Wales Of The Unexpected

WALES, FOR so long the preserve of male voice choirs, rugby players with unpronounceable names and, eh, Tom Jones, has now produced a wealth of rock talent capable of rivalling the best in the world. The Manic Street Preachers eventful rise to superstardom has been well documented, and others like the Super Furry Animals and Stereophonics are well on their way to becoming household names.
Cardiff s Catatonia, for their part, have been knocking on the doors of fame and fortune for a few years now, but thanks to their latest single, the eminently hummable Mulder And Scully , the time has finally come for them to leave the porch and come into the parlour of pop stardom.
I was a bit wary about interviewing Cerys Matthews, vocalist with the Welsh guitar popsters, even over the phone. I d read previous articles where the songstress came across as brimful of attitude and aggression. However, when I finally get to speak to Cerys down a phone-line form Norwich, where Catatonia are nearing the end of a tour, the singer is friendly, warm and extremely soft-spoken, with a sing-song Welsh accent that could melt ice cubes at 20 metres.
I m itching for the last gig so I can really relax and have a drink, because I haven t really been able to, she admits, when I enquire as to how the tour has been going. Cerys has been looking after herself, then?
Trying to, she giggles. When you go on tour, everybody wants to have a good time. And you re with different people every night, so it s quite hard to control.
So how well has she been doing?
Quite well. I d give myself about 60 marks out of 100, she confesses. Not bad for the lead singer in a band who are reputed to have left tour-mates Salad, Marion and Puressence prostrate in terms of their alcohol-consuming exploits.
You could be forgiven for thinking that Catatonia are new kids on the block, but you d be mistaken. They began as a band when guitarist Mark Roberts spotted Cerys busking outside Debenhams in Cardiff over four years ago. He just really liked my voice. We got on well and started writing songs, the singer recalls.
The duo recruited another three like-minded souls and so Catatonia were born: Owen Powell (guitar), Paul Jones (bass), and Aled Richards (drums). They did some recording for Welsh TV and subsequently recorded their debut single For Tinkerbell with the Welsh indie label, Crai. It became an NME Single Of The Week, which was just mad, according to Cerys.

It all started trundling along then, she says, admitting that she has a lot to learn. I wasn t used to lads and rock n roll.
The band s trundling along, as she puts it, was, in fact a steadily increasing profile. Their third 45, Whale , which was released through the Rough Trade Singles Club, was yet another NME Single Of The Week. April 1995 saw the band sign to the Warner Brothers subsidiary, blanco y negro, and soon Catatonia were picking up increasingly positive live reviews.
To be fair, we haven t had really bad reviews ever. They ve really been quite good to us, says Cerys. Now I think we ve all grown into it and we re focussed on what we re trying to do and what sort of songs. And I think everybody else has had time to catch up with us as well. We were always trying to do pop stuff we didn t want to be this cool band that was following London fashion, or any sort of fashion, really. We just wanted to make our own brand of guitar pop: music with kind of a twist, often with good, poignant lyrics.
Does she feel the band are finally being respected for that?
Oh no, she laughs. I don t want respect.
Way Beyond Blue, Catatonia s debut album, produced two indie hits, Sweet Catatonia and Lost Cat , which hinted at the success to come when the latter reached number 41 in the UK singles chart. Their just-released second album, International Velvet, has gone one step further, having already spawned the massive hit, Mulder And Scully .
According to Cerys, this is the first time Catatonia have enjoyed daytime radio support, which has made a hell of a difference . So, how did she feel when she found out that the single had become a huge hit?
Our manager told me and I told him to go away, in less polite terms, she says. I didn t know how the chart system worked and I thought that, while it might be number two mid-week, it could go shooting out again. When we heard it on the radio we were in a taxi on our way out and it didn t really sink in. But I had a good excuse to get a hangover that night.
Is she actually an X-Files fan?
Not a major fan, she admits. I like a few episodes. But mostly it s kind of cheating a bit by borrowing their names. She does feel that the paranormal investigators are quite suited to the song, though, because I don t think the characters in The X-Files have had much luck themselves.
Catatonia have spent an awful lot of time over the last couple of years on tour, and they obviously enjoy the whole shebang, with their well-documented drinking bouts.
I do genuinely enjoy touring, and the more we ve done it, the more I enjoy it, enthuses Cerys. The only thing I don t enjoy about it is having to look after my voice.
What about these massive drinking bouts? Are the stories true?
Well, yeah, she admits, but I think it s quite normal for a band, isn t it? We enjoy ourselves. Perhaps we did it a bit too much at the beginning, to the detriment of our music. It s just a matter of when we can do it: not all of the time. Because people couldn t figure out what we were trying to do, they d say, Oh, God, there s a girl and she s very drunk . But I m really quite nice and gentle, she says, half-laughing.
What about drinking Super Furry Animals under the table?
Well, they ve been away for so long, I wouldn t know any more, she says evenly. I think I m so tired now I wouldn t be able to drink my nanny under the table.
So when was the last time she went on a bender?
It would ve been that Sunday when we heard about the single, but that wasn t proper, she laughs. The last time was probably on the last date of the last tour when I ended up standing on top of a double decker bus. I d been looking after myself, and the other band on the tour thought I was really quiet and well-behaved. The last night came and they couldn t believe it. It was just the relief, I think.
Well, that and the copious amounts of alcohol consumed, surely.
When they haven t been on tour over the last three years, Catatonia haven t been enjoying the peace of the Welsh valleys though. They have also spent a lot of time in the studio. They recorded International Velvet with the same team as its predecessor, but Cerys admits to being happier with the result this time round.
We recorded it with the same line-up, same producer, in the same studio, she outlines. Because the songs were written in a shorter space of time, they were fresher. We d also been touring, so it has a more solid feel to it: more focused, more constant and a bit more soul. I think it s more honest and straightforward than the first one.
Cerys is still justifiably proud of Way Beyond Blue, but she admits that she was trying to hide things in her lyrics, while this album is more honest and direct.
Both albums were eventually recorded in Mono Valley in South Wales. It s close to home, she says. With the other album, some of it was recorded in Coventry, Liverpool and wherever, and it took a while for people to figure out that we actually came form South Wales, so it s ideal. We could go home every few days, get an empty head and come back again, and it just worked out very well. It was a very easy album to record. We enjoyed it.
While a lot of bands are daunted by the technology involved in the recording process, Cerys enjoys working in the studio. I love everything to do with what I m doing. Well, not everything, but the most important things to us are the writing, recording and touring. The studio can sometimes be a bit boring, and when you re not doing anything you can get frustrated, she confesses.
But this time, it was just total indulgence. We were enjoying ourselves with the microphones on. For the first time, we could mess around with half of the songs, and that wasn t for the album. It was for our own enjoyment.
We ve got a lot of DATs full of half-songs, half-baked ideas, but that s fine. It ll all come out eventually we ll do an album like The Verve, she laughs wickedly, sounding like something from a Hammer Horror movie.
Cerys admits that writing songs can sometimes help you through when you re feeling a bit depressed. The lyrics on this album, with songs like Road Rage , I Am The Mob and Goldfish And Paracetamol could be cases in point. One thing that struck this listener is that the songs sound a lot more personal and honest than Catatonia s previous material.
I think that they are a lot more straight to the point, she opines. And I sing them a lot clearer, and we ve all got a lot more confident, but I share lyric-writing duties with the lads.
It makes it a lot easier that the band has a variety of songwriters, and takes considerable pressure off individuals to keep coming up with the goods. We all contribute, so you get a lot of variation, says Cerys. She also points to the fact that the band members themselves are sometimes their strongest critics and are not afraid to point out when a lyric or a melody just doesn t work.
Because we are quite close on the musical side, you can be very, very frank without everybody leaving the band, she says. I think we ve very lucky in that respect.
So can you take criticism, then?
Why? she enquires slyly. What are you going to say now?
When I reply that I was just making an observation, she laughs. Oh well, that s OK then.
Quick as a flash, I cunningly produce my ace: The only thing I m going to slag you about is the fact that you re a Man United fan.
We ve gone to the dogs at the moment, she admits. However, with the arrogance beloved of Alex Ferguson devotees the world over, she believes that the Red Devils are going to add not only this year s Premiership but also the European Champions Cup to their bulging trophy cabinet.
Definitely, they have to go somewhere else it ll get boring otherwise, she sniggers.
OK, so let s get back to music, then. Although the band have been mightily busy of late, Cerys has managed to record a duet with Tommy from the band Space. Both acts were on tour together and became good friends, so when Tommy asked Cerys to duet with him she was only too delighted. The forthcoming single, entitled The Ballad Of Tom Jones , is about a warring couple that only stop killing each other when a Tom Jones song comes on.
Catatonia are the latest in a long line of Welsh acts making the breakthrough to international success. Other bands like the Manic Street Preachers, Super Furry Animals, Stereophonics and Gorky s Zygotic Mynci have been enjoying widespread acclaim in recent years. Thankfully, though, it s not a case of Welsh-pop, as all the acts are following their own musical paths to success.
We ve got to redress the balance. It s like Come on Wales, you have a really crap talent thing , she says, giggling. It s really mad, though. Stereophonics are a strong band. The Furries are a strong band. I love the Gorkies, as well. I love the Manics. I don t like The Alarm, I have to admit, but that s a past era.
Even in other media, Wales is making an impression, with Twin Town widely acknowledged as one of 1997 s best movies. So is it a case that Wales is developing its own cultural and national identity?
I don t think so, she confesses. To tell you the truth, it s probably squabbling more now than it ever was. They can t even decide where they re going to put the National Assembly there are fights over that now. But that s what makes Wales Wales. That s its charm. We don t know which way to turn. As regards bands, we have got organised. For so long we only had chapel music or folk music.
Cerys believes that the seed was always there for Welsh rock bands to break through. Because we have no qualms about being uncool and not following cool music then you get your own sound, she states.
When I enquire as to whether Cerys has high expectations for International Velvet or whether it is a case of taking it as it comes, she is disarmingly honest. She admits that while she d like to take the wait and see approach, the success of Mulder And Scully and the excellent reviews for the album make it impossible not to have bigger dreams.
I hope it does do well. Then you can carry on doing it and not get dropped, hopefully anyway, she says modestly. It would be nice to tour in another country, other than around the M25. That would be really nice.
Does she crave fame would she like to be recognised wherever she goes?
Not really, she muses. I like attention but I like it when I want it. But fame at that level, I don t really know.
One song on International Velvet, Game On , suggests that Cerys & Co. are quite confident of their success, with the frontwoman waxing lyrical about my star s ascent a certainty . But could Cerys ever see herself enjoying the celebrity status enjoyed by the likes of Noel Gallagher, attending society bashes left, right and centre?
No, I hope not. I d have to put make-up on all the time to go out, she smiles, before admitting, I m getting a bit of a taste for the high life. I used to hate London, but now I m eating in posh sushi bars and all. And I love shopping and that.
Cerys admits that she has already experienced the invasion of privacy by newspaper journalists hungry for a story, though. We had the Western Mail at my door on the day that the charts came out that s a Welsh paper, she explains. My friends just told them to bugger off, so that wasn t much hassle was it.
What about her being called the Welsh Kim Deal ?
Have I been called that? Well, she s quite cool. I d rather be called Queenie, though, she says, giggling loudly. I ve always been called Queenie in the band. They call me the Queen of indie, and I say No thanks, just Queenie . Or they can call me the Queen of pop.
Laugh she might, but one can t shake the feeling that superlatives of that order could be coming her way soon rather than later. n