On This Day 17/11/2006 Mr Scruff

On this day, 17 November 2006, English record producer and DJ Mr. Scruff played Cardiff University.

His most notable hit, "Get a Move On!", is built around "Bird's Lament (In Memory of Charlie Parker)" by Moondog and has been used in several commercials, ranging from Lincoln and Volvo automobiles to France Télécom and GEICO insurance. The song also samples Shifty Henry's "Hyping Woman Blues" and led to a renewal of interest in Henry's compositions.

In 2004, Mr. Scruff released Keep It Solid Steel Volume 1, the first of what is intended to be a series of several DJ mixed compilation CDs for Ninja Tune's Solid Steel series of artist mixes.These mixes are designed to recreate the eclectic genres one would expect to hear at a Mr. Scruff club night. In November 2006, Ninja Tune confirmed that the eighth Solid Steel record would be mixed by J Rocc and the ninth would be Volume 2 from Mr. Scruff. Other Solid Steel mixes have been released by fellow Ninja Tune artists including The Herbaliser, Hexstatic, DJ Food, and Amon Tobin.

He has a wide array of remixes to his name and has also produced tracks for others – notably "Echo of Quiet and Green" for sometimes-collaborator Niko on her 2004 album Life on Earth. Niko returned the favour by appearing on the track "Come Alive" from the Trouser Jazz album.

Having performed regularly at The Big Chill Festival in Eastnor Castle deer park, Ledbury, Herefordshire, Mr. Scruff was asked in 2006 to select the tracks for the compilation album, Big Chill Classics.

On This Day 14/11/2004 Peter Frampton

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On this day, 14 November 2004, rock singer/guitarist Peter Frampton played Cardiff International Arena. Also on the bill were Deep Purple and Thunder. Frampton had released his eleventh studio album Peter Frampton.

Frampton rose to prominence as a member of the rock bands the Herd and Humble Pie. Later in his career, Frampton found significant success as a solo artist. He has released several albums, including his breakthrough album, the live recording Frampton Comes Alive! (1976), which spawned several hit singles and has been certified 8× Platinum by the RIAA in the United States.

He has also worked with various other acts such as Ringo Starr, John Entwistle of the Who, David Bowie, Joe Bonamassa, and both Matt Cameron and Mike McCready of Pearl Jam.

Frampton is known for his signature hit songs "Show Me the Way", "Baby, I Love Your Way", "Do You Feel Like We Do", and "I'm in You", all of which remain staples of classic rock radio. He has also appeared as himself in television shows such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Madam Secretary. Frampton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024.

On This Day 26/09/2007 Gwen Stefani

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On this day, 26 September 2007, American singer Gwen Stefani played Cardiff International Arena on her Sweet Escape Tour.

The tour began in April 2007 in support of her second solo album The Sweet Escape (2006). Performing for nearly a hundred concerts, the tour traveled to the Americas, Australia, Asia, and Europe.

The shows in North America ranked 23rd on Billboard "Top 25 Tours". The 55 reported shows grossed $30.6 million with 648,529 tickets sold.

Gwen Renée Stefani was born on October 3, 1969, in Fullerton, California, and raised Catholic in nearby Anaheim.[19] She was named after a stewardess in the 1968 novel Airport, and her middle name, Renée, comes from the Four Tops' 1968 version of the Left Banke's 1966 song "Walk Away Renée".

Her father Dennis Stefani is Italian American and worked as a Yamaha marketing executive. Her mother Patti (née Flynn) is Irish American and worked as an accountant before becoming a homemaker.

Stefani's parents were fans of folk music and exposed her to music by artists like Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris. Stefani has two younger siblings, Jill and Todd, and an older brother, Eric. Eric was the keyboardist for No Doubt before leaving the band to pursue a career in animation on The Simpsons.

She attended Loara High School, where she graduated in 1987. After high school, she attended Fullerton College and Cypress College. She then transferred to California State University, Fullerton, but dropped out to pursue her music career.

Setlist

The Sweet Escape

Rich Girl

Yummy

4 in the Morning

Luxurious

Early Winter

Wind It Up

Danger Zone

Hollaback Girl

Now That You Got It

Don't Get It Twisted / Breakin' Up

Cool

Wonderful Life

Orange County Girl

Encore:

The Real Thing

What You Waiting For?

On This Day 19/09/2002 Converge

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On this day, 19 September 2002, American metalcore band Converge, played Cardiff’s Coal Exchange.

Formed by vocalist and artist Jacob Bannon and guitarist and producer Kurt Ballou in Salem, Massachusetts in 1990.

While recording their landmark fourth album Jane Doe in 2001, the group became a four-piece with the departure of guitarist Aaron Dalbec and the addition of bassist Nate Newton and drummer Ben Koller. This lineup has remained intact since.

The members have also been involved in various side-projects and collaborations, including the bands Supermachiner (Bannon), Old Man Gloom (Newton), and Mutoid Man (Koller). With their extremely aggressive and boundary-pushing sound, rooted in hardcore and heavy metal, they are pioneers of metalcore and its subgenre mathcore.

On September 4, 2001, Converge released their fourth studio album, Jane Doe. It was met with immediate critical acclaim, with critics praising its poetic lyrics, dynamic range, ferocity and production. The album was a commercial success in comparison to Converge's previous outings, and both the band and the album have developed a cult following since its release.

It is the band's first studio album to feature Newton and Koller, and the last to feature Dalbec, who was asked to leave the band due to his devotion to his side project Bane.[28] Converge's first tour in support of Jane Doe was in September 2001 with Drowningman and Playing Enemy,[29] however Drowningman later dropped out of the tour to work on a new album.

In 2002 a music video was released for the track/tracks "Concubine/Fault and Fracture" from the album Jane Doe; the music video was directed by Zach Merck.

On This Day 18/09/2004 Babyshambles

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On this day, 18 September 2004, rock band Babyshambles played Cardiff University.

In the early summer of 2004, Pete Doherty found himself cast out of The Libertines because of his drug use. As a result, Doherty brought Babyshambles to the fore with Patrick Walden on guitar, Gemma Clarke on drums and Peter Perrett's two sons, Jamie and Peter Junior, on guitar and bass respectively.

Doherty organised several gigs and the band began to gain respect in their own right, even though Doherty missed a number of appearances. The band's lineup underwent several changes before stabilizing during the late summer of 2004 with Doherty on vocals, Patrick Walden on guitar, Gemma Clarke on drums and Drew McConnell on bass.

In September and October 2004, Babyshambles embarked on a British tour that culminated with two shows at the London Scala. Despite fears that Doherty's performance would not be consistent, the tour sold out and received critical acclaim.

The band's second single, "Killamangiro", was released 29 November 2004 on Rough Trade Records, reaching number 8 on the UK singles chart. The band embarked on another tour in December 2004, among growing concerns regarding Doherty's drug dependence.

During a gig in Blackpool, the band walked off the stage when it became clear that Doherty was too intoxicated to perform, and a riot broke out at the London Astoria after Doherty failed to appear, with 150–200 of the audience invading the stage and damaging the band's equipment, including the destruction of Gemma Clarke's drumkit,

On This Day 15/09/2004 Susperia

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On this day, 15 September 2004, Norwegian thrash metal band Susperia played Cardiff’s Barfly. The had recently released their third studio album Unlimited

Formed in October 1998 by Tjodalv and Cyrus the band was originally named Seven Sins, but since there was another band with that name they changed it to the title of the horror film Suspiria, changing the spelling to avoid a clash with Suspiria, a gothic rock band that also took its name from the film.

On their early albums, the band experimented with a mixture of black and thrash metal. Testament, one of the members' favorite bands, was a major influence, and by the time the album Unlimited was released, the black metal elements had disappeared. Instead, the band gave more space to influences from heavy metal. Today, Susperia are generally regarded as a melodic thrash metal band.

The lyrics written by singer Athera are personal and either purely fictional or autobiographical. Politics and religion are not dealt with, nor are certain concepts. Athera uses both guttural and clean vocals.

Susperia is not a Satanic band, though their lyrics tend to criticise and question the views and morals of Christianity.

On This Day 05/09/2003 The Black Keys

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On this day, 5 September 2003, American rock band The Black Keys played Cardiff’s Barfly on their Thickfreakness tour.

Formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001 the group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, vocals) and Patrick Carney (drums). The duo began as an independent act, recording music in basements and self-producing their records, before they eventually emerged as one of the most popular garage rock artists during a second wave of the genre's revival in the 2000s. The band's raw blues rock sound draws heavily from Auerbach's blues influences, including Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside, Howlin' Wolf, and Robert Johnson.

Thickfreakness, the band’s second album was released on April 8, 2003, and received positive reviews from critics. The record spawned three singles: "Set You Free", "Hard Row", and a cover of Richard Berry's "Have Love, Will Travel". The other cover from the album was Junior Kimbrough's "Everywhere I Go".

Time later named Thickfreakness the third-best album of 2003. That year, the duo received a lucrative offer of £200,000 to license one of their songs for use in an English mayonnaise advertisement. At the suggestion of their manager, they rejected the offer for fear of being perceived as "sell-outs" and alienating their fan base.

The band toured extensively throughout 2003, playing its first dates outside of the United States and opening concerts for Sleater-Kinney, Beck, and Dashboard Confessional. However, exhaustion had set in by the end of the year, forcing the band to cancel European tour dates.

In August, the group made its national television debut on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals. As fellow garage band the White Stripes grew in popularity, the Black Keys drew comparisons to them—sometimes as a derivative act—since both groups had two-piece lineups, Midwest origins, bluesy sounds, and names with colors.

In September, the Black Keys released a split-EP with the Six Parts Seven titled The Six Parts Seven/The Black Keys EP, featuring one song by the Six Parts Seven and three songs by the Black Keys.

On This Day 31/08/2004 Allister

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On this day, 31 August 2004, American punk/pop band Allister played Cardiff’s Barfly. They were about to release their third studio album Before The Blackout.

The four-piece formed in 1994 as Phineas Gage when the original band members were still in high school. In 1998, Allister became one of the first bands to sign to Drive-Thru Records.

They went on hiatus in 2007, then reunited in 2010, and have been touring and recording again since. They have released six studio albums: Dead Ends and Girlfriends (1999), Last Stop Suburbia (2002), Before the Blackout (2005), Countdown to Nowhere (2010), Life Behind Machines (2012), and 20 Years and Counting (2019). The band also made a cameo appearance in the 2004 film Sleepover.