Hotpress Mixed Grill Interview

My friends have followed you round Ireland in the hopes of
jumping your bones. Does this scare you?

::: Agent Provocateur, Dublin

Gruff Rhys: Of what? Jumping your bones?

Hot Press: That means shagging you.

GR: I don’t believe you.

Dafydd Ieuan: Can’t say we’ve noticed, they mustn’t be making a
very big effort.

I know it’s a pretty obvious question, but can you please be
specific about what furry animals, super or otherwise, you had in mind when you
thought up that daft name of yours?

::: Number 10, Dublin

DI: Magpies. But they’re feathery, so we probably should’ve
been called the Super Feathery Birds. We were looking up at the sky at a flock
of magpies, and the Lord showed us the way. It was a message from above.

Who’s your favourite Irish band?

::: JESUS, Dublin 8

GR: My Bloody Valentine. I love them. I think Isn’t Anything is
underrated because Loveless is so rated – not that Loveless is overrated, I just
think that the other one is really good aswell.

When is Cian going to make a techno album?

::: Keith Marshall, Dublin

DI: Well he’s already started. He’s released a record and he
has a batallion of tunes that if they see the light of day, will be amazing.
He’s a perfectionist, so when it comes, it’ll be extraordinary.

“You and me..united by...itemised bills” is an incredible
lyric....do the lyrics form the songs or vice versa?

::: RP McMurphy

Usually the melody dictates the rhythm of the words and you
have to fit the words in the melody and hope you crack on a good combination of
lyrics, generally. And then you can work a tune around the line, so it varies
from case to case, song to song.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever been asked to sign?

::: Budge, Sligeach

DI: Breasts. But they’re not strange, they’re quite nice. Have
I signed many? A few, not many. Enough!

GR: People ask us to sign their clothes, y’know, perfectly good
clothes. And their shoes and shit like that. I feel sorry in case in a few
minutes they’ll get pissed off that we’ve ruined their clothes, but whatever
floats your boat.

Which of your albums do you like the most and why?

::: Laura, Clare

GR: We’ve been writing and touring for so long that we haven’t
had time to dwell on favourite things. We do listen back to them because we try
and make sure that everything we do is equal to what we’ve done in the past, or
at least different, or better. So we’re informed by our previous records, but I
can’t really pin point a favourite – yet.

Where on earth did the (now infamous) instrumental album
ever get to?

::: Hooly, Baile Athá Cliath

GR: It’s in pieces dotted around our other albums I think. And
we’ve got a stock pile of songs, an EC-style song mountain beyond the toxic rim
of Cardiff where we keep our songs.

DI: We just need to find the time to put it all together.

Is Graham Kavanagh really the guv’nor? And how embarrassing
is it to have John Hartson playing for your country?

::: number 10, Dublin

GR: Hartson said in an interview recently that he would die for
Wales, for the Welsh team. I don’t think you can ask for more commitment from a
player, really. That’s 110%, as they say in football, and Kavanagh is a good
guy. Except when he’s injured…

Sam Hamman? Villain or Hero

::: Tom Finn, Dublin

GR: Absolute hero. No, I’ll go further: a visionary.

DI: There was an interview with Sam Hamman recently slagging
off Prince William, saying how disgusting it was that so-called the future
Prince Of Wales was cheering for England in the rugby and not for Wales, and
pointed out how ridiculous it was. He’s got a bit more balls in him than most
Welsh people.

What animal do you think you all most resemble?

::: Aoife, Laois

GR: What are those ones? They’ve got ’em in Dublin Zoo. They’re
from Peru. It’s got like, eh… it doesn’t look right. [Very Long Pause] Ah fuck!
It’s the Tapir! A Peruvian Tapir!! They’ve got big noses too.

Do you have any special magic powers?

::: Daniel (Age 4), Dublin

GR: Many. Weather changing, especially. We only have the power
of sleet and, uhm, I don’t know.

DI: We’ve got the power to make people think we’ve got
power.

Where did you get the tank and what did you get up to with
it?

::: Dawn, kildare

DI: We bought it off an arms dealer called Baz from Nottingham.

GR: We just phoned him up. There was an ad in Tank Weekly. We
put some decks in it and slapped on some speakers. Then we sold it to Don Henley
from The Eagles. He keeps it on his ranch in California. That’s a true story.
The main reason for getting it was to decommission a military tank. As a
pacifist band, we thought that if every rock band decommissioned a military
vehicle and used it to shoot food at the hungry that the world would be a better
place and everyone would come together as one and there would be the end of
famine.

We’re going to Wales soon and want to be able to abuse the
locals. Can you give us some swear words in your local tongue?

::: Kato, Catland

GR: Cocoen! (Pronounced Cock-oyn) That’s a serious insult. It
means lamb’s dick.

DI: Then there’s Dos I Chwarady Nain (pronounced Dossy Karrady
Nine). That means ‘Go finger your Granny’.

Where did you get the name for the new album?

::: Simon, Wexford

GR: From a button on our desk, a switch on the mixing desk.

DI: What is it? We’re not quite sure, but it’s there. It sends
powers to electrical equipment and mics.

GR: We hijacked the term and gave it its own meaning.

What was recording Rings Around The World in Woodstock
like?

::: Brian, Meath

GR: We were in the middle of a forest in upstate New York and
there was live bears coming down every morning to look for bagels in the skip.
There were cute little baby ones, but we were scared that their mum would be
round the corner waiting to pounce. We had to walk back through the forest every
night for about a quarter of a mile to our woodland hut where we stayed. It is
pretty scary, like. So we had to howl like a wolf so that the bears wouldn’t
come too close.

I heard you guys are great mates with Howard Marks. Does
this mean you guys are huge stoners and are you into smuggling?

::: Purdy, Dublin

DI: Not necessarily! We’re mates with Howard, but it doesn’t
make us dope smugglers!

GR: There’s loads of preconceptions about Welsh culture, the
rugby and Tom Jones. That was the cliché. So partly for the sake of information
to us, the Welsh people, we wanted to inform people of Welsh anti heroes.

DI: And then Howard conveniently came out of jail.

GR: We asked him if we could use his photo on the record sleeve
and he phoned up and asked if he could come check us out, so we had Howard Marks
+ 10 on the guestlist. He invited us to stay in his villa in Majorca. He’s an
incredibly charismatic guy, a very interesting guy.

Were your mums proud when you got mentioned in
Parliament?

::: Molly, Dublin

GR: Prouder than us, probably. We weren’t particularly arsed,
personally.

DI: I’ve even forgotten what it’s about, dya know what I mean?
That’s how arsed I am.

GR: The Westminster establishment doesn’t mean shit to me.

You guys have addressed environmental, communication and
local community issues in your music. Are you trying to save the world?

::: Dan, Limerick

DI: Hell no! We can hardly look after ourselves. We like to
point a few things out now and again, but we’re not preachers.

GR: I’d also like to point out that we’re musicians who get
paid to tour the bars of the world to make people jump up and down, which
doesn’t exactly give us the right to comment on the economic make up of
globalism, or whatever.

What are your feelings on Tony Blair?

::: Josh, Kilkenny

GR: I think Tony Blair is a war criminal and should be arrested
accordingly and put on trial in the Hague.

Do you guys have any craziness planned for the tour?

::: Mark, Belfast

DI: You can’t plan craziness, then it’s not crazy. Crazy’s
gotta come when you’re least expecting it. Spontaneity is the key.

What’s your preferred method of mind-bending?

::: Niall, Galway

GR: A G clamp and glue.

What’s the most embarrassing record in your collection?

::: Anto, Dublin

GR: I don’t believe that any record should be embarrassing
really. There is a lesson to be learnt from even the bad records, y’know, there
is a certain beauty in ugliness.

Are you guys big fans of Dirty Sanchez?

::: Elizabeth, Galway

DI: We were in the same class at school.

GR: And the first time I saw them I pissed myself laughing.
Especially the bit where they drove into the guy standing on the ladder. The
funniest thing was them watching it back afterwards.

DI: But, God, putting nails through your cock! I suppose if he
wants two holes at the end of his cock that’s up to him.

GR: As well, compared to Jackass, it’s that they… (pauses)

DI: They’re not American?

GR: They’re kind of, y’know, they acknowledge the pain. They
seem a bit more human. They always question themselves, like ‘Why the fuck did I
do this?’ I like Americans as well, and it’s just a different kind of thing.
It’s less Hollywood I suppose.