Super Furry Animals

A Cardiff band that signed to Creation in 1995, made a Welsh-language album on its own label, and released a major-label album on CD and DVD on the same day.

Origin: Cardiff, Wales
Years active: 1993-present
Genres: alternative rock, psychedelic rock, art rock
Labels: Ankst, Creation, Placid Casual, Epic, Rough Trade

Cardiff

Super Furry Animals formed in Cardiff in 1993. Gruff Rhys and Dafydd Ieuan had played together in Ffa Coffi Pawb, and Huw Bunford and Guto Pryce came from U Thant. The actor Rhys Ifans fronted the earliest line-up, which began in a techno style, and he left once his acting career took off, so Rhys took over the vocals. Cian Ciaran, Ieuan's younger brother, joined full-time on keyboards. The name came from T-shirts that Rhys's sister printed for the collective Acid Casuals. Ieuan recalled that they began by playing techno sets.

Their first two EPs came out in 1995, the first on Ankst, with Welsh lyrics on every song but one. After gigs in London that autumn, Creation boss Alan McGee saw them at the Camden Monarch and signed them. Their first Creation single, Hometown Unicorn, came out in February 1996 and was NME's single of the week.

Fuzzy Logic to Radiator

Fuzzy Logic followed on 20 May 1996. It was made at Rockfield Studios in Wales with the producer Gorwel Owen, and it reached number 23. Rhys said the band picked Rockfield for the jacuzzis and three meals a day. They had meant the record as a reaction to Britpop, but they soon saw that they were making a 1970s-style rock album in an old studio. Something 4 the Weekend, a slower reworking of an album track, reached number 18.

The Man Don't Give a Fuck, built on a Steely Dan sample, was released as a single that December. It became their closing number on stage. Radiator arrived in August 1997 and reached number 8, with the first of Pete Fowler's sleeve designs. The Ice Hockey Hair EP reached number 12 in May 1998.

Guerrilla, Mwng and Epic

The band produced Guerrilla themselves at Real World Studios in Wiltshire in mid-1998, because Owen felt burned out. It was the first time they used a sampler, and it reached number 10 on release in June 1999. The first single, Northern Lites, had steel drums that Ciaran played without knowing how. Creation's founder McGee left, and the band put out Mwng on their own Placid Casual label on 15 May 2000. Its lyrics were entirely in Welsh. It was recorded over two weeks in late 1999 for 6,000 pounds, reached number 11 and was the first Welsh-language album to reach the top 20.

Sony's Epic signed them next. Rings Around the World came out on 23 July 2001 on CD and DVD at the same time, a first for any artist, and reached number 3. Its first single, Juxtapozed with U, reached 14, and the title track, (Drawing) Rings Around the World, reached 28. The album was nominated for the 2001 Mercury Music Prize. Pitchfork's Marc Hogan later called it the next entry point after the singles collection Songbook.

Later albums and returns

Phantom Power (2003) reached number 4 and Love Kraft (2005) number 19. Hey Venus!, the first release on Rough Trade, came in 2007 and reached number 11. Dark Days/Light Years, their ninth and final studio album, appeared digitally on 16 March 2009 and reached number 23 after its physical release in April. A hiatus began in 2010, with one performance at Cardiff City Stadium in February 2012. Shows in 2015 accompanied the reissue of Mwng. In 2016 they released Bing Bong, their first single in seven years, to celebrate Wales qualifying for Euro 2016, and ended a reunion tour by playing Fuzzy Logic and Radiator in full.

In 2019 Bunford, Ciaran, Pryce and Ieuan formed Das Koolies without Rhys. The band returned to the stage in 2026. On 1 August they headlined the main stage of the National Eisteddfod of Wales, playing all of Mwng in their first entirely Welsh-language gig. NME wrote in 2005 that there was a case for calling them the most important band of the past 15 years, and the Guardian's reviewer in 2015 said they were the closest Britpop came to the adventuring spirit of the Beatles.

Members

Gruff Rhys lead vocals, guitar (1993-present)
Huw Bunford lead guitar, vocals (1993-present)
Guto Pryce bass guitar (1993-present)
Cian Ciaran keyboards, synthesisers, electronics, occasional guitar, vocals (1995-present)
Dafydd Ieuan drums, vocals (1993-present)

Records

Fuzzy Logic 1996 · Creation
The debut: twelve songs made at Rockfield, from God! Show Me Magic to For Now and Ever.
Radiator 1997 · Creation
The second album, with Pete Fowler's first sleeve paintings and more adventurous electronics.
Guerrilla 1999 · Creation
A self-produced pop jukebox of samples, brass and steel drums, and the last album on Creation.
Mwng 2000 · Placid Casual
The first album with lyrics entirely in Welsh, recorded live in two weeks and released on the band's own label.
Rings Around the World 2001 · Epic
The Epic debut: thirteen songs of pop, prog and electronics, released on CD and DVD on the same day.

Songs

Hometown Unicorn Fuzzy Logic · 1996
The first single on Creation, about a French teenager's reported alien abduction.
Something 4 the Weekend Fuzzy Logic · 1996
A slower, mellower remake of an album track, and the band's third single.
The Man Don't Give a Fuck 1996
A single built on a Steely Dan sample, released in December 1996 and played at the end of their sets ever since.
Northern Lites Guerrilla · 1999
A calypso single about the weather, with steel drums played by a keyboardist who did not know how.
Juxtapozed with U Rings Around the World · 2001
A vocoder-and-strings soul single, the first from Rings Around the World.
(Drawing) Rings Around the World Rings Around the World · 2001
The title track, released as the second single in October 2001.

Oasis, Steely Dan, Datblygu, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci

Where to go next

Official

Super Furry Animals The band's own site, with tour dates and shop.

Reference

Super Furry Animals on Wikipedia A career overview with a dated history.
Fuzzy Logic on Wikipedia Recording, reception and the remastered tracklist.
Rings Around the World on Wikipedia Recording, the DVD release and full credits.
Mwng on Wikipedia The Welsh-language album, with English titles for the songs.

Writing and criticism

Super Furry Animals on the Guardian An index of the paper's articles and reviews about the band.
Pitchfork on Rings Around the World The 2001 review.
Pitchfork on the 2005 reissues One review covering Fuzzy Logic, Radiator, Out Spaced, Guerrilla and Mwng.

Interviews

Super Furry Animals on making The Man Don't Give a Fuck Ieuan and Rhys on the song's sample, clearance and live life.
Gruff Rhys: 'We sold the Super Furry Animals tank to Don Henley from the Eagles' Rhys answers readers' questions on the tank, Oasis and more.
Gruff Rhys: 'Welsh is still being invented as a pop language' A profile of Rhys on writing in Welsh.
Super Furry Animals: 'I like the idea of creating cultural havoc' A late-1999 interview with the band in Bilbao, reprinted from Rock's Backpages.

Live performance archives

Super Furry Animals review: homecoming gods bring the old magic A review of the first reunion show, in Cardiff in 2015.

Sources

Super Furry Animals, Wikipedia
Super Furry Animals: Fuzzy Logic / Radiator / Out Spaced / Guerilla / Mwng, Pitchfork (2005-06-06)
Super Furry Animals: Rings Around the World, Pitchfork (2001-07-23)
'We got a drive-by egging in Baltimore': Super Furry Animals on making The Man Don't Give a Fuck, The Guardian (2026-05-04)
Super Furry Animals review: homecoming gods bring the old magic, The Guardian (2015-05-03)
Gruff Rhys: 'Welsh is still being invented as a pop language', The Guardian (2025-10-09)