Wales Feed

Countryside Cops tackling rural crime

2015-06-18T15:00:00+00:00

In isolated parts of rural north Wales, far from urban CCTV and where neighbours can be miles away, people have very little protection from unwanted intruders intent on crime.

I think we - the Rural Crime Team - fulfil a very important role - crime here can have a devastating effect on people’s lives and livelihoods, so if we can work as closely as possible with people and show them that we care, and that we can make a difference, then it’s worthwhile.

I think it’s important for the team to have a visible profile, so that people know who we are and what we do. As well as getting out and about and meeting people as much as possible as part of our work, I think social media has a positive role to play.

On location with the Countryside Cops

I recently found out that my Twitter account, @NWPRuralCrime, is the most popular in terms of the numbers of followers for Britain’s specialist police officers - more than the entire West Midlands cannabis team, apparently. Not bad considering my first ever Tweet was “Happy New Year” at the start of 2014.

Since the team was launched around 18 months ago, farming and wildlife crime has been cut substantially in North Wales. We’ve deployed new policing techniques and I’m glad to say that other police forces have been contacting us on a regular basis to find out more about how we work.

One technique we use is predictive analysis. Data is collated and then sorted according to different parameters. This has thrown up some surprises: farm crime in North Wales is five times more likely on a Thursday than a Tuesday, for example. July is the worst month for farm thefts - perhaps this is because so many people are away at the Royal Welsh Show.

In the summer months there are more people in the region and there’s more wildlife about, so it stands to reason there will be more wildlife crime. It enables us to target resources.

One example is Operation Raptor, launched in the spring this year. It targets those who poison birds of prey - mostly it’s a case of raising awareness and the tactic is working: so far this year we haven’t had a single raptor death.

When we first started I think some farmers were initially suspicious - and I can understand that. It was a steep learning curve but I think people now know we are here to assist, and we have earned their trust.

Countryside Cops: Monday, June 22, BBC One Wales, 10.35pm

bbc.co.uk/realnorthwales

Inspired by Snowdonia

2015-06-11T13:30:52+00:00

As a writer and art historian, I spend much of my time in museums and galleries so the landscapes I see are usually on canvas. However, there is nothing better than experiencing the real thing. For that reason, I was delighted to don my walking boots and head for the mountains in search of some places in Snowdonia that have inspired artists for centuries.

The author examining a Snowdonia landscape in a gallery

Snowdonia has attracted painters and printmakers for more than 250 years. While working on this programme I was astounded by the sheer quantity of artists who have visited the area. Different generations have been drawn by different things. Some, like the pioneer Welsh landscape artist Richard Wilson, highlighted the majesty of its peaks and castles, imposing his own order onto the landscape. Others, like J.M.W. Turner, went in search of drama, relishing the stormy, changeable weather and the stunning light effects that this produced.

In situ with Richard Wilson's Llyn Nantlle painting

When we arrived with our camera, there wasn’t a cloud in sight, let alone a Turneresque storm. Standing on the edge of Llyn Nantlle, where Wilson viewed Snowdon in 1765, the sky couldn’t have been bluer. And this was exactly how Wilson liked his landscapes; he bathed Wales in the warm, glowing light that he had experienced while living in Rome.

A teenage Mari Griffith and family after crossing Crib Goch

What excited Turner was something many of us will have experienced in the mountains. I certainly did when my father led my teenage self across Snowdonia’s famously rocky ridges. Clinging on for dear life, I came to know that combination of terror and exhilaration often found in paintings, particularly Turner’s: the Sublime. It’s one thing to admire the immediacy of Turner’s sketches in an art gallery, but experiencing the actual views that inspired him brings a very different kind of insight and understanding.

Cwm Idwal

Surprisingly artists also came to Snowdonia for company rather than solitude. From the mid-nineteenth century, a vibrant artistic community established itself in Betws-y-Coed, meeting at the Royal Oak Hotel. Filming there, it was easy to imagine the convivial gatherings of visitors from all over Europe. But it’s the stay of a Welsh painter that stands out for me.

Mari with Arenig Fawr in the background

In the early twentieth century, J.D. Innes regularly visited the area between Ffestiniog and Bala. In this remote district, he and Augustus John applied the colourful language of modern European art to the Welsh landscape, to dazzling effect. Standing at the foot of the imposing mountain that inspired him, Arenig Fawr, was a highlight of the filming. Apart from the fact that two of my grandparents hailed from nearby, it’s always thrilling to stand on the spot where an artist has worked and see how their renditions compare with the view that inspired them.

And maybe that’s what makes these Snowdonia landscapes so compelling – for everyone. They present familiar and much-loved views at different moments in history and through very distinctive artistic filters, always casting the familiar in a new and revelatory light.

Inspired by Snowdonia is on BBC Two Wales, Saturday 13 June 2015 at 10pm

To find out more, and catch up with other programmes you may have missed, visit: bbc.co.uk/realnorthwales or join the conversation on social media #RealNorthWales.

How do you encapsulate what's special about an area like north Wales?

2015-06-03T13:46:40+00:00

Adrian Davies, BBC Wales’s Head of English language services, takes time out to give an overview of the Real North Wales season, currently on BBC One Wales and BBC Two Wales.

It would be impossible to encapsulate everything that’s special about an area like north Wales on TV. Not in a single programme, not in a long-running series, or even in a season of programmes. Luckily that’s not what we’re trying to do in the Real North Wales season, which has just started.

What we have done is taken a small selection of stories from around the region and packaged them together in a way that offers viewers just a little glimpse of some themes that, I think, are quite fascinating - and, hopefully, offer a fresh look at life across north Wales.

Before I go on, just look at two stories we’ll be covering. On one hand we’ll be joining boatman Colin Evans on the tip of the Llŷn Peninsula as he takes tourists to Bardsey Island. He says it’s not really a money-making venture, so we’ll get to know a little bit more about what his motivation really is. On the other hand, at the eastern edge of the north, just seconds from the Cheshire border in fact, Carol Vorderman will literally be flying into Broughton - and getting hands-on with the latest in the multi-billion dollar world of cutting-edge aviation. Just an idea of the diverse content to expect…

Sian Lloyd tosses Welsh cakes at a Wrexham bakery

You might already have seen My Real North Wales with Sian Lloyd. Reporter Sian Lloyd grew up in Wrexham and in a 30-minute special, she travelled around north Wales meeting people connected with adventure tourism, country houses and heritage railways, as well the residents of a Caernarfon housing estate and an old friend who makes her favourite Welsh cakes.

Breathtakingly beautiful, the Llŷn Peninsula is one of Wales’s most popular holiday destinations. It’s also a stronghold of Welsh language and culture: tourists flock to find that corner of ‘Welsh’ Wales. But the question that worries a lot of residents is this - can Llŷn still keep its language and culture strong, while keeping a welcome for its visitors? Welsh Heartland - Llŷn Peninsula is four beautiful and thought-provoking programmes following the people of Llŷn from spring to autumn as the seasons come and go.

Next, we join Llanfairfechan farmer Gareth Wyn Jones, who’s already made a name for himself in The Hill Farm and various other programmes, as well as on Twitter. In The Farmer and the Food Chain he’s on a mission to change the way we eat. He thinks the people of Wales have lost touch with where their food comes from, and in three programmes he faces three challenges: setting up a pop-up shop selling local produce in Bangor; getting to grips with the supermarkets and their supply-chains; and finding out how easy it would be to get more public money spent on local food.

The Farmer and the Food Chain - Gareth Wyn Jones finds out about school meals

If you’re looking for a thought-provoking programme, look no further than Make Me Welsh. Following eight children over the course of a school year in Gwynedd would be interesting in itself, I’m sure. However these particular youngsters come from non-Welsh speaking backgrounds and they’ve already started their primary education, so it’s a chance to learn more about the work of the county’s Language Centres, which give non-Welsh-speaking primary school children moving into the area intensive tuition in the language before they can join a mainstream school. Wherever you stand on Welsh-medium education, these stories can certainly be quite emotional.

Carol Vorderman grew up in Prestatyn and Denbigh and went on to get a Cambridge degree in Engineering before recently becoming a qualified pilot. In Carol Vorderman: The Flying Engineer, her first ever programme for BBC Wales, she flies her little plane, called Mildred, into Broughton and joins the top team of engineers there who are building the wings that are helping to make flights quieter, greener and smoother. Carol is well-known for her ability to convey complex matters in a simple way and this is a chance to get to know an aspect of north Wales that doesn’t get as much attention as its castles and mountains.

Further highlights in the season include two programmes looking at the work of the North Wales Police’s rural crime team in Countryside Cops. Laurence’s Extraordinary Ordinary Houses will be aiming to resolve some modern-day design dilemmas in Deganwy and Beaumaris, and Inspired by Snowdonia will look at some of the art that’s been inspired by the area’s amazing landscape. Not forgetting Flint Des Res, following the Flintshire housing team and Liverpool - Capital of North Wales - a programme with a somewhat tongue-in-cheek title that will be looking at the city’s substantial Welsh heritage.

One of the criticisms we sometimes get from some viewers in north Wales is that, on the whole, BBC Wales is Cardiff-biased or south-biased. The Real North Wales season isn’t there to address that - we feel the season stands on its own two feet and, of course, we do our best to reflect the whole of Wales across all our output throughout the year. Even across this season there will be themes, people and stories across north Wales that we’ve undoubtedly missed, but wherever you are in Wales, or even further afield, I hope you’ll find something new - and something that interests you.

To find out more, and catch up with programmes you may have missed, visit: bbc.co.uk/realnorthwales or join the conversation on social media #RealNorthWales.

Real North Wales: A look at the true nature of the community of Pen Llŷn

2015-05-29T07:46:20+00:00

A brand-new four-part series Welsh Heartland: The Llŷn Peninsula will look at the true nature of the community of Pen Llŷn as part of the Real North Wales season from BBC Wales. Here, Dylan Huws of production company Cwmni Da explains the aims of the series.

“We had an open brief and wanted to focus on the Llŷn Peninsula, to offer an insight into how people really live there - not just the scenery, the coastline and beaches but how people live there all year round. We wanted to reveal the Pen Llŷn community as we know it and present this to the world. We’re trying to show the balance between living in a desirable and beautiful area and the pressures of economy, tourism and language.

Margiad Williams, a contributor on the programme

“It was very important to us that we showed reality and that’s why the series is like an observational documentary - we see and recognise people, we then portray them. It’s an opportunity for people to tell their stories and experiences of living in this particular part of Wales. It’s a broad picture of life in Pen Llŷn during a period of four seasons; from the quietest and calmest of times to the hype of summer.

“The best way of achieving this was to get people comfortable in front of a camera, so before starting filming we spent time with them. We had their co-operation and trust and they became accustomed to us. They welcomed us into their homes and workplaces and we’re so grateful to them for this. It’s a unique opportunity to show, as closely as possible, what it is to live here.

“We’re experienced in producing observational documentaries - we produced Pen Llŷn Harri Parri and Michael Sheen's Valleys Rebellion. We talk to real people and reflect their lives; we’re loyal to them and try to convey the truth. It’s our production model, which we’ve nurtured over the years, and on this occasion we invested a whole year following people’s stories in order to truly reflect their lives.

“We didn’t interview the tourists who appear in the series, as such, we eavesdropped on their conversations and perspectives in order to hear from people who live outside Wales. We gave them radio microphones, and placed cameras far away and just allowed them to talk about whatever they wanted.

“People’s stories really stand out. Characters have something to say about how we live; the realities of life and what's important. They discuss social values, community values and cultural values. It’s an opportunity to hear from people who are in touch with Pen Llŷn.

“And people are moving into the area and are drawn to this way of life. Some visitors choose to learn more about this way of life, but there’s no denying that the area is under huge external pressures because of the appealing landscape and the values of the people who live here. There’s a danger of it being destroyed, the balance is fragile - the language is holding its own, but under enormous pressure.

“There have been a few programmes over the years about the Llŷn Peninsula, but perhaps they didn’t really know the area. We wanted to show how things really are. Welsh is heard on the programme and there are subtitles; I feel proud doing this with BBC Wales - presenting this linguistic balance - it’s important that we use both languages and create something realistic.”

Welsh Heartland: The Llŷn Peninsula. Monday, June 1, BBC One Wales, 7.30pm.

bbc.co.uk/realnorthwales

Choir's clock a window into the industrial past

2011-06-09T09:54:18+00:00

An extraordinary tale of a working men's male voice choir in the 19th century has come to light thanks to a hitherto unknown clock.

Penrhyn Male Voice Choir, based in Bethesda in north west Wales, have come into possession of a decorative timepiece made in 1893 and forming part of the narrative of a long-running industrial dispute between mine workers and management.

The clock, made of local purple slate, was given to Mr W Gray, who assisted the choir in their journey to be part of the 1893 World Fair in Chicago. They came second in their competition, and the clock disappeared into the historical ether.

The grandson of Mr Gray (left) and Tom Morgan, chairman of Penrhyn Choir, and a member for over 60 years, pictured with the long-lost clock

The reason for the choir's desire to compete was simple: money for strike funds. Choir chairman Wil Parry told the North Wales Daily Post: "Industrial relations between the quarry owners and the workers were poor. There were a number of strikes in the 1890s and times were hard. They decided to go to Chicago because they knew the cash prizes would help the strike fund.

"They came second in their competition. The story claims the choir would have won if someone hadn't opened a door and blew the music off the stands. But that's just a story and we had nothing to remember the trip [by] at all. Until, that is, we heard about the clock."

The clock was in the possession of a Stafford woman, who came to an agreement with the choir to buy it back from her. Parry said: "The clock is a direct memento of that trip made by our choir to the World Fair and we will treasure it but we will put it on show."

Penrhyn Male Voice Choir are keen to find out more about the clock and its history from the time it was given to Mr Gray and this year. They can be contacted through their website.

"Hopefully in five years' time, people will have got fed up of X-Factor"

2011-06-01T14:02:54+00:00

"It's going to be difficult to keep this positive!" said Graeme Park to me as we wandered, post-interview, back into the grand foyer of the new Creative Industries Centre of Glyndŵr University. Graeme, a DJ of international repute, is a lecturer at Glyndŵr, and is the host of a series of seminars that are taking place in the swish surrounds of the on-site TV studio.

Park was joined last Thursday by Simon Gavin, a music industry veteran and current head of Verve records, and Mancunian legend Peter Hook, of Joy Division and New Order. The three of them were in Wrexham to discuss the state of the music industry in 2011, in this new digital world we find ourselves, with all its well-rehearsed arguments, its pros and cons. But get anyone together who make their livings from music and it's par for the course that the conclusions will be maudlin at best, hand-wringingly woeful at worst.

But in the end, in front of an appreciative, rapt audience, the three music heads swapped thoughts, anecdotes and laughs that showed that while there are challenges to the way people make and sell music, things are to a large degree as they ever were: passionate, good songs are always the priority.

However, this event gave me the opportunity to probe a little deeper into the issues with the panel prior to the seminar itself (and let's be honest, the chance to talk to Hooky should never be passed up).

Take a listen to what these three music big cheeses have to say about where they are in the music business, their attitudes towards the web and its implications for their business, and where they think we'll be in five years' time:

Peter Hook
"For a lot of new bands coming now they will never have the commercial success that [I] had because it doesn't exist; because people take your music without paying for it."

Graeme Park
"Technology is fantastic... out of that has sprung some amazing things. But unfortunately out of that has mainly sprung a load of tedious, unoriginal, poorly-produced nonsense that would never have seen the light of day as recently as the 90s."

Simon Gavin
"It's such a tiny business now."

Wakestock 2011 line up takes shape

2011-01-28T10:41:52+00:00

North Wales' beach sports and music festival Wakestock has announced its first raft of artists, with Biffy Clyro, The Wombats, Ellie Goulding and Example taking centre stage.

Biffy Clyro

Wakestock is held each year at Abersoch near Pwllheli in Gwynedd. First held in 2000 in an overflow car park in Abersoch for 650 people, it has grown to a 25,000-capacity music and watersports festival that's able attract some of the UK's highest-profile acts.

Event Director Stuart Galbraith said: "We are really pleased with how the line up is coming together and are sure that it will be the strongest yet with Brit award nominees and previous Brit winners. The Wombats are a great addition to headline the Sunday night."

Other artists known so far are Danny Bird, DJ Fresh and Jaguar Skills. More line up details will be published as they become available on the official Wakestock website

Feel free to comment! If you want to have your say, on this or any other BBC blog, you will need to sign in to your BBC iD account. If you don't have a BBC iD account, you can register here - it'll allow you to contribute to a range of BBC sites and services using a single login.

Need some assistance? Read about BBC iD, or get some help with registering.

Mike Peters charity concert

2010-11-24T10:18:48+00:00

Mike Peters is headlining a charity concert in Colwyn Bay next month.

Mike Peters

The Light of Day Wales concert is in aid Light and Day (Parkinson's research) and Peters' own Love Hope And Strength foundation for cancer patients and will feature the Alarm frontman, Willie Nile, Alejandro Escovedo, Joe D'Urso and Richard Barone.

The concert happens on 10 December at The Interchange, Abergele Road, Colwyn Bay. Ticket details are available on 01492 513216 or simon@bagoffrogs.co.uk.

WNO's Max Project brings arts to North Wales

2010-11-22T11:35:42+00:00

Welsh National Opera (WNO) is unveiling a three year, £120,000 arts project for north Wales.

The Max Project is "the first time WNO has offered up such a focused plan of activity in North Wales," according to Rhian Hutchings, director of the project, who was speaking to the North Wales Daily Post.

"Everyone from primary school children to regulars at the local community centre will be involved. There will be singing days, recitals and the chance to join a community choir that will take part in the world première of Gair Ar Gnawd, a new work."

The project will be based in Wrexham, which is celebrating a year of culture in 2011, and will feature a new opera inspired by Bishop William Morgan, the Welsh Bible translator, an opera pops concert, brass concerts and recitals by WNO musicians.

"Opera is a great vehicle for telling stories to a new audience, drawing on experiences that help shape their lives," says Hutchings. "We're interested in hearing those stories told in both Welsh and English, so Gair A Gnawd will put centre stage a key event in Welsh history that still resonates today."

Mike Peters records track for Vinyl

2010-10-26T09:55:18+00:00

Mike Peters, singer with The Alarm, has recorded a song as the theme song for the forthcoming film Vinyl.

As we've previously blogged, Vinyl is the story of the stunt in 2004 in which The Alarm recorded a song and released it under a pseudonym, got a fake band to front it, and released it to great acclaim.

Speaking to the North Wales Daily Post, Peters explained: "I was asked about writing the track for the film and I knew it had to be punchy and it had to have the conviction of being a hit.

"It had to be something that could be sung without any instruments on its own and had that communication between people.

"Within days I had written the song. I knew The Automatic were not far away, so I grabbed them and asked if they wanted to help and we did the first recording. It was done in Cardiff.

"It is being committed to the film."

There is no title as yet for the track.

Need some assistance? Read about BBC iD, or get some help with registering.

Terfel bemoans Faenol's lack of spark

2010-10-21T11:54:24+00:00

Opera star Bryn Terfel has told the north Wales Daily Post that he regrets he "can't get over the disappointment" of the Faenol Festival's lack of success that resulted in its cancellation this year.

Bryn Terfel

Terfel says that there will be no festival next year, but it may return in the future.

He blamed the economic downturn for the slow ticket sales for both Westlife and Al Murray. "There won't be anything next year. I can't get over the disappointment. I prefer people to see the loss of the festival rather than try again and possibly fail again.

"I was disappointed; very disappointed. I thought we had four strong nights from an artistic point of view.

"The operatic night was going to one of the best and Al Murray can sell out the O2 Arena within hours, 18,000 tickets, but we only sold 160 tickets for the Faenol. It didn't spark here."

The festival had financial support from Universal Music Classical Management and Productions, Welsh Assembly Government and Gwynedd Council after it was cancelled in 2008 following financial difficulties.

What do you think of Faenol's future? If you want to have your say, on this or any other BBC blog, you will need to sign in to your BBC iD account. If you don't have a BBC iD account, you can register here - it'll allow you to contribute to a range of BBC sites and services using a single login.

Need some assistance? Read about BBC iD, or get some help with registering.

I Am Austin/Mother Of Six/We Shiver - Telfords Warehouse, Chester

2010-10-18T12:48:16+00:00

The Manics are playing in Manchester tonight. I haven't seen them since Reading in 1997. And although I've rarely been moved by their music (since queuing to buy Generation Terrorists from Probe in Liverpool back before you were born, possibly) I feel a real urge to reacquaint myself with them.

What I've heard of their new album sounds good. Music Box's Mark Foley - fundamental dancing cog in Cardiff's musical ecosystem - is doing something terribly important as part of their crew, and he owes me a beer. I owe him 10. The draw towards Manchester is very strong. But I have an Open University assignment to get in, and I'm on a promise to attend I Am Austin's EP launch in my local.

So, I forget about Manchester, get my head stuck into using schemata, mental images and concepts as techniques to improve memory and surface from the psychology textbook in time to scarper from the house and see the first band.

Although this is technically I Am Austin's EP launch, the event has been scuppered somewhat by news that their label has folded. So, the ageing radio presenter who had been invited to host the night and introduce the band is no longer required, but the gig - with a small line-up change - goes on regardless.

The slight change of circumstances might explain why attendance is, like Liverpool's chances of maintaining their Premier League status, on the thin side. Telfords Warehouse is where I work when I'm not gabbing on the radio. My (much younger and attractive) friends work here. I've seen so many great, life-changing musicians here I couldn't begin to list them. But scuzzy noise doesn't fit well in its high-ceilinged environs.

I put Mclusky on in here almost a decade ago. More white wine spritzers were hastily abandoned while they soundchecked than when the building was ravaged by a sudden Saturday evening fire at the turn of the millennium. I saw Swansea's Suns Of Thunder empty the building through sheer force of volume. No, Telfords has all the punk rock credentials of, well, me actually.

First band We Shiver's crepuscular skitter through the tattered edges of Gothic indie sounds more Bombay Bicycle Club than Birthday Party, more Interpol than Joy Division. They're a very new band. There are interesting ideas here - but it's ragged and unrehearsed. They're not helped by a very unforgiving sound. The bass is pretending it's a wasp farting through a kazoo. From up on my (over-used to the point of lame-ness) high horse, I'd suggest they barricade themselves in the nearest rehearsal room for a month or pack it in. There's potential here. But, as the man with the pencil behind his ear said surveying my half-rotten roof the other day: 'it needs work'.

We Shiver

Mother Of Six are a different matter entirely. After a faltering start, their proggish stoner rock draws a crowd to the dance floor. They triumph despite the fact that they exude more diffidence per square inch than a singularity of teenage hormones.

Mother Of Six

Quite what we've done to make all but the drummer and one of the guitarists turn their back to us, I don't know. But by denying us faux stage amiability and 'performance' they make the music the focus of our attention.

And it is worthy of that attention. Sabbath, Can, Kyuss and Neu! are some of the reference points that light up on my mental music map. Mother Of Six are pretty unique for up here. Their Welsh soulmates would be the likes of the aforementioned Suns Of Thunder and Zonderhoof. Might be time for a couple of gig swaps. Probably not in this venue, though.

I Am Austin are a two-piece from Connah's Quay (drums, synth pad and vox: Mitch; super distorted bass, pedals and synth: Adam) who have earned the patronage of Radio 1, Channel 4 (Evo Music Rooms) and ME! I know which they're proudest of. But that hasn't stopped me from coming to see them anyway.

I Am Austin

Seeing them for the first time in Telfords is probably a mistake, though. If ever a band were perfect for creating an unholy whirlwind through the nation's darkest and dingiest venues, it's I Am Austin. There are no troughs in their sound, no concessions to dynamics. They're Loudness War personified, a waveform that has been flattened at +12dB. And if it annoys you, granddad, then that's the point, isn't it? Mother Of Six would have had the 40-something music people who more frequently populate Telfords on a weekday night nodding along in approval, reminiscing about Hawkwind at Glastonbury when there wasn't a fence and you could get free milk. I Am Austin would have those self-same heads shaking, tutting, complaining about 'noise' and it not being 'proper music', utterly unaware of the irony in what they were saying.

I thought it was thrilling and clever. Loud/quiet is such an over-used trope, anyway. Best to be loud/more loud/louder still/loud with a slightly different bass distortion/then, to end, loud with clanking sounds from drum synth pads.

There are songs here. And there are more dynamics than I'm letting on. I'm using my own verbal Loudness War to hammer home a point.

The track that really stands out, though, is the one that starts off relatively quietly with two-fingered synth chords before hurrying into some DFA, drum'n'bass meltdown that demonstrates once the happy fury of youth has subsided, slightly, this band will have extra special ideas - and a unique approach - to take us all to new, fascinating places.

And they're unlikely to do a duet with Alison Krauss on Jools Holland. Your opinion of them will be in direct proportion to how much of a good thing you think that is.

Need some assistance? Read about BBC iD, or get some help with registering.

Duffy steps on from Sixties sound

2010-09-20T10:54:11+00:00

The follow-up to Duffy's 6.5 million-selling Rockferry album is out this November, and her record company believe it marks a significant step forward in her songwriting.

Endlessly will be released on 29 November, preceded by a single, Well, Well, Well, which features hip-hop band The Roots.

Speaking to music industry magazine Music Week, Duffy's A&R man Simon Gavin said: "She wanted to move on to other areas and try something different, to come back with a fresher approach. She didn't want to make the same album twice."

Rockferry was co-written and co-produced by former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler with involvement from 60ft Dolls' Richard Parfitt. It had a noticeable Sixties sound that Endlessly is moving away from. Duffy has lately been working with veteran singer-songwriter Albert Hammond, the father of Albert Hammond Jr of The Strokes.

A&M Records' managing director Orla Lee believes that Endlessly will solidify the north Wales singer's reputation. "We see her as a classic artist that has a career around the world and she has delivered an album that feels like it can sustain that," she said. "It will be a fresh new album at the end of the year."

Are you looking forward to the release of Duffy's second album? If you want to have your say, on this or any other BBC blog, you will need to sign in to your BBC iD account. If you don't have a BBC iD account, you can register here - it'll allow you to contribute to a range of BBC sites and services using a single login.

Need some assistance? Read about BBC iD, or get some help with registering.

Mike Peters joins Big Country

2010-09-13T10:48:14+00:00

Nine years after the death of Big Country singer Stuart Adamson, The Alarm's frontman Mike Peters has been asked to take the mic for the Scottish band.

Adamson, Big Country's original singer, hanged himself in a Honolulu hotel room in 2001.

Big Country, l-r: Mark Brzezicki, Stuart Adamson, Tony Butler, Bruce Watson

Speaking to the North Wales Daily Post, Peters said: "When Bruce [Watson, guitarist] called and asked me to sing for Big Country, it was something I didn't need to think twice about.

"I'm looking forward to meeting all the fans again and playing a part in keeping the spirit of Stuart Adamson alive and celebrating the music of a band I have loved from near and afar for the whole of my adult life."

"To play again as Big Country was something that was only going to happen if we could find someone who could complement the band and sing the songs in the way they need to be sung - with heart and soul," said bassist Tony Butler.

"Mike Peters from The Alarm has stepped in. It's about time that the songs got another airing, and we think Stuart would be pleased too."

Need some assistance? Read about BBC iD, or get some help with registering.

Gallops, Manchester Roadhouse - Tuesday 7 September 2010

2010-09-08T11:34:38+00:00

Manchester, you big old breezy place - lovely to be back. Now, where is your Roadhouse venue? I used to negotiate Manchester via Hulme towerblock landmarks, crumbling Victorian warehouses and straggles of indie kids avoiding muggings.

But you're unrecognisable, these days. You're new, wide, impressive, spacious. I haven't got a clue where I am. And I used to come here regular, like, in my Joe Bloggs parallels, hanging round Afflecks, really - and I mean really - irritating the hell out of the fashionistas at Eastern Bloc by asking them about Cud 12"s.

Some of the new apartments here look like spaceships. Spaceships that have landed on top of cultural Meccas like the Haçienda, crushing them well below the bankruptcies that shut them down in the first place. So it's not all good 'new'.

Thankfully The Roadhouse still exists. How many great bands first learnt their licks here and at the Boardwalk a stone(rose)'s throw away? Hundreds, easily. Both venues must be looking nervously above their head expecting the shadow of an imminent block of luxury apartments. But they survive for now.

I'm here to see Gallops.

"Are you, Adam? Again? Seriously? Isn't there someone else you should be checking out or reviewing for us?"

Well, it's been a quiet, flat summer, gig-wise. The preponderance of festivals and the economic u-bend the venue industry has got itself stuck in hasn't helped. And maybe - after six months of 50 gigs a week - I discovered the middle age delights of crap TV and Ben and Jerry's. But I'm back on the road tonight. And I'm here to see Gallops again because they fascinate me and they have - deservedly - found the crest of their (first) wave.

Their début EP came out a couple of weeks ago. That in itself could suck a thousand words of dribble and chaff out of my keyboard. Suffice to say that it's new shapes. NEW SHAPES, people! How ace is it to have NEW SHAPES? It's available on Holy Roar now.

Pesky band had told us they'd be on at nine. Driving like Clarkson up the M56, we get to the Roadhouse with five minutes to spare.

"We're on at 10 now," says a rather knackered-looking drummer Moz.

See, this is the second date of their first national headline tour. And Moz is already shagged out. He's contemplating a couple of cans of Red Bull before they go on to shake the torpor from his limbs. Apparently the fire alarm at their hotel in Sheffield the night before went off twice.

"I feel a right old git," he says, or words to that effect, perhaps unaware that this is like a panda complaining to a grain of sand about the difficulties of finding your own space and asserting your individuality.

When we walk in there are three people in the venue, and I think they work there or are driving Gallops. My heart does a little whimper for the band. It's an international football night. It's a Tuesday. None of the student population these venues survive on are back, yet. The Roadhouse has all the allure of an S&M solitary confinement cell.

But the staff are good and friendly, and toilet circuit venues have rightly evolved this way so as not to detract from the music. More accurately because investing in neon lights in the floor, or poncey pictures on the wall, would mean that the petrol money for the next month's worth of bands wouldn't get covered. So, a backhanded salute to the Roadhouse. Gentrify these places and a whole dependent ecosystem of new bands wither on the vine. For evidence to support this hypothesis, see what happens in Cardiff now the Barfly has shut down.

While I'm pondering this and mulling it over with my mate, people start arriving in dribs and drabs. By the time we extricate ourselves from our conversation and look up there is an incredibly healthy crowd here. Fifty-ish people, for a band on their début release, in a foreign city. This is a great turnout. My mate (Andy) says: "Just goes to show how important BBC Introducing getting them on at Reading and Leeds can be."

Gallops, you see, headlined the Introducing Stage at Reading and Leeds. They were on telly and everything. And they sounded great.

A familiar rumble of laptop and the thunderous sound of Moz beating seven tonnes of holy hell out of his drums announces the band.

I will now attempt to switch my hyperbole filter ON.

So, I'm used to getting hammered over the head by Gallops, getting physically assaulted by their power. Power is a massive part of their armoury. And this leprechaun PA isn't up to it. At least, that's my first impression. As the set progresses I find myself hearing things - oh, the cleverest things. I can make out all the lines weaving in and out of each other with a beauty and complexity that could fry my meagre brain if those lines didn't - on the verge of becoming too clever for their own good - crumble into a simple but brilliantly effective melody or riff.

That's as close as I'll get to summing up the Gallops live experience. Some people call this math rock because, I assume, math rock infers a systematic rigidity, a stark predictable clarity. But Gallops are none of those things. They are shape rock. Or fractal rock. Like spirographs of sound, but without getting drawing pins stuck in your kneecaps. Sure, the sequences of notes have some algebraic quality to them; whatever happens to Mark's guitar or synth stage left has to be mirrored stage right by Brad balancing the equation, not necessarily simultaneously.

You know those visualisers that Windows Media Player and iTunes have built in for stoners? Well, Gallops are like an aural representation of the best, most mind-blowing, graphical flourishes from those. Unexpected bursts, great beauty from complexity that seems beyond comprehension, but manages to resolve itself into a breathtaking whole.

They most frequently get compared to Battles. Yawn. Might as well compare a rose to a rhododendron, or a band who had a tendency to get lost in their own bluster to a band who absolutely delight in embroidering their succinct music with as many ideas, twists and turns as is humanely possible.. It's why - as a thoroughly instrumental band, who'd obviously prefer not to have to talk to the audience at all - they captivate that audience. Boredom has never been so lacking. All necessary communication is via the surges and shallows in the music, and in the way that music contorts the bodies and faces of those performing it.

And there are far more shades to these shapes than I'd heard before. Loud, very loud, gentle, a whisper, supernova. And these kids - brought up, partially, on the oh-so-predictable four-to-the-floor pound of the dance music bass drum, reject that conformity in favour of proggish, or jazz-inspired - time changes that surprise and amaze. BUT they're not clever for clever's sake. It's not Weather Report.

I'm all written out.

I think you'd be much better off checking them out yourselves, in all honesty. Briefly and to conclude, it's music that won't reduce itself to easy description. And it isn't shape rock, after all - it's shapes rock, and there are millions of them.