On This Day 06/09/2007 Future Of The Left

On this day, 6 September 2007, alternative rock band Future of the Left played Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach. The band were about to release their debut album Curses !

Future of the Left formed in mid-2005 after the bands Mclusky and Jarcrew both split up within two months of each other at the beginning of the year. The new group was formed by singer/guitarist Andy "Falco" Falkous and drummer Jack Egglestone, both previously of Mclusky, alongside singer/bassist Kelson Mathias and bassist Hywel Evans, both formerly of Jarcrew. Evans quickly moved on to start a math rock band, Truckers of Husk.

Future of the Left's first performances were secret gigs using aliases such as "Guerilla Press" and "Dead Redneck" to avoid the concert being attended by large numbers of expectant Mclusky and Jarcrew fans. Their very first show was at Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff on 2 July 2006, under the alias "the Mooks of Passim". The first official headline show (and the first show the band played under the name Future of the Left) was played in Camden Barfly to a capacity crowd on 1 September 2006.

In late 2006 the trio were signed to Too Pure, who had also signed Mclusky and when Too Pure disbanded the band transferred to 4AD.

Their debut album, Curses, was released on 24 September 2007 in the UK and 1 October in Japan. A surprise to some fans of Jarcrew and Mclusky was the band's occasional move towards songs with a synthesizer (a Roland Juno-60) in favour of Falco's guitar. On the whole, fans and critics responded to the change positively.

On This Day 05/09/2002 Suede

On this day, 5 September 2002, English rock band Suede played Cardiff’s Coel Exchange as part of a three-date preview tour for a full-blown tour to follow in October.

Formed in London in 1989. The band is composed of singer Brett Anderson, guitarist Richard Oakes, bass player Mat Osman, drummer Simon Gilbert and keyboardist/rhythm guitarist Neil Codling.

In 1992, Suede were dubbed "The Best New Band in Britain" by Melody Maker, and attracted much attention from the British music press. The following year their debut album Suede went to the top of the UK Albums Chart, becoming the fastest-selling debut album in almost ten years.

It won the Mercury Music Prize and helped foster 'Britpop' as a musical movement, though the band distanced themselves from the term.

The band were promoting their soon to be released fifth studio album, A New Morning.

By the time the album was released, public interest in the band had waned, as shown by the poor charting of both the album and singles. Despite this, however, the album received moderate praise from critics. It is the only Suede album not to be released in the US. It was the last studio album released by the band before their seven-year hiatus and reunion in 2010.

On This Day 04/09/2011 Dolly Parton

On this day, 4 September 2011, American Country Legend Dolly Parton played the second of two nights at Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena on her Better Day World Tour.

It was the tenth concert tour by Dolly Parton. Visiting North America, Europe and Australia, the tour supported her 41st studio album, Better Day. With nearly 275,000 tickets sold, and an overall gross of $34 million, it is Parton's most successful tour.

Cardiff Review - Guardian

As women in pink Stetsons and high heels take their seats, Dolly Parton totters on stage in a tight white dress that exaggerates every curve. There is polite pandemonium. Her face and frame may be triumphs of Botox and collagen, but her voice is as pure as mountain air as she launches into a version of Walking on Sunshine. She does a little hoedown, and her enthusiasm is infectious. She would make an excellent primary school teacher. "We need to feel good," she declares, and you think, "Yes, Miss Parton, we do."

The anecdotes are often longer than the songs. And they are all meticulously rehearsed to sound off-the-cuff, such as the one about the red-haired girl who tried to steal her husband that prefaces Jolene.

There is a bluegrass medley, complete with yee-haws and yodelay-heehoos, that includes Dueling Banjos and numerous references to her being a country girl. Parton reminisces about growing up as one of 12 children in poverty in the Tennessee mountains, and it sounds like an episode of The Waltons, so full is it of folksy charm and homespun homilies. She sits on a quilt to tell a story about a coat made for her from scraps by her "Mama" as images appear on the screen of a sepia shack. As her voice cracks, you don't know whether to laugh or cry. When she picks up a shiny saxophone and asks, "How did I get one of these from such humble beginnings?" you think, "Enough of the protestations of poverty!"

Behind the sentiment and shtick, there are dollops of ersatz country – but this is more of a generic US pop-rock sound than it is the real thing. Nevertheless, Parton is a respected songwriter, and pens most of her own material. When she plays tracks from her new album, Better Day, on an acoustic guitar it reminds you that she was a serious musician and ambassador for Americana before she became a figure of cartoon-country fun.

After a 20-minute interval, Parton reappears in a red sequinned jump-suit ("It costs a lot of money to look this cheap," she jokes), and after dispensing with 2001's Little Sparrow, which is as arrestingly solemn and sparse as a traditional folk tune, she cranks out the hits that people have paid to hear. Here You Come Again gets everyone on their feet, and Islands in the Stream keeps them there.

As the singer makes her final assault with I Will Always Love You, infused with country-gospel fervour, and 9 to 5, sung against a glitzy apocalypse of a Las Vegas backdrop, it occurs to you just how strange this self-styled Backwoods Barbie – equal parts Lady Gaga and Loretta Lynn – really is.

Setlist

"Walking on Sunshine" (contains excerpts from "Shine Like the Sun")

"Better Get to Livin'"

"Jolene"

"Rocky Top"

"Mule Skinner Blues"

"Help!"

"Shine"

"Stairway to Heaven"

"My Tennessee Mountain Home"

"Precious Memories"

"Coat of Many Colors"

"Smoky Mountain Memories"

"Son of a Preacher Man"

"Better Day"

"Together You and I"

"Holding Everything"

"Joyful Noise"

"He Will Take You Higher" (contains excerpts from "I Want to Take You Higher")

"He's Everything"

"White Limozeen"

"The Best of Both Worlds"

"The Sacrifice"

"In the Meantime"

"Little Sparrow"

"River Deep – Mountain High"

"Here You Come Again

"Islands in the Stream"

"9 to 5"

Encore

"I Will Always Love You"

"Light of a Clear Blue Morning"

On This Day 28/08/1959 Billy Fury

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On this day, 28 Aug 1959, British rock legend Billy Fury played Cardiff’s Gaumont Theatre. Also included in the package was Terry Dene, Dickie Pride, Johnny Gentle, Duffy Power, Vince Eager, Gerry Dorsey, Sally Kelly with
Gerry Myers (compere).

Ronald Wycherley/Billy Fury went to meet pop manager and impresario Larry Parnes at the Essoldo Theatre in Birkenhead, hoping to interest one of Parnes' protégés, singer Marty Wilde, in some of the songs he had written.

Instead, in an episode that has since become pop music legend, Parnes pushed young Wycherley up on stage right away. He was such an immediate success that Parnes signed him, added him to his tour, and renamed him "Billy Fury".

Review - South Wales Argus

However, his early sexual and provocative stage performances received censure, and he was forced to tone them down. In October 1959, the UK music magazine, NME, commented that Fury's stage antics had been drawing much press criticism.

An early star of both rock and roll and films, he equalled the Beatles' record of 24 hits in the 1960s and spent 332 weeks on the UK chart, though he never had a chart-topping single or album.

On This Day 27/08/1998 Lloyd Cole

On this day, 27 August 1998, singer, songwriter and musician Lloyd Cole played Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach on his UK acoustic tour. He was lead vocalist of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions from 1984 to 1989.

The Commotions' debut studio album, Rattlesnakes (1984), contained literary and pop culture references to such figures as Arthur Lee, Norman Mailer, Grace Kelly, Eva Marie Saint, Simone de Beauvoir, Truman Capote and Joan Didion. The band produced two more studio albums, Easy Pieces (1985) and Mainstream (1987), before disbanding in 1989.

Songs by the band include "Perfect Skin", "Rattlesnakes", "Forest Fire", "Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?", "Lost Weekend" and "Jennifer She Said". Cole subsequently relocated to New York City and recorded with various musicians, including Fred Maher, Robert Quine and Matthew Sweet.

Some of Cole's songs have been covered by other artists. "Rattlesnakes" has been covered by Tori Amos on her concept album Strange Little Girls (2001), while Sandie Shaw released a version of "(Are You) Ready to Be Heartbroken?" in 1986.

In 2006, Scottish indie pop band Camera Obscura released the song "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken" as an answer song to Cole's 1984 hit "Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?".

On This Day 26/08/1999 The Donnas

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On this day, 26 August 1999, American rock band The Donnas played Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach.

Formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1993, the band consisted of Brett Anderson (lead vocals), Allison Robertson (guitar, backing vocals), Maya Ford (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Torry Castellano (drums, percussion, backing vocals).

Amy Cesari replaced Castellano, who left the band in 2009 due to tendonitis. They drew inspiration from the Ramones, the Runaways, Girlschool, AC/DC, Bachman–Turner Overdrive and Kiss.

Rolling Stone has stated that "the Donnas offer a guileless take on adolescent alienation; they traffic in kicks, not catharsis, fun rather than rage". MTV has stated that the band offers "a good old-fashioned rock & roll party".

All four founding band members were born in 1979. Lead vocalist Brett Anderson on May 30; guitarist Allison Robertson on August 26; bassist Maya Ford and drummer Torry Castellano, both on January 8. They all became friends by eighth grade and formed as a band in May 1993 to play for their school's "Day on the Green." One of two all-female bands in their town Palo Alto, California, they were relatively unknown until they were out of high school. They are all self-taught musicians and practiced in Castellano's garage nearly every day during their years at Palo Alto High School. They called themselves "Ragady Anne" in their early days and shortly thereafter changed their name to "The Electrocutes".

Towards the end of their high school days, while they were still known as the Electrocutes, they decided to create another band (with the same members) that would play softer tunes without distorting the metal queen image of the Electrocutes. To help their fans distinguish between the two bands, they all took matching "Donna" monikers, where all of their names were Donna and their last names were the first initial of their last name (Brett Anderson became Donna A, etc.), which they used only when performing as "The Donnas."

They worked with producer Darin Raffaelli for their first two albums, the first of which, simply called The Donnas, was released on Raffaelli's Super*teem! record label. (It was later released again on Lookout! Records.) They took a week off their senior year of high school to tour Japan as The Donnas, and were promoted and organized by Pinky Aoki [ja] of The Phantom Gift [ja].

Afterwards, they signed with Lookout! Records. As the band grew, they were urged to sign with a major label company. In December 2001, they signed with Atlantic Records.

On This Day 25/08/2011 Half Man Half Biscuit

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On this day, 25 August 2011, Birkenhead band Half Man Half Biscuit played Cardiff University.

Known for their satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs, the band comprises lead singer and guitarist Nigel Blackwell, bassist and singer Neil Crossley, drummer Carl Henry, and guitarist Karl Benson.

Their debut album, 1985's Back in the DHSS, topped the UK Indie Chart and reached number 60 in the UK Albums Chart. Its title was a play on The Beatles' "Back in the U.S.S.R." and also a reference to the DHSS, the government department that dealt with the unemployed, Nigel Blackwell having been on unemployment benefits since 1979.

The band's first single, "The Trumpton Riots", topped the UK Indies Singles Chart in 1986, and they went on to perform at Glastonbury Festival. The second single, "Dickie Davies Eyes", also topped the indie chart. In late 1986, the band split up, giving as reason "musical similarities". The album Back Again in the DHSS, containing previously issued, unreleased and live tracks, followed.

The band reformed in 1990, with a performance at the Reading Festival following, and a new single, "Let's Not", issued before the year was out, followed in 1991 by a collaboration with Margi Clarke on a version of Edith Piaf's "No Regrets". Half Man Half Biscuit were championed by DJ John Peel, for whom they recorded twelve sessions, and it was on his programme in 1990 that the band announced their return.

Half Man Half Biscuit turned down the chance to appear on The Tube, as Tranmere Rovers were playing that night, even though Channel Four offered to fly them by helicopter to the game. Blackwell has been a fan of the team since "sometime after the Coventry City cup win in 1968".

Andy Kershaw has described Half Man Half Biscuit as "England's greatest folk band"[16] and "the most authentic British folk band since The Clash".

Setlist

The Light at the End of the Tunnel (Is the Light of an Oncoming Train)

When the Evening Sun Goes Down

Fuckin' 'Ell It's Fred Titmus

Play Video

Monmore, Hare's Running

Uffington Wassail

Petty Sessions

Bob Wilson - Anchorman

Surging Out of Convalescence

Running Order Squabble Fest

Turned Up Clocked On Laid Off

All I Want for Christmas Is a Dukla Prague Away Kit

Restless Legs

Tending the Wrong Grave for 23 Years

For What Is Chatteris...

Left Lyrics in the Practice Room

National Shite Day

Twenty Four Hour Garage People

Look Dad No Tunes

We Built This Village on a Trad. Arr. Tune

Them's the Vagaries

Vatican Broadside

(preceded by There Stands The Glass)

The Trumpton Riots

Joy Division Oven Gloves

Encore:

Tommy Walsh's Eco House

Calon Lan

([traditional] cover)

Help Me, Rhonda

(The Beach Boys cover)

Everything's A.O.R.

99% of Gargoyles Look Like Bob Todd

On This Day 23/08/1966 Crispian St. Peters

On this day, 22 August 1966, pop singer-songwriter Crispian St. Peters played Cardiff’s Top Rank as part of the Radio England Swinging 66 UK Tour.

The tour, that featured the Small Faces, Neil Christian, Dave Berry and Wayne Fontana, was heavily advertised on air and gigs proved reasonably successful in the south-east of the country, where Radio England could be heard. Unfortunately outside the station's transmission area, audiences were understandably sparse. The tour proved a financial disaster, losing over £17,000.

The station attempted to get some of this back by selling autographed copies of the left-over concert programmes.

While a member of Beat Formula Three in 1963, Crispian St. Peters was heard by David Nicholson, an EMI publicist who became his manager. Nicholson suggested he use a stage name, initially "Crispin Blacke" and subsequently Crispian St. Peters, then promoted his client as being nineteen years of age, shaving off five years from his actual age of 24.

In 1964, as a member of Peter & The Wolves, St. Peters made his first commercial recording. He was persuaded to turn solo by Nicholson and was signed to Decca Records in 1965. His first two singles on this record label, "No No No" and "At This Moment", proved unsuccessful on the charts. He made two television UK appearances in February of that year, featuring in the shows Scene at 6.30 and Ready Steady Go!

In 1966, St. Peters' career finally yielded a Top 10 hit in the UK Singles Chart, with "You Were on My Mind", a song written and first recorded in 1964 by the Canadian folk duo, Ian & Sylvia, and a hit in the United States for We Five in 1965. St. Peters' single eventually hit No. 2 in the UK and was then released in the US on the Philadelphia-based Jamie Records label. It did not chart in the US until a year after his fourth release, "The Pied Piper", became known as his signature song and a Top 10 hit in the United States and the UK. Although his next single, a version of Phil Ochs' song "Changes", also reached the charts in both the UK and US, it was much less successful.

After the success of "You Were on my Mind", St Peters gave an interview to the New Musical Express claiming that he was a better song-writer than the Beatles and that his performance on stage made Elvis Presley look like the Statue of Liberty. After just one hit single, he claimed he was going to be “bigger than Presley, was more talented than Sammy Davis Jr.”, “sexier than Dave Berry” and “more exciting than Tom Jones”. These comments did not go down well in the pop music press, who began to treat him as a conceited outcast. After his fourth single flopped, work and money dried up, and he became depressed. In 1970, he was dropped by Decca and admitted to hospital suffering from a nervous breakdown.