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A Message From Catrin Brace

AmeriCymru: Hi Aug and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. You say in your recent article on The Quietus that "..... 2015 is shaping up to be a good year for sounds in the Welsh tongue." In what way?

Aug Stone: In April, Domino Recording Co. reissued Super Furry Animals’ Mwng album for its 15 ^th anniversary. The Super Furries had initially put it out themselves and it went to Number 11 in the UK charts and is to this day the best selling Welsh language album. And Heavenly Recordings have just released Gwenno’s Y Dydd Olaf , which has been getting a lot of great press. Which is nice to see, that people are willing to look past the language barrier to appreciate such a fine record and maybe even take the trouble to learn what the Welsh words are that Gwenno’s singing. Peski Records originally released Gwenno’s album last year and it sold out after a few months, when Gwenno was supporting Gruff Rhys on his UK ‘American Interior’ tour (If you don’t know about Gruff’s ‘American Interior’ project, I can’t recommend it enough. Album, film, and book about John Evans’ quest to find the mythical tribe of Welsh speaking Indians roaming the plains and just by way of this very much contributing to the founding of America. Seriously, the book is fascinating and a great read) So these two were re-releases of Welsh language albums by much bigger record companies, showing that this music is important and deserves a wider audience. And then there’s Ani Glass’ songs. Which have been getting played on Radio Cymru, ‘Ffôl’ was even Track of the Week last week. I co-produced these but they’re Ani’s songs so I can honestly say they’re great pop.

AmeriCymru: What attracted you to Welsh language music?

Aug Stone: I have a lot of time for the Saunders sisters. I’ve followed Gwenno’s career since she first joined The Pipettes in 2005. I remember when I first saw The Pipettes live, turning to my friend Harvey Williams and saying ‘this is everything music should be!’ It was fun and catchy, great songs. All this was in English, as was Gwenno’s first round of solo songs. But then one day in the summer of 2013, I clicked on a post on Facebook by Dave Higdon who runs the Poptastic Confessions blog. It was about a band called The Lovely Wars, which was Ani’s post-Pipettes band. And their song ‘Young Love’ had all the right ingredients – catchy as all get out, fantastic female vocals, synths and guitars like I love. It became my favourite song of 2013. Their next single ‘Brân i Frân’ was the first time I recall hearing a Welsh language pop song that really struck me and stuck in my head. My band, The Soft Close-Ups, were lucky enough to play with The Lovely Wars twice in London in 2014. Great gigs, they were fab live.

After that single came out, I checked to see if Gwenno had released anything recently and I found ‘Chwyldro’ had come out a few months before and I had somehow missed it. ‘Chwyldro’ is just fantastic. One of the most badass pop songs released in recent memory. It’s got that killer swagger of a groove, moving through that spacey atmosphere, and what does it mean? ‘Revolution’.

Last summer I was heading to Wales to visit Nik Turner from Hawkwind, who was going to show me some of the ancient stone sites around Carmarthen (his grandkids ended up visiting that day so we all went to the beach at Mwnt. Which was lovely. I played the harmonium in the little church at the bottom of the rock, and Nik told me Mwnt is one of the gateways to the Underworld in Celtic mythology). Ani suggested I check out the Eisteddfod that was going on at the same time with Gwenno playing that night. It was a very long day. I woke up at 5:15 AM to leave London by 7. I rented a car and drove for the very first time on the ‘wrong’ side of the road (quite easy after five minutes of getting the hang of it), got lost (of course), and finally made it to my Air B’n’B in Cross Hands with just enough time to drop off my bag before departing again for Llanelli. When I arrived at Maes B I was starving and walked the mile to Maes A for some lovely vegan food at No Bones Jones. Then I walked back along the water as the sun was setting. I was very, very tired and everything seemed slightly surreal, all the more so because once I got to the stage area I was easily the oldest person there by 20 years, surrounded as I was by teenagers getting drunk for the very first time.

Then Gwenno took the stage, dressed in all black, looking pure rock n roll. And the new songs along with the cosmic sounds she was conjuring up within them were just fantastic! It was one of those magical moments that pop fans like me live for.

The next night I caught her again at the Eisteddfod gigs being put on around Llanelli by Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg. Carl Morris was DJ’ing and, per usual, he hipped me to some very cool sounds. Most notably I remember hearing Pop Negatif Wastad that night.

AmeriCymru: Do you think that the contribution made by Welsh language bands to modern pop culture in the UK and internationally has been adequately recognised?

Aug Stone: No. Of course not. As with any language other than English – with the exception of Spanish, as it’s so widely spoken – people tend to ignore it. Well, I should say the media ignores it rather than people. Because I think, given the chance, if this stuff was getting played, then people would like it. It’s just that they’re not being exposed to it. It’s great that Gwenno’s album is getting so much press, and radio play on BBC 6 Music. It’s really unheard of for a non-English language song to be getting aired like that.

AmeriCymru: How important, in your opinion is Gwenno to the revival of interest in Welsh language bands?

Aug Stone: Gwenno is important full stop. She’s an artist in the true sense of the word, pursuing her own path and making something interesting out of it. Her album is intriguing – it’s inspired by Owain Owain’s ‘Y Dydd Olaf’, an obscure 1976 Welsh sci-fi novel. Sonically it’s awesome to listen to. And it works as a pop record. ‘Patriarcheth’, which blew me away when I first heard it live at the Eisteddfod– it was very much standing there with a huge smile on my face just going ‘WOW!’ (another ‘this is what music should be moment’. The ‘oo oo oo’s that rang out into the night echoed in my head for days afterward. I couldn’t wait to get the album) – is so catchy and deliciously pop, and what’s the chorus? ‘Patriarchy, and your soul is at stake’!

So yes, when something like this comes along, you hope that it will draw attention to other great artists working along the same lines, from the same area. And also inspire people that they can make something like this too, not only in Wales, but for any minority language culture. Break down barriers to realise great music is great music.

AmeriCymru: How important are Datblygu in the history of Welsh language pop?

Aug Stone: I can only speak about them second-hand, having not known them at the time they were first around. But every Welsh person I speak to references Datblygu very quickly once the topic of cool music comes up.

Gwenno and the Peski records chaps host a radio called Cam o’Tywyllwch playing experimental underground sounds from Wales and around the world. The name comes from the title of the first compilation of alternative Welsh music (containing two Datblygu songs) released 30 years ago by Rhys Mwyn’s Recordiau Anrhefn label. I spoke to Rhys whilst researching my piece for The Quietus and he’s great. So enthusiastic about pop music in general, and it’s always cool to speak to someone who believes pop music can change your life, which of course it can. Anyway Gwenno and Peski hosted the CAM15 festival in Cardiff this past April and by all accounts it was a big success. Datblygu played for the first time in 20 years, playing almost all new material, and Dr. Sarah Hill and Gwenno were saying how great it was to see them get the respect they deserve by the few hundred people in the audience.

AmeriCymru: You have recently co-produced Ani Glass' (Ani Saunders from The Pipettes) new Welsh language solo songs. Care to tell us more about that experience?

Aug Stone: I’m a huge fan of Ani’s songs. She’s got a fantastic voice and huge pop sensibilities. One day last year she asked me if I knew anyone who might be interested in producing some of her new solo songs. As I’d like to get more into producing other people’s music, I said that I could have a go. She sent over a demo of ‘Ffôl’, which is a great song but also quite different from the music I’m used to working on. It’s more r’n’b. But it was cool to have the challenge. And the first thing I came up with was that dub bassline (which I love) and so Danny Gold (Boston producer I work a lot with), Sean Drinkwater (Freezepop, Lifestyle), and I did the music and sent it to Ani and thankfully she was so pleased she sent us a bunch more songs.

‘Little Things’ was quite thrilling to work on especially once we got that bassline, that’s where it all came together. There always seemed to be some point early on in each song where something would spark a reference to Depeche Mode in my mind and we wisely followed that. And there’s a few more excellent songs to come.

It was an interesting way of working because we don’t speak Welsh and we were recording in Somerville, Massachusetts with Ani being across the ocean in Cardiff. So there was a big element of just trusting our instincts that what we were doing was right for the songs. On a personal level it’s been a great experience because although Sean and I have played in bands together for over 15 years we’ve never really collaborated on anything before. So this was really nice.

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

Aug Stone: There’s a lot of great music coming out of Wales, Welsh language or not, that I highly recommend checking out. I’ve found a lot of great instrumental, mostly electronic, acts. Hippies vs Ghosts I heard recently are ace. In a different vein, R Seillog. Peski Records have put out a really good compilation that would be a good place to start - http://www.peski.co.uk/cam1/index.html

But there’s great Welsh bands singing in English too. That last Trwbador album was one of my favourite records of 2014. ‘Start Your Car’ and ‘Several Wolves’ are just incredible songs. And Cian Ciarán’s (from Super Furry Animals) new project Zefur Wolves have made a really great rock record.

Since writing that Quietus piece two songs have been stuck in my head non-stop. Killer anthems, Y Cyrff’s ‘Cymru, Lloegr A Llanrwst’ and Anhrefn’s ‘Rhedeg I Paris’. And here they are:

An interview with John Griffiths of Welsh  dub/electronica band - Llwybr Llaethog

Llwybr Llaethog on the Wiki : "Founded in the north Welsh town of Blaenau Ffestiniog in 1985 by John Griffiths and Kevs Ford, the two teens had spent the seventies growing up in the town's decaying industrial surroundings. The two were heavily influenced by reggae and the punk scenes that were sweeping the UK. After several abortive attempts to start bands, the turning point came in 1984 when John Griffiths was on vacation in New York City and was impressed by a group of youths he saw at a nightclub breakdancing, and the sounds of DJ Red Alert.

After returning to Wales, Griffiths fixed on the idea of marrying hip hop and far left politics with his native Welsh language. Llwybr Llaethog's debut release was an EP for the Welsh record label Anhrefn Records in 1986, entitled Dull Di Drais, which combined Llwybr Llaethog's leftist political messages with what would become the band's trademark sound of turntable scratching, audio sampling, hip-hop, and cut-and-paste production. The band were also heavily promoted by British radio DJ John Peel."

AmeriCymru:  What can you tell us about the new album 'I'r Dim'?

John:   It's a series of experimental recordings made at Stiwdio Neud Nid Deud in Cardiff & Stiwdio BOS in Llanerfyl.

I can safely say it's unlike anything we've done previously, and has been described as "like a soundtrack for an imaginary horror film" & "musique concrete". We mixed field recordings, malfunctioning electronics, vinyl crackle and a few musical instruments. The title means "Ideal" 0r "Spot on", but translates literally as "To the nothing".

AmeriCymru:  How did the band come to be formed and how did you choose the name Llwybr Llaethog?

John:   We recorded our 1st ep whilst living in London. I found the name in the dictionary and thought it'd be cool to have a name that no-one outside Wales could pronounce. It was a joke really, I didn't expect to be explaining it for the following 30 years. Anhrefn records released our 1st two singles.

AmeriCymru:  Your music is a mix of various genres including rap, dub, reggae, hip hop, and punk. How would you describe your sound and who would you rate as major influences?

John:   I suppose our sound is a mixture of the music that's influenced us, with our own input. Growing up in the 60s we were into rock music [The Who, Rolling Stones et. al.], then discovered dub reggae and got into punk rock in the 70s. Adrian Sherwood's ONU Sound label was a major influence, as was King Tubby & Lee Perry.

AmeriCymru:  How has the Welsh language music scene changed in recent decades?

John:   It's diversified. We still need some groundbreaking electronic acts though.

AmeriCymru:  You were featured on the John Peel show a number of times. What are your memories of John? How important was his support for Welsh music back in the 80's?

John:   He was very supportive of us, gave us 4 sessions on his show and played just about every track we released.

He was a nice bloke, despite being a Liverpool supporter! He used to ring me up to hear how to pronounce Welsh song titles when I lived in London, I miss his show - & knowing we had an ally at BBC central.

He didn't play all Welsh music that came out in the 80s, he played the stuff he liked, bands such as Datblygu, Anhrefn, Plant Bach Ofnus and us.

AmeriCymru:   Where can people go to buy your music online?

John:   www.llwybrllaethog.co.uk

AmeriCymru:   What's next for Llwybr Llaethog?

John:   Working on a new album now...it'll be more poppy than "I'R DIM", more electronic and dancey.

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

John:   Try our album "STWFF" if you're not familiar with our stuff - there's something for everyone on that album. And "DUB CYMRAEG" is a must for dub fans.