On This Day 26/09/1976 Hawkwind

On this day, 26 September 1976, space rock band Hawkwind played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre. The band had just released their sixth studio album Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music

The title makes references to old science fiction magazines (Astounding and Amazing Stories), the concept being that each piece of music (and its title) would be interpreted as an individual science fiction story. The record cover is a parody of the cover of these magazines, while the inner sleeve carried small ads, with each band member having their own product (e.g. Dr Brock's cure for piles, Paul Rudolph's Manly Strapon, and Simon King's Pleasure Primer). The cover was double-sided, one side illustrated by Calvert's childhood friend Tony Hyde, the other by Barney Bubbles signed as Grove Lane, with initial print-runs having either as the front cover. Bubbles original design was to have been Steppenwolf looming over the city.

This album marked the start of a new era for Hawkwind, having left the management of Douglas Smith for Tony Howard and changed record companies from United Artists Records to Charisma Records. Musically, the dirty heavy metal lead bass guitar playing of Lemmy was replaced by the cleaner, formally trained bass playing of Paul Rudolph. All members of the band were now contributing to the writing and arrangement of the music leading to more width in style, and the recording and production is better defined than previous albums.

On This Day 25/09/2007 Incubus

On this day, 25 September 2007, American rock band Incubus played Cardiff International Arena on their 2007 World Tour.

Las Vegas Weekly said that Incubus was a "funky, jazzy, experimental rock band, incorporating elements of hip-hop into its music before it was fashionable to do so." According to AllMusic, the band became "one of the most popular alt-metal bands of the new millennium" by combining heavy metal, funk, jazz, hip hop, techno, post-grunge, rap metal and alternative rock into a "versatile blend". The Age wrote that Incubus "emerged bearing influences of pop, alternative metal and hip-hop, unusual for mainstream rock bands". Indianapolis Monthly said that the band was "part metal, part funk, part jazz and part hip-hop".The McClatchy-Tribune News called Incubus a "spacey, experimental alternative-rock band". Rolling Stone said that the band were latecomers to "the great funk metal scare of the '90s". The Los Angeles Times similarly wrote in 2004 that "Incubus always stood out from the rest of the mid-'90s alt-metal crowd, its positive lyrical approach and musical versatility far richer than the overworked wallowing in misery of such acts as Korn and later arrival Staind."

Prior to finding mainstream success in the early 2000s, Incubus was often grouped in with nu metal, alongside other Californian bands such as Korn and Deftones. NME described Incubus as a "fusion-generated funk/nu-metal band". Maui Time Weekly wrote, "Incubus was one of the few nu metal bands to survive the purge of the millennium, and they did it through consistent hard work–the band is constantly either in the studio or on tour–and musical development.

Setlist

Quicksand

A Kiss to Send Us Off

Wish You Were Here

Anna Molly

Pistola

Blood on the Ground

Southern Girl

Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song)

Megalomaniac

Drive

Sick Sad Little World

Oil and Water

Nice to Know You

Encore:

Favorite Things

Clean

Aqueous Transmission

(Mike Einziger on Pipa)

On This Day 24/09/2005 The Dead 60s

On this day, 24 September 2005, Liverpool Ska punk band The Dead 60s played Cardiff International Arena in support of the Stereophonics.

The band's sound is a mixture of punk rock, ska, dub and reggae. They have taken influences from artists such as King Tubby, Jackie Mittoo, Gang of Four and A Certain Ratio.

The Dead 60s released their debut album in the US on 31 May 2005 and in the UK on 26 September 2005. It was recorded at the Ranch Studios and Parr St Studios. The album was produced by Central Nervous System and remixed by Mike Hedges.

The band toured throughout Europe, Japan and the US in support of the record. In the US, they toured as part of the Vans Warped Tour as well as in support of artists such as Garbage, The Bravery and Social Distortion. They also played on the bill of both the Lollapalooza Festival and the KROQ Weenie Roast. The band experienced success in the US, where their song "Riot Radio" became the third most added song at Alternative Radio behind White Stripes and Coldplay.

The band were scheduled to open The Other Stage at Glastonbury on 24 June 2005, but before their set could begin the stage was hit by lightning and their performance was cancelled. The band continued to tour throughout 2005 and 2006, playing various festivals in the US, UK, Europe and Japan.

On This Day 22/09/2002 Hell Is For Heroes

On this day, 22 September 2002, London post-hardcore band Hell Is For Heroes played Cardiff’s Barfly.

Will McGonagle and Joe Birch were previously in the British band Symposium. Their final release was in 1999 and, by the end of 2000, due to personal and musical differences, and problems with their record label, they had split up. Before long they joined up with their former school friends, James Findlay and Tom O'Donoghue, to form what would become with Hell is for Heroes, but they still lacked a lead singer. Justin Schlosberg was recruited through mutual friends.

In January 2001, they had performed their first gig at The Half Moon in Putney, London. In March that year they toured as support for Sunna, along with Biffy Clyro, and at the end of that tour they had recruited a loyal fan base which meant the band caught the attention of major record labels. In July 2001, they signed with EMI. It took all that year before Hell Is for Heroes released their debut single on Superior Quality Recordings. It was a double A-side, featuring two songs that would later appear on their debut album, "Sick/Happy" and "Cut Down".

The band next released "You Drove Me To It" with the B-sides "Things Fall Apart" and "Kill the Silence" in January 2002. That year saw the release of two more singles, "I Can Climb Mountains" and "Nightvision". The latter track included "Folded Paper Figures" on the B-side, which became popular with their fanbase, and was later re-recorded and used on their second album.

Hell Is for Heroes released their debut album in February 2003 on EMI. The Neon Handshake was produced and recorded in Los Angeles at Sound City Studios and mixed in Umeå, Sweden at Tonteknik by Pelle Henricsson and Eskil Lövström. The band's A&R was managed by Duncan Illing. The band and their A&R left EMI in 2004. The band released its second album Transmit Disrupt independently, before signing a deal with Burning Heart Records, who subsequently re-released it in 2006. Their final self-titled album was released through Golf Records in 2007.

Their debut album was voted the 58th best British rock album ever, by the readers of Kerrang! magazine in the 19 February 2005 issue.

On This Day 22/09/1995 Julian Cope

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On this day, 22 September 1995, Welsh-born singer-songwriter Julian Cope played Cardiff University in support of his latest album 20 Mothers.

Review South Wales Echo

Released in August 1995 by Echo. 20 Mothers was Cope’s the twelfth solo album. The album's sub-title is "Better to Light a Candle Than to Curse the Darkness".

It was well received by the critics and reached number 20 on the UK Albums Chart. The album revisits many of Cope's existing lyrical themes along with more personal and reflective material dealing with his own family. Cope described 20 Mothers as an album of "love songs and devotional songs" ranging from "pagan rock 'n' roll through sci-fi pop to bubblegum trance music".

The main Cope collaborators on the album include keyboard player and string arranger Thighpaulsandra, drummer Rooster Cosby and guitarist Michael "Moon-Eye" Watts in place of multi-instrumentalist Donald Ross Skinner, who only contributes omnichord on a few tracks. There are also contributions by old associates in the shape of bassist James Eller and producer Ed Stasium. The album was preceded by the single "Try, Try, Try", which reached number 24 in the UK Singles Chart.

On This Day 21/09/1974 Roxy Music

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On this day, 21 September 1974, Art rock band Roxy Music played the first of two nights at Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre. It was the first gig of their Country Life tour. They were supporetd by the Jess Roden Band.

Review South Wales Argus

Country Life, peaked at number three on the UK albums chart.and was the first Roxy Music album to enter the US Top 40, albeit at No. 37.

Country Life was met with widespread critical acclaim, with Rolling Stone referring to it "as if Ferry ran a cabaret for psychotics, featuring chanteurs in a state of shock".

The cover image was controversial in some countries, including the United States and Spain, where it was censored for release. As a result, early releases in the US were packaged in opaque shrink wrap; a later American LP release of Country Life (available during the years 1975–80) featured a different cover shot. Instead of Karoli and Grunwald posed in front of some trees, the reissue used a photo from the album's back cover that featured only the trees. In Australia, the album was banned in some record stores, while others sold each copy inside a black plastic sleeve.

Author Michael Ochs has described the result as the "most complete cover-up in rock history".

Setlist

Prairie Rose

Beauty Queen

Mother of Pearl

All I Want Is You

A Song for Europe

Three and Nine

Out of the Blue

In Every Dream Home a Heartache

If It Takes All Night

If There Is Something

Street Life

Virginia Plain

Editions of You

Encore:

Do the Strand

Tour Musicians

Bryan Ferry - Vocals & Keyboards

Phil Manzanera - Guitars

Andy Mackay - Sax & Oboe

Paul Thompson - Drums

Eddie Jobson - Violin & Keyboards

John Wetton - Bass

On This Day 20/09/1983 Gloria Gaynor

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On This Day, 20 September 1983, American singer and disco diva Gloria Gaynor played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.

In 1980 and again in 1981, Gaynor released two disco albums that were virtually ignored in the United States due to the backlash against disco, which began late in 1979. The album's singles barely registered on urban contemporary radio, where disco music remained popular. In 1982, having looked into a wide variety of faiths and religious movements, she became a Christian and began to distance herself from a past she considered to be sinful. That same year, she released an album of mid-tempo R&B and pop-style songs entitled Gloria Gaynor.

Gaynor would achieve her final success in the 1980s with the release of her album I Am Gloria Gaynor in 1984. This was mainly due to the song "I Am What I Am", which became a hit at dance clubs, and then on the Club Play chart in late 1983/early 1984. "I Am What I Am" became a gay anthem and made Gaynor a gay icon.

On This Day 19/09/1995 The Everly Brothers

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On this day, 19 September 1995, rock and pop legends The Everly Brothers played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.

The American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly and Phillip "Phil" Everly, the duo combined elements of rock and roll, country, and pop, becoming pioneers of country rock.

The duo was raised in a musical family in Central City, Kentucky, first appearing on radio singing with their father Ike Everly and mother Margaret Everly as "The Everly Family" in the 1940s. They gained the attention of Chet Atkins through Merle Travis and subsequently moved to Knoxville, Tennessee while still in high school. Nashville musicians like Atkins began to promote them for national attention.

They began writing and recording their own music in 1956, and their first hit song came in 1957, with "Bye Bye Love", written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. The song hit No. 1 in the spring of 1957, and additional hits would follow through 1958, many of them written by the Bryants, including "Wake Up Little Susie", "All I Have to Do Is Dream", and "Problems". In 1960, they signed with the major label Warner Bros. Records and recorded "Cathy's Clown", written by the brothers themselves, which was their biggest selling single. The brothers enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve in 1961, and their output dropped off, though additional hit singles continued through 1962, with "That's Old Fashioned (That's the Way Love Should Be)" being their last top-10 hit.

Long-simmering disputes with Wesley Rose, the CEO of Acuff-Rose Music, which managed the group, and a growing drug usage in the 1960s, as well as changing tastes in popular music, led to the group's decline in popularity in its native U.S., though the brothers continued to release hit singles in the U.K. and Canada and had many highly successful tours throughout the 1960s. In the early 1970s, the brothers began releasing solo recordings, and in 1973 they officially broke up. Starting in 1983, the brothers got back together and continued to perform periodically until Phil's death in 2014. Don died seven years later.

The group was highly influential with the music of the generation that followed it. Many of the top acts of the 1960s were heavily influenced by the close-harmony singing and acoustic guitar playing of the Everly Brothers, including the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Bee Gees, and Simon & Garfunkel. In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked the Everly Brothers No. 1 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time.