Music / Bristol Sounds
Super Furry Animals – ‘We were so lucky to live near Bristol’
The most democratic band in Britpop are heading to Bristol next week but, they say, they’ve been here before – and the city left a lasting impression.
Super Furry Animals bassist Guto Pryce tells all about those seminal expeditions across the bridge from Cardiff, why the band loves technology, and the importance of art in the current climate.
When I first call Guto Pryce, I manage to interrupt a meeting the bassist is in with his fellow Super Furry Animals. On the agenda: “general admin, and future communication.”
If this suggests the band are considering activity beyond the current series of reunion gigs – the next of which is at the Harbourside when SFA play Bristol Sounds on Wednesday, June 24 – then Pryce won’t be drawn. He does admit that while “summer has panned out really well, and been lots of fun, we went in with our eyes open.”
Thanks to “lessons learned” the band is “self-managed” these days, he says. “When we were active, there were always lots of people telling us what they expected us to do. They all tell you nice things, but no one wants to give you bad news.”
That led to a discovery, towards the end of their 15-year run of stellar albums and relentless touring, that they’d been making a “horrible loss” on every gig.
The band now “make their own choices” and don’t do anything they’re uncomfortable with. “We feel a bit more in-charge,” he says. “It has to be about what works for everyone – communication is the foundation for that.”
The band are keeping quiet on whether the reunion will continue beyond this summer run of shows – photo: Super Furry Animals
The Super Furry Animals are instinctively democratic – the songs for these reunion gigs were decided via “spreadsheets and voting,” making the setlist very “singles-heavy, with a few choice album tracks thrown in.”
Did the dynamics in rehearsal still work after a decade of not playing together? “We laughed a lot, and enjoyed being in each other’s company,” Pryce says. “But some of the early run-throughs of songs were absolutely shocking.
“None of us are bossy, so we’d sit down for ten minutes after playing a song before someone would suggest we should do it again, as it wasn’t very good.”
They got it together, though, and the gigs so far have been rapturously received. How have they found it?
“It’s been amazing to see people still want to come and listen to us” says Pryce. “Reassuring and heartening. The demographic is really positive, too. There were people who grew up with the band, but also a younger generation, there with their parents or they found their own way to it.”
Naturally experimental, SFA have always gone their own way when it comes to styles, influences and inspirations
Pryce’s belief in progress is also instinctive. When I ask him what it was like to look back at the old music, he tells me that “we’ve always tended to be forward-thinking. So, we’ve got a whole new rig for Cian’s synths, and stronger computers that give us more flexibility.”
How so? “Our previous tech made the songs rigid, but this stuff can adapt to allow for mistakes – no, let’s say ‘feel’.”
We should expect spectacle down at the harbour too, since Pryce also says the band has “always been fascinated by what you can do with light and video.” Their tech guy – who they’ve known for years from Cardiff – was involved in the development of the Las Vegas Sphere.
This open-minded attitude to technology set them apart, especially when they started out at the height of Britpop.
“It was supposed to be this British music, when it was just blokes with guitars, the same as the 50s,” says Pryce. “We loved melody and songwriting, but we also loved experimentation, new ideas. To us, drum ‘n’ bass was a truly British sound – it was unique.”
Does that mean Bristol was on their radar? “We were so lucky to live near Bristol. We went to a few raves, jungle nights at Thekla and I guess Lakota. St Paul’s was amazing. Bristol is a bigger city than Cardiff, but we knew that if we could just find our way back to the train station we’d be OK.”
SFA share with Bristol’s most famous acts an aversion to scenes, and to getting sucked into London. “We were always careful to be ourselves,” as Pryce puts it.
This let their tastes run wherever they might: “We were never precious enough to dismiss anything as an inspiration.” Pryce cites Brian Wilson’s studio invention, and “even pop stuff, the production of noughties R&B and West Coast hip-hop” as music that fired them.
There’s another local connection to this gig, with Bristol-based Getdown Services providing support. “They’ve been an inspired choice. They really won the crowd over. They laugh at themselves, and us – laughing at things will go a long way.”
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It’s an outlook that has served SFA well, too. “We’re very serious about what we do, but don’t take ourselves too seriously.” Pryce then underlines his point perfectly. “It’s not life or death what we do, it’s not worthy, but there’s a value to art and to entertainment, especially now.”
He warms to his theme: “People in power are more than happy to hang out with you once you’re popular, but it’s so hard just to survive, and bands don’t get enough support.” And AI is only going to make it worse: “When the government waived artists’ right to their own work – it makes you feel like shit, like you’re not valued.”
Typically for Pryce, and for SFA, he sounds as worried for the next generation as he is for his own band.
It’s further proof of their instinctively democratic nature, and that SFA can’t help thinking about the future. Whatever was discussed at that meeting, let’s hope there even more experiments to come.
Find information and buy tickets to Super Furry Animals, Getdown Services and Gwenno at Bristol Sounds on June 24 at bristolsounds.co.uk
Main image: Naomi Dryden-Smith
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