Seems there has never been a thread about Wales here

I like the Manics as well, but that's a completely different story.

the alarm = useless, then and now. not even good for cheap 80s nostalgia.

the manics = i've heard only snippets, didn't effect me one way or another. they've probably been poisoned forever for me by hanging around ILM.

the levellers = can't remember if i've ever heard anything by them. prob. not a good sign.

catatonia = band that i like more than i probably should.

Oh, I'm sure you'd love them (nb this is a bare faced lie)

McLusky, The Take, Badfinger, Datblygu, Tystion, Ffa Coffi Pawb, Fflaps, Acid Casuals, Julie Murphy, Geraint Jarman, Llwybr Llaethog, Four Letter Word, Jon Langford, High Contrast, Helen Love, Sammo Hung, The Martini Henry Rifles, Ectogram, Traddodiad Ofnus, Y Cyrff, Guinea Worm, Anhrefn, The Oppressed, Icons of Filth, No Choice, Headcase Ladz

Well I liked that Budgie song Metallica did - weren't they just a good old fashioned headbangin' heavy rock outfit? In which case, i very well might like them.

Oh forgot about Badfinger and Young Marble Giants

Victimise, The Tunnelrunners, Ail Symudiad, Screen Gems, Grids, Seventeen...

As for the others, I enjoy quite a lot of Super Furry Animals songs, but they haven't made their killer album. Catatonia were boring indie-rock crud with a few excellent singles to redeem them. I like a handful of Gorky's tracks - couldn't stomach a whole album.

I think Cerys Mattews once said that the combination of bad reception for most BBC radio channels in wales (except - crucially - Radio 4) and a healthy supply of magic mushrooms had a big influence on the sound of the nation's indie bands> They all had a warped/druggy take on radio 4 easy listening/MOR. It fits in well with Gorkys and SFA i suppose.

Both of these artists were born in Wales:

Julian Cope
http://www.headheritage.co.uk/drude/biog/

and Green from Scritti http://www3.gateway.ne.jp/~wildcat/sp_uk/history/history_overview.htm

Cale still conducts interviews and performs songs in Welsh...when in Wales...

I just came across your AMG MC Mabon review.

(and did you get that email I sent you?)

I'll resend it, is your ned@kuciNOSPAM.org address real?
(I remember sending you emails before but I'm not at my own computer now)

I write for a magazine called Sound Nation, which is actually Wales' only national music magazine. We're publicly funded, the mag is totally free for people in Wales and it goes out monthly. The mag is part of the Welsh Music Foundation,
www.welshmusicfoundation.com
(The mag used to be called honk.)

The mag's not available in the shops, we send it by post to our subscribers every month. To become a subscriber someone normally fills in a freepost card (found in music shops etc) with their details and send it to us then we send the mag free every
month. There are currently over 5,000 subscribers and we estimate a readership of about 15,000. It's a proper nice looking colour print magazine which we think is important.

It used to be free to anyone who requested it through the website, but we were getting too many people from all over the world asking for it and we have a limited budget and postage is expensive! If anyone here really thinks they should get it drop me an email and explain why, I'm really sorry we can't afford to send it to everyone :-(

The WMF is an economic development project whose aim is to stimulate the infrastructure for music in Wales, and Sound Nation is part of that. We cover Welsh bands, managers, businesses etc. This _usually_ means Welsh people doing things in Wales or outside it, for example in the last couple of months we've written about a music software company based in Flintshire; an electronics company from Port Talbot selling listening posts into London; DVDs made here (including stuff about Super Furries and Ankst); someone winning a mangers association award etc. etc. and a LOT of stuff about Welsh bands. Occasionally we cover non-Welsh bands who play here, eg I reviewed Evanescence at Cardiff's CIA, but we prefer to stick with home grown acts.

Okay, the reason I'm posting all this - we need some new contributors, specifically people to review gigs in Wales, outside the South Wales area.
We need some people who live in or go to gigs in places like Bangor, Rhyl, Wrexham, Harlech, Pwlelli, Aberystwyth etc. etc.

I know pretty much everyone who posts here can write well enough so how about it? We can't really pay for things like live reviews, but it's good to get your views in a print mag that so many influential people read.

Email me or the editor, james@welshmusicfoundation.com if you want to know more.

Ta!

(I've just started a thread specifically for this: Mid/North/West Wales Contributors wanted for printed music mag)