Ian McCulloch on new Manics album

[bunnybunny]

Pretty startling and embarrassing the misguided lengths this guy goes for in quest of fame.

Well put. What happened to being cool and keeping his dignity? He must be scrapped for dosh.

[Dr Evil]

Regarding the Maniacs, they released "You stole the sun from my heart" about the same time as the Bunnymen's limp "Nothing lasts forever" and if Mac does his sub-Richard Hawley mumbling act instead of proper singing, they'll drop him as quickly as Coldplay did. As for (decent) girl bands (All Saints) or (decent) boy bands-JLS's "Be Together" has more passion than anything Mac has done in years-R&B is the new Rock & Roll and I doubt if they'd want Mac on mumbling duties either.
I only hope that he can be on form for the Heaven up Here tour. Like proper singing on "No Dark Things."

[the ghost of guitarplayer]

He might just get away most of No Dark Things. A Promise though - I expect Mac to sing that in low-key, judging by that recent Glasgow Barrowlands performance and the 2001 lo-fi version.

I really detest Maniacs though. A few years back I lived in Wales and the local cinema used to play the whole of Everything Must Go in the interval at every film. You'd switch on Welsh TV and there was always documentaries about the Maniacs or the Stereophonics. I hated them as well until they changed their image, music and drummer. Catatonia were another pile of Welsh shite. The only band that I liked was the Super Furry Animals.

[Dave Smith]

My house-mate at University LLoyd Powell was the singer in a indie welsh language band-always on Welsh tv.His brother then played in Catatonia-Owen Powell .Nice chaps but he refused to let Lloyd sing in english. The ££££ lure of Catatonia must have changed his mind..Owen was a big Bunnymen fan though .From them I know that Super Furries used to be called 'f-cooffe Pwab' or something which translates to f*ck off(I think) in Welsh.

[Voodoo Billy]

My house-mate at University LLoyd Powell was the singer in a indie welsh language band-always on Welsh tv.His brother then played in Catatonia-Owen Powell .Nice chaps but he refused to let Lloyd sing in english. The ££££ lure of Catatonia must have changed his mind..Owen was a big Bunnymen fan though .From them I know that Super Furries used to be called 'f-cooffe Pwab' or something which translates to f*ck off(I think) in Welsh.

They were called Ffa Coffi Pawb which in Welsh means "coffee beans for everyone", though if you read it as "Ffa Coff i Pawb" it means "fuck off everyone". I was in college in Bangor and saw them play locally a fair few times, the bass player was doing the same course as me (when either of us managed to turn up!) and from what I remember Gruff was doing an art course. They were pretty good live, very much Mary Chain influenced and I always preferred them to the later Super Furries, there's a compilation CD which is well worth getting hold of.

[the ghost of guitarplayer]

Welsh nationalist eh? As an Englishman, I used to drink often in a Welsh nationalist pub as I quite liked the character of the pub and wanted to see if an Englishman would get away with it. They never knew.

[Dave Smith]

Lloyd's band were called the Crumblowers or the welsh spelling of it.Good jangly tunes but couldnt understand a word of it.A guy called Rhys used to come up to Birmingham from a band called U Thant as well.I remember them saying what a good punk band the Gruff lot were.But my oh my was english singing frowned upon by that welsh indie 'scene'.

Favourite Powell family story-their Dad went to the school reunion in Cardiff (I think) and was asked by his old mate what his sons were doing "Well they are studying and play in a band"."Oh thats funny my son plays in a band as well"'Really.... mine play in a welsh language indie band"."thats great....my son's in a band called U2 .....if you've heard of them".Brilliant-its was the Edge's dad!

[Voodoo Billy]

Lloyd's band were called the Crumblowers or the welsh spelling of it.Good jangly tunes but couldnt understand a word of it.A guy called Rhys used to come up to Birmingham from a band called U Thant as well.I remember them saying what a good punk band the Gruff lot were.But my oh my was english singing frowned upon by that welsh indie 'scene'.

It certainly was, and much of the music was pretty dire but there were also some classics, my favourite Welsh punk single was "Cerddor Cymraeg" (Welsh Musician) by a punk band called Y Sefydliad which was basically a song about how any old shit would get recognition in Wales as long as it was performed in Welsh. And probably the only true 'genius' to have come from the Welsh underground scene of the mid 1980's, Peel favourite David R Edwards and 'Datblygu'.

[fat cherry]

wow, dunno why but I wouldn't have guessed there'd be so much antimanics banter going on. Having saidf that cant say I care much for them. the former mrs cherry had that album with loads of singles off it - design for life and that, and didn't have a cover fairly reminiscent of waygtdwyl? Saw em at reading once and they were OK, but by then I was pissed. That bloke who dresses up in nurses uniforms and such has a bit of a mac the mouth personality doesn't he? I picked up 'the holy bible' in a bargain bin smehwre and it was shite so I gave it to my mate who once professed a bit of a liking for them, and he gavve it back to me. dear.

[the ghost of guitarplayer]

my favourite Welsh punk single was "Cerddor Cymraeg" (Welsh Musician) by a punk band called Y Sefydliad which was basically a song about how any old shit would get recognition in Wales as long as it was performed in Welsh.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM7rMu49WPM[/youtube]

[Mr.Sparkle]

They were called Ffa Coffi Pawb which in Welsh means "coffee beans for everyone", though if you read it as "Ffa Coff i Pawb" it means "fuck off everyone". I was in college in Bangor and saw them play locally a fair few times, the bass player was doing the same course as me (when either of us managed to turn up!) and from what I remember Gruff was doing an art course. They were pretty good live, very much Mary Chain influenced and I always preferred them to the later Super Furries, there's a compilation CD which is well worth getting hold of.

Actually, I don't think Ffa Coffi Pawb was SFA, it only had some members of the band along with some members of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci. I could be wrong on that one. Those are two of my favorite bands, though (SFA and Gorky's). SFA is a classic example of the 4 good albums and that's it, though, IMO. Their first four albums are all pretty incredible, along with Outspaced, the B-sides compilation.

[Voodoo Billy]

Actually, I don't think Ffa Coffi Pawb was SFA, it only had some members of the band along with some members of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci. I could be wrong on that one. Those are two of my favorite bands, though (SFA and Gorky's). SFA is a classic example of the 4 good albums and that's it, though, IMO. Their first four albums are all pretty incredible, along with Outspaced, the B-sides compilation.

You're right, I think two members of Ffa Coffi Pawb (Dafydd and Gruff) went on to SFA.

[Voodoo Billy]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM7rMu49WPM[/youtube]

Thank you GOGP, I've never seen that before.

[bordomisthecause]

I found this is funny so I have to sign up just to answer this.

McCulloch co-wrote/played guitar for this track in Mark Owen's 2nd solo album.

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=am ... fqxnwsldde

You wouldn't imagine it could be true!?!?!?

:)

FYI: I like the Bunnymen, the Manics and so Mark Owen. Ha!

True. Having said that, I'd rather Mac collaborated with Nouvelle Vague than some mainstream teenybop girl or boy band. Just imagine how awful it would have been if Mac had collaborated with the All Saints or especially the Spice Girls. What about a boy band? I'm thinking Westlife, Five or, god forbid, Take That. Imagine if it had been that little one in Take That that all the girls and boys fancied. What's his name? Mark Owen. No doubt, it'd then would have led Mac to choose a boy band producer on his next album. Thank god none of this came to pass.

[doyoulikerockmusic]

awesome....