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Super Furry Animals with Rhys Ifans (second left) in 1993. Image: Rolant Dafis<\/p>\nRhys adds: \u201cWe checked he was OK with us putting the song out, but we didn\u2019t go further than that. It\u2019s a good tune, he\u2019s got an amazing voice, so it\u2019s nice.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve always known that the music exists, and there\u2019s actually more of it that we can\u2019t find at the moment. It\u2019s good for people to get to hear what it was like, the period when he was in the band, because we\u2019ve talked about it a lot. I\u2019m pretty sure it was him and Daf [Ieuan, drummer] who came up with our name. He\u2019s always been really supportive of us. He even appeared in a couple of our videos for the singles off Fuzzy Logic [their 1996 debut album].\u201d<\/p>\n
Super Furry Animals with Rhys Ifans (second left) in 1993. Image: Rolant Dafis<\/p>\n
Of course, back then it was easier for musicians to get together and write without the fear of making ends meet. That period was a lot more fertile for bands springing up from all walks of life, whereas today the cost of living crisis has made it difficult<\/a> for artists from working-class backgrounds to earn without the aid of a safety net, especially as record sales have dipped to a fraction of what they were back then. Super Furry Animals were able to shrug off the departure of Ifans, regroup and release two EPs (included on the new compilation) on their own Ankst label in 1995, shortly before signing to Alan McGee\u2019s Creation Records.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rhys says: \u201cThere was still the remnants of a social safety net so me and Daf could claim housing benefit from the council<\/a>. We could sign on and get income support, just so we could eat, have somewhere to live. We had to do courses and all that, but we did have the time to write songs. It wasn\u2019t dissimilar to a kind of basic income.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is much harder now, and it\u2019s because the important thing is just having the time to do it. If you\u2019re having to do long hours in a job, you\u2019re going to be too tired to record a demo. I think things could be much better \u2013 something like universal basic income for young people, and especially musicians and artists<\/a>, could be something to explore.\u201d<\/p>\n When labelmates Oasis took off into the stratosphere, SFA enjoyed Creation\u2019s cash-rich moment. They were given a hefty marketing budget to work with, which they used in inventive ways, their choices helping cement the legend of a band who did things unconventionally. They famously bought a tank (later sold to keen collector Don Henley of the Eagles) which they fitted out with a sound system and took round festivals playing techno music, as well as embellishing their stage with 40ft inflatable bears and (later) dressing up as yetis.<\/p>\n Advertising helps fund Big Issue\u2019s mission to end poverty<\/p>\n Bunford recalls: \u201cPeople still talk about this stuff now, much more than a poster. Things like that, that people still talk about, were things that we really did want to explore, as opposed to what you normally do. It\u2019s a very creative way of doing it. I don\u2019t know why other bands didn\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more:<\/p>\n With nine successful and critically acclaimed studio albums and 18 UK Top 40 singles, SFA were both critical darlings and chart regulars before they first took a lengthy pause in 2009. The group were renowned for having playful, slyly subversive presence in music, much like recent Big Issue cover stars Kneecap today. At certain points, Super Furry Animals set a precedent for the Irish hip-hop pioneers, such as their establishment-baiting 1996 expletive-strewn hit The Man Don\u2019t Give a\u00a0Fuck and, although a distinctly non-political record, the success of their Welsh-language album Mwng in 2000 (which even ended up commended in parliament when Plaid Cymru MP Elfyn Llwyd tabled an early day motion in its honour).<\/p>\n \u201cWe went to see Kneecap in Cardiff, and I love the film,\u201d Rhys says. \u201cIt\u2019s really powerful what they\u2019re doing. I mean it\u2019s a different generation, and they\u2019re doing it totally differently \u2013 they are politically engaged in such a powerful way, which puts us to shame really. I\u2019m definitely a big, big fan.<\/p>\n \u201cThe cultural influence they\u2019re having is changing things for the Irish language that, you know, government policy or grants or whatever can\u2019t touch. They\u2019re taking it somewhere through popular culture. They\u2019re taking it somewhere brand new, and worldwide. And they\u2019ve been victimised as well. It\u2019s outrageous. It\u2019s incredible how they\u2019ve stood up to that pressure<\/a>. It\u2019s beyond comprehension.\u201d<\/p>\n SFA have always been outspoken about their politics and commitment to social justice. When they reunited last time in 2015 after a six-year break, the shows coincided with the \u201cTory scum\u201d they refer to in the 2009 song Inconvenience being re-elected after five years in a coalition with the Lib Dems, during which they had imposed severe austerity policies<\/a>, on a mandate which included a reckless commitment to an EU referendum. Since then, we\u2019ve gone to hell in a handcart.<\/p>\n Advertising helps fund Big Issue\u2019s mission to end poverty<\/p>\n Bunford says: \u201cYou can look back to the financial crash [in 2008]. The problem was that all the baddies didn\u2019t get thrown into jail, it was just like nothing to see here. No one got any heat from it, apart from us. And ever since then, it\u2019s been Tories and Brexit and Trump.\u201d \u201cAnd impunity,\u201d adds Rhys, \u201ccomplete impunity, no accountability, it\u2019s absurd.\u201d<\/p>\n Rhys continues: \u201cThere\u2019s e<\/a>lections in Wales<\/a> in May, where it\u2019s a battle to keep Reform and the far-right out of government. The polls are looking OK, but nobody can be complacent. You have to think back to Brexit, and the money that was poured into social media to power that vote. There\u2019s probably enough of a left block to stop them. But there\u2019s a new PR voting system which is unpredictable, so if anyone gets into 12% or something in any region, the votes just evaporates. So you could have 12% of the vote just disappearing. It\u2019s a bit unpredictable.\u201d<\/p>\n Bunford adds: \u201cI bet people that they ask probably don\u2019t say, oh yeah, I\u2019m gonna vote Reform. They lie.\u201d<\/p>\n With that in mind, surely The Man Don\u2019t Give a Fuck will be making its nightly appearance on their tour setlists, what with it being as relevant as it\u2019s ever been?<\/p>\n \u201cYes. I think we tried dropping it for one tour, but it didn\u2019t really work,\u201d says Gruff. \u201cBackfired spectacularly,\u201d adds Bunf.\u00a0<\/p>\n The initial batch of UK and Irish SFA shows sold out in remarkably quick time (with other dates subsequently added that spread across the summer and beyond). The appetite for their uniquely playful pop and mind-bending live performances has clearly grown in their absence, their last gigs being back in 2016 when they played both Fuzzy Logic and follow-up album Radiator in full.<\/p>\n Advertising helps fund Big Issue\u2019s mission to end poverty<\/p>\n \u201cThe response to announcing the shows was insane. That\u2019s not something you can plan for,\u201d says Rhys. Are the Yeti suits coming back? \u201cWe\u2019re working on it,\u201d he teases. \u201cIt\u2019s just like normal, we\u2019re spending all the money on production. No half measures. We\u2019re going to try a few things. There\u2019s one song we tried to play but we lost one of the chords [laughs]. We\u2019re concentrating at the more mundane stuff too, like figuring out how to play all the old songs. It\u2019s chaos at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s getting more and more elaborate, the show,\u201d Bunford confirms. \u201cBut it\u2019s great that so many people want to come, across so many ages. You get SFA fangroups and things like that, and they\u2019re now parents, so a lot of them have got their kids coming. Whether they had a choice or not, I don\u2019t know\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Super Furry Animals\u2019 Supacabra tour starts on May 6 in Dublin. Precreation Percolation is out on May 8<\/a> on Strangetown Records<\/p>\n Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this?\u00a0Get in touch and tell us more<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Change a vendor\u2019s life.<\/p>\n Buy from your local Big Issue vendor every week \u2013 and always take the magazine. It\u2019s how vendors earn with dignity and move forward.<\/p>\n Advertising helps fund Big Issue\u2019s mission to end poverty<\/p>\n You can also support online: Thank you for standing with Big Issue vendors.<\/p>\n
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