Wales Feed

Interview: Steve Balsamo on Balsamo And Deighton

2012-07-25T09:12:38+00:00

You might know Steve Balsamo from The Storys, or from his solo work, or you might know him from his turn as the titular character of Jesus Christ Superstar in the 1990s, but the Swansea man has turned his hand to another interesting role.

This time, he's been writing with sometime Storys member and solo artist Rosalie Deighton for a forthcoming album of "folk/country/Americana" songs.

Balsamo And Deighton

Balsamo And Deighton have their début single out this week (29 July) on his own Ghost Horse Records, with the album following in 2013.

"Rosalie and I met over 10 years ago at Swedish producer Martin Terefe's studio in Kensal Road in London," says Steve. "Martin went on to work with Jason Mraz and James Morrison and won a Grammy with Train. He co-produced Rosie's début album Truth Drug and co-produced my solo album All I Am.

"I loved her voice and she mine, and we said we'd make an album down the line. When The Storys were touring a lot, we asked Rosalie to come support us, and when Dai Smith decided to leave, we asked her to join the band.

"Dai is such a great player, writer and personality we thought a woman who is all those things would bring a different angle to the band. Rosalie joined us writing and recording Luck, The Storys' third album."

Rosalie's folk background took her into a career with her own family, aptly named The Deighton Family. They toured worldwide and, solo, had a deal with Independiente Records around a decade ago for Truth Drug. Her second set, 21 Days, came out in 2007.

She is also a member of Danny And The Champions Of The World.

How do Steve and Rosalie regard their duets project? "We're both very excited with the project! Our voices blend beautifully and we've been quietly writing for a couple of years.

"We started writing and making demos with Julian Wilson of Grand Drive and have started the album with John Reynolds (Sinead O'Connor, Indigo Girls, U2). We have a few co-writes with some tasty people, inculding Boo Hewedine, Andy Collins (ex-Storys) and hit songwriter Steve Booker who wrote Mercy with Duffy.

"We have a bunch of great songs that we're working through for the album and are both loving the results so far."

The pair's long careers have meant they can call on some respected musicians. For example, there's a guitarist working with them called Robbie McIntosh. "He's played with Paul McCartney, John Mayer and Norah Jones," says Steve. "He has played some stunning guitar... and Steve White - ex of Paul Weller's band - came played on the single. I met Steve while touring with the late, very great Jon Lord."

Steve believes Balsamo And Deighton's sound won't come as a surprise to fans of their previous work, and sees it as a development rather than a revolution:

"I think the sound is a lovely complement to The Storys' sound," he says. "We both adore country and folk and the 'West Coast' sound that we were making with The Storys. But this time we're (soul) mining and taking cues from Emmylou Harris, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' Raising Sand and other songwriters we love like Jackson Browne and Ron Sexsmith.

"We have, in fact, tried out a few covers by them that sound beautiful. It's similar territory to before but also looking at bluegrass dude Ricky Skaggs and the new bluegrass dudes on the block/prairie/porch The Punch Brothers.

"All of this, however, is through the filter of Barnsley and Swansea! I think there's an interesting story to tell of both these cities, both steeped in music albeit one rock and the other folk... but that's for later."

There is even talk of ex-Led Zeppelin man Robert Plant joining the duo on a track, plus his Band Of Joy partner Patty Griffin too.

I Don't Know Why, originally by Shawn Colvin, "has been haunting both of us for years" says Steve. "We've both encountered her and the tune on many occasions. The video - filmed by brilliant director/film writer Kamma Pastoll - has been in the works for 10 years and seemed that now was the time to realise it.

"It has turned out better that we all could have imagined and really has focused us to finish the album and get out and tour."

Watch the video here:

This external content is available at its source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3WHBB9-bG4

"Making a video first may seem like a backward way of doing things, but I really think these days songs/films have a life of their own online and we wanted to test if that theory is right.

"Social networking provides the modern artist with a way of getting to a large audience, as long as what you make is good!"

Concluding our chat, he says: "The album will, I think, be beautiful, sad (for the most part) with some reflective songs. We have been trying to write a little faster, but at the moment what's occurring is something between Emmylou's Wrecking Ball album, Plant/Krauss' Raising Sand with a little Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty thrown in. Big shoes then!"

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Gruff Rhys on Cymdeithas Yr Iaith Gymraeg

2012-07-11T09:01:52+00:00

This weekend (13 and 14 July), Cymdeithas Yr Iaith Gymraeg (the Welsh Language Society) celebrates its 50th birthday with a massive festival in the historic pavilion at Pontrhydfendigaid in West Wales.

The festival features a broad swathe of Welsh-singing and thinking musical performers, from established names like Meic Stevens, Heather Jones and Gruff Rhys, through to much newer bands like Sŵnami and Creision Hud.

On this week's programme, I spoke to Gruff Rhys about the important contribution Cymdeithas Yr Iaith has made over the years in support of Welsh music.

The Welshman who brought us Seasick Steve

2012-07-06T07:27:24+00:00

Sometimes it's quite surprising where you'll meet a fellow Welshman in a distant part of the world.

I was in the heart of Texas at South By Southwest (SXSW) festival when I first met Andy Zammit from Bronzerat Records, a one man operation that managed to land a few punches when he signed and made a success of Seasick Steve in the UK.

His life and story need to be told, so I caught up with him a few weeks after SXSW.

Andy Zammit

Andy was born in Carmarthen and raised in Llanelli, in a musical environment. "I grew up with rock music around me," he says. "My father was and is a big fan of the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Steely Dan and Led Zeppelin.

"He had a big vinyl collection which I was allowed access to from the age of four. He took me to see Man when I was nine, and Pink Floyd when I was 11."

Merely listening to record wasn't enough, though: "I made my own drum kit out of bits and bobs, so my parents worked out that was where I was heading. I was gigging by the age of 13 in a variety of 'function' bands, and was sitting in with thrash metal bands and U2 cover bands: the usual local fare around that time."

After his grounding in what Carmarthenshire had to offer the budding musician, Andy moved to London, playing with musicians there, and developing a knowledge of the music business.

"I tour managed many national and international circuit acts as my main income," he explains. "I accidentally learned a lot about the industry side from this, as well as from a couple of years in the Performing Right Society (PRS), and from being a musician on the other side.

"I was accumulating this knowledge/understanding without realizing it. I always had this glimmer of an idea to have a label, but as a bit of fun rather than with some business model."

As with many label start-ups, it came from a desire to help artists he liked, but who seemed not to be having the luck that's essential in climbing the musical career ladder: "I was seeing so many of my favourite musicians and artists struggling to find an outlet. I was seeing all this faddy scenester/hipster music coming out from the UK with a lot of label support and marketing behind it.

"They were bands that had this public schoolboy-cum-London-street-urchin image and whose musical ability was, to be frank, offensive to me. I was angry and so the label was borne of that, in 2006 to be precise."

Seasick Steve

In those early days Andy had the type of break that's incredibly rare. "I got lucky. I'd become mates with Seasick Steve, and he was struggling to get anyone to give him an outlet, so we partnered up for his Dog House Music album. It was all chaos and determination, but people loved him, and next thing you know, I was in the deep end."

Having had that kind of success with his first venture, he has continued to link with some major and up-and-coming names: "I've just signed The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion for their comeback album, which is very exciting.

"My long time collaborator Gemma Ray has been on the label since day one. I also work with Dutch experimentalist Elisabeth Esselink aka Solex, London brother/sister duo Joe Gideon And The Shark and Jon Spencer's other band Heavy Trash.

"Alumni of the label include Congregation, Seasick Steve, Chicano and To Arms. On the label side, I keep it slim."

Running the label isn't easy, so what's been the most unexpected thing about running a record label? "It's so admin-heavy," he says. "The creative part, which is what I'm about, can easily get buried under the bureaucracy involved.

"I didn't have any expectations, but when things became legit, I had no business training. I had to really juggle new struggles, and I wasn't prepared to have to find staff, which is very hard to get right, at least the first time around. It took years off me!

"But you know, I've kept it small and flexible. I don't put out loads of records. It's a big responsibility so I just concentrate on a couple of things at a time, and for a long run. For better or worse.

"I was starting when lots of people were shutting down, so I don't feel that mourning that a lot of the industry is feeling. The label is not the be-all-and-end-all; I have different hats on at any given moment (musician, manager, booker, label, 'sync' agent), so it's all holistic and adaptable. I've never understood how such a gamble-based industry can prop up so many different job titles."

Despite his time working for the PRS, he professes to be confused by royalty collection societies and their ilk: "I still don't know how the industry really works. All these societies and associations and institutes we're supposed to be a part of. It mystifies me. I've been doing the outside dance the whole time.

And about social media: "These days, I'm dismayed by the way the world has become obsessed by Facebook and Twitter, and how everyone is consuming and spitting out so fast that it's hard to get anything to stick. I am a bit old-fashioned and I'm worried that we are paving the way for generations of cyborgs."

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

I've seen Andy out and about at festivals around the world, like SXSW, but he doesn't class his globetrotting as 'scouting' as such. "You know, I'm not really scouting. Anything and everything I've worked with has happened organically or serendipitously. When you see me there, it's usually to support my own.

"I've done a hell of a lot of traveling since 2006, and it's constant, by choice, otherwise I'd essentially be doing a desk job. I go to the US a lot; to Australia every year; SXSW most years; Canada... all European countries constantly. Even South Africa has entered into the equation. I spend a lot of the year in Berlin these days."

He's not solely working with Bronze Rat these days, either, as his business expands. "The label is the fall guy almost, or sometimes a shopfront for the holistic approach," he explains. "I manage Australian artist CW Stoneking, which kept me busy in 2011, and I'm back in Gemma Ray's band, having co-produced her new album.

"I have been working on this pseudo-'library music' idea for a while, called Series Aphonos. Not library music in the strict sense, but the presentation of it is gonna be that way. It's an outlet for extremely left of centre musical projects. I have the first and second lined up. The first is Solex, who travelled the Netherlands on a canal boat and made 30 minutes of spontaneous music with over 40 musicians from all different provinces. That will come out, with a DVD. It's lovely and called Solex Ahoy: The Sound Map of the Netherlands.

"The second is a mostly instrumental album by Gemma Ray, an album of fantasy soundtracks. It's really special and the drummer is Thomas Wydler of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, who is one of my favourite drummers of all time."

Astonishing passion for music marks out Andy Zammit as someone who's able to keep control of those disparate aspects of his work; he's one Welshman who's pushing a whole range of boundaries.

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Future Of The Left interview

2012-07-03T10:14:25+00:00

At the start of June, I stumbled aboard a Eurostar train to Brussels at an insultingly early time of the morning, to go and see Cardiff's Future of the Left on their European tour.

My escapades are detailed elsewhere on this blog. On the old school ferry back, lightly frayed and subtly seasick, I interviewed the band about the tour and their new album, The Plot Against Common Sense.

It is one of the albums of the year. It's certainly my 'album of the year'. I went out there as a fan. Don't expect objectivity or Paxman-esque probing.

Here's the interview, minus musical interludes/tracks from the album. You're cordially invited to buy that yourself to fill in the blanks.

Part one:

Part two:

Part three:

Part four:

Part five:

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Introducing Barefoot Dance Of The Sea

2012-06-27T09:25:18+00:00

There's been a host of great Welsh albums released this year already: Richard James, Meilyr Jones and Euros Childs' Cousins, Julie Murphy, Joshua Caole, Future Of The Left... and so the list goes on.

Another to add to the pile is Beneath Closed Eyes, the eagerly anticipated debut from three-part harmony group Barefoot Dance Of The Sea.

Barefoot Dance Of The Sea

With honest, real life songs, and signature intricate harmonies, it's a beautiful listen from start to finish. It's a celebration of the distinctive voices of Rebecca Wood, Elizabeth Whelan and Sophie Cochrane. I've been a fan for a while, and seen them perform live many times, so it was a great chance to speak to the band to find out a bit more about putting the record together.

What have you all been up to? I know your lives go in many different directions now.

"We've been busy preparing the next generation of Barefoot Dance of the Sea - both Bec and Beth are pregnant! We've been gigging, had our album launch and a couple of great gigs at the Wales Millennium Centre and planning collaborations with Andy Regan and Ivan Moult and Will from Little Arrow."

Do you feel like you are evolving as a group?

"Yes! Definitely. It started from the ashes of The Hot Puppies as we didn't want to stop playing and we'd always enjoyed our singalongs we'd have as a pre-gig warm up, so we carried on from there. Soph joined us and the covers slowly got replaced by our own songs. That's when we properly became Barefoot Dance Of The Sea.

"We've changed a lot over the years, being more harmony-based around simple accompaniments and developing our own style and sound. We've also grown more confident in our songwriting and are proud that each of us have provided songs for the album, which means its a very personal record."

Are there stories behind the songs that you could tell me about?

"And there's another about Bec's husband building a house for their family. Another true story!"

Have you played some interesting gigs recently?

"We played at The Small World Theatre in Cardigan which is an amazing venue. A wooden roundhouse-type building - really high ceiling, ideal for our kind of music and a lovely audience and organisers. Would definitely recommend going!"

Your melodies, harmonies, and a capella numbers are such unique things to do. What made you go in this direction after The Hot Puppies?

"It seemed to be a natural progression for us: Bec had her first baby and our quiet harmonies/folky sound was much more suited to entertaining baby Amber. As we're all singers it comes naturally to concentrate on our voices with any accompaniment coming second."

What's coming up for you over the summer?

"A bit of a break for babies, then back to making more music. We have lots of collaborations planned and already have quite a lot of new material, so more recording for album number two. And, of course, more live dates to be announced soon!"

Any download treats available for our readers?

"Free downloads from our record label here: http://www.bubblewrapcollective.co.uk/download.htm."

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Charlotte Church on Radio Wales

2012-05-29T06:50:03+00:00

Last weekend Charlotte Church joined Bethan Elfyn for an extensive interview.

Following up her 2010 album, Back To Scratch, Church exclusively chatted to Bethan about her as-yet untitled new set, working with local musicians and her attitude to the music industry.

In addition, three brand new tracks had their exclusive first plays.

Listen to the interview here:

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"Seeing Welsh flags in the crowd made me very proud"

2012-05-25T07:00:00+00:00

In 2004 James Fox became the last Welsh person to represent the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest. He came 16th, so not an unmitigated disaster, but neither was it a stellar success. I talked to him about his time on the competition.

James Fox

Looking back to 2004, what were your thoughts about Eurovision as a whole? Do you think it has a place for acts really trying to make a career?

"I remember being quite reticent about taking part in the selection show at the time, but not only was there the chance of representing your country on a massive scale in front of a European audience of hundreds of millions but there was also the offer of a Sony recording contract for the winner of the selection show, so that definitely tipped the balance for me.

"Eurovision was something I had watched growing up and always had this strange feeling that I would be involved in it someday. The competition is a strange concept anyway: I mean, how do you judge which song is 'better' than another? It comes down to taste, obviously, countries voting for each other and who provides the most shocking or original idea for the three minute 'mini musical theatre stage show' that it has now become.

"I think with the amount of exposure you get from the contest, that unless you have a total nightmare on the night like Gemini did the year before I did the contest, then I think it has a place for acts trying to make it, even if it does put them in a certain category within the music industry after they have competed."

What would say was the effect of your appearance on your career?

"After competing in 2004 I can honestly say that the most successful and profitable times of my career so far were in the years that followed immediately after Eurovision. It opened lots of doors and allowed me to go and star on Broadway and release my own records.

Did you have a sense of pride in representing 'the land of song' at such a high level?

"Of course! I did countless television and radio interviews and found myself constantly correcting the interviewer when they said I was representing England. I am a very proud Welshman and would reply: 'I'm a Welshman representing the UK'. If I had won that year then the following year's contest would have been held in Cardiff.

"That was a massive incentive and seeing all the Welsh flags in the crowd on such a huge event calmed my nerves and made me very proud."

Looking at Eurovision now, do you think it has the same appeal for acts and audiences as it maybe did in the 70s?

"Maybe not. Like I hinted at before, it definitely doesn't provide longevity in a music career but then these days that is something very hard to come by anyway. Record companies used to give signed acts three albums to get it right, now you are lucky if you get two singles!

"Back in the 70s the bigger acts of the day seemed to take part because they thought they could win it; nowadays it seems that for number of reasons the acts just do it for the exposure and winning is maybe not on their mind."

What were the memories you took away from the contest? Any oddness? I can't think of a single event that brings together such a collection of disparate people.

"I remember getting off the plane at Istanbul to the biggest collection of TV cameras and media that I had ever seen. Europe takes the contest so seriously and the memory I will always have is the crazy media circus that surrounded me and the other competitors that week.

"It was a lot of fun but totally chaotic, with bizarre press conferences and meeting so many people that were Eurovision fanatics. It really is something I will never forget!

"Walking on the big stage in front of 20,000 in the arena and all those millions around Europe on television I can remember everything being very silent, an almost out of body experience in terms of calmness, and also not fully being able to deal with or comprehend the size of the job in hand and the pressure that came with it.

"Time seemed to stand still and you just work on autopilot. Then when the song ends you snap out of it and wake up in the hall full of people. I have never experienced anything like that before or since. Also, I have never seen so many people crammed in a make-up/costume department prior to a gig. It seemed that a song was merely a vehicle to display the ability to stilt walk whist wearing a horror mask (yes, that really did happen). There really is nothing like watching Bosnians singing and dancing wearing swimming costumes during a 'serious' press conference!"

Lastly, what advice would you have for UK Eurovision entrants now?

"Search their family history and see if they have any relatives in other European countries, try to represent one of those countries and have a chance of being voted for! But on a serious note, if the UK is their only chance, then just enjoy yourself and try and make inroads into the many other more profitable music markets in Europe as a result of the mass exposure that they will get.

"Despite this country not taking the contest seriously, try and remember that you are still representing your country in the field that you have chosen and to take as much pride in that as you can."

Joy Formidable tour diary - day five

2012-04-02T13:32:07+00:00

So, to my last day with The Joy Formidable. Typical that I should get used to the touring bus lifestyle on my final day with them. I slept last night; if not like a baby, well, like a big-sideburned toddler.

The trip from Philadelphia to Boston takes over seven hours, so we're still in transit when I wake up early and eager to get yesterday's tour blog in before my colleagues at the ��̳ finish work. A rather dead, wintery landscape - dead fields and leafless woods - rolls by in the bus window. By the time I have finished my scrawl about Philly, Boston has crept up all around us. We're quite a distance from downtown Boston. No skyscrapers here. We're in the university district and it's disconcertingly like a British town.

The Joy Formidable on stage in Boston

An old-time theatre front outside the venue declares: "The Joy Formidable: SOLD OUT". More pride! But in the world of rock 'n' roll, it's best to feign indifference: of course the show's sold out!

Back home, today is Radio Wales Music Day. This is my favourite event of the year, bar none. I delude myself into feeling paternal about it because it was 'my idea'. To be an ocean away feels wrong. But what could be more powerful - more inspirational - than being with a Welsh band making real inroads to a sizeable American audience?

The Joy Formidable on stage in Boston

I jump off the bus to do a two-way into Roy Noble's show, thinking "this should be easy, Roy will ask all of the right questions..."

As it transpires, ��̳ Wales are enduring something of a technological meltdown (not that you'd have noticed) so our two-way is via satellite.

The Joy Formidable on stage in Boston

"There is a very long delay," says Lydia, the producer. "You'll have to do a monologue."

You try doing a cohesive monologue after four nights on the road!

Back at the bus, I get a few words with Bob, the driver. He's highly valued by the crew. They tell me that many drivers are speed freaks and blowhards, unreliable and antisocial. Bob, though, despite having driven for over 20 years - for the likes of Bob Seger and Frank Zappa - is modest and funny.

"I like these guys. They're nice kids and they sound good."

"You seen their show?"

"I only check out the bands who are good to me and the bus... yeah, I like what they're doing."

Quite a compliment, by all accounts.

The Joy Formidable: sold out

Bob sleeps through the day, then comes over to pick everyone up after the show. That's 'Bus Call'. It's reverently adhered to. No one wants to upset Bob.

We have to get our interview done today. It's the main reason the band have flown me over here. But, as they have been so busy with vital preparation for the second album, and they've had a non-stop run of shows for nine nights, there just hasn't been an opportunity.

If you had any illusions that life on the road is a non-stop party, it isn't. These guys are dedicated workers. It's an impressive ethic. There are parties, but only after all of the word is finished.

The Paradise Club is Boston's most legendary venue. Someone inside tells me that "U2 and The Police played here.."

Oh, well. How about hometown band Pixies?

"Hell, yeah! Lots of times."

I go and kiss the stage.

It's a more intimate venue than the others I've visited. It holds just over 900 people. It's a shallower but wider room which brings everyone present closer to the stage. My heart starts to beat a little faster.

Soundcheck done, there is another meet and greet. If you've read all of these tour diaries, you'll be beginning to see a pattern emerging. Their day is more unusual and exciting than ours, but it's also much more regimented. Someone, somewhere is always checking a clock on the band's behalf.

This meet and greet is unusual because the 40-plus people who have turned up for it are allowed on stage to hear the band play a song. The techs look on nervously lest a clumsy foot should total a pedal board.

Ritzy hands a giant kid a hammer to hit the band's gong with. When he gets the opportunity, in the right part of the song, he looks like the happiest big kid in Christendom. Every one on stage is beaming. These meet and greets are powerfully good at forging a connection with the band. My predictable British cynicism might have had me snorting at the thought of these some days ago, but definitely not now.

So, interview time... at last! Once we've negotiated a couple of hurdles - it's rather difficult to find somewhere quiet to film an interview in a venue full of soundchecking bands, or a tour bus with its throbbing generator.

I do love talking to The Joy Formidable. they're passionate, opinionated and fascinatingly contradictory. I can't reveal much. The interview is the domain of the people who paid me to go out there to conduct it. Suffice to say, Rhydian is impassioned, enthused and defiant. Ritzy original, fiery and confident. Matt is funny and a little bored, I think. He has his C Mixolydian scale to learn. He's brushing up on his guitar skills in the long hours between gigs.

The second album will be a real progression. I've heard a couple of unmixed tracks from it and they sound remarkable and different.

There is an underlying frustration that they don't get as much coverage at home as they do in the States. It's not that they have a childish sense of entitlement, far from it. It's more a general bemusement verging on mild disappointment. We all want the people closest to us to love us the most. Don't expect bands to be any different.

Boston turns out to be their best show yet. The locals adore this band and get adored right back:

"We love you Ritzy!"

"Marry me, Ritzy!"

A phenomenal sound system juggernauts the songs into our ears via our shuddering torsos. Every melody surges in on a jet engine of power. There isn't a single weak spot in the set. The one new song that has figured over the last few nights - The Silent Treatment - is the most beautiful paean to a fracturing relationship. Unexpectedly, it brings to mind Elliott Smith. But like all of The Joy Formidable's music, it's them first and foremost.

Can you tell I have been entirely converted? To the point of evangelism?

The next time I see them, the venues will be bigger, no doubt about that. Attempting to stop this band's momentum right now would be akin to trying to harness a comet.

What a band. What a show.

There is a little post-show schmoozing. Not for me. I'm not much of a social animal, not great at ligging, and I'm starting to feel sad at the prospect of saying goodbye. I miss my wife and daughter, but I just want to go on - and on - with this experience. The band's life is filled with brief meetings, many faces and a multitude of hellos and goodbyes. I'll remember this week till the day I cough my final breath: a privilege, a blast, a revelation and - yes - a truly formidable joy.

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John Cale at 70: Heroin, Wales and Me

2012-03-07T09:00:00+00:00

There's always been a dark side to the career of John Cale, whose 70th birthday we celebrate this Friday (9 March).

Going to America, founding The Velvet Underground and being part of the Factory, Cale and his bandmates were around drugs all the time. He indulged, as he freely admits.

In this video from the ��̳ archive, Cale talks about his own life and drugs, and about the situation his home country finds itself in:

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John Cale at 70: Cale and Squeeze

2012-03-07T09:00:00+00:00

In 1977 John Cale, who celebrates his 70th birthday on Friday 9 March, produced the first EP by a London new wave/pop group called Squeeze. Packet Of Three was well received and they went on to record their first album the next year with Cale.

John Cale with Squeeze. Photo: Jill Furmanovsky/Rockarchive.com

I talked to the band's main songwriting duo, Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, about their time with the Welsh maestro.

What were the circumstances of bringing John on board to produce Packet Of Three?

Chris Difford: "Our manager Miles Copeland represented John in the UK together with his brother Ian, his live agent. Miles came up with the idea... I was scared!"

Glenn Tilbrook: "Miles had got John to do a job lot of production for him, including The Police [featuring Miles Copeland's brother Stewart on drums], Squeeze and The Cortinas. When we went in to do Packet Of Three John was fantastic to work with. Truly, to an 18-year-old he was a bizarre, imposing but humorous figure."

What did John bring to the recording?

GT: "He made the band tougher than we were and we liked that. When it came to doing the LP he was the natural choice."

CD: John was dangerous! He took us from being young boys nervous about recording to young lads even more nervous about recording. His ability to try things was just what we needed and often we found ourselves experimenting with arrangements, like kids in a science class. At the time I scratched my head in fear, but looking back I'm so pleased he made us do things that were way out of our depth."

GT: "I remember he threw out all the songs we had and insisted we wrote new ones! He gave us titles and things to write about. He suggested that the LP title be Gay Guys and told Chris to write a song about a muscle man. The album we made was more a reflection of John than us to be fair.

"But the memory I have from that time was that John was an absolute genius when he got his teeth into something. He would come up with ideas and be very inspired and inspiring.

"He did have us, one day, all day, playing Amazing Grace over and over again. Why? He very rarely gave reasons for anything. I think he saw what Squeeze were - a musicianly pop band - and thought we were capable of something different."

How did you find him personally?

CD: "John was warm and funny, often dry-wited and distant. Inspiring and totally engaging. Fear is a man's best friend, it seems."

GT: "I remember he was obsessed with the news. He'd always read the newspaper, front to back. every day. And he struck me as being slightly paranoid; a conspiracy theorist. Subsequently he was proved right!

"He certainly had a great, but very dry, sense of humour."

Listening back the first album, what can you pick out that is discernably 'John'?

CD: "Most of the album reminds me of John. It was a wonderful time; I just wish I could remember more. I'm sure he would say the same thing. He is the dark horse I learned later to become myself."

GT: "For me, at the beginning of the song The Call, there's a bell ringing. The engineer John Wood, who'd worked with John for years, was shouting out 'Bring out yer dead!' at John's request. That's John Cale in a nutshell."

Were there any funny or unusual things which happened during the recording? GT: "There's only one story that really sticks out. One of the times he first saw us, he came to a rehearsal. He fell asleep when we were playing; he may have had a bit to drink. We drew on his face while he was a asleep. We drew an, erm, 'lady place'. We were young!

"Anyway, we woke him up and actually arranged to travel in a cab with him to his hotel. We watched while he went to the hotel reception, still with drawing on his face."

CD: "There were many things that made me laugh, and unusual things were everyday events. I'm afraid I can't reveal any of it as it would infringe on the memory and the possible friendship we might have in the future. I love his music and have all of the solo work. I think I knew his humour before I met him, before I left school; it was terrifying."

John Cale at 70: Cale and Catatonia

2012-03-07T09:00:00+00:00

In 1999 the cream of Welsh musical talent gathered in Cardiff to work with John Cale on a performance film called Beautiful Mistake, directed by Marc Evans.

One of the acts working with Cale was Catatonia. We caught up with Catatonia guitarist Owen Powell to talk about his experiences of working with Cale, who celebrates his 70th birthday on 9 March.

"We were asked by film director Marc Evans to work with John Cale on two songs for the film Beautiful Mistake in 1999. We recorded Whispering Room, one of our songs written specifically for the project, and his song Close Watch from his album Helen Of Troy. We rehearsed in The Point, formerly known as St Stephens Church, and then moved down the road to record on set at The Coal Exchange.

"From the very start John was very polite and friendly. He doesn't say a great deal but he seemed to like our song and the version of Close Watch that we had routined before meeting him. He was very easy going and seemed to enjoy watching us laugh, swear and argue our way through the process. It struck me that he doesn't like to mess with people's method of working. That's their business. When the red light goes on to record, everybody does their bit.

"We recorded Whispering Room live and at the end of the first take we went to the mobile truck to listen to the playback. As I put my guitar down he turned to me and said quietly, 'It fell asleep a bit in the middle'. He didn't come to listen to the track, preferring to read his book on set. Sure enough as we listened to the track it did indeed 'fall asleep a bit in the middle'. Take two was the one. I knew it was the one because he said 'That's the one'.

"'You coming to have a listen John?'

"'Don't need to, that's the one'. I suspect that his wonderful instinct comes from years of experience.

"We recorded Close Watch in one take. Cerys sang the verses and he joined in for the choruses. He smiled. We were happy with it. It's very easy to make a great song sound great.

"He was a real gent. When I ran through the chords to Whispering Room with him, there was one chord that I didn't know the name of. He seemed baffled that I'd written a song and didn't know what one of the chords was. I held up my guitar while playing the chord to show him. He just gave me a curious look and we carried on."

John Cale at 70: The Culture Show

2012-03-07T09:00:00+00:00

As we celebrate the 70th birthday of John Cale, here's a piece of video from the ��̳ archive.

Miranda Sawyer interviewed Cale for The Culture Show in 2009. The in-depth discussion took in his life in America, his relationship with his Velvet Underground bandmates and his ambitions.

Watch the clip here:

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John Cale at 70: interview (2005)

2012-03-07T09:00:00+00:00

In 2005 ��̳ Wales Music contributor Louis Pattison talked to John Cale about Iggy Pop, tonality and that chicken. Here we republish that in-depth interview.

John Cale playing at Glastonbury

You've been touring the new album, BlackAcetate. How's it been?

We didn't get further than Berlin this time, but in January, February, we'll get down to Spain and Greece. The audiences there are very close to being where they understand what to expect. That it's a rock 'n' roll band, and we're playing rock 'n' roll.

Herb Graham Jr was your main collaborator on the album - is he out with you?

No. He was the main engineer, and helped me with the grooves. He helped me really focus on getting myself in a different place to HoboSapiens. Hobo has grooves that were pretty rigid; I played all the grooves on this one, but we didn't go that one step further and quantise it. It's loose, it's kind of warmer.

Herb has worked with R&B artists like Macy Gray. Did you have that in mind when you hired him?

That's one reason. He's a really big fusion jazz drummer, he does George Benson tours, so he's very sharp. He really turned out to be valuable when I started making my own grooves up, because he kept me away from doing stuff that had already been done.

A song like Brotherman is funky in a way you've not been known for.

I made that track and I had no idea what to do with it. I was rapping in the studio - well, not rapping, just making up jokes. And everyone started laughing so I kept going. There were other tracks that were much more hardcore funk than that, but I've still got to go back and finish them.

We worked September through to November, and then came back in January. We were knocking out three tracks a day, and getting closer to where I wanted to be, which turned out to be Hush. I think I deliberately just dropped the bass - in general I focused on using the drums more as a driving point behind writing the songs.

Do you identify with the phrase 'it's not where you're from but where you're at'?

Yeah. Yeah! (Laughs). I've not heard that before, but it's great. I like what the future holds. I don't like thinking about the past.

One song that stood out was Perfect. On the surface, it's quite sweet, but the line "You're perfect for me, right now", lends it a slightly different edge - that all love is fleeting.

Yes. You'd better take it while you get it. I wouldn't even use the word love. Maybe 'Get along with'? It's not necessarily a love song. I never use the word, it's loaded. What love means to me is need. I think everybody has that need.

That's a very anti-romantic way of looking at things.

Do you return to Wales often?

I played in Cardiff on this tour, and it was really kind of wonderful. I had 16 members of my extended family there, I kind of wangled a reunion. I hadn't seen them in a long time, and to be honest I don't feel very comfortable in Wales - I feel kind of an oddity. But they were so busy networking with each other I didn't have to do the MC bit at all. It was like a playground!

You once recorded a live album at New York punk venue CBGBs, which is teetering on the edge of closure. Do you have good memories of the place?

I don't know what the story is lately. It seems to be that NYU owns most of the property down there. So between NYU and the mayor's office, maybe they think it's a landmark worth saving. It's probably going to end up a Gap store at any minute. But I do really think that CBGBs has a place in the city's history. I have warm, sweaty memories of the place. Really greasy, beer-sodden nights.

Your 1999 biography What's Welsh For Zen? was a critical and commercial success. Do you have any plans for a follow-up?

No, I'm writing a movie, about Mozart going to New York in the 60s. I've been reading so many novels, when I read some of Rushdie's stuff, it's just so daunting - there's all this energy and crackle. I don't want it to come out half-baked, I want a tempo and a pace for it. The movie is starting to shoot next summer - I've got all the dialogue mapped out, I've just got to sit down and do it.

Are you still learning music, in a classically-trained sense?

Not so much new instruments as new sensibilities. When you're working with an MPC sampler and you have to listen to Dr Dre and Pharrell Williams - Pharrell can turn around and make a beautiful R&B song - they're so expert at all these different styles. I want to get lean and mean, keep it minimalist. I want to get to Drop It Like It's Hot. Did you hear EMI just bought the next 10 records by Pharrell? At $300,000 dollars per record.

The Neptunes have a very minimalist style - it's as much about what isn't there, as what is.

But it's more than that. People are sitting around in A&R meeting going 'Is that a spraycan?', and Pharrell's using it as a rhythm device! I really love his ideas. I've been waiting for things like that to crawl across to the mainstream, but it's not there.

I must admit, The first time I heard Can I Have It Like That, the break in it bothered me. But what I did love was the noise in the verse. There's this solid whining going on - like an engine noise. I used that on Hush on the new album - this buzz going on, this generator noise. But I took it off for the mix, because in the end it was buggering up the placement of the vocal.

You could almost draw this use of sound back to the tonal experiments you investigated with the Velvet Underground.

Absolutely. Tonality is the name of the game with those drones that Pharrell uses, because it's out of tune. The noise that's in the background, it's not in any key - it's that weird frequency that you get from engines. There's something thrilling about it.

Are you a nostalgic person? You seem willing to talk about the Velvets, if not enthused.

No, I don't care about it anymore. It's passé. That was a long time ago, and there's so many exciting things going on now that sound so much better.

Can you hear the influence of the Velvets in modern music?

Not at all, any more. In some of The Strokes I can hear it, but really that's more of the mental attitude of the musicians. I don't feel a lot of that rabid mentality any more. Repetition is generally what people are talking about.

You produced the début album by The Stooges, which has recently been remastered. Did you hear it?

Oh God, I have no idea why they bothered. There's really nothing distinguishing there that makes it worth a reissue. It's scraping the bottom of the barrel. I don't get it. But they have their reasons... they probably show me a bunch of figures and it makes sense. But as a musician, it means nothing to me.

Have you seen The Stooges live recently?

No, not for a long time. I saw Iggy at the Elvis Presley anniversary they had in Memphis. He hasn't changed a bit. It's nice to see a guy who just gets on with the music. And he's as leathery as ever.

Even in your 60s, you're showing no sign of slowing down.

I'm still looking for something. I'm getting closer, I think, but if someone moves the goalposts before the next album, I may have to follow them! I'm content with making records, but I don't want to be doing the same thing all the time.

Finally, there's a popular story about you cutting the head off a chicken onstage with a meat cleaver...

It was a really nice meat cleaver. I bought it in Berlin. So beautifully balanced. It didn't take very much. There was no sawing, you just lowered your arm and the weight of the cleaver carried it.

There's been no explanation why you had a chicken and a meat cleaver onstage together in the first place. Presumably it was premeditated?

Yeah. My band left over it. It turned out they were vegetarians. We got the chicken from a farm outside of Oxford. I told my tour manager to put it in a box and just come out with it. Of course, he had to grandstand it. He came out holding the bird, right up high, and that was it. We were screwed.

The bird was on the floor of the van all the way to London. The band had all this time to ruminate over what was going to happen. They were like 'What are you going to do with the bird?' Nothing. 'Are you going to hurt it?' Of course not.

Around that time everyone was gobbing on musicians. Tom Verlaine came over to play the Marquee, and he couldn't believe that people would drink beer and spit it at you as a form of adulation. So I took it a step further.

I threw both the head and body out into the crowd. Everyone was kicking it away from them like it was contaminated. After the show, the band came up to me and said, You lied to us. You said you weren't going to hurt it. I said I didn't hurt it. It didn't feel a thing.

John Cale at 70: interview (2010)

2012-03-07T09:00:00+00:00

In February 2010 ��̳ 6 Music talked to John Cale about performing his classic 1972 album Paris 1919. Here are excerpts from that interview, in which he discusses both the record, his former bandmates and the notion of the 'album'.

This was the last record you wrote before you left LA to return to the UK.

Yes, it was in 1972, the height of the Cold War, and that's where the title came from. But it really is an album of nostalgia about everything I liked about Europe.

So when you came back to the UK after that, is it true the only music you brought back with you was a box of Beach Boys records?

Yes, actually. I had a basement flat for a while in Earls Court and I just put the Beach Boys on. From being in LA and having access to the Beach Boys all the time, I came back here and I'd just zone out in my dim little flat.

Some of your older work, such as with The Velvet Underground, has been revisited a lot. Do you pay attention to those reissues and books?

I don't. Whatever The Velvet Underground did they've done, and it's in the past. I respect that people admire what we did, that's gratifying, but I'm in such a different place with what I think songwriting is these days.

There have been numerous high profile reunions of popular bands recently. Have you been asked to do that with the Velvet Underground?

Yes. It's not something that I can see happening on the basis of the past. Anyone who wants to reform the Velvet Underground for a series of concerts, to make some money, I understand that, but you can't do that. We don't have Sterling [Morrison] any more. If I said that was something I was intrigued by, people would think I was cynical.

Are you in touch with your former bandmates?

Yes. We do business. I haven't spoken to Lou in a long time, but we're in touch because of business. There's no communal effort to enjoy each other's company any more.

What's next for you?

When I'm finished with this series of concerts in July I'll go back into the studio and finish these songs. I have 28 songs at the moment, but I've got to finish them. I haven't figured out how to release them, that's a bit of a conundrum.

Do you still believe in the album as a concept?

I'm not sure that I do. Todd Rundgren gave a concert in New York the other day and immediately after you could get a memory stick of what you'd just experienced. I thought that was a very shrewd idea and wondered if there are any variations of that I could do.

Read the full version of this interview on ��̳ News.

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Feeder: The songs that made us

2012-02-27T09:00:00+00:00

Last week I talked to Feeder about the songs that made their career.

Prior to the release of their latest album, Generation Freakshow (out 26 March), the band were in the Radio Wales studios to record special acoustic tracks and an interview with Georgia Ruth Williams' show, to be broadcast this Saturday (3 March) at 7pm.

Listen to the interview here as Grant and Dean cover (literal) Highs and (non-literal) lows, the loss of drummer Jon Lee, rocking festivals, crossing over and their Welsh background.

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