On This Day 10/08/1995 60ft Dolls

On this day, 10 August 1995, Newport band the 60ft Dolls played Cardiff’s Big Weekend. Also playing that day was Dub War and Super Furry Animals.

Carl Bevan

The Welsh music scene was yesterday stunned by the news of the sad passing of drummer Carl Bevan, a talented musician, producer and artist who will be sadly missed.

Formed in Newport in 1992 by Richard J. Parfitt and Michael Cole, who met through Donna Matthews (later of Elastica), who was at the time dating Cole and working part-time in the same pizza restaurant as Parfitt.

After problems finding the right drummer, they eventually took on pastor's son Carl Bevan. Initially influenced by touring American hardcore bands that played in Newport (and in particular prominent local venue T. J.'s), the Dolls played noisy yet melodic rock, described by the NME as "grunge mod...proto-pub metal blues of the first order".

In 1993, Huw Williams of the Pooh Sticks became their manager and released the debut single "Happy Shopper", named after a British convenience store chain, on his own Townhill label.

In 1995 they joined the first 'BratBus' NME tour with Veruca Salt, Marion and Skunk Anansie. After support spots with Oasis, Elastica and Dinosaur Jr., 60 Ft. Dolls released their second single "White Knuckle Ride" on Rough Trade Records and then "Pig Valentine" on the RCA imprint Indolent Records.

These early singles were championed heavily by BBC Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq, and as a consequence were picked up by influential American DJ Rodney Bingenheimer of KROQ-FM. This resulted in the band signing a deal with Geffen Records in the US. The New York Times listed "Pig Valentine" among its 1996 singles of the year.

The band broke into the UK Top 40 with their fourth single "Talk to Me" (Indolent, 1996), the video for which extensively featured the Newport Transporter Bridge. This was followed by their debut album, The Big 3, which was produced by Al Clay. Reviews called it "as close to soar-away rock perfection as it's possible to imagine" by the NME and "pure, unadulterated, no nonsense, emotional, tuneful, impassioned, purposeful, hedonistic rock 'n' roll" by Melody Maker.

The album was included in Select magazine's top 30 albums of 1996 and Mojo's 2003 retrospective feature "Top 12 Britpop albums of the 90s", which called it "a devilishly evocative document of the period".

The band toured extensively in the UK, Japan and Europe, including several summer festival appearances such as Glastonbury 1997 as well as opening for The Sex Pistols at their 1996 Finsbury Park reunion gig.

On The Day 09/08/1997 Death in Vegas

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On this day, 9 August 1997, electronic music group Death in Vegas played Cardiff’s Big Weekend.

The band was formed in 1994 by Steve Fearless and Steve Hellier and signed to Concrete Records under the name of Dead Elvis. Owing to an Irish record label of the same name, Dead Elvis became the title of their first album instead.

The band had earlier in the year released their debut album Dead Elvis (1997), that featured a blend of musical genres. Most of the tracks are mainly based in electronic dance music. Shortly after the release of the album, Hellier left the band and was replaced by Tim Holmes, who had already been involved with mixing and engineering tracks on the album.

The British release features coloured Elvis graffiti on the cover, while the US version features a tattoo artist. The music video for "Dirt" was a minor hit on MTV's 120 Minutes. "GBH" was featured on the soundtrack for the 1998 American comedy-thriller film Homegrown.

On This Day 08/08/1998 Audioweb

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On this day, 8 August 1998, indie rock band from Manchester, Audioweb, played Cardiff’s Big Weekend.

Audioweb scored two Top 40 hits in the UK Singles Chart - "Policeman Skank...(The Story Of My Life)", and a cover version of The Clash's "Bankrobber".

Famous admirers of the group were U2 and Ian Brown. Audioweb supported U2 at Wembley Stadium in August 1997. Prior to this Stadium gig they supported Cast at Glasgow's Barrowlands in March 1997. They also supported Madness at Madstock '96 at Finsbury Park, London. Audioweb released their material on the Mother Records label.

The band went on an extended hiatus after 2000. Bassist McCann played for Ian Brown and Badly Drawn Boy and released his own music under the name Fellow Traveller; Maxfield has drummed for Ian Brown and Shed Seven; File has been working with the singer-songwriter Finley Quaye; while Merchant's 2007 - 2013 Manchester band, SupaJamma have released one mini album "That Was Then, This is Now" & four singles, "Madaboutit, It's Alright, Hope & Pray, We Run Tings" on Stereokill Recordings.

Merchant is also the vocalist on the theme tune for the BBC show Rastamouse.

Personnel

Martin "Sugar" Merchant (vocals)

Sean McCann (bass)

Robin File (guitar)

Robert "Maxi" Maxfield (drums)

On This Day 07/08/2011 Dodgy

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On this day, 7 August 2011, rock band Dodgy played Cardiff’s Big Weekend.

Formed in Hounslow in 1990. The band rose to prominence during the Britpop era of the 1990s. They are best known for their hits "Staying Out for the Summer", "If You're Thinking of Me", and "Good Enough".

"Good Enough" was their biggest hit, reaching No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart.

The band was formed by Nigel Clark, Mathew Priest, and Andy Miller. Relocating from Worcestershire to London in 1988, Clark and Priest played together in the trio Purple, with Frederic Colier [fr] on the bass. They recruited guitarist Ben Lurie, who left the band after one week to join The Jesus and Mary Chain and was replaced by Miller. After Colier's departure, the band renamed itself Dodgy.

The band played an eight-month residency at a wine bar in Kingston Upon Thames and created a following. In 1991, they signed a six-album deal with A&M Records and signed publishing with BMG.

Dodgy's debut album was produced by The Lightning Seeds' Ian Broudie. The band concerned themselves with social issues by supporting The Serious Road Trip, War Child, the Liverpool Dockers' Strike, Charter88 and youth democracy campaigns.

The band became the second UK act, after China Drum, to play in Sarajevo after the lifting of the siege, giving a concert at the Kuk club in August 1996. They returned to Bosnia in 1997, to film a programme with Kate Thornton in Mostar.

On This Day 06/08/1999 Big Leaves

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On this day, 6 August 2004, Welsh band Big Leaves played Cardiff’s Big Weekend.

The band was formed in 1988 as Beganifs by then 11- and 12-year-old school pupils Rhodri Sion (vocals), Meilir Gwynedd (guitar), Kevin Tame (bass guitar, trumpet), and Osian Gwynedd (drums, keyboards).

They initially recorded and sold home-recorded tapes, and released two seven-inch EPs as Beganifs, the first on their own label, the second on Ankst Records.

They changed the band name to Big Leaves after they were mistakenly billed as this by a concert promoter in the Netherlands who misheard their name. They were signed by Crai Records, releasing two EPs in 1998 and 1999, and contributed to the second album by Catatonia, with whom they later toured.

They also toured with Super Furry Animals, a band with which they have been compared. "Sly Alibi", released in 1999 on Adam Walton's Whipcord label, was the band's first English-language release.

Their 1999 single "Racing Birds" was so highly regarded by BBC Radio 1 DJ Mark Radcliffe that he played it twice in a row on his show. The band's debut album, Pwy Sy'n Galw? (Who's Calling?) was released in 2000, after which they were joined by drummer Matt Hobbs.

The band performed at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas in 2002, and were featured in a documentary on S4C.

They released a second album in 2003, after which the band split up. Meilir and Osian Gwynedd later formed Sibrydion.

Magic Numbers 5 Aug 2007 BW

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On this day, 5 August 2007, alternative rock band Magic Numbers played Cardiff’s Big Weekend.

Consisting of two brother-and-sister pairs, from Hanwell in west London. The group was formed in 2002, releasing their debut album titled The Magic Numbers on 13 June 2005.

It was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize in 2005. Songwriting duties were taken by Romeo Stodart as was much of the musical composition and arrangement. It incorporated the earlier single release of "Hymn for Her" as a hidden track.

The album incorporates many folk elements within the main indie sound which resounds throughout. The album also reflects many elements of the writers' early childhood dreams, tales of their love life and desperation of youth. For example, "Love Me Like You", the best known single of the album, illustrates the difference of feeling in their love for each other.

Following the release of their debut album, the remainder of 2005 and the first few months of 2006 were spent touring and promoting their album and singles, throughout the UK and United States, across Europe and also in New Zealand, Australia and Japan. Their Japanese tour was featured as a side documentary on Jonathan Ross's Japanorama.

They received a large amount of press attention for being the first band to walk off the TV show Top of the Pops after host Richard Bacon allegedly insulted their physiques (calling them "a big fat melting pot of talent" in their introduction) shortly before they were due to appear on the show to promote their single "Love Me Like You".

On This Day 04/08/2001 Kosheen

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On this day, 4 August 2001, Bristol electronic group Kosheen played Cardiff’s Big Weekend.

The group consist of singer-songwriter Sian Evans, songwriter-producer Ron Mcelroy and drummer Mitchell Glover. The name Kosheen derives from the name of a North American Apache warrior, Cochise. In Japan, it was discovered that a combination of the Japanese words for "old" (古, romanised transliteration "ko") and "new" (新, "shin") would make "Kosheen" in Japanese.

Their first album, Resist, was released in September 2001 on Moksha Recordings/BMG and reached number eight in the UK album chart.

The band, with Sian at the helm, garnered 5 studio albums and earned themselves the reputation of being one of the most iconic performing bands of their time.

On This Day 03/08/2008 The Automatic

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On this day, 3 August 2008, Welsh band The Automatic played Cardiff’s Big Weekend in support of Northern Irish band Ash.

The members first met at primary school, in the early 1990s, and formed a band at the age of 13. Alex Pennie was asked to join five years later. Originally known as White Rabbit, up until February 2005 when they renamed themselves The Automatic because they believe that music is the antidote to "the automatic life". After recording their two-track demo featuring rough versions of "Monster" and "Rats" in 2005 they signed a five-album record deal with B-Unique Records in their gap year.

During the band's debut release period of Not Accepted Anywhere they were often categorised as electro-disco-punk rock,; at this point they were using more synthesiser keyboards, and had been compared to acts such as Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs, and 'thrown in' with the indie rock scene of 2006, the band have even stated that the album was altered in the mixing process "When we were recording the first album there were some really heavy guitars going down but only the clean ones were used" a decision of the record label and producers involved with the album, some of these guitars parts were restored in the 2007 US release of Not Accepted Anywhere when it was re-released and re-mastered, the band at one point were even labelled as Glam rock, which former keyboardist Alex Pennie blamed NME for.

The band cite their influences such as Jarcrew, Muse, Blur and The Blood Brothers, and a joint love for bands such as Radiohead and Ash, The band's second album was compared to the sound of Ash's early work by many critics, as well as this the second album is generally listed as having a 'bigger sound' with heavier guitars, less synths, drums and more vocals.

The debut album, Not Accepted Anywhere, lyrically refers to the band's experiences growing up in Cowbridge, while the second album, This Is A Fix, lyrically takes inspiration from politics and news items, except for "Steve McQueen" which lyrically is similar to the tracks on Not Accepted Anywhere and was intended originally as a bridge between the two first albums, as a stand-alone single being originally recorded at the end of 2006, for an early 2007 release. "Monster", "Recover", "In The Mountains" and "Responsible Citizen" lyrically refer to substance abuse and alcohol, the media in "Magazines", the record industry in "Accessories" and "You Shout You Shout You Shout You Shout", the climate in "High Tide on Caroline Street", people the band dislike in "Team Drama and "Seriously... I Hate You Guys", growing up and day-to-day lives in "That's What She Said", "In This World", "Raoul", and "Light Entertainment".

We wrote a song, it did really well, I don't really see what there is to be upset about. You get labelled "one hit wonders", but that's more hits than most people have. And it's not like we've disappeared without a trace. We've got a second album coming out, which in my opinion is full of much better songs. We wouldn't have been in a position to fly to LA to make a record if it wasn't for 'Monster'."

— Robin Hawkins on the success of "Monster"