Catatonia were
one of my most treasured bands. Many of the artists on my Music Angels
meant a lot to me emotionally, and although Catatonia were that to an extent -
to me they were also an example of how I really could religiously follow
every release that an artists could ever produce.
Catatonia, a five
piece band revolved around the central song writing partnership of Cerys
Matthews, Catatonia's vocalist, and Mark Roberts, the band's guitarist.
The other band members were Paul Jones on bass, Daffyd Ieuan on the drums and
Clancy Pegg on keyboards. In later line ups Clancy left the band, and
Daffyd was replaced by Aled Richards on the drums, and Owen Powell, an extra
guitarist joined the band.
During the mid
1990's, Catatonia were one of a number of bands from Wales who fought their way
to the top of the music tree. The reason why I love Catatonia with so much
enthusiasm to add them to my Angels is that I was head over heals in love
with Cerys' voice. Her voice is so attractive. She manages to
pronounce every one of her words in her songs so clearly and effortlessly,
whilst still maintaining and allowing her beautiful Welsh vocals to shine through.
The way she rolls her "R's" and sounds like a sweet little girl in Dead From The
Waist Down, still one of my favourite songs of all time, to the way she
pronounces and rasps the word Bullshit in the sublime song, Bleed.
My experience of
them started when I heard Mark & Lard play their song Bleed on their BBC Radio 1
evening show, sometime in March 1995. At the time I was unemployed, so I
was unable to really think about buying and following their releases at the
time, so it wasn't until I was in regular employment in the summer of that year
that I could continue my love of the band. Bleed was released on the minor
record label Nursery, so when the band joined the corporate label Warner
Brothers in 1996, Nursery released a compilation of their material recorded for
them during the years 1994 to 1995. Warner Brothers gave them the exposure
they required to succeed on a more popular level, although they ran into
problems with the company with the eventual release of their International
Velvet album. The band, disillusioned with the label wrote a seething
attack in a song directed at Warner Brothers called That's All Folks! intended
as the closing track to their album. Warner Brothers, not to happy with
the band's attitude removed the song, and replaced it with the more sedate My
Selfish Gene.
By 2001, the band
were in trouble. Cerys and Mark, physical partners as well as song writing
partners had split, and unfortunately for the band, the central nucleus for the
band's reason to survive had dissipated. It was tragic (but not surprising)
for me to hear of the bands split later that year, not long after their poorly
received final album, Paper Scissors Stone. That's not the end of the
story though. In 2003, Cerys released a solo album called Cockahoop, an
album with very much an acoustic folk flavour, which is a radical change in
sound and direction to her former career. I have had many very happy
Catatonia moments, including seeing them in concert. Thank you so much for
the memories.
In chronological order,
here are my most personal Catatonia music moments...
Clicking on any of the covers will download a larger picture.
Bleed
This was the first Catatonia record I ever bought. It's a beautiful
looking record, from the blood on the flowers on both covers, to the bright
red colour of the 7" vinyl itself. It was a strictly limited edition
release of 1000 copies. One interesting fact is that the A side
(Bleed) is numbered 0654, and the B side (This Boy Can't Swim) is numbered
0346. Guess what 654 plus 346 add up to?
Christmas
'95
I am so proud to own this single. There were only 1000 of these ever
made, and they (from what I can tell) were only sent to those people who
bought the original vinyl of Bleed. This record was sent out to
promote the fact that the band had changed record labels, and were now on
the giant Warner Brothers label. There's two songs on here, etched
onto a pearl coloured vinyl, Blow, The Millennium, Blow and Beautiful
Sailor.
You've Got
A Lot To Answer For
For a while, this was my favourite song that the band released. This
release is a hugely infectious acoustic number
who's sole aim was to launch the band to a wider audience. The song
worked. Featuring the memorable lyrics, 'You've got a lot to answer
for, but baby I love you', this brought many more fans to the Catatonia
flagship, whilst the band still kept the same sound core.
Way Beyond
Blue
This is Catatonia's first proper
studio album released in 1996, three years after they started recording
music as a band. Critics (perhaps with a valid point) noted that some
of the songs on here were just new versions of songs that they'd previously
recorded for their two other record labels (Nursery and Sain). I'm
personally not a big fan of the new version of Bleed that's been recorded
here, but the new version of This Boy Can't Swim is amazing.
Dead From
The Waist Down
This, Catatonia's first single
release from their Equally Cursed And Blessed LP (their third album) is my
favourite song of Catatonia's of all time. With the lyrics 'Make hay,
not war' as its central chorus line, this is as beautiful a song that
anybody can ever hear. Cerys sounds like girl who's tragically lost
trying to find her way out of a maze. The way this song is sung with
such a genuine emotional quality is why I still regard this song among my
favourites by any artist.
Here are a few miscellaneous
Catatonia items that I have - including my 1999 concert ticket! Click on any of the pictures to download a larger version.
1994
Select Magazine Band Introduction
I found this article while I was
searching through my old issues of (the now defunct) Select Magazine.
Being Welsh, Catatonia were initially typecast along with other female
fronted Welsh bands (hence the mention of The Darling Buds - a Welsh indie
band from the early 1990's).
1999
Wolverhampton Concert Ticket
This was a great night!
Myself and a friend travelled to Wolverhampton and saw Catatonia totally
free! A rep from Warner Brothers had two tickets one day when he came
into the music shop where I work, and offered them to me, as he couldn't go!
Catatonia were superb! They were on the threshold of releasing Equally
Cursed And Blessed, so they had lots of energy in playing new songs, as
well as their classics. Cerys was a total star. She was winging
herself around the stage with a bottle of white wine in her hand, with a
microphone in the other!
Stone By
Stone Promotional Pebble
Just prior to Catatonia's final
single release, Stone By Stone, and their album, Paper Scissors Stone, I
received this in the post. Yes, it's a stone. With the Catatonia
logo on it!
To round up my Catatonia
dedication, here are a couple of great pictures.
Both are taken from the great website
http://www.cerysworld.connectfree.co.uk. Click on either to download a larger image.
Catatonia were
one of my most treasured bands. Many of the artists on my Music Angels
meant a lot to me emotionally, and although Catatonia were that to an extent -
to me they were also an example of how I really could religiously follow
every release that an artists could ever produce.
