On This Day 20/09/1996 Johnny Mathis

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On this day, 20 September 1996, American singer Johnny Mathis played Cardiff International Arena.

He had recently released his album All About Love which paired him with producer Phil Ramone for his first venture into contemporary material since 1985's Right from the Heart. The two albums share the fact that they do not include covers of songs associated with other artists, which makes them unique entries in the Mathis catalog.

Starting his career with singles of standard music, Mathis became highly popular as an album artist, with several of his albums achieving gold or platinum status and 73 making the Billboard charts.

Mathis has received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for three recordings.

Mathis is the third best-selling artist of the 20th century, selling 360 million records worldwide. Although frequently described as a romantic singer, his discography includes traditional pop, Latin American, soul, rhythm and blues, show tunes, Tin Pan Alley, soft rock, blues, country music, and even a few disco songs for his album Mathis Magic in 1979. Mathis has also recorded seven albums of Christmas music.

On This Day 19/09/2002 Converge

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On this day, 19 September 2002, American metalcore band Converge, played Cardiff’s Coal Exchange.

Formed by vocalist and artist Jacob Bannon and guitarist and producer Kurt Ballou in Salem, Massachusetts in 1990.

While recording their landmark fourth album Jane Doe in 2001, the group became a four-piece with the departure of guitarist Aaron Dalbec and the addition of bassist Nate Newton and drummer Ben Koller. This lineup has remained intact since.

The members have also been involved in various side-projects and collaborations, including the bands Supermachiner (Bannon), Old Man Gloom (Newton), and Mutoid Man (Koller). With their extremely aggressive and boundary-pushing sound, rooted in hardcore and heavy metal, they are pioneers of metalcore and its subgenre mathcore.

On September 4, 2001, Converge released their fourth studio album, Jane Doe. It was met with immediate critical acclaim, with critics praising its poetic lyrics, dynamic range, ferocity and production. The album was a commercial success in comparison to Converge's previous outings, and both the band and the album have developed a cult following since its release.

It is the band's first studio album to feature Newton and Koller, and the last to feature Dalbec, who was asked to leave the band due to his devotion to his side project Bane.[28] Converge's first tour in support of Jane Doe was in September 2001 with Drowningman and Playing Enemy,[29] however Drowningman later dropped out of the tour to work on a new album.

In 2002 a music video was released for the track/tracks "Concubine/Fault and Fracture" from the album Jane Doe; the music video was directed by Zach Merck.

On This Day 18/09/2004 Babyshambles

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On this day, 18 September 2004, rock band Babyshambles played Cardiff University.

In the early summer of 2004, Pete Doherty found himself cast out of The Libertines because of his drug use. As a result, Doherty brought Babyshambles to the fore with Patrick Walden on guitar, Gemma Clarke on drums and Peter Perrett's two sons, Jamie and Peter Junior, on guitar and bass respectively.

Doherty organised several gigs and the band began to gain respect in their own right, even though Doherty missed a number of appearances. The band's lineup underwent several changes before stabilizing during the late summer of 2004 with Doherty on vocals, Patrick Walden on guitar, Gemma Clarke on drums and Drew McConnell on bass.

In September and October 2004, Babyshambles embarked on a British tour that culminated with two shows at the London Scala. Despite fears that Doherty's performance would not be consistent, the tour sold out and received critical acclaim.

The band's second single, "Killamangiro", was released 29 November 2004 on Rough Trade Records, reaching number 8 on the UK singles chart. The band embarked on another tour in December 2004, among growing concerns regarding Doherty's drug dependence.

During a gig in Blackpool, the band walked off the stage when it became clear that Doherty was too intoxicated to perform, and a riot broke out at the London Astoria after Doherty failed to appear, with 150–200 of the audience invading the stage and damaging the band's equipment, including the destruction of Gemma Clarke's drumkit,

On This Day 17/09/1978 The Stranglers

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On this day, 17 September 1978, punk/rock band The Stranglers played Cardiff’s Top Rank. The support band that evening were The Skids.

Formed as the Guildford Stranglers in Guildford, Surrey, in early 1974, they originally built a following within the mid-1970s pub rock scene. While their aggressive, no-compromise attitude had them identified by the media with the emerging UK punk rock scene that followed, their idiosyncratic approach rarely followed any single musical genre, and the group went on to explore a variety of musical styles, from new wave, art rock and gothic rock through the sophisti-pop of some of their 1980s output.

The band had recently released their third studio album Black and White. As with the Stranglers' first two albums, Black and White was produced by Martin Rushent. The album sees the Stranglers adopting a more experimental approach to song structures and time signatures (for example, "Curfew" features 7/4 time).

The band recorded a version of "Sweden" sung in Swedish, called "Sverige", and released it in Sweden. The song was partly inspired by Cornwell's PhD placement at Lund University in the early-1970s. In an anecdote related in the Swedish online magazine Blaskan, it is stated that the song was inspired by a disastrous visit to Sweden during a European tour, when a gig was violently interrupted by a gang of "raggare" (greasers).[4]

The song title "Death and Night and Blood" is taken from a line from Yukio Mishima's novel Confessions of a Mask.

The song "In the Shadows" had previously been released as the B-side to the band's 1977 single "No More Heroes".

On This Day 16/09/1986 Rick Wakeman

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On this day, 16 September 1986, keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall. Wakeman had recently released the album Country Airs. The album features piano instrumentals inspired by the countryside. The album marked a stylistic shift in Wakeman's output, having established himself primarily with progressive rock, concept albums, and commercial-oriented music at the start of the 1980s.

The album reached number one on the UK New Age chart. It was followed by two sequels, Sea Airs and Night Airs, released in 1989 and 1990, respectively for President Records.

Best known as a member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his prolific solo career. AllMusic describes Wakeman as a "classically trained keyboardist extraordinaire who plied his trade with Yes and developed his own brand of live spectacular in a solo act."

In 1984, Wakeman signed with the independent label President Records in an association that would last until 2007, for which he would produce almost 40 albums.

The first was Silent Nights, Wakeman's first solo album in over two years, featuring Fernandez, Cronk, and Rick Fenn on guitar and released in 1985.

The single "Glory Boys" became a minor pop hit in the UK. In March 1985, Wakeman finished work on his part of the soundtrack to the comedy film Playing for Keeps, which was followed by a tour of the UK, North America, and Australia to promote Silent Nights.It was his first full-scale tour in four years, and his first shows in the US in over five.

A live album from the UK leg was released as Live at Hammersmith. The tour left Wakeman "seriously in debt", and he was forced to remortgage his Camberley home. In September 1985, during the tour's Australian leg, Wakeman fell ill from his alcoholism and has been teetotal since. Also in 1985, a single of Wakeman's theme tunes for the television shows Lytton's Diary and Database was released. By this time he had also composed music for the BBC show Paddles Up and the Channel 4 documentary Supercat. Wakeman also reunited with David Bowie to play the piano on his 1986 single "Absolute Beginners".

On This Day 15/09/2004 Susperia

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On this day, 15 September 2004, Norwegian thrash metal band Susperia played Cardiff’s Barfly. The had recently released their third studio album Unlimited

Formed in October 1998 by Tjodalv and Cyrus the band was originally named Seven Sins, but since there was another band with that name they changed it to the title of the horror film Suspiria, changing the spelling to avoid a clash with Suspiria, a gothic rock band that also took its name from the film.

On their early albums, the band experimented with a mixture of black and thrash metal. Testament, one of the members' favorite bands, was a major influence, and by the time the album Unlimited was released, the black metal elements had disappeared. Instead, the band gave more space to influences from heavy metal. Today, Susperia are generally regarded as a melodic thrash metal band.

The lyrics written by singer Athera are personal and either purely fictional or autobiographical. Politics and religion are not dealt with, nor are certain concepts. Athera uses both guttural and clean vocals.

Susperia is not a Satanic band, though their lyrics tend to criticise and question the views and morals of Christianity.

On This Day 14/09/1987 Billie Jo Spears

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On this day, 14 September 1987, American country singer Billie Joe Spears played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.

She was known for a series of singles whose characters often represented women in assertive positions. Among these recordings was a song about sexual harassment ("Mr. Walker, It's All Over"), and a song about rekindling sexual desire ("Blanket on the Ground)".

Spears was raised in a working-class Texas family. She made her first recording at age 13 on the Abbott label. Singer–songwriter Jack Rhodes discovered her early music and helped her secure a professional partnership with producer Kelso Herston.

Under Herston's production, she had her first top-ten song with 1969's "Mr. Walker, It's All Over" (issued on Capitol Records). Several follow-up releases were not successful, and after recovering from a vocal setback she returned to United Artists. Her second release was 1975's "Blanket on the Ground", which topped the American country chart and became a commercial pop success in several countries.

In the final years of her career, Spears continued to perform on a regular basis. Because of her notable following in the United Kingdom, Spears did most of her concert engagements there. She would complete over 400 concerts and engagements in the United Kingdom during her lifetime.

Spears hoped to record a live album at the Pavilion Theatre in Scotland, but never got around to doing so.[3] Shortly before her passing, Spears performed regularly with Irish country artist, Philomena Begley. This included a tour in both 2010 and 2011.

On This Day 13/09/1985 Saxon

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On this day, 13 September 1985, heavy rock band Saxon played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.

Formed in Barnsley in 1975 as one of the leaders of the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM), they had eight UK Top 40 albums during the 1980s including four UK Top 10 albums and two Top 5 albums.

They had numerous hit singles on the UK Singles Chart and experienced success all over Europe and Japan, as well as in the United States.

During the 1980s, Saxon established themselves among Europe's most successful metal acts. The band tours regularly and have sold more than 23 million records worldwide

In late 1983, Saxon left their French record company Carrere they signed with EMI Records in 1984, with their first release on the label being Crusader.

Though still heavy, critics felt the album had a more commercial sound, and fans began to wonder what direction the band was taking. Despite its commercial sound, the title track became a fan favourite.

The album sold over two million copies and the 1984 world tour "The World Crusade" was a success both in Europe and America. In the US, the band toured with Accept as their special guests, as well as supporting Mötley Crüe for some shows of a yearlong tour.