Gruff Rhys

As the frontman of Super Furry Animals, singer/guitarist Gruff Rhys blurred the boundaries between pop, techno and psychedelia; and he carried the experimental streak into a wider-ranging solo career. The son of Welsh poet Ioan Bowen Rees, Gruff began writing songs in grade school, and at 15 was playing drums for the locally-popular band Machlud, followed by a stint drumming in the Creation Records band Emily.  At age 16 he switched to guitar and formed the band Ffa Coffi Pawb, whose name was a Welsh pun on the phrase "F--k off to everyone." Though the group's three albums saw little U.S. attention (thanks in part to the largely Welsh lyrics), they were successful at home and began developing the pop/psych fusion that would blossom in Super Furry Animals. Formed in 1996, the latter band went through numerous phases, maintained a worldwide cult following and occasionally rubbed shoulders with superstars: In one memorable moment they snagged Paul McCartney for a cameo on their 2001 album Rings Around the World-- but instead of having him sing or play, they asked him to chew celery because he'd done so on the Beach Boys' psych landmark Smile.  Largely avoiding the droney jams of modern psychedelia, Super Furry Animals favored  a bright melodic sound, musically matching the day-glo paintings on their album covers. They signed off with 2009's Dark Days/Light Years. Rhys made his first solo album, 2005's Yr Atal Genhedlaeth as a lower-profile side project;  featured Welsh vocals and a low-fi sound with him playing most of the instruments. However his projects became more ambitious once the group had disbanded. 2014's American Interior was a concept album based on the life of 18th century explorer John Evans, whom Rhys believed was a distant relative. Shows behind the album included a PowerPoint presentation on Evans' life, and Rhys also designed an app that would let users follow both his and Evans' travels. During 2016 Rhys worked with the Welsh National Theater on The Insatiable, Inflatable Candylion a combination musical gig and fairy tale for grown-ups. Performances typically ended with him leading the audience in a conga line. Meanwhile Rhys worked with the American hip-hop producer Boom Bip (a/k/a Bryan Hollon) in the ongoing electronica project, Neon Neon. Both of the latter's albums, 2008's Stainless Style and 2013's Praxis Makes Perfect were biographical concept albums, respectively about automobile mogul John DeLorean and Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli.  Among Rhys' other collaborations was a 2010 Gorillaz track, "Superfast Jellyfish," which also featured hip-hop crew De la Soul. Rehys also wrote the music for Set Fire to the Stars, a 2014 Scottish indie film on the life of Dylan Thomas. Rhys employed a 72-piece orchestra on his 2018 release, Babelsberg, whose foreboding political lyrics were balanced by the lushness of its music. Meanwhile Super Furry Animals played on-off reunion gigs beginning in 2015, sometimes doing full-album runthroughs from their catalogue.