On This Day 14/12/1995 Jayne County and the Electric Chairs

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On this day, 14 December 1995, American punk band Jayne County and the Electric Chairs played Cardiff’s Hippo Club.

The band was headed by Georgia-born singer Jayne County and became known for their campy, foul-mouthed ballads, glam punk inspired songs and image which was heavily influenced by Jackie Curtis and the Theatre of the Ridiculous.

Jayne County, then known as Wayne County, originally began performing in New York with a band called Queen Elizabeth. This was followed by Wayne County and The Backstreet Boys as documented on Rhino's DIY: Blank Generation compilation album with an early single: "Max's Kansas City 1976."

Upon moving to London with Greg Van Cook, a member of the Backstreet Boys, she recruited a new drummer and bassist to form "The Electric Chairs"; a band comprising Van Cook (guitar), Val Haller (bass) and Chris Dust (drums).

On This Day 13/12/1981 Black Flag

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On this day, 13 December 1981, American hardcore punk band Black Flag played Cardiff Top Rank. The band fronted by Henry Rollins were on their debut UK tour.

Formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California. Initially called Panic, the band was established by Greg Ginn, the guitarist, primary songwriter, and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes in the band. They are widely considered to be one of the first hardcore punk bands, as well as one of the pioneers of post-hardcore.

After breaking up in 1986, Black Flag reunited in 2003 and again in 2013. The second reunion lasted well over a year, during which they released their first studio album in nearly three decades, What The... (2013). The band announced their third reunion in January 2019.

Black Flag's sound mixed the raw simplicity of the Ramones with atonal guitar solos and, in later years, frequent tempo shifts. The lyrics were written mostly by Ginn, and like other punk bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Black Flag voiced an anti-authoritarian and nonconformist message, in songs punctuated with descriptions of social isolation, neurosis, poverty, and paranoia. These themes were explored further when Henry Rollins joined the band as lead singer in 1981. Most of the band's material was released on Ginn's independent record label SST Records.

On This Day 12/12/1965 Moody Blues

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On this day 12 December 1965, rock band Moody Blues played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre. They were part of a package headlined by The Beatles. The band featured the recently departed Denny Laine, who later joined Paul McCartney in his Beatle break-up band Wings.

Formed in Birmingham in May 1964. The band initially consisted of drummer Graeme Edge, guitarist/vocalist Denny Laine, keyboardist/vocalist Mike Pinder, multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Ray Thomas, and bassist/vocalist Clint Warwick.

Originally part of the British beat and R&B scene of the early–mid 1960s, the band came to prominence with the UK No. 1 and US Top 10 single "Go Now" in late 1964/early 1965. Laine and Warwick left the band by the end of 1966, being replaced by guitarist/vocalist Justin Hayward and bassist/vocalist John Lodge.

Earlier in the year the band had realeased their debut album The Magnificent Moodies. The album is a mix of rhythm and blues covers, including "Go Now" which had been a Number 1 hit single for the band earlier that year, and original songs by Laine and Pinder which show more of a Merseybeat influence. Also included is a cover of the George and Ira Gershwin standard "It Ain't Necessarily So".

On This Day 10 December 1996 Reef

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On this day, 10 December 1996, rock band Reef played Cardiff University on their Glow tour, the band were about to release their second album Glow ( January 1997).

Formed in Glastonbury. The band members include Gary Stringer on vocals, Amy Newton on guitar, Jack Bessant on bass, and Luke Bullen on drums.

In 1993, Bessant and Stringer were looking for band members while Kenwyn House met Dominic Greensmith (from Barnstaple, Devon), and discussed forming a band. The foursome got together, producing the extremely rare "Purple Tape" demo.

After recording several tracks, the band spent much of 1994 touring and building up a fan base. They signed to S2, an offshoot of Sony. Their first single "Good Feeling" was released on an independent label, but financed by Sony, then as an official Sony S2 release in early 1995. This paved the way for "Naked", which was used in a TV advert for the Sony MiniDisc in which a record company executive hears the track on MiniDisc and throws it out of the window disapprovingly. It is picked up by a young man outside, who listens to it and likes it (demonstrating the format's durability).

During 1994 and 1995, Reef supported Paul Weller, the Rolling Stones and Soundgarden, amongst others.

oth the "Good Feeling" and "Naked" singles came from Reef's 1995 release, their now gold debut album Replenish. The album was recorded in the remote Cornish Sawmills recording studio and in a studio in Bath.

In mid-1995 they released a four-track single release: "Weird". It was non-commercial and the band had said it was aimed at fans. "Sunrise Shakers", one of the B-sides to "Weird", was later included in snowboarding film Day Tripper, by independent film maker Christian Stevenson who later directed a promotional video for the band's 1999 single, "Sweety".

The follow-up to Replenish was 1997's Glow, with the band using more varied instruments and was produced by the Black Crowes' record producer, George Drakoulious and engineered by Jim Scott, in Los Angeles. It spawned the singles "Place Your Hands", "Come Back Brighter", "Consideration" and "Yer Old".On the week of its release, Glow went straight to number 1 in the UK Albums Chart.

On This Day 08/12/1971 Manfred Mann’s Earth Band

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On this day, 8 December 1971, rock group Manfred Mann’s Earth Band played Cardiff (venue unknown). The band featured on drums Chris Slade, who had previously played with Tom Jones and went on to hold down the drum seat for AC/DC.

Keyboardist Manfred Mann started in the 1960s with the self-titled band that had such hits as "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" and Bob Dylan's "The Mighty Quinn" and then moved on to jazz fusion-inspired Manfred Mann Chapter Three before forming the Earth Band in 1971.

The original line-up consisted of Mick Rogers (guitar and vocals), Manfred Mann (keyboards, Minimoog synthesizer and vocals), Colin Pattenden (bass guitar) and Chris Slade (drums and vocals).

In its very earliest stages, the band was sometimes billed as "Manfred Mann" and thus a continuation of the 1960s group, sometimes as "Manfred Mann Chapter Three" due to that being the most recent incarnation of Mann's career. The quartet released their first single, Bob Dylan's "Please, Mrs. Henry", in 1971, simply credited to "Manfred Mann".

A debut album "Stepping Sideways" was recorded but not released because the band's style was rapidly maturing, and the group felt it was not representative of their live act anymore. In September 1971, a new name was chosen. Manfred Mann suggested a title containing "band" (which almost rhymes with "Mann") and after considering the likes of "Arm Band", "Head Band" and "Elastic Band", Chris Slade suggested "Earth Band", a name both related to the band's originally straightforward musical style and the ecological movement ongoing at the time.

On This Day 07/12/1968 The Beach Boys

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On this day, 7 December 1968, American band The Beach Boys played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre. Support was provided by Barry Ryan, Bruce Channel, Vanity Fare, Eclection and Sharon Tandy with Fleur De Lys.

Formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by their vocal harmonies, adolescent-oriented lyrics, and musical ingenuity, they are one of the most influential acts of the rock era. They drew on the music of older pop vocal groups, 1950s rock and roll, and black R&B to create their unique sound. Under Brian's direction, they often incorporated classical or jazz elements and unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways.

Earlier in the year the band had released their 14th studio album Friends. The album is characterized by its calm and peaceful atmosphere, which contrasted the prevailing music trends of the time, and by its brevity, with five of its 12 tracks running less than two minutes long. it reached number 13 in the UK. Fans generally came to regard the album as one of the band's finest.

Setlist

"Wouldn't It Be Nice"

Darlin'

"Sloop John B"

"California Girls"

"Do It Again"

"Wake the World"

"Bluebirds Over the Mountain"

"God Only Knows"

"Good Vibrations"

"Barbara Ann"

"All I Want to Do"

On This Day 06/12,1992 The Wedding Present

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On this day, 6 December 1992, indie band The Wedding Present played Cardiff University.

formed in 1985 in Leeds, England, by members of The Lost Pandas. The band has been led by vocalist and guitarist David Gedge, the band's only constant member.

Closely linked to the C86 scene, the band has charted a total of eighteen singles in the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart, including a historic run of twelve singles – one for each month – in 1992, which tied Elvis Presley's record for most top 40 hits in a single year.

Each single had a limited pressing of 10,000 copies which all reached the Top 30 in the UK Singles Chart, To economise on songwriting, the B-sides consisted of cover versions of songs including Julee Cruise's "Falling" (the theme tune from Twin Peaks). The singles and their B-sides, produced by various producers such as Ian Broudie (Lightning Seeds) and Jimmy Miller (The Rolling Stones) were collected on two albums, Hit Parade 1 and Hit Parade 2.

The demand in the United Kingdom for The Wedding Present's singles was so high that distributors began poaching from a separate 5,000-copy stash meant for sale in all other markets to sell in the UK. The Wedding Present had the distinction of having all 12 hit singles be solely original material, whereas Elvis reached his record through archival re-issues. The Hit Parade effectively served as the band's third album under the RCA contract, and the band played Top of the Pops four times in the same year.

Seamonsters, Hit Parade 1 and Hit Parade 2 were released in the United States in 1991 and 1992 by New York-based pseudo-indie label First Warning Records. Shortly after the 1992 singles scheme had ended, the band announced they were leaving RCA.

Setlist

Corduroy

Boing!

Three

Come Play With Me

Sticky

Crawl

Blonde

The Queen of Outer Space

Loveslave

Silver Shorts

Suck

Flying Saucer

Play Video

Dalliance

Heather

On This Day 05/12/1992 Chris De Burgh

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On this day, 5 December 1992, Irish singer/songwriter Chris De Burgh played the Wales National Ice Rink on his Power Of Ten Tour. De Burgh had released his tenth studio album Power of Ten earlier in the year.

Starting out as an art rock performer he subsequently started writing more pop-oriented material. He has had several top 40 hits in the UK and two in the US, but he is more popular in other countries, particularly Norway and Brazil.

His 1986 love song "The Lady in Red" reached number one in several countries. De Burgh has sold over 45 million albums worldwide.

De Burgh was born in Venado Tuerto, Argentina, to Colonel Charles John Davison, a British diplomat, and Maeve Emily (née de Burgh). His maternal grandfather was Sir Eric de Burgh, a British Army officer who had been Chief of the General Staff in India during the Second World War.

He took his mother's maiden name, "de Burgh", as a stage name when he began performing, while his legal surname remains "Davison". His father had substantial farming interests, and Chris spent much of his early years in Malta, Nigeria and Belgian Congo, as he, his mother and brother accompanied Colonel Davison on his diplomatic and engineering work.