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Dyfed Bowie<\/p>\n Dyfed Bowie<\/p>\n
Nation.Cymru staff<\/p>\n
In the pantheon of tribute acts there\u2019s never been quite such a brilliant name as Dyfed Bowie \u2013 a very Welsh take on the music of David Bowie. <\/p>\n
The premise is simple with the moniker \u2013 this is where we are from and this is the music we love.<\/p>\n
So far the group has been shrouded in mystery, having played just the one show, with very little known about the band \u2013 save this pinned to their Instagram account: \u2018Much more than merely Wales\u2019 finest Bowie tribute, DYFED BOWIE are polyphonic priests, harmonic holy men, earthly conduits for the spiritual power of the Great Man\u2019s music. Are they, in fact, angels? Judge for yourself when you witness the majesty of DYFED BOWIE\u2019.<\/p>\n
We managed to track down charismatic frontman Dafydd Watkins who gave Nation Cymru the lowdown on what is possibly Wales\u2019 first David Bowie tribute band.<\/p>\n
Where did the idea come from?<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a lot of live music where we live around the pubs. Lots of open mics where people just muck in and jam with each other. I started doing some tunes with Nick Swannell of Studio 49, who is an incredibly versatile player with the chops to channel the whole gamut of Bowie guitarists, from Mick Ronson to Robert Fripp, and Carlos Alomar to Reeves Gabrels. I initially suggested doing a Roxy Music tribute band, which would have been called Proxy Music, but Nick said that Bryan Ferry was a basically jumped up Shakin\u2019 Stevens who gave him the creeps, so it just had to be Bowie. Once that was established, we soon added the other members: Jimmy on keys and synths, Meurig on kit and Mark on bass, who all come from an R&B background.<\/p>\n
Did you have the name first?<\/p>\n
First came the love. And you get that from your parents. My mum caught the train from Swansea to Bristol to see Ziggy play guitar at Colston Hall in \u201873, and it\u2019s just been in the family ever since. Secondly, came the name, and that was inspired by Elvis Preseli, which puts the Dyfed thing front and centre. So a big \u2018diolch\u2019 to Elvis Preseli, we owe you a pint of Preseli Pils.<\/p>\n
What can we expect from a live show?<\/p>\n
You can expect the full spectrum of Bowie\u2019s work \u2013 everything from glam to industrial rock, funk, soul, and even a punked up rendition of The Laughing Gnome, which is obviously very sensible. The thing about Bowie is that his catalogue is incredibly rich so you can keep dipping your hand into the treasure trove. We\u2019ve just finished practicing Five Years\u2026 what a surprise!<\/p>\n
Will you be putting a Welsh spin on Bowie classics, and will you be singing in Welsh, English, or both?<\/p>\n
Big time. We\u2019ve rewritten \u201cHeroes\u201d through the prism of Hedd Wyn\u2019s poem Yr Arwr (The Hero), which won the Eisteddfod in 1917 after he was killed at the Battle of Passchendaele. A word-for-word translation of \u201cHeroes\u201d into Welsh just didn\u2019t feel right, even though Bowie did record versions in German and French. It wasn\u2019t hitting the right emotion. We wanted to do something from a uniquely Welsh perspective and we\u2019re heading into Nick\u2019s studio to record Yr Arwr next week, as it happens, for release early next year. <\/p>\n
What is your aim for Dyfed Bowie?<\/p>\n
We did our first show at BOCS (music bar in Narberth) last month and the bar staff said it\u2019s the busiest it\u2019s been in there since they opened a year ago. Next up is our first ticketed show in Cardigan at The Cellar on the 28th of November. After that we plan on venturing out of the shires to hit your Gwynedds and your Glamorgans. Then Ireland. One day we might even cross the Severn Bridge. Everything is possible in Dyfed Bowie.<\/p>\n
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The tribute market is full of Bowie acts. Have you spotted a gap with the Welsh angle?<\/p>\n
I was actually taken aback by the number of tributes out there. After learning about 20 songs, the internet algorithm had started feeding me ad after ad for Bowie tributes. I had to break it to the lads that I hadn\u2019t quite done my homework on the scale of the scene. So we\u2019ll have to be different to make it work. We aren\u2019t going down the \u201cdressing-up box\u201d route to pretend to be the man himself. I\u2019m not David Bowie. I\u2019m Dyfed Bowie and that\u2019s a perhaps darker, gothy take on things. A Trent Reznor-y take on things, if you will. In our promo photo, however, we\u2019ve ended up looking like a bunch of bailiffs. I\u2019m not sure how that\u2019s happened. Bowie and the Bailiffs? Can\u2019t Pay? We\u2019ll Take It Away.<\/p>\n
We also focus equally on later eras, not just the Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust stuff. I\u2019m massively into his 90s work \u2013 albums like Outside (The Hearts Filthy Lesson is one of my favourite songs ever) and Earthling (with tracks like I\u2019m Afraid of Americans and Telling Lies which seem evermore relevant). I\u2019m very of my time so I love that distorted 90s sound. My favourite Bowie line up was the Reeves Gabrels and Gail Ann Dorsey one, which he pretty much stuck with from the mid 90s to the end of his live shows. But we\u2019ll also be slamming out the Nile Rodgers material from the 80s, too, so it really is all in there.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re also adding more Welsh language versions to our repertoire, including a Welsh version of \u201cUnder Pressure\u201d featuring an incredible female vocalist, Meg, from west Wales. That\u2019ll take a bit more time but it should be in the set by Christmas.<\/p>\n
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David Bowie, Glass Spider Tour, Arms Park, Cardiff (Credit: Martin McCabe)<\/p>\n
What are your words to those Bowie fans who may come and see you live?<\/p>\n
When you love something it\u2019s natural to guard it almost jealously. We get that Bowie means a lot to people, so when you take on his stuff you have to respect the material. I\u2019m very protective and particular about the versions we do. We want to assure all Bowie-heads that we approach his music with the utmost respect and care.<\/p>\n
Come and see for yourself at our first ticketed show at The Cellar, Cardigan on the 28th November.<\/p>\n
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