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Americymru: For how many years have you been an accompanist at the North American Festival of Wales? |
| 'SexBomb' is a two-piece Tom Jones tribute band from Hanford CA, combining the musical talents of William Parry ( vocals ) and Bobby Z ( guitar, trumpet ). The band will be performing at the Left Coast Eisteddfod in Portland Oregon 2010 ( watch this space for further details ). They agreed to a world exclusive interview with Americymru which we proudly present below. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Americymru: 'Sexbomb' are about to explode on the Portland music scene in October 2010. Can you tell us a little about how the band came to be formed? Sexbomb: True, Im excited for Portland. Weve been terrorizing, uh, I mean, rocking the California music scene for months now, so a little West Coast Tour 10 will be epic. Sexbomb came together as a natural progression; an evolution really of all my past musical forays and experiences . . . that and my other band broke up when my bass player went to jail for his second DUI. Plus, Bobby Z (SBs other half, and guitarist / trumpeter supreme) had just been asked to leave his churchs band, so the timing was perfect. Americymru: Can you explain the symbolic significance of the bands name? Sexbomb: Sexbomb is named after Sir Tom Jones 2000 hit song of the same name, from his massive Reload album. We cant really play Sexbomb live yet (its disco beats dont lend themselves well to a 2-man acoustical arrangement), but its a way cooler band name for us than, say, Daughter of Darkness or Letter to Lucille. No symbolism, Bob and I are both married (not to each other). Americymru: Can you describe a typical 'Sexbomb' performance? Sexbomb: Id say that were the greatest band in the world by default, as we tribute/cover the greatest performer in the world; makes sense. (But, Surprisingly good was the overall audience consensus at our world debut in October 09. Were a 2-man acoustical/unplugged act.) Were fun, upbeat, disinclined to take ourselves too seriously, but always respectful of Sir Tom and the material . . . Bob and I like to rock the house, and get off stage quickly so we can go get properly pissed (Ok, more pissed.) Bottom line, were a very fun, entertaining band; what we may lack in talent and classical training we more than make up for with enthusiasm, good humor, and a love for Sir Tom. Americymru: Who, besides Sir Tom, are your biggest influences? Sexbomb: Good question. Vocally Id have to say Chris Cornell, Dick Haymes, and Dean Martin. Onstage, my biggest performance influences are David Lee Roth, the late Robert Palmer, and Big Ernie McCracken. Bob has a range of guitar influences, including Johnny Cash, Jimmies Hendrix and Page, Richie Blackmore, Brian May, and even some heavy metal guitarists, which has something to do with his ejectment from the church band. Americymru: How long have you been a Tom Jones fan? Sexbomb: Since birth, Im Welsh!! I first saw Sir Tom live in August of 84 at the Paso Robles mid-state fair; that was my Woodstock. Blew me away. Ive seen him live many times since, and even shook his hand at the August 9, 95 gig in Visalia (nearly took a savage beating after from a group of insanely jealous, panty-less housewives), and again in Vegas on April 27, 06. Epic. (Bobs been a fan since I begged him to form SB with me last year.) Hear 'Delilah' and 'She's A Lady' performed by Sexbomb Americymru: 'Sexbomb' celebrates Welsh culture with particular reference to 'Tom Jones'. Can you explain the significance of drinking in Welsh culture?
Sexbomb: Ah, wow, big question I could more easily break down the I Ching, the Koran, or the DeNiro vs. Pacino debate. Its kind of at the Heart of our culture isnt it? (um, have I revealed too much about my own personal habits here?)
Americymru: We have pictures of you in a kilt at a Chicago Mass transit station. Can you explain what you were doing on that occasion and were you arrested for it?
Sexbomb: Under advice of my counsel, Im really not supposed to talk about that as litigation is still pending, and Ill thank you to drop the subject. I will say this, just to clarify: I was never arrested, merely detained for questioning. And that was mostly the fault of fellow Americymru member Phil Morgan (for plying me with copious amounts of Newcastle at the Wales v. USA rugby match earlier that day, where you may have seen me a tattooed dancing Gorilla waving a Welsh flag if you watched the gameIm told I made the ESPN2 and BBC telecasts.) The statute of limitations for drunk in public and indecent exposure doesnt expire for another 20 months, so, no further comment. (ps youll be subpoenaed and well be setting your deposition soon to ferret out exactly how you came in to possession of said photos.)
Americymru: Does 'Sexbomb' have any plans to record? Is there anywhere online where people can hear the band?
Sexbomb: Yes, were recording now actually at American Made Studios, in Fresno, California, with our good friends Marc Kapetan and Paul Smokin Joe Turner. When our master recordings are mixed down and ready, were prepared to debut them here on Americymru !! (youve still got that case of Penderyn youre sending me, right?) Americymru: You are rightly famed on the Americymru site for an incident involving a flight of stairs in your student years. Care to tell us a little more about that? Any chance of a demonstration at the Eisteddfod? ( we need to know for insurance purposes- Ed )
Sexbomb: My only comment is to advise others never to slide head-first down a cement stairway on a lousy 20 quid bet (particularly after 9 JR Tenant Supers). I should have counted the damn steps 34 steps at that blood alcohol level is ill-advised, from what I remember anyway. (Hey, did I ever get paid for that?!@?) And will I be recreating that feat at the LCE? Oh, no, Im much more mature now and . . . um, why?, you gonna have any JR Tenants Super there??
Americymru: Any upcoming gigs you'd like to mention?
Sexbomb: Were playing the Sky Line Room in Fresno, Calif. later this month, with a couple return dates tentatively in the works. (ie, if we dont get too drunk and stink up the initial gig.) Were also set to rock Joey Rubinsteins bar mitzvah in March, and the Kings County Fair this summer. Things are really taking off.
Americymru: Any final message for the members and readers of Americymru?
Sexbomb: To live for today and to love for tomorrow is the wisdom of a fool, because tomorrow is promised to no one. You see, love is that wonderful thing that the whole wide world needs plenty of. So, if you think for one minute you can live without, then youre only fooling yourself. Without Love by Sir Tom Jones. Amen.
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| WIN 2 Tickets to Karl Jenkins '9/11 10th Anniversary Concert'
Dr. Karl Jenkins is one of Britain's greatest and most versatile living composers, the author of an ocean of amazing and exalting music unlimited by genre, style or instrument. He holds a doctorate of musicology from the University of Wales and the Royal Academy of Music London. His many awards include several fellowships at various universities and an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for "services to music." He has composed for jazz bands, orchestra and voice, for advertising, film, and live performance. Dr. Jenkins is a native of the village of Penclawdd in the Gower peninsula, where his father was a school teacher and the choirmaster and organist of the Methodist church the family attended. Two of his most recent works available are Stabat Mater (2008), an adaptation of a 13th century Roman Catholic prayer and Stella Notalis (2009), adaptations and compositions of Christmas carols from around the world.  Karl: As part of Welsh Week I've been asked to conduct some of my music as the first half of the concert. I have a strong relationship with Jonathan Griffith of DCINY who has arranged the event and who has been fantastic in that he has conducted and supported much of my work in the USA. On Martin Luther King Day 2010 he performed my The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace and my Requiem. On this occasion I shall be conducting Palladio [famous for its use on a TV ad for diamonds], two choral extracts, Benedictus & Ave verum [from the Armed Man & Stabat Mater respectively] and the USA premier of my Concerto for Euphonium & Orchestra played by David Childs for whom it was written. Karl Jenkins Conducts "Palladio" Americymru: You're a musician, your wife is a musician, your son is a musician, your daughter-in-law is a musician, your father was a musician, has music always been part of your family's life? Karl: Well obviously that is the case. My father started the ball rolling really since he was hugely influential with regard to my musical education. He taught me piano from an early age and music was always in the house, both live & recorded. My wife Carol Barrat is a celebrated music educationalist while our son, a percussionist and film composer has just scored a Bollywood movie! His wife Rosie, whom he met in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain is currently playing oboe with the London Symphony Orchetra. Americymru: You've said in other interviews and your biography that your father was the organist and choirmaster at your village's Methodist chapel, was he the greatest musical influence in your life? Do you think you've been the same influence in your son's life? Karl: What we've done as parents is introduce Jody to music and by default, the musicians life so he's quite worldly for a young man [he's 28]. We did not force him in any way and having played piano & flute as a child, he asked to play percussion when he was ten. This was his instrument and became principal in the aforementioned NYOGB, won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music [where I had studied 30 years before] and graduated with first class honours. So, he's been his own man really but I suppose it helps in that we work in different areas. What we do all share as a family is a love of all good music, regardless of categorisation, and in any genre. Americymru: How would you describe Welsh congregational singing to someone who's never seen it? Would you say that growing up with that musical experience effected or enriched you as a composer? Karl: It's obviously hard to describe music in words but what makes it unique is the rawness of the vocal sound. On the printed page it looks like any other four part hymn but the sound, to me anyway, is hugely atmospheric especially when sung in Welsh. The sound influenced my Adiemus project which had a degree of global success. This was a mix of the 'classical' but with voices that were not from the European classical tradition but more "tribal". The text was my own invented language. Americymru: You've performed and composed a very wide variety of instruments and styles of music and incorporate a great variety in your work, from the 13th century Roman Catholic Stabat Mater to Japanese haiku and African folk - what inspires or directs fitting these styles together in a piece? Where do you start writing music or creating music? Karl: My musical journey, following academic classical training at Cardiff University & the RAM, has taken in a wide variety of genres and I've arrived at what I do now by way of being a musical tourist. Essentially I am a composer who always looks outside the European tradition for influences, texts & instrumentation, particularly percussion. With regard starting a piece, if I'm setting words then I immediately have a peg on which to hang the piece. If it's instrumental or Adiemus then I'm on my own! The principle is searching around for ideas [usually using a piano] and developing what takes my fancy. A huge amount of intuition is involved, but intuition based on an armoury of acquired musical craft; harmony, counterpoint, orchestration, form et. Americymru: "Stabat" Mater (2008) is your adaptation of a 13th century Catholic liturgical hymn, in which you included an amazing variety of instruments and material from sources as wide as 13th century Persian poetry and the Epic of Gilgamesh, how did you come to create this, what was your process in expressing this? Karl: Well the established text is there already. Then much of what I have expressed above came in to play, looking outside Europe to the Middle East/Holy Land for relevant [i.e. concerning grief] ancient text, employing languages that were lingua franca at the time and including indigenous instruments in the orchestration. The eminent Welsh poet [and academic] Grahame Davies [who wrote the words for my recently composed anthem for the National Assembly of Wales] did quite a bit of research for me with regard to the literature. Americymru: You've said in interviews before that you "don't see any point in being a composer if you don't communicate with people," what does that mean to you? Do you feel that response in the audience is important, that response is the "product" or goal of a piece of art or music? What response do you want to create in your audiences? Karl: I believe music should emotionally connect with an audience; make them cry, laugh, administer 'goose bumps! I've heard far too much music with 'one man and his dog' in the audience, the piece never heard again and the event receiving "critical acclaim". Americymru: Wales seems to produce a lot of musical artists who would be (or are) described as "crossover", yourself included - do you think Wales has a musical character or tradition that inspires or tends toward experimentation or something like hybridization, a lack of adherence to artificial limitations of genre? Karl: I don't like to use the term cross-over. I'm not sure what it means and I've explained what I do above. I don't think the Welsh like music particularly. What they do like are singers which is not necessarily the same thing. I like to think that what I do is at least individual and at least it's new. Most albums and repertoire [not just by Welsh artists] are a series of singers singing the same songs, songs that everyone knows. Many such artists are described as opera singers when they have never sang in an opera in their lives. At least good modern 'pop' has more integrity since it is newly composed. Americymru: Did you have particular creative goals as an artist and if you did, have you achieved them? What would you like to look back on at the end of your life and see that you did or created? Karl: Following my journey, I have come relatively late in life to what I do now, but the corollary is that I would not have arrived at this point without this musical tourism and the influence and skills that have come with it. There is still much to do. I'm setting the Gloria text for a Royal Albert Hall premier in July and there is much more to do. Americymru: Is there any particular instrument you especially like to compose for? If so, what instrument and why? Karl: Sounds pompous [which I'm not] but my instrument is the orchestra [& choir] and the rich palette of colours it provides. Americymru: Is there any one work or piece that you created that you're particularly proud of or happy to have done? If so, what is it and why? Karl: The worrying thing is that some of my most popular pieces were kind of written quickly and which I didn't set great store by. However, I suppose the Armed Man because of it's impact but I think there is better music in the Requiem. Americymru: What music do you listen to for pleasure? Karl: I listen far less than I did, most certainly because I'm always writing and I need a break! Favourites would be Mahler, Strauss, Wagner, Bach, Stravinsky, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Weather Report, Steely Dan........ |
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What is St Dwynwen's Day? January 25th Wales has its very own patron saint of lovers. Saint Dwynwen is the Welsh St Valentine.
Brychan , a legendary 5th-century king of Brycheiniog had 24 daughters, of whom Dwynwen was reputedly the prettiest. She fell in love with a local prince called Maelon Dafodrill. Unfortunately her father, mindful of political advantage, had already arranged a marriage for her. Dwynwen was distraught. She hid in the forest and asked God to help her forget Maelon. She fell asleep and was visited by an angel in her dreams. The angel brought an elixir with the power to expunge her memories of her former lover and turn him into a block of ice.
God granted Dwynwen three wishes. Firstly she asked that Maelon be thawed. Secondly she wished that God would vouchsafe the dreams and aspirations of true lovers for all time. Thirdly she asked him to ensure that she never married. Upon fulfilment of these wishes and as a token of her gratitude, she dedicated herself to God's service for the rest of her days.
Dwynwen moved to Llanddwyn , a small island on the west coast of Ynys Mon ( Anglesey ), where she founded a convent. After she died in 465AD a nearby well became a popular place of pilgrimage. The well was believed to contain sacred eels and fish which could predict the success or failure of relationships. Couples would consult the aqueous oracle to divine whether love and lasting happiness would be theirs. Scant remains of her church are still visible today ( see below).
St Dwynwen's Church, Llanddwyn
After fading from folk memory for a time, no doubt as a consequence of the wider observance of Valentine's day , St Dwynwen's Day has made something of a comeback in Wales recently. Here at AmeriCymru we want to do our bit to revive and promote this charming Welsh tradition. Don't wait till Valentine's Day to say 'I love you'. Or better still do it twice!
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Send one of our St Dwynwen's day cards here
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| First Minister salutes Llangollen Festival as a Global Phenomenon Virtuoso Violinist & Villa fan returns! 2010 sees the return of Llangollen Festival as they announce their star line up including some of the biggest names in the music industry who are at the top of their game - including Karl Jenkins OBE, Only Men Aloud, Llr Williams, Bond and the one and onlyNigel Kennedy! So this Eisteddfod will celebrate the classical, the contemporary, the traditional, the sexyand the unexpected! Stifyn Parri, Local Entrepeneur/Concert Producer/PR. With this years line up the Llangollen 2010 programme is possibly stronger than ever, says Festival Director Mervyn Cousins. Its fantastic to have Nigel Kennedy back in Llangollen of course and were also proud to be featuring Karl Jenkins, one of our most distinguished musical figures. The excitement our line up has engendered is truly amazing - our season ticket income is almost as high as it was in 2009 and its only January! Amongst the fifty thousand people hoping to visit this years Festival will be Wales First Minister Carwyn Jones. Not only is this one of Waless major festivals, he says, its also a truly global phenomenon and one that we can be justifiably proud of throughout the land of song. And there will be a huge welcome for Only Men Aloud too as they make their Llangollen debut on the Friday. These proud Welshmen have wowed audiences throughout the land recently with their sell-out UK tour and their chart-topping albums, and now theyre about to see some of that famed Llangollen magic for themselves. Says Only Men Aloud Leader Tim Rhys-Evans: Weve been on such a roller-coaster ride recently following the success of our number 1 second album and the accompanying tour and, of course, its been such a fantastic experience to take to the stage throughout Britain and the world but to be invited to sing at Llangollen for the first time is a great honour. This is such a special event and Llangollen Eisteddfod is justifiably respected throughout the world as a centre for musical excellence. So to headline a concert there is thrilling. The name is Bond. Just Bond. Yes, the striking four-piece string band ( featuring Cardiff-born Eos Chater ) will be in Llangollen on the Thursday night to take the festival by storm in an unforgettable extravaganza called Shine! Llangollen is celebrated the world over for a very good reason, says Eos, it's unique and has such an incredible atmosphere. The whole musical world gets together in this exquisite Welsh town and everyone always has an amazing time. We are so excited to be part of this years party and, for me, it's particularly exciting to share Wales with the other BOND girls - we cant wait to get on that stage to strut our stuff!
Magical, exuberant and vibrant, in 2010 Llangollen goes from from strength to strength. First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones said: Llangollen is well regarded throughout the world. For more than sixty years, musicians and dancers have flocked here from all four corners of the globe to compete and to create a superb atmosphere of peace and harmony. It all promises to be a musical feast and theres no excuse for you missing out on the festival vibe, says Festival Director Mervyn Cousins. This year, in addition to our popular Gold and Silver Season Ticket options were introducing the Platinum deal. This new ticket covers all the Eisteddfod concerts and competitions from Tuesday evening to Sunday evening in the same seat and represents a 25% saving on the full cost of these events; with no Booking Fee payable. And there is a free Festival Souvenir Programme too so its a winner all the way! Take this opportunity to join us for the whole week! Its going to be the best Llangollen yet! www.llangollen2010.co.uk Ticket Office 01978 862001 (or general number 862000). |
Second Chance to WIN 2 Tickets to Karl Jenkins Concert 'Music Masters of Wales' in New York City on March 6th
By Ceri Shaw, 2010-01-19
 As before we are offering these tickets as a QUIZ PRIZE on Americymru! Just answer the three easy quiz questions below ( answers can all be found on Wikipedia ) and send them to us at americymrucontest@gmail.com (this is a temporary email account and all email addresses will be deleted when it is closed after the competition entry deadline ). We'll throw all the entries in a hat and pick the winner! Please email us by Wednesday, March 3rd, no later than 9 AM. Tickets will be ready at will call on 3/6 at the Carnegie Hall; the winner will just need to bring a photo ID. ( Only one entry per email address is permitted. Duplicates will be disqualified )
Karl Jenkins Quiz
Karl Jenkins Conducts "Palladio" For more information on the concert: http://www.dciny.org/2010-opportunities/Saturday-March-6-2010.html |
