Ffa Coffi Pawb @ WelshBands
Am Byth
Placid Casual: 16 August 2004
Retrospective compilation of songs by Gruff Rhys' former band.
Ffa Coffi Pawb ('everyone's coffee beans') are best remembered for numbering among their ranks Gruff Rhys and Daf Ieuan, who would later finding greater success in Super Furry Animals. Am Byth takes in songs spanning Ffa Coffi's seven-year lifespan, including many songs never before released on CD.
Between 1986 and 1993 the band recorded three albums for the Ankst label, plus assorted 12" singles and a rare cassette-only album, Torrwyr Beddau Byd Eang Cyf, which they put out on their own label Siwgwr.
Their popularity in Wales was considerable, and the controversy Ffa Coffi courted over their name can't have done their profile much harm: phonetically, it sounds remarkably like 'f**k off everyone', and caused them a few problems getting airplay.
While Am Byth ('for ever') contains the odd miss and a few filler tracks, there are a few real gems. Breichiau Hir, from the band's debut album Clymhalio, is simply gorgeous, and Hei Vidal!'s Ffarout and Lluchia Dy Fflachlwch Drosta show how the group members were growing more confident as songwriters.
Sega Segur and Arwynebol Melyn are quite arresting in their similarity to SFA's Llanfair (In Space) EP, though the ghosts of the Jesus And Mary Chain and Ankst labelmates Datblygu are never far. It's not hard to see how Ffa Coffi Pawb were a pivotal part of modern Welsh pop.
In time, Placid Casual are reportedly planning to re-release FCP's three albums. Am Byth will doubtless bring back many great memories for those who were there, and a handy excuse for those who weren't. And, as an extra sweetener, they've even tacked on a bonus studio offcut as a 'hidden' track. How very early '90s.
Taken and modified from bbc.co.uk/wales. Words by Joe Goodden.
Ffa Coffi Pawb - obscure Welsh language band (1987-90) became Super Furry Animals. feat; Gruff Rhys (voc,gtr), Rhodri Puw (gtr) (later of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci), Dewi Emlyn (bass), Dafydd Ieuan (drms). Gruff (b.1970) is from Bethesda in N.Wales, & started messing around with instruments at a "rock-school" type place in a disused hall when he was 12. He then went on to play with early Creation band "Emily" before fronting Ffa Coffi Pawb. They soon became well known in Wales & released 3 LPs on Ankst records, Clymhalio, Dalec Peilon & Hei Vidal!. Not bad for a band whose name roughly translates into Fuck Off Everyone in English, HTV Wales wouldn't caption Ffa Coffi Pawb when they appeared on screen, & made them change the billing to FCP.
They split up after making their classic 3rd LP. Also released a live tape with the Crumblowers called 'Angylion'. The tracks were Valium, Mae'n Gwneud Fy Mhen i Mewn, Telyn Wedi Trwsio & Rege Racs Mwnci. It was recorded at the Square Club in Cardiff on 3.8.88. A flexi-disc also appeared feat their song Gwn, together with a track by Terry Waite Ar Asid (Chicken Jane).
Gruff apparantly met fellow Super Furry member Huw Bunford on the roof of a moving train shortly before being asked to get off the train at the next station. His influences include Jeff Lynne, ELO & the Beach Boys. Most of Gruffs' ELO record collection was "complete shit".
But apparantly he "liked to find the beauty in the shitness". Before forming SFA he used to go to Daf's house with analogue equipment & a drum machine & jam for 12 hours on end. "It was mad stuff, very fast. You'd get a tune ringing in your head, then one night one tune turned into a song If You Don't Want Me To Destroy You". Dafydd Ieuan from Anglesey, is the brother of Cian who apparantly both went to the same school as Aled Jones. Released Cymryd Y Pys on Ankst.
Ffa Coffi Pawb Biography
The prototype Super Furry Animals, and once one of the foremost pop bands in Wales
Ffa Coffi Pawb are best known as the band that later mutated into Super Furry Animals. Frontman Gruff Rhys was born in Bethesda, North Wales, in 1970. After his band Emily - who were briefly signed to Creation - split up, Gruff formed Ffa Coffi Pawb with three other musicians from different parts of Wales.
The name translates as 'everybody's coffee beans', though it means something quite different phonetically. "You don't really want me to pronounce it on radio," Gruff once told Jonathan Ross.
Ffa Coffi signed to Ankst, and for a time became the highest-profile band in Wales. They released three albums - Clymhalio, Dalec Peilon and Hei Vidal!, as well as a a live tape - Angylion - with The Crumblowers. It was recorded at a Cardiff club in August 1988.
Mostly forsaking musical experimentation in favour of solid songwriting, Ffa Coffi Pawb enjoyed their biggest success and artistic peak with Hei Vidal! However, they split up soon after its release.
Post Ffa Coffi, Gruff and drummer Daf went on to form the basis of SFA, Rhodri Puw replaced John Lawrence in Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, and Dewi Emlyn is currently tour manager for Gorky's and the Super Furries. A Ffa Coffi Pawb best-of, Am Byth, was released in August 2004.
Read an interview with Gruff and Daf about their time in Ffa Coffi Pawb!
Taken from Placid Casual:
Ffa Coffi Pawb - Am Byth is a compilation of songs recorded between 1986 and 1992 principally for those few Ffa Coffi Pawb fans whose tapes have long since been chewed up in cassette machines that were thrown out years ago.
The band recorded three albums for the Ankst label, one on their own Siwgwr label and released numerous 12", flexi-discs and one-off songs on Welsh language compilation albums. This is the first attempt to bring some of those disparate recordings together and is also the first time many of these songs have appeared on CD. Most of the master tapes are lost, so this collection was mastered direct from a variety of formats; cassette, vinyl, mini disc, DAT tapes and, of course, flexi-disc.
The Ffab 4 formed in Bethesda, North Wales in 86 and were instantly banned from the local media as their name, which translates literally to Everybody's Coffee Beans, phonetically translates to Fuck Off Everybody. The band split in the summer of 93 to end their perpetual tour of Wales that was broken only twice by two London pub gigs and a tour of Holland and Friesland. This was only a few months after releasing what is regarded as their finest album Hei Vidal in December 1992.
In time, vocalist and guitarist Gruff Rhys and drummer Dafydd Ieuan went on to form Super Furry Animals with members of other bands from the imploded Welsh language music scene of the time, Huw Bunford and Guto Pryce from Cardiff's U Thant, and Dafydd's brother, Cián Ciaran, from electronic experimentalists Wwzz.
Guitarist Rhodri Puw joined Gorky's Zygotic Mynci following John Lawrence's departure and played on the How I Long to Feel That Summer In My Heart and Sleep/Holiday albums. He also records as Psycho VII. Bassist Dewi Emlyn has toured extensively behind the scenes with numerous bands including Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Super Furry Animals, Mogwai and Cornelius."