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SUPER FURRY ANIMALS
by Jesse Fahnestock
Photos by Matt Greenberg
Check out our Super Furry Photo Gallery
Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Ryhs, soft-spoken, bright-eyed and
somewhat lost in his own world, is explaining to me how to play the
track "Citizen's Band" on SFA's most recent album Guerrilla. "Press play, and then rewind," he says. "It's before track one. There's a minor track on the end as well, and hidden lyrics on the sleeve.
"You know when you get Playstation games, it can take months to get to
know the game, all the shortcuts?" he offers by way of explanation. "We
tend to apply that to our albums."
The Super Furry Animals' engine runs on reserves of imagination
unmatched in contemporary music. Their decision to turn the hackneyed
"hidden track" premise on its head, hiding one of their best songs where even dedicated fans have had trouble finding it, says as much about this band as their spirited blend of punk, glam, techno, doo-wop and psych/prog does.  To say that SFA are our kind of group is an
understatement: Mischievous, compulsively creative and totally inspired, they are one of the only bands left deserving of the sworn, obsessive allegiance that used to define pop and rock fandom.
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Famously, SFA once purchased a tank, installed a sound system and drove
it around England's summer festival circuit, blasting techno to bemused
punters trying to fix their tent pegs. They single-handedly revived the
public profile of Howard Marks, notorious dope smuggler and sometime
Welsh icon, by featuring his many disguises on the cover of their first
album (which featured a song called "Hangin' With Howard Marks").  The
3-D, alien-centric artwork and videos accompanying Guerilla, partially
conceived by the band and brought to life by cartoonist Pete Fowler,
have shamed the productions of much bigger, better-funded artists. And
this summer they decided to sponsor a football team: Cardiff City FC now sport the Super Furry Animals' logo on their jerseys. Seemingly their adventurous spirit knows no limitations.
"Well, obviously we're restricted by practicals," Gruff says. "But if we have an idea, we usually try it out. [Cardiff City] were incredibly
cheap. They're not the biggest team in the world.
We don't make a lot of money," he chuckles, "so any large amount we
shell out is probably a tax dodge anyway."
Where other labels might have balked at their modus operandi, Creation
has always stood behind the Furries' creative impulses.
"They're very enthusiastic," Gruff confirms. "It's a very erratic label, you know? That's how they've been so successful - by making rash
decisions. They're primarily music fans, who have landed themselves in
deep shit by making millions of pounds [C.F. - Oasis]. It's a very
special situation."
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