Crac

An evening with Crac�
Glitter interview, 12 May 1998

Glitter: Tell us about the band

Clancy: We formed 2 years ago after I�d split up with my boyfriend. Pippa was already playing guitar and we�d talked about starting a band. We recruited Frog, who�s the best drummer in Wales and Duncan who was selling flowers on a street corner at the time. Our first gig was supporting Ectogram in the Welsh Club. The name�well it was something that Welsh and English people could say and it means a lot of things.

Glitter: What are your influences?

Clancy: Debbie Harry, Liza Minelli.
Pippa: Late 60�s, Miles Davis, Shangri-las, Mr Echo.
Frog: Crass.

Glitter: Do you feel part of the Welsh scene, if there is such a thing?

Pippa: There is such a thing, but we don�t really feel part of it. Being a girl fronted band we�re often treated like a gimmick, people don�t take us seriously. No, we�re quite ostracised from the whole thing.

Glitter: How important is singing in Welsh to you?

Pippa: It�s very important to me �cos I�m a fluent Welsh speaker.
Clancy: I hardly speak any Welsh.

Glitter: Who do you regard as cool?

Clancy: Al Pacino, anyone called Jarvis, Marlene Dietrich, Tiffany of Eastenders, PJ Harvey, Courtney Love�
Pippa: and Suzy Quatro, Steve Buscemi, Jonathan Richman, John Travolta and anyone who appears on Stars In Their Eyes!
Duncan: Stereolab.
Frog: Chris Eubank.

Glitter: What makes you happy?

Clancy: Food, being in love, or failing that, a good shag!
Pippa: Sleeping, playing our songs.
Duncan: Playing football, picking flowers.
Frog: Prozac.
Clancy: And he likes to watch scantily dressed women on a summers day.

Glitter: What did you dream last night?

Frog: I didn�t.
Duncan: I can never remember my dreams.

Clancy: I once dreamt that I was lying naked on a zebra crossing and it was pouring with rain and then I was on a bus with a heavy coat on and this man said �Excuse me, a mouse just ran out of your coat!� but it was a rat and everyone started screaming!

Pippa: I dream about killing people. I used to sublet this flat in real life and in my dreams I�d go in and kill people with a machinegun. I�d wake up in such a state �cos I was about to get caught by the police but I didn�t feel guilty or anything. I looked it up in a book and apparently it means beware of false lovers.

Glitter: Which was the first record you went and bought for yourself?

Clancy: I bought two at the same time. Gary Glitter Leader Of The Gang and Suzy Quatro Can the Can.
Pippa: Mine was Tony Basil Hey Mickey.
Duncan: Something by Ultravox.
Frog: Slaughter and the Dogs.

Glitter: And your first gig?

Clancy: Secret Affair supported by The Selecter and The Body Snatchers. I was about 12.
Pippa: U-Thant and Y Cyrff when I was 13.
Duncan: The Pogues.
Frog: The Smiths.

Glitter: Do you have a favourite shop here in Cardiff?

Clancy: Lovecraft on Cowbridge Road East, it�s the only shop for us!

Glitter: What do you always carry with you?

Clancy: Fags and contactlense liquid.
Pippa: Nail varnish and tampons.
Duncan: Keys, fags.
Frog: Extra chewing gum.

Glitter: Favourite books?

Duncan: Tristram Shandy by Lawrence Stern.
Pippa: Duncan�s new publication The art of murder.
Duncan: But that�s just an article!
Clancy: That long biography on The Clash, can�t remember its name. The Mouse And His Child by Russell Hoban and The Crow Road by Iain Banks. And I�ve just finished reading Keith Richard�s biography.

Glitter: Frog, off the record, who�s your favourite Spice girl?

Frog: I�ll have them all!

Crac are:
Clancy on bass/vocals
Pippa on guitar/vocals
Duncan on keyboards
and Frog on drums

Update 2001: Crac have appeared on several compilation albums such as Hi Peach on Na Na Records and Dail M For Merthyr. They put out a pink vinyl EP (4 Cracyr E.P.) in Welsh on Johnny R�s R-Bennig Label back in 1999 and split up the same year. Former Crac members are now working on individual projects.