bach, y lôn goch, y pethe, y werin, y wladfa,y mab darogan, ych a fi!, yma o hyd, ynys afallon