Two hours flew by this afternoon, while discussing my ‘digging down’ project on MonFM radio with Rhys Mwyn. Some of you may remember Rhys with his band Anhrefn, a favourite of John Peel:
Wikipedia say: “Anhrefn (Welsh for "Disorder") formed in 1982, and initially sang only in Welsh. The band were not supported by Radio Cymru or Welsh-language TV channel S4C, beyond an occasional interview, and bassist Rhys Mwyn became known as an outspoken critic of the Welsh pop industry. Mwyn (born Gareth Rhys Thomas) set up his own Recordiau Anhrefn label in 1983, helping to promote like-minded Welsh bands as well as their own music. The band were championed by John Peel and recorded three sessions for his BBC Radio 1 show; Peel even travelled to Wales to see the band perform. The band played up to 300 gigs a year at their peak, and were featured on Channel 4 TV show The Tube in 1987”.
There is a great youtube clip of them performing “Cornel” yn Yr Octagon, Bangor in 1987 www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaOLsrFGLKM Watching it brings back happy memories of my teenage jaunts into the mosh pit, along with other indies/goths/alternative/punks. I’m gutted that I didn’t know of Anhrefn in the 80s, I would have been ‘wrth fy modd’!
Here’s a picture I took around that time, of members (Mike, Rebecca, Shawry, Carla, Stu) of our remarkably untalented band ‘The Clap’. Our only achievement – apart from this jaunt to Blackpool for my 18th birthday - was to make an ‘album’ (a tape) called ‘Damien’s Dead’ that we distributed around our 6th form college, Sir John (Jonny) Dean’s in Northwich. But it was fun. And it made us feel better as teenagers to express something of the trauma of being stuck in Thatcher’s Britain….
As well continuing with the music side, Rhys is an archaeologist and culturalist, and a big part of the social and cultural landscape here in Gwynedd and across Wales. So I was delighted when Rhys agreed to come to my Waleslab Digging Down R&D sharing in April. He quickly became a pivotal guest (perhaps I should say performer, for the guests were all part of the performance) of the evening. He is without doubt one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met, and all worries I may have had about talking live for 2 hours on the radio this afternoon quickly vanished as Rhys skillfully steered our conversation musically and conversationally.
Here’s the playlist from the show:
Monday, 21 July 2014
Mon FM 'Mona Antiqua Playlist'
08.06.15 Gwestai Lindsey Colbourne (artist)
1. Zefur Wolves 'Accept what you are'
2. David Bowie "Heroes'
3. Fiona & Gorwel Owen 'Releasing Birds'
4. Nico 'These Days'
5. Jonathan Richman 'Roadrunner'
6. Big Leaves 'Bler'
7. Blondie 'X Offender'
8. Patti Smith 'Gloria'
9. Hangai ''Hershol Hero'
10. 9Bach 'Pebyll'
11. Fiona & Gorwel Owen 'Singing for the Cuckoo'
12. ATV 'Action, Time and Vision'
See http://rhysmwyn.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/mon-fm-mona-antiqua-playlist.html for other guests and playlists, a good source of interesting music and people.
Rhys' show is on Mondays, 2-4pm. http://monfm.net/. Next week his guests are Fiona and Gorwel Owen.