| Glitter interview, September 1998 �The future of Welsh music lies in the hands of English-speaking bands.� Promoter, Clwb Ifor Bach. But there is a future in Welsh language music and it�s brighter than ever. There are plenty of young talented bands around and only people with no knowledge of the Welsh language are stupid enough to criticise and condemn this trend. Coaster is at the forefront of the so-called Welsh language trend and there is nothing unusual about that, except for the fact that they come from the Valleys. They are Welsh speaking South Walians with a strong cultural identity and aren�t afraid to use their mother tongue to get their message across. It takes time to change people�s views, but then again Rome wasn�t built in one day. �I don�t know what kind of influence we might have on people, whether or not people will think it�s cool to speak and sing in Welsh. They don�t need it in North Wales, because it�s naturally installed in peoples� tongue. Down in the South Wales valleys we do have Welsh schools but most children will go home to their English speaking families and continue speaking and singing in English. We are one of the few bands who sing in Welsh in the valleys, we don�t have to, it might be a lot easier for us to sing English songs, but we have chosen to use both languages to create something different and unusual for where we come from. I think that if we are given attention and publicity through our music, then people will think we are cool and they�ll want more Welsh language material and a growth in the status and professionalism of Welsh music will encourage a growth in the language. But that would require the kind of inspiration as the Manics to inspire a whole country like they have, so until there is a Welsh language Manic Street Preachers type of band, the growth of the language will be down to culture, what people want for themselves and what they want to be part of. More people are sending their children to Welsh language schools now in the south, so perhaps it would be an idea to play gigs in secondary schools and colleges to inspire young Welsh talent. We were inspired by Gorky�s Zygotic Mynci, Ffa Coffi Pawb, Super Furries and Datblygu. More bands of this standard are required in Wales and we intend to be at the front,� says Huw. Coaster are Huw, who sings, plays the guitar, writes the lyrics and some of the music, Hywel who is the backing singer, plays the guitar and writes the rest of the music, Craig who is the bass player and Steffan who plays the drums. They are all 18 years old but age is not an issue for the band. �We want to be judged by our sound not our age,� says Huw. A longer version of this interview can be found in Glitter Fanzine issue 1/99. (C) Glitter Fanzine 1998 |
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