Songs From Western Britain

Three good things about Melys: they're young, gifted and Welsh. The latest in an increasingly long line of nuanced, centre-left bands to emerge individually wrapped from the Dragon's mouth, Melys hail from the tourist-thronged town of Betws-y-Coed. Yet there was a time in the not-so-long-ago past when Welsh bands couldn't get arrested. Or, for that matter, signed.
"I think Welsh bands realized this," says guitarist and songwriter Paul Adams. "There was some good stuff coming out of Wales but eventually when nothing was happening for them, they all said, 'well, sod it, let's shut the doors and we'll get on with it ourselves cos we're not gonna get a deal anyway'. That's why a lot of Welsh bands sound so different from everything else. They've ignored the industry and just done their own thing."
Indeed, like compatriots Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, with whom they share management, Melys are as bilingual as anything, slipping into their native tongue quicker than you can shout "Oi! Llandudno!". "It's quite natural," says Adams. "It's Carys' (Melys keyboard player) first language. When we got signed to Pinnacle, we made sure that our contract stated that we could do a percentage of our songs in Welsh. And they agreed."
Indeed, the success of a band like Gorky's Zygotic Mynci (with whom they've just finished touring) suggests that the Welsh language is now fashionably exotic rather than contemptibly archaic. An arranged marriage of experimental electonica and indie guitar shimmers, consummated by AndreaParker's pristine choirgirl vocals that suggest innocence sullied, Melys have been compared, almost inevitably, with Tyne-smiths Dubstar.
For Adams, this is a moot point and one he hopes will soon be a mute point. "People who've seen us live and who've heard the album have changed their mind about that," he avers. "We hadn't even heard Dubstar at the time."
"We weren't particularly inspired by anyone," continues Parker. "We didn't set out to do what we've done at all. It just happened. We said 'oh, let's go in and record a song'. That was the basis of it - just having a bit of fun in the studio."
male voice choir
Listening to the album, Rumours And Curses (due out next week), one would never have guessed that their beginnings were so humble. "We formed as a bet," Adams confesses. "For ten quid. I was playing in a guitar band at the time. Andrea bet me I couldn't write anything electronic. I said, 'Anyone can do this.' And then I bet her ten quid if she could sing it. Then we released an EP on Ankst Records called 'Fragile'. On top of that we got offered tour dates. So that's when we got Gary (Husband, drums) and Carys (Jones, keyboards) in to transform what we did in the studio to a live setting. And so here we are."
Melys could well be dealing in much larger denominations than ten pound notes in the near future - they have the same management team as Gorky's and Super Furry Animals and are signed to Pinnacle. As well as airplay on MTV, they count John Peel as one of their most fervent supporters - they're already pencilled in to do a special studio Peel session live on air with a 25-member male voice choir.
"Peel's played every B-side we've ever released," enthuses Adams. "He played us every night last week. We met him. He was a guest on a Welsh TV programme. But they hadn't booked him a taxi back from Newport to Cardiff so we gave him a lift in our van cos we were staying in the same hotel."
"He said the last time he had been with a band in a van was with T-Rex," smiles Gary, Melys' drummer.
Unlike yer average Britpop combo, Melys make no claim to be the Best Band In The Fookin' World - they're a lot more humble and self-aware than that.
"We're still in our early 20s. We're just having a riot of a time," explains Adams.
Andrea agrees. "It's not really a tour, it's a holiday . . . until you realize, oh no, we've got to play tonight. But life on the road is not normal. You don't eat properly. You don't sleep properly. It would take a very strong person to stay sane."
"Especially when you have to go on the road with HIM," snorts Adams, pointing at Husband. "All drummers are animals. He's keeping up the tradition." n
* Rumours And Curses is out next week on Pinnacle.