On This Day 18/05/1982 Altered Images

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On this day, 18 May 1982, Scottish pop band Altered Images played Cardiff’s Top Rank. The band had just released their second album Pinky Blue.

The album reached No. 12 on the UK Albums Chart, while the singles charted well, with "I Could Be Happy" peaking at No. 7, "See Those Eyes" at No. 11 and "Pinky Blue" at No. 35 on the official singles chart. This was to be their highest placed album in the charts

Their hits included "Happy Birthday", "I Could Be Happy", "See Those Eyes", and "Don't Talk to Me About Love". mainstream pop music, having six UK top 40 hit singles and three top 30 albums between 1981 and 1983. Their hits included "Happy Birthday", "I Could Be Happy", "See Those Eyes", and "Don't Talk to Me About Love".

Former schoolmates in Glasgow with a shared interest in the UK post-punk scene, Clare Grogan (vocals), Gerard "Caesar" McInulty (guitar), Michael "Tich" Anderson (drums), Tony McDaid (guitar), and Johnny McElhone (bass guitar), were all members of the Siouxsie and the Banshees official fan club.

When they learnt the Banshees were going to play in Scotland, they sent a demo tape to Billy Chainsaw, who managed the official Siouxsie fan club, with a note asking "can we support them on tour?" The Banshees gave the band a support slot on their Kaleidoscope British tour of 1980. Altered Images's name referred to a sleeve design on the Buzzcocks' single "Promises", and was inspired by Buzzcocks vocalist Pete Shelley's constant interfering with the initial sleeve designs.

Prior to finding fame with Altered Images, she had appeared in the 1981 film Gregory's Girl.
Bassist Johnny McElhone went on to perform with Hipsway and eventually Texas.

On This Day 17/05/2009 Silverstein

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On this day, 17 May 2009, Canadian rock band Silverstein played Cardiff University.

From Burlington, Ontario, and formed in 2000 their band name is a reference to the famous children's author Shel Silverstein, who the band had admired and whose work they had read as children.

They have released a total of 11 studio albums, seven EPs, a compilation album and a live DVD/CD. Their lineup remained unchanged for eleven years from December 2001 to September 2012, then consisting of lead vocalist Shane Told, lead guitarist Neil Boshart, rhythm guitarist Josh Bradford, bassist Billy Hamilton, and drummer Paul Koehler.

In September 2012, the band had announced that Neil Boshart had been fired and would be replaced by Paul Marc Rousseau, who also joined Billy Hamilton on backing vocals. The band achieved moderate success with their second studio album, Discovering the Waterfront, which was nominated for a Juno Award and reached No. 34 on the Billboard 200 charts, with the following two albums charting at similar positions. Silverstein has sold over 1,000,000 albums worldwide.

On 14 December 2008, the band announced by Myspace bulletin that their fourth album would be released by 31 March 2009. The name of the new album, A Shipwreck in the Sand, was announced on 29 January 2009, when the band concluded a viral marketing campaign by announcing the track listing via an album website, also revealing it would be a concept album. Along with the demo of "Broken Stars", which the band had been performing during their final U.S. tour in support of "Arrivals and Departures", short clips of the songs "Vices", "Born Dead" and "American Dream" were made available on MySpace On 17 March, the band filmed a music video for "Vices" with director Robby Starbuck. Later, on 23 March 2009, the band posted the full album to stream on their official MySpace page.

On 14 December 2008, the band announced by Myspace bulletin that their fourth album would be released by 31 March 2009. The name of the new album, A Shipwreck in the Sand, was announced on 29 January 2009, when the band concluded a viral marketing campaign by announcing the track listing via an album website, also revealing it would be a concept album. Along with the demo of "Broken Stars", which the band had been performing during their final U.S. tour in support of "Arrivals and Departures", short clips of the songs "Vices", "Born Dead" and "American Dream" were made available on MySpace. On 17 March, the band filmed a music video for "Vices" with director Robby Starbuck. Later, on 23 March 2009, the band posted the full album to stream on their official MySpace page.

A Shipwreck in the Sand was released on 31 March 2009 and sold nearly 17,000 copies in its first week.[32] The iTunes version of the album includes four bonus cover songs, "Help!" (The Beatles cover), "Go Your Own Way" (Fleetwood Mac Cover), "Three Miles Down" (Saves The Day cover), and "Total Bummer" (NOFX cover).

Setlist

Vices

Your Sword Versus My Dagger

Smashed Into Pieces

Bodies and Words

A Great Fire

Broken Stars

Fist Wrapped in Blood

American Dream

Call It Karma

Born Dead

The Weak and the Wounded

Apologize

(OneRepublic cover)

Smile in Your Sleep

Encore:

Three Miles Down

(Saves the Day cover)

My Heroine

(acoustic first part)

I Am the Arsonist

Bleeds No More

On This Day 16/05/1975 Alan Stivell

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On this day, 16 May 1975, Breton and Celtic musician and singer, songwriter, recording artist, and master of the Celtic harp Alan Stivell played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre.

From the early 1970s, he revived global interest in the Celtic (specifically Breton) harp and Celtic music as part of world music. As a bagpiper and bombard player, he modernized traditional Breton music and singing in the Breton language. A precursor of Celtic rock, he is inspired by the union of the Celtic cultures and is a keeper of the Breton culture.

On 28 February 1972, Stivell performed a concert in the Olympia theater, a famous music hall in Paris, where Alan and his band played music combining traditional Celtic music with modern sounds (electric guitar, drums, etc.). This concert made Stivell and his music well known throughout France. At this time, Stivell's eclectic approach to music was very new and was considered risky, but it soon became popular. Over 1,500,000 records of that concert (À l'Olympia) were sold. Alan Stivell's newfound fame propelled him to tour across France, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. He continued recording, and published a collection of Breton poetry in 1976.

Music critic Bruce Eder has stated: "[Alan Stivell's] harp recordings, with their enveloping lyricism and tightly interwoven patterns of variations, can appeal to more serious listeners of new age music. Stivell's main audience, however, lies with fans of Celtic music and culture, and English folk music. Embracing ancient and modern elements, but (apart from his folk-rock work) making no compromises to modern melodic sensibilities, his music captures the mystery and strangeness of Breton, Irish, Welsh, and Scottish landscapes that are both ageless and timeless. It is haunting, mysterious, and beautiful, with no equivalent in modern popular music and few peers in the realm of commercial folk music."

On This Day 15/05/2014 Pulled Apart By Horses

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On this day, 15. At 2014, alternative rock band Pulled Apart By Horses played The Globe, Cardiff.

They formed in early 2008, the band were signed by Transgressive Records in 2009, and released their debut self-titled album Pulled Apart by Horses on 21 June 2010. In August 2011, they went into Monnow Valley Studio in Wales to record with record producer Gil Norton, and their second album Tough Love was released to critical acclaim on 20 January 2012.

After Tough Love, the band sold out their first European tour, and went on to support Biffy Clyro and Foals. In 2010 they supported Muse at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground.

In September 2014 the band's third album Blood became their first top 40, entering the UK Albums Chart at number 38. In 2016, Pulled Apart by Horses recorded a take over for Annie Mac and the BBC's Radio 1 in the United Kingdom.

Setlist

PWR

Meat Balloon

V.E.N.O.M.

Hot Squash

I Punched a Lion in the Throat

Degeneration Game

E=MC Hammer

Wildfire, Smoke & Doom

Grim Deal

Some Mothers

Bag of Snakes

High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive

I Wanna Be Your Dog

(The Stooges cover)

Den Horn

On This Day 14/05/1998 Arab Strap

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On this day, 14 May 1998, Scottish indie rock band Arab Strap played Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach. The band had just released their second studio album Philophobia which peaked at #37 in the UK album charts. NME named Philophobia the 17th best album of 1998. In 2012, Fact placed the album at number 91 on its "100 Best Albums of the 1990s" list.

Vocalist and drummer Aidan Moffat and multi-instrumentalist Malcolm Middleton grew up in Falkirk, Scotland, and bonded over their mutual love for Drag City recording artists such as Will Oldham (who at the time recorded under the name Palace Brothers) and Smog. They began collaborating in 1995, and their debut album, The Week Never Starts Round Here, was released the following year. At this point Gary Miller and David Gow joined the band and became the rhythm section, creating a more dynamic live experience when the band started touring.

Over the course of their ten-year existence, Arab Strap worked with numerous musicians, including Jenny Reeve and Stacey Sievewright, as well as Adele Bethel, who went on to form Sons and Daughters. Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian featured on the album Philophobia, but the Belle & Sebastian album/song "The Boy with the Arab Strap" would later create something of a feud between Moffat and Murdoch.

Arab Strap's marked characteristics include sordid, personal, yet honest, lyrics – described by the NME as "fly on the duvet vignettes". Like fellow Scottish band The Proclaimers, their lyrics are sung in their native Scots tongue. At first essentially an electro-acoustic band with a brooding, spare sound, later albums and gigs saw them develop a fuller sound that drew deeply on both indie and dance music.

On This Day 13/05/1957 Tommy Steele

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On this day, 13 May 1957, original British rocker Tommy Steele & The Steelmen played the first of a week of concerts at Cardiff’s Gaumont Theatre. Also included on the bill were Freddie Bell & The Bellboys, Paul & Peta Page (The puppeteers) and The Trio Raisner (Sensational French harmonica group). It was described as "Britain's First Ever Package Show" like the American Style Package Shows.

Steele's first single, "Rock with the Caveman", was one of the first British rock and roll hits, reaching number 13 on the UK Singles Chart in November 1956. He promoted the single with his first television appearance, on bandleader Jack Payne's BBC series Off the Record, and quickly became a national teen idol.

Steele's success saw him dubbed "Britain's Elvis", though his appeal has been characterised as less provocative than Presley's. A 1957 concert review by Trevor Philpott of Picture Post described Steele's act as possessing "not a trace of sex, real or implied", whilst Stephen Glynn has written that Steele's voice "was genial before threatening, his stage demeanour more playground skip than bedroom thrust".

Steele's live performances were marked by frenzy from the teenage audience. His first album, Tommy Steele Stage Show, was recorded at a London concert the night before his twentieth birthday and issued in March 1957.

"Doomsday Rock", Steele's second single, failed to chart after its apocalyptic theme drew controversy. His third, "Singing the Blues", reached number 1 in January 1957, staving off a recording by Guy Mitchell for one week.

Steele was among the first British pop stars to be heavily merchandised, with tie-in sweaters, shoes and toy guitars. Only a few months after his first chart presence, the singer was filming his life story; The Tommy Steele Story (1957) featured twelve new songs, written hastily by Steele, Bart and Pratt, that expanded the singer's repertoire to incorporate ballads and calypso music.

The film's soundtrack was the first UK number one album by a British act, and the hit single "A Handful of Songs" received the 1958 Ivor Novello Award for Most Outstanding Song of the Year, Musically and Lyrically. By the end of 1957, Steele had bought a four-bedroomed house in South London for his parents and was reported to be earning more than British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.

REVIEW - Western Mail - 12th May 1957

On This Day 12/05/1969 Gun

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On this day, 12 May 1969, British rock guitar trio Gun played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre.

Evolving from the Ilford-based band, The Knack, which included guitarist/vocalist Paul Gurvitz (born Paul Anthony Gurvitz, 6 July 1944, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire (although he was known by the surname Curtis until the early 1970s), his brother Adrian Gurvitz and drummer Louie Farrell, the trio changed their name in early 1968 to The Gun. The full Knack lineup had been Paul Curtis (Gurvitz) on guitar and vocals, Louie Farrell (born Brian John Farrell, 8 December 1947, Goodmayes, Essex) (who had joined The Knack in mid 1966) on drums, Gearie Kenworthy on bass guitar (born 17 October 1946), Tim Mycroft playing organ (born 1949, Purewell, Christchurch, Dorset died 1 January 2010), and for a short while, Jon Anderson of Yes.

The Knack had regularly performed at the UFO Club, supporting bands such as Pink Floyd, Arthur Brown and Tomorrow. Recording sessions at Olympic Studios produced the unreleased single "Lights on the Wall", while in November 1967 they recorded for the BBC alternative music radio programme Top Gear and twice played on air. In early 1968, the band changed its line-up to a trio, with Paul Curtis (Gurvitz) on bass, Louie Farrell on drums and Adrian Curtis (Gurvitz) on guitar.

After being signed to CBS Records in early 1968, the band scored a hit with the opening track from their eponymous album (1968), "Race with the Devil". Issued as a single in October 1968, it reached the top 10 in the UK Singles Chart, number 35 on the Australian Singles Chart and number 1 in many UK territories in March 1969.

Jimi Hendrix quoted the song's riff during his song "Machine Gun" at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970, as did Status Quo on their song "Forty Five Hundred Times" during a stage show at Apollo Theatre in Glasgow in 1976. "Race with the Devil" has been covered by Judas Priest ((1977) on the 2001 remastered CD version of Sin After Sin), Black Oak Arkansas (on their 1977 album Race with the Devil), Girlschool (on their 1980 album Demolition), and Church of Misery (on their 1996 demo, released as a split album with Acrimony, and on their full-length LP Vol. 1).

Their debut album's cover is noteworthy as it was the first by Roger Dean (credited as "W. Roger Dean" on the back of the sleeve). AllMusic described it as having a "distinctive psych-flavoured proto-metal" sound. Their second album, Gunsight included "cover design + photos" by Hipgnosis and was released in 1969.[1]

Despite releasing a number of other singles, and an attempt by their record label to identify them with the underground counter-culture, the band had no further hits.

On This Day 11/05/1963 The Springfields

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On this day, 11 May 1963, The Springfields (featuring Dusty Springfield) played Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens. Also on the bill were, headliner Del Shannon, The Eagles, Peppi, Kenny Lynch, Johnny Tillotson and Ret Anton.

The trio formed in 1960, when Mary "Dusty" O'Brien, who had been a member of all-girl singing trio the Lana Sisters, joined her brother Dion O'Brien and Tim Feild, who had been working as a duo, the Kensington Squares. Dion became Tom Springfield, and Mary became Dusty Springfield.

Tom Springfield was a songwriter and arranger with a wide knowledge of folk music and the group had strong vocal harmonies as well as Dusty's powerful lead. Occupying a musical sphere comparable with that of the contemporary Peter, Paul and Mary, they were signed to Philips Records in London by producer Johnny Franz. In 1961, they released their first single, "Dear John" which failed to chart. They achieved UK success with the two follow-up releases, "Breakaway" (No. 31) and their Christmas hit "Bambino" (No. 16), also produced by Franz.

In December 1962, Tom's composition "Island of Dreams", his first recording made with Mike Hurst, debuted on the UK Singles Chart, where it remained for 26 weeks. It peaked at No. 5 in its 16th week on the chart, in early April 1963, five weeks before the Springfields' follow-up hit "Say I Won't Be There" would also peak at No. 5.

By this time, the Springfields were one of the most popular groups in the UK. The group had several chart hits and had recorded several foreign language records. However, Dusty Springfield felt limited by the group's folk act and Tom's lead role within the trio, and she decided to leave for a solo career. She and Tom announced that the group was to be disbanded on the TV variety show Sunday Night at the London Palladium in October 1963.

Tom Springfield subsequently wrote a number of songs for Australian pop-folk band the Seekers, including the two UK number-one hits "I'll Never Find Another You" and "The Carnival Is Over", as well as the Oscar-nominated "Georgy Girl", which he wrote with actor-singer Jim Dale and which hit big on both sides of the Atlantic.