Gruff Rhys

Best-known for his tenure in the hard-to-peg-down Welsh outfit <a href="spotify:artist:0FOcXqJgJ1oq9XfzYTDZmZ" data-name="Super Furry Animals">Super Furry Animals</a>, Gruff Rhys has a long history in British rock. Born in 1970, Rhys played in spotify:search:label%3A%22Creation+Records%22 &#39; Emily as well as <a href="spotify:artist:3orZArq6jeNPL91JqSpsvR" data-name="Ffa Coffi Pawb">Ffa Coffi Pawb</a>, but his first foray into the musical arts was at the ripe age of five, when he wrote an odd little number about a train driver who&#39;s contemplating his own death. In 1990, a chance meeting helped lead to the development of what would become <a href="spotify:artist:0FOcXqJgJ1oq9XfzYTDZmZ" data-name="Super Furry Animals">Super Furry Animals</a>. First a left-field techno group, then later a whacked-out guitar group, <a href="spotify:artist:0FOcXqJgJ1oq9XfzYTDZmZ" data-name="Super Furry Animals">Super Furry Animals</a> got much of their character and respect from Rhys&#39; outlandish and obscure lyrical slants. After many critically acclaimed singles and full-lengths, Rhys released his solo outing Yr Atal Genhedlaeth in 2005. And in true Gruff Rhys form, it was an entirely Welsh affair. He followed up the release with a small sampling of dates in his native homeland. When <a href="spotify:artist:0FOcXqJgJ1oq9XfzYTDZmZ" data-name="Super Furry Animals">Super Furry Animals</a> moved to spotify:search:label%3A%22Rough+Trade%22 , the label also picked up Rhys&#39; solo work and released his second album, Candylion, early in 2007. The album was released by spotify:search:label%3A%22Team+Love%22 in the U.S. shortly afterward. That same year, <a href="spotify:artist:0GHcMuYNbDXb8cfJ7I5PsD" data-name="Neon Neon">Neon Neon</a>, a collaborative project of Rhys and <a href="spotify:artist:6AtkRnMQyGsdt9aldrc0dx" data-name="Boom Bip">Boom Bip</a>, released Stainless Style, an electro-pop concept album about auto tycoon John DeLorean. Rhys next stepped outside of <a href="spotify:artist:0FOcXqJgJ1oq9XfzYTDZmZ" data-name="Super Furry Animals">Super Furry Animals</a> in 2010 for The Terror of Cosmic Loneliness, a duet album with <a href="spotify:artist:2QeDKf9WtMEDoTO2l2iaUs" data-name="Tony Da Gatorra">Tony Da Gatorra</a>. In 2011 Rhys released his third solo album, Hotel Shampoo, featuring production from <a href="spotify:artist:67wOTDjbsUMW6tQgR54yLN" data-name="Andy Votel">Andy Votel</a>. Rhys then returned to <a href="spotify:artist:0GHcMuYNbDXb8cfJ7I5PsD" data-name="Neon Neon">Neon Neon</a> for 2013&#39;s Praxis Makes Perfect and then devoted himself to an ambitious multimedia project called American Interior. An album, a movie, and a book, American Interior traced Rhys&#39; journey through America to track the legend of John Evans, a Welshman who searched for the legendary lost tribe of Welsh-speaking Native Americans in 1792. The project was unveiled in the spring of 2014 with the album seeing release in May of that year. ~ Chris True, Rovi