Is it Cool Cymru - again?
May 25 2006
Tryst Williams, Western Mail
A DECADE after the much-derided "Cool Cymru" phenomenon we're in the grip of another massive musical renaissance - even if most of Wales has not yet noticed.
And whisper it very quietly, as any talk of a new "label" for the movement would be just as unwelcome to today's new crop as it was to the old guard.
Radio One DJ Huw Stephens said bands such as Funeral for a Friend and Bullet for my Valentine were a valid part of the new Welsh music scene.
But he doubted they would be enamoured of a new umbrella term like "Cool Cymru" which sprang up around acts like Catatonia and Stereophonics in the mid 1990s.
He said, "I think the Cool Cymru thing has been done and it's tired and lazy. When things get lumped in together as a scene it can dry out quite quickly. We had that with some bands in the 1990s."
A DECADE after the much-derided "Cool Cymru" phenomenon we're in the grip of another massive musical renaissance - even if most of Wales has not yet noticed.
And whisper it very quietly, as any talk of a new "label" for the movement would be just as unwelcome to today's new crop as it was to the old guard.
Radio One DJ Huw Stephens said bands such as Funeral for a Friend and Bullet for my Valentine were a valid part of the new Welsh music scene.
But he doubted they would be enamoured of a new umbrella term like "Cool Cymru" which sprang up around acts like Catatonia and Stereophonics in the mid 1990s.
He said, "I think the Cool Cymru thing has been done and it's tired and lazy. When things get lumped in together as a scene it can dry out quite quickly. We had that with some bands in the 1990s."
In the late 1990s the charts were awash with recognisably Welsh bands such as Super Furry Animals and Manic Street Preachers.
However, it may surprise the casual music fan to learn that the only recent Welsh band to break into the US was - none of the above. That accolade instead belongs to South Wales rockers lostprophets who broke into the top 40 in 2004.
Since then the nation has bred a new crop of Welsh music stars, many of whom will be showcased at Pontypridd's Full Ponty festival this weekend.
Joe O'Neil, Carmarthenshire-based publicist for the event, said, "I think those initial bands like Manics, Stereophonics and Super Furries opened the artistic floodgates. Following on you had lostprophets and Goldie Lookin Chain and we're almost on the third era now with bands such as Funeral for a Friend and The Auto-matic."
As the Cool Britannia phenomenon of bands such as Oasis was hyped up by the incoming Labour Government, it spawned the rival term "Cool Cymru".
The bands hated it, but it did get them noticed on a large scale back in their homeland.
However the common Welshness of today's new bands, and their success, doesn't seem to have entered mainstream consciousness in quite the same way.
Nevertheless, the success of some of the newer bands, particularly those with a harder rock sound, has been phenomenal among an audience made up primarily of young teenage boys.
As well as lostprophets' remarkable feat of breaking into the US album top 40 and selling more than 500,000 records there at a time of little success for British acts, they have sold more than 400,000 albums in the UK.
Funeral for a Friend meanwhile have passed the 200,000 sales mark while Bullet for my Valentine sold an impressive 10,000 copies of their album during its first week of sales in the US.
Porthcawl band People in Planes - formerly known as Tetra Splendour - are also tipped to do well in the States, with their record company even releasing their album over there first before they turn their attentions to the UK.
Meanwhile more established acts such as Feeder and Stereophonics continue to shift huge quantities of records with every successive album release.
To date Newport band Feeder have sold an astonishing 3.5 million albums worldwide and have just scored a top three hit with their singles collection.
Mr O'Neil, who has acted as publicist for rock acts and legends such as Johnny Cash, as well as Welsh classical stars like Katherine Jenkins and Bryn Terfel, said, "Being Welsh now has become a well-established trademark of quality. It's gone beyond those trendy 'Cool Cymru' tags.
"There's a certain parochialism about British guitar rock which the Welsh bands don't contribute to. It's much more of an international sound. I think they're looking for a bigger market than the UK."
And there could be more success on the way with lostprophets' new album, and The Automatic's hotly-tipped debut, both due out over the next month.
PR guru Elliot Pill, a former adviser to David Beckham, believed the idea of a common label was not necessarily a bad thing.
Mr Pill, who lectures at Cardiff University, said, "Anything that brands a nation and wraps up its inherent characteristics in an easily recognisable way to its people and those in the world around us is powerful.
"Be it Cool Britannia or Cool Cymru, both terms sum up the movement of the moment and display levels of confidence in our youth culture and creative industries.
"I don't think this is the second coming of Welsh coolness. There is just a wonderful confidence and belief in what we can do on a world stage and that's refreshing."
In support of the Noah's Ark Appeal - raising money to build and equip the first Children's Hospital for Wales.
