On This Day 18/8/1993 Stereo MC’s

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On this day, 18 August 1993, hip hop and electronic dance band Stereo MC’s played Cardiff Arms Park supporting U2 on their Zoo TV tour.

Formed in Clapham, London, England, in 1985, they had an international top 20 hit with their single "Connected" and a UK top 20 hit with "Step It Up". After releasing eight albums for Island Records, K7, Graffiti Recordings, and Pias, they formed the label Connected with the band Terranova to release their own material and that of other artists within the house/techno/electronic genre.

Their live band included singers Andrea Bedassie and Verona Davis, and they were one of the few hip hop outfits to play at rock music festivals at the time.[5] 1992's mainstream breakthrough Connected, a number 2 success in the UK Albums Chart, contained the hit singles "Connected", "Step It Up", "Creation", and "Ground Level", and won them 1994 Brit Awards for Best Group and Best Album. Hallam and Birch then created the music-publishing firm Spirit Songs, which signed Finley Quaye.

However, the follow-up to Connected did not appear for almost a decade. Further remix duties for Madonna ("Frozen"), Tricky ("Makes Me Wanna Die" Weekend Mix), and the Jungle Brothers ("Jungle Brother") in 1998 kept the Stereo MCs' name in the limelight.[5] Madonna went on to use the "Frozen" remix on her 2001 Drowned World Tour.

On This Day 17/08/2002 The Darkness

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On this day, 17 August 2002, British rock band The Darkness played Cardiff’s Barfly.

The band had just released their debut recording the EP “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” but had not yet issued their debut album '“Permission To Land” released the following year.

"I Believe in a Thing Called Love" was originally issued as a 3-track EP in August 2002; however, as only a small number of copies were printed, it was ineligible to chart. The EP also included early versions of "Love on the Rocks With No Ice" and "Love Is Only a Feeling". When released as a single in September 2003, it was beaten to number one by The Black Eyed Peas' "Where Is the Love?".

The Darkness came to prominence with the release of their debut album, Permission to Land, in 2003. Backed by the singles "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", "Growing on Me", "Get Your Hands off My Woman", and "Love Is Only a Feeling", the album was certified quadruple platinum in the United Kingdom, with sales of over 1.3 million.

In 2004 the band won three Brit Awards: Best British Group, Best British Rock Act, and Best British Album.

The success of this album led to heavy touring for the band, including European portions of Metallica's Summer Sanitarium Tour 2003.

They then went on to headline the Carling Festival in 2004. The band won three BRIT Awards in 2004 in response to the album, Best Group, Best Rock Group and Best Album.

They also won two Kerrang! awards in 2004 for Best Live Act and Best British Band. The third single from the album, "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", was a substantial hit in the UK as was their tilt at the Christmas 2003 number 1, "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)", which only just fell short, both singles reaching number 2 in 2003.

On This Day 16/08/1977 Kursaal Flyers

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On this day, British pop band The Kursaal Flyers played Cardiff’s Top Rank.

Formed in Southend-on-Sea in 1973. They are most famous for their 1976 single "Little Does She Know" (which was a Top 20 hit) and were the subject of a BBC documentary following them on tour in 1975.

The group formed when Shuttleworth, Douglas, Birch, Collins, Bull and Hatfield, who had all performed locally in various combinations around Southend, got together in October 1973 to form a new band. They made their first appearance together as the Kursaal Flyers – named after the imitation train which was used to advertise Southend's famous amusement hall, the Kursaal, which had recently closed[2] – at the Blue Boar pub in Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea, in February 1974, mainly playing covers of country rock songs but over time increasingly writing their own material.

Through contacts in the band with Dr. Feelgood, they played some support slots in London, where they were seen by influential agents and songwriters. All bar Hatfield turned professional at the start of 1975, signed for Jonathan King's UK Records, and released their first album Chocs Away. Although the singles "Speedway" and "Hit Records" received some airplay, the band failed to garner any commercial success. Their second album, The Great Artiste, also sold poorly.

Nevertheless the band developed a solid live reputation on the London pub rock scene, with an eclectic mixture of original material and cover versions, fronted by Paul Shuttleworth's "wide boy" persona.

The group toured widely and in 1977 released Five Live Kursaals, but failed to gain any further commercial success and, after numerous personnel changes, the band disintegrated in late 1977.

On This Day 15/08/1966 The Troggs

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On this day, 15 August 1966, English rock band The Troggs (originally called the Troglodytes), played Cardiff’s Top Rank.

Formed in Andover, Hampshire in May 1964. They had a number of hits in the United Kingdom and the United States. Their most famous songs include the US chart-topper "Wild Thing", "With a Girl Like You" and "Love Is All Around", all of which sold over 1 million copies and were awarded gold discs.

"Wild Thing" is ranked No. 257 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and was an influence on garage rock and punk rock.

The Troggs are widely seen as a highly influential band whose sound was an inspiration for garage rock and punk rock. Influential American critic Lester Bangs "called the band the progenitors of punk", according to NPR.For example, the Troggs influenced artists such as Iggy Pop, and the early version of British pop-punk pioneers Buzzcocks featured "I Can't Control Myself" in their live repertoire.

The Ramones are also among the punk bands who cited the Troggs as an influence. "I Can't Control Myself" is perhaps the most enduring favourite of critics; it continues to be championed for its originality and lasting influence by radio hosts such as "Little" Steven Van Zandt.

An in-studio tape of band leader Reg Presley's running commentary on a recording session, filled with in-fighting and swearing (known as The Troggs Tapes), was widely circulated in the music underground, and was included in the Archaeology box set, as well as the compilation album, The Rhino Brothers Present the World's Worst Records.

The group infighting is believed to be the inspiration for a scene in the comedy film This Is Spinal Tap, where the band members are arguing. Some of this dialogue was sampled by the California punk band the Dwarves on their recording of a cover version of the Troggs song "Strange Movies".

On This Day 14/08/1970 The Kinks

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On this day, 14 Aug 1970, legendary pop band The Kinks played Cardiff’s Top Rank.

The band had released their seventh studio album in October 1969 Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) and were currently recording what would be Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One.

The album featured their hit Lola, released in June, a number 1 hit worldwide but peaking at number 2 in the UK charts. It proved to be a very important song for the band as in a 1970 interview, Dave Davies stated that, if "Lola" had been a failure, the band would have "gone on making records for another year or so and then drifted apart"

Written in April 1970, "Lola" was cited by Ray Davies as the first song he wrote following a break he took to act in the 1970 Play for Today film The Long Distance Piano Player. Davies said that he had initially struggled with writing an opening that would sell the song, but the rest of the song "came naturally". He noted that he knew the song would be successful when he heard his one-year-old daughter singing the chorus, stating, "She was crawling around singing 'la la, la la Lola.' I thought, 'If she can join in and sing, Kinks fans can do it.'"

Originally, "Lola" saw controversy for its lyrics. In a Record Mirror article entitled "Sex Change Record: Kink Speaks", Ray Davies addressed the matter, saying, "It really doesn't matter what sex Lola is, I think she's all right". Some radio stations faded the track out before implications of Lola's biological sex were revealed.

On 18 November 1970, "Lola" was banned from being played by several radio stations in Australia because of its "controversial subject matter", though some began playing "Lola" again after having made a crude edit, which sounded like the record had jumped a groove, to remove the line "I'm glad I'm a man and so's Lola".

The BBC banned the track for a different reason: the original stereo recording had the words "Coca-Cola" in the lyrics, but because of BBC Radio's policy against product placement, Ray Davies was forced to make a 6,000-mile (9,700 km) round-trip flight from New York to London and back on June 3, 1970, interrupting the band's American tour, to change those words to the generic "cherry cola" for the single release, which is included on various compilation albums as well.

On This Day 13/08/2014 Emily’s Army

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On this day, 13 August 2014, American punk band Emily’s Army played the Undertone, Cardiff.

The band was formed by Cole Becker and Joey Armstrong after watching School of Rock together in school. Becker's brother, Max Becker, later joined the band to play bass. The band was originally named the Raining Souls, but they briefly changed to the Clocks.

After realizing there were already many bands with the same name, they changed it to Emily's Army in honor to Becker's cousin Emily, who suffers from cystic fibrosis and was diagnosed in 1998. Their goal was to raise money and create more awareness for cystic fibrosis.[citation needed] In 2008, they released a set of songs on their MySpace page under the album name This Kid.[citation needed] Although This Kid is not an official studio album, a few of these songs appeared throughout their career, including "Burn Apollo" that was re-recorded on their debut album, Queens being played live in 2012, and "I Need to Be Fixed" played live during Warped Tour 2012.

The band played many small shows and festivals in California during this time. In 2009 the band added guitarist Travis Neumann whose first appearance was on the band's 2009 EP, Goody Two Shoes. that was followed by the release of two more EPs, Broadcast This and Regan MacNeil. The band spent all of 2010 working and recording their first studio album with Green Day frontman and Joey's father, Billie Joe Armstrong.[citation needed] In 2011, the band released their first full-length album, Don't Be a Dick, on June 14 through Adeline Records.[citation needed] The album featured six re-recorded songs from their earlier releases. The album was compared to Green Day's early work and had major punk influences. In support of the album the band went on an East and West Coast tour in 2011.

In 2013, the band once again worked with producer Billie Joe Armstrong, on their second record. Lost at Seventeen, was released on June 11, 2013 via Adeline Records and Rise Records. The band went on tour with Vans Warped Tour to support the album for the second time in their career. They also toured for the very first time in Great Britain.

In early 2014 the band started writing and recording new material. Travis Neumann officially left the band shortly after the release of their EP Swim, on July 18, 2014, consequently, bassist Sebastian Mueller joined the band while Max switched to lead guitar. In September 2014 the band officially changed their name to "Swimmers"

Setlist

Alien's Landing

Part Time Bum

Strictly for the Birds

Broadcast This

Lost at 17

The Kids Just Wanna Dance

(Fast Cars cover)

Avenue

War

High Wasted Shorts

Ammonia and Bleach

You Bit Me

Dancing on My Own

(Robyn cover)

On This Day 12/08/1995 Hugh Cornwall

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On this day, 12 August 1995, former Stranglers vocalist/guitarist played Cardiff’s Big Weekend.

Cornwell grew up in Tufnell Park and Kentish Town and attended William Ellis School in Highgate, where he played bass in a band with Richard Thompson, later a member of folk rock band Fairport Convention. In the late 1960s, after earning a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from the University of Bristol, he embarked on post-graduate research at Lund University in Sweden. Not long after his arrival he formed the band Johnny Sox.

Cornwell returned to the UK in 1974 with Johnny Sox (minus Hans Wärmling). Drummer Jet Black then joined the band. At one stage it was just Cornwell and Black, who were then joined by bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel. Guitarist, keyboardist and saxophonist Hans Wärmling, on holiday from Sweden, joined the line-up towards the end of 1974. The Johnny Sox name was dropped, with the band adopting the name the Guildford Stranglers before settling on the Stranglers.

Wärmling was soon replaced by Dave Greenfield, who joined in 1975 after answering an advertisement placed in the Melody Maker magazine.

After leaving the Stranglers, Cornwell worked with Roger Cook and Andy West as CCW. Their self-titled studio album was released in 1992, with five of the ten tracks co-produced by Neil Davidge. Wired (1993), produced by Gary Langan (Art of Noise) with the exception of "Ain't It Strange", which was produced by Cornwell; Guilty (1997); Hi Fi (2000) (both produced by Laurie Latham). HiFi was released on 180g vinyl in 2020 through HIS Records Ltd with a new remix by Hugh Cornwell and a remaster. Footprints in the Desert released in 2002 is Cornwell's second "lost album" and compiles rare and unreleased tracks from the mid-1990s, that were not part of a record deal. It was recorded in Bath with James Kadsky, who engineered the album Wired (1993).

Beyond Elysian Fields (2004) was produced by Tony Visconti. MusicOMH described it as "something like a cross between [Bob] Dylan and Dire Straits at their best...with a dash of Travelling Wilburys for good measure". Beyond Elysian Fields was released on 180g vinyl in 2020 on HIS Records Ltd.

On This Day 11/08/1996 Gil Scott-Heron

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On this day, 11 August 1996, American jazz poet, singer, musician, and author Gil Scott-Heron played Cardiff’s Big Weekend.

Known for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s, his collaborative efforts with musician Brian Jackson fused jazz, blues, and soul with lyrics relative to social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping and melismatic vocal styles.

He referred to himself as a "bluesologist", his own term for "a scientist who is concerned with the origin of the blues". His poem "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", delivered over a jazz-soul beat, is considered a major influence on hip hop music.

Scott-Heron's music, most notably on the albums Pieces of a Man and Winter in America during the early 1970s, influenced and foreshadowed later African-American music genres, including hip hop and neo soul. His recording work received much critical acclaim, especially for "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised".

AllMusic's John Bush called him "one of the most important progenitors of rap music", stating that "his aggressive, no-nonsense street poetry inspired a legion of intelligent rappers while his engaging songwriting skills placed him square in the R&B charts later in his career.