|  | | home | business |  | | SCENE BUT NOT HEARD: PEELING BACK THE YEARS written by James McLaren | "You'd have to be a bit of a ninny to ignore Datblygu, this is the band that
makes me want to learn the Welsh language."
This quote sums up John Peel's attitude towards music. Not afraid to play
non-English-language music, and with a desire to get behind the music, Peel
was a one-man tidal wave through the ocean of musical dross. Sometimes he
threw up genius bands, sometimes bands best confined to the dustbin of
musical history, but at least he was there.
Peel, who died in late October at the age of 65, will be sadly missed. A
million words will have been gushed across the pages of the press from NME
to the Times before this is published, so this is not an obituary, but
rather an attempt to explain why in 2005, a brand new band from Wales will
be finding life slightly more daunting than before. He provided the very
first radio play for so many bands from Wales over the years (and a measure
of the man is the fact that the music industry in Scotland and Ireland will
also be bemoaning his premature death), and the first effective thumbs-up
from a notoriously trite yet unforgiving industry. You know that if Peel
played something, even if it was unlistenable to your own ears, it was
because he genuinely loved it; and that critical acclaim was for many bands
the highpoint, regardless of whether that career ended six months or 16
years later.
Rhys Mwyn, of Anhrefn (the band and label) recalls, "In 1985 we put out a
compilation album called Cam O'r Tywyllwch which featured Anhrefn, Datblygu,
Cyrff, Tynal Tywyll and Elfyn Presli. As part of the 'promotion' I went to
London with a plastic bag full of albums and spent the day going round NME,
Sounds etc and at the end of the day I got over to Radio One. I was told
that John was in a wine bar around the corner; as I entered the bar and
caught Peel's eye he greeted me with 'You're not a mugger I hope,' which
kind of says a lot about him. I explained about the compilation of new
'underground' Welsh-language acts and a couple of days later he played
Rhywle Yn Moscow by Anhrefn, which at the time felt like we'd actually made
it!"
That first John Peel play was a great moment in the careers of Anhrefn,
Datblygu, Young Marble Giants, Helen Love, The Darling Buds, The Pooh
Sticks, Teen Anthems, Scritti Politti, Y Cyrff, Llwybr Llaethog, Trwynau
Coch, Llygod Ffyrnig, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Tystion, Melys, Zabrinski,
K-Klass, The Loves, Twp, Steveless, Reviver Gene, 60ft Dolls, The Loves and
many many more. That many of the Welsh bands he played recorded in Welsh,
comes as no surprise. "With regard to the music scene here in Wales, it is
impossible to overestimate the positive influence John Peel has had over our
culture since the late Seventies," says Ankstmusik's Emyr Williams.
"Everyone knows how insular we can be here in Wales and I believe his
support for Welsh-language music in the mid-Eighties onwards was essential
in breaking down this insularity. He succeeded in educating people inside
Wales about what was going on in their own country (ironic but true)."
For Peel there was no 'alternative' music - there was either music he loved
or music he didn't, and that meant that Welsh-language was no barrier to
play. "His support for dozens of groups from Wales, a large majority of
those singing in Welsh, normalised our whole rock culture and allowed Welsh
musicians to become part of a World-wide music community," continues
Williams. "A whole generation of musicians never had to make excuses for
singing in a different language, never had to accept that their music was
only meant for a narrow, isolated audience back home."
Part of the reason for Welsh-language bands' and labels' gratitude to Peel
is because at the time, they couldn't even get play in their home country.
David R Edwards, of Peel favourites Datblygu, says, "He gave Welsh bands an
outlet that they didn't even have in Wales. Datblygu wouldn't have spread
without his support. Every time we recorded an album, we thought 'John will
play this', so it gave us the inspiration we needed to keep recording."
Emyr Williams agrees: "He gave sessions to dozens of Welsh-language groups
on national Radio One, an unthinkable thing at the time, seeing as radio
here in Wales wouldn't touch most of these bands."
Iestyn George, ex-NME journalist and currently Deputy Editor of Golf Punk
magazine, draws attention to his influence over other media: "Welsh music
wasn't his little pet project - it was just one component part of his
musical universe - but you can't underestimate the knock-on effect. Music
journalists gave Welsh-language music, in particular, far more attention
because of Peel and we owe him big time for that."
His support for Welsh-language bands was unstinting from the Eighties to the
new millennium. The one time I met Peel was at Radio One Live in Cardiff in
2001. At the city's Coal Exchange, he was enthusing about programming
Welsh-language hip-hop group Tystion with P J Harvey. Steffan Cravos,
frontman of Tystion, remembers, "Peel acted as an ambassador for cutting
edge Welsh-language music. Thanks to him, a significant number of people
learned Welsh after listening to the likes of Datblygu and Llwybr Llaethog
and Fflaps. The Welsh-language music scene is indebted to Peel and his
undying passion."
But of course, it wasn't only Welsh-language music from Wales that Peel
played. During the late-Eighties he was playing material by English-language
bands such as Cardiff's Young Marble Giants and The Darling Buds, and also
Swansea's Helen Love and The Pooh Sticks. Huw Williams - aka Hue Pooh - of
the band recalls, "Peel was definitely very important in encouraging myself
and other people to do what we do. After we got some initial press from
James Brown at NME, Peel was the first national radio we got. This quickly
led to more plays and a couple of sessions which were released by Overground
Records of Newcastle. At this time I was working as an athletics coach in
Swansea's Morfa Stadium. Late one night I was oiling a starting block or
something and there was a booming Tannoy announcement saying. 'Call for Huw,
it's John Peel from wonderful Radio One'.
"Unfortunately his patronage dropped somewhat when I was quoted -
incorrectly I stress - in NME saying 'John Peel is a bastard, blah blah
blah'. His wife, Sheila, saw this and Peel read it out one night. Our new
session was aired once, never to be repeated. A record that still stands I
believe."
Chris McDonnagh was a member of The Darling Buds, and felt at first hand the
speed with which Peel support made itself felt as far as the business side
of things went. "In 1987 we released a self-financed 7" double-A side
single. Geraint, our guitarist, trekked up to London to put the record into
the hands of important people at the time - Sounds, NME, Melody Maker, John
Peel etc. By the time he got to the BBC, it was late and there was only the
cleaner about, who directed him to a pile of records on his desk for that
night's show. Geraint slipped our single into the pile a couple of records
from the top and the rest is history. He played one side to death and Janice
Long did likewise with the other side. He got us in for a session shortly
after, broadcast our contact details on air, which led to us signing to an
independent label. A couple of singles later, Sony came calling..."
Huw Williams' reference to releasing the session was something that over the
years became something that many bands did. Bands had to buy the licence for
the recordings from the BBC, but the cost was usually outweighed by the
Musicians Union rates they got for performing in the first place. So in
effect, bands got a session to release for free, and the pull of a Peel
session on a record was sizeable. Melys (who did no fewer then 10 live and
recorded sessions) often put Peel sessions on their singles as b-sides, and
many by other bands were released in one form or another.
The session was the accolade from Peel that went further than a mere play.
Whether at the legendary Maida Vale studios or at his home, Peel Acres, a
Peel session was a big moment for many bands. A very recent favourite of
Peel was Steveless, aka Dan Newman of Pontyclun.
Peel told Music Week, in a recent interview, "I'd sooner listen to somebody
like a bloke who sent us some demos called Steveless [than Bruce
Springsteen, Tom Waits or Patti Smith]. He's really Dan Newman but he
records as Steveless because he isn't called Steve, I guess, which is a good
enough reason. They're just shouting and strumming really, but there's great
intensity and intergrity. I value something like Steveless a lot more than I
do something like Springsteen."
Newman puts into context the importance of getting the thumbs-up from Peel:
"He got in contact with me after he played a song from a CD I'd sent a while
before, and asked me to send him everything I'd ever done, which was a lot.
He liked it all, and his patronage has opened a lot of doors for me, at a
time at which I was considering stopping making music. My session at Maida
Vale was understandably the best day of my life. This was the real
culmination - in terms of both my happiest experience in music and in terms
of getting a wider audience and attention from people. I can say that any
success I have in music is due to John Peel. My big fear is that now, all
the thousands of kids making noise in their bedrooms today will not have
this opportunity and won't have a fair chance to make something of their
music."
This point is raised by virtually all our contributors to this piece. With
Peel gone, how are the music producers on the very edge of music, on the
first rung of the monumentally tall ladder, going to be played on the radio?
Huw Williams echoes, "He will be sorely missed and there may well be a few
more athletics coaches or shop assistants emerging from Wales in his
absence..." McDonnagh simply sighs, "Another door shut on the struggling
artist."
However Radio One replaces John Peel, it's a given that there won't be the
same capacity for the absolute randomness that Peel gave to his broadcasts;
the randomness that put happy hardcore next to glorious harmonied indie and
Welsh-language hip-hop. Dan Newman concludes, "I'm pretty sure that John
would have seen this as a major tragedy - the fact that the opportunities he
presented for me and thousands of others will not be provided now. John Peel
made Steveless real." back to home page |
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