RattleMag looks back on Super Furry Animals career.

Ellie Pritchard and Billy Jackson
Jan 23, 2017
2 min read

WORDS: ELLIE PRITCHARD AND BILLY JACKSON PHOTOS: JACK BARKER

Super Furry Animals; a welsh phenomenon risen from the depths of the nations 90's renaissance, dragging coat tails along the coasts of France and burying both feet in the eddy tide of broad independence in rock and techno flair.

As far back as 2001 Billboard had hailed the Welsh creative pack as 'one of the most imaginative bands of our time (without a doubt).'

The band consists of Gruff Rhys sporting lead vocals and guitar, Huw Bunford covering the role as lead guitarist, bassist Guto Pryce, drummer Dafydd Leuan plus electronica and all round music jack, Cian Ciaran.

Rhys, Pryce and Leuan had sprouted roots in the early 90's, and as mentioned earlier, spent time touring parts of France as a techno trio before coming home and joining forces with Leuan's younger brother Bunford, and friend Ciaran. Thus through the talent of the young newcomers, the original connotations of the long standing band and brand were born.

During what was only their second gig outside of Wales, on Camden's Monarch stage, the boys caught the eye of Oasis and Creation Records boss, Alan McGee.

Though in the habit of releasing singles, EPs and various smatterings of collaborations and compilation albums to the delight and pursuit of fans, the group offer up a healthy palette of studio albums to choose from. To date the group have tuckered away 9 albums, and have obtained recognition for having those place in the UK Albums Chart top 25 albums, with 1 certified as a gold record and 4 silver. The flourishing discography begins with 1996's 'Fuzzy Logic', and spans a ladder of the decade up to 2009's 'Dark Days/Light Years'.

Throughout their career the band have displayed ingenuity and integrity both musically and beyond, building bridges for the welsh community and language, and indeed burning some other types of bridges, where the aforementioned integrity urged.

The band have always garnered a certain and most keen interest in their music and brand, and they have very often proved reason for such. Recently, in May of 2015, following a brief 5 year hiatus, and a reissue of 'Mwng', HarperCollins published a chronicle biography called 'Rise of the Super Furry Animals'. Succeeding this and an official reunion, SFA embarked on their first North American tour.

Last summer the band returned with a new single and accompanying video 'Bing, Bong', a craft mix of techno rock and welsh folk, sung entirely in Welsh. Most recently there have been stirrings among the fan base and industry interests, heated and expectant, of yet more of SFA's fabled enterprise of expression.