Gruff Rhys : vocals, guitar
Rhodri Puw : guitar
Dewi Emlyn : bass
Dafydd Ieuan : drums
Ffa Coffi Pawb -- sometimes called
FCP -- is a
Welsh rock band. If you've never heard of them, that might serve as reference: FCP later on mutated into
Super Furry Animals. Lead singer
Gruff Rhys was born in
Bethesda,
North Wales, in
1970. His previous band (
Emily) was briefly signed to
Creation Records (who brought us
My Bloody Valentine,
Jesus & Mary Chain among other
British indie rock monoliths)... after that band's split up, Gruff formed Ffa Coffi Pawb with three other musicians from different parts of
Wales.
The name translates as "
everybody's coffee beans", though it means something quite different phonetically... such as "everybody f*ck off". "You don't really want me to pronounce it on
radio", Gruff once told presenter
Jonathan Ross.
Ffa Coffi signed to
Ankst -- home of the most interesting Welsh bands, such as
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci -- and became one of the most popular band in Wales for some time. They released three albums -
Clymhalio,
Dalec Peilon and
Hei Vidal!, as well as a a live tape -
Angylion - with
The Crumblowers. It was recorded at a
Cardiff club in August
1988.
If you listen to their albums -- most notably
Hei Vidal! -- you'll see they were more
pop-rock oriented in their music, focusing on solid songwriting instead of using all that musical experimentation
SFA fans are used to. Too bad they've split up after the release of this album.
After that,
Gruff and drummer
Daf went on to form the basis of SFA...
Rhodri Puw replaced
John Lawrence in
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci... and bassist
Dewi Emlyn is the
tour manager for Gorky's and the Super Furries.
Discography:
1991 -
Clymhalio (Ankst Records)
1991 -
Dalec Peilon (Ankst Records)
1992 -
Hei Vidal! (Ankst Records)