My grandfather's last name was Weare and that sure as hell sounds Welsh. And he had family with the name Davies which is a common Welsh name. And I've been told that my grandfather's grandfather was probably the first one off the boat from Wales here in America.
I don't really have any kind of ethnic identity, and I've only been to Wales once for one day when I was stuck working in Surrey, but I feel a certain affection for all things Welsh.
Lucky then that there was such a boom in Welsh music a few years ago. Super Furry Animals seemed to kick things off in 1995 or so and then loads of great bands started to surface.
John Peel faves Derrero were one such band. I did an overview of Derrero last summer and I'm pleased to report that the band will be playing a reunion gig -- their first live gig in 10 years!?! -- at tomorrow's SWIGEN Festival in Cardiff.
Not only that but Derrero front-man Ashley Cooke will be performing as Pulco AND Dave Fung, also from Derrero, will be bringing his band No Thee No Ess to the festival as well.
For now, let's give a listen to a free MP3 from Derrero's 1997 EP Small Pocket Machine -- download "Stoned Rider below.
With that intro like "Mama Told Me (Not To Come)" by Three Dog Night, the song starts a bit weird but the Silver Sun-meets-SFA-meets-Beach Boys harmonies are sublime. The crunchy guitar and pounding drums push things along into memorable riffage -- it's a mix of a about half-a-dozen things but it works. Not only that, it reminds the astute listener of a pre-Coldplay era of great UK indie -- when bands took risks by mixing and exploring genres like this.
"Stoned Rider"
For more details on the festival, check out the website:
www.swigen.co.uk
Pulco will be releasing a new EP, Sketchbook Season, in November. I'll have more details on that soon.
For now, follow Pulco here:
http://folkwit.com/artists/pulco
http://pulco.tumblr.com/
http://pulco.bandcamp.com