Ffa Coffi Pawb As a teenager in 1985, Gruff Rhys played drums for the North Wales band, Machlud, appearing at the Pesda Roc festival in Bethesda. After playing drums for the band Emily, Rhys found fame in Wales as the front man of
Ffa Coffi Pawb. Translated, the name means 'everyone's coffee beans', though if said quickly in Welsh, it can sound like 'fuck off everyone' in English and Welsh combined. On signing to
Ankstmusik, Ffa Coffi Pawb became one of the leading bands on the Welsh music scene during the
Cool Cymru movement, and released three albums –
Clymhalio,
Dalec Peilon and
Hei Vidal!. Rhys plays the guitar in an unusual style. Although he is right-handed, he learned to play left-handed on his brother's left-handed guitar. Once his brother left home, Rhys only had access to a right-handed guitar. As he had already learned to play left-handed, and rather than invert the nut and re-string it, he taught himself to play the right-handed guitar upside down so the bass strings are on the bottom. Today, Rhys still plays left-handed on an upside down right-handed guitar.
Super Furry Animals When Ffa Coffi Pawb disbanded in 1993, Rhys and drummer
Dafydd Ieuan, of Rhoscefnhir,
Anglesey, who had played for
Catatonia,
Anhrefn, Hanner Pei and many other Welsh language bands, formed the basis of Super Furry Animals. They soon settled on a line-up consisting of Rhys on vocals and guitar, Ieuan on drums, his brother
Cian Ciaran (formerly of WWZZ) on keyboards,
Huw Bunford (formerly of U-Thant) on guitar and
Guto Pryce on bass. This line-up has remained constant to the present day, although the role of each member has become more flexible, particularly in the studio. In 1995, following a couple of largely Welsh-language EPs on the
Ankst label, they signed to
Creation Records. Apparently, when offering them the deal after a gig,
Alan McGee, head of Creation, asked that they sing more songs in English. Rhys pointed out that all the songs that night had been in English. Super Furry Animals went on to release their critically acclaimed first album,
Fuzzy Logic, in 1996 – the first time Rhys had recorded in English. He later observed that his singing sounded like a random collection of accents – but it was nevertheless very successful. Follow-up albums included
Radiator in 1997,
Guerrilla in 1999 and
Mwng in 2000. They also became particularly famous for their 40-foot inflatable bears and a blue tank with 'SFA' written upon it which toured summer festivals playing techno music at high volume. Super Furry Animals made a further mark on history in July 2001, when they released their first album for the Sony label,
Rings Around the World, on CD and DVD simultaneously. They repeated this for 2003's
Phantom Power. Unfortunately 2005's
Love Kraft performed poorly commercially and Super Furry Animals agreed to leave Sony. They are presently signed to
Rough Trade and released
Hey Venus! in 2007 in the UK. In 2009 they released their latest record to date, entitled
Dark Days/Light Years.
Solo , Dorset, England on 30th August 2024 On 24 January 2005, Rhys released his first solo album,
Yr Atal Genhedlaeth, on the Placid Casual label. It was a loose, sketchy, all-Welsh-language album, with most of the instruments played by Rhys. A tour of Wales and several festival appearances followed. After Super Furry Animals signed to Rough Trade, the new label agreed to take on his solo works as well, and on 8 January 2007 they released
Candylion, a batch of acoustic pop songs in English, Spanish and Welsh, which Rhys wrote whilst touring
Love Kraft but which did not fit with the direction of the new Super Furry Animals album. A third solo album by Rhys,
Hotel Shampoo, was released on 14 February 2011. On 4 March 2011, it was announced that Rhys would be playing at
Glastonbury 2011. In May 2014, Rhys released his new work,
American Interior (
I Grombil Cyfandir Pell), a combined project of an album, a film, a hardback book and an
app for mobile devices. The film was co-directed by Dylan Goch, who also worked with Rhys on his previous film,
Separado! (2010). From December 2015 to January 2016, Rhys fronted a co-production with
National Theatre Wales titled "The Insatiable, Inflatable Candylion", featuring songs from
Candylion and several new tracks. The music and lyrics were by Gruff Rhys and the play's text, which included audience participation, by Tim Price. The musicians appearing with Rhys were
Lisa Jên Brown (who also sang on the original album),
Sweet Baboo,
Emma Daman Thomas and
Kliph Scurlock. The show also included actors Remy Beasley, Matthew Bulgo,
Dyfan Dwyfor, Natasha Lewis and Dyfrig Morris. On 21 April 2016, Rhys released a new song entitled "I Love EU", a song praising the
European Union ahead of the
EU Referendum on 23 June 2016. Rhys released his fifth album, entitled
Babelsberg, on 8 June 2018. A further album, "Pang!", was released on 13 September 2019, produced by South African DJ
Muzi.
Neon Neon In 2007 Rhys launched a new electro-pop collaborative project with
Boom Bip under the collective moniker
Neon Neon. Their album, titled
Stainless Style, is a loose concept album based on the tumultuous life of
DeLorean Motor Company founder
John DeLorean, and was released on 18 March 2008 via
Lex Records. The album includes a number of high-profile guest appearances from
Fab Moretti of
The Strokes,
Har Mar Superstar,
Yo Majesty,
Spank Rock,
Cate Le Bon and
The Magic Numbers. The first single, "Raquel", was released on 26 November 2007. The follow-up single "I Lust U", featured fellow Welsh artist Cate Le Bon on vocals. The album was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize. On 29 April 2013, Neon Neon released their second studio album,
Praxis Makes Perfect, followed by a limited run of live performances featuring actors from National Theatre Wales. The album and live show are based on the life of
Giangiacomo Feltrinelli.
Collaborations with other artists Rhys has occasionally collaborated with other artists, providing vocals for the track "Dial: Revenge" on the
Mogwai album
Rock Action as well as guesting on the songs "Fear of Guitars" (from the album
Machine Says Yes by
FC Kahuna) and "Do's and Don'ts" (by
Boom Bip) as well as "Just War" from
Danger Mouse and
Sparklehorse's album
Dark Night of the Soul. He has also featured on the Myspace remix track "I'm Not Lying" by
Goldie Lookin' Chain. He features on the track "Cream Dream" from the 2009
Simian Mobile Disco album
Temporary Pleasure. He also eats carrots on the
Misty's Big Adventure album ''
Television's People, continuing the vegetable relay started by Brian Wilson on Smile. Miles Kane has also called for him to produce the next album by his band the Rascals. Rhys also collaborated with influential hip-hop group De La Soul on the Gorillaz track "Superfast Jellyfish" from their third studio album, Plastic Beach.
He later provided vocals on the song "Shadowy Light" on Gorillaz 2026 album, The Mountain''. In 2011 he provided vocals on the song "We Won't be Broke Forever Baby" on
Akira the Don's LP
The Life Equation. In 2010 he released an album with Brazilian artist Tony da Gatorra on Turnstile Music. The album featured both compositions by Tony da Gatorra, who is relatively unknown in his native Brazil, and Gruff Rhys. On 17 December 2011, Rhys joined
Manic Street Preachers on stage during the band's 38 song
A Night of National Treasures one-off live event at the
O2 Arena in London to provide the lead vocals for the song
Let Robeson Sing. Introducing Rhys to the stage, lead singer
James Dean Bradfield explained that Rhys had been set to perform the song at the band's
2001 performance in Havana, Cuba but circumstances had prevented this from happening.
Documentaries In 2010, Dylan Goch's film
Separado! premiered. It is a documentary about Gruff Rhys's trip to
Patagonia to try to locate members of his family whose ancestors had emigrated in Victorian times. In 2014, the pair co-directed a film about the Welsh explorer
John Evans,
American Interior. It was released in cinemas in the UK on 9 May 2014.
Computer game music In 2011 Rhys composed the music for the successful
iOS and
Android game
Whale Trail which has been an iTunes game of the week.
Political music In 2016 Rhys composed and sang "I Love EU" to support the
Remain campaign in the
UK European Membership Referendum. ==Film scores==