´óÏó´«Ã½

« Previous | Main | Next »

When Newport was the 'new Seattle'

Post categories: ,Ìý

´óÏó´«Ã½ Wales Music ´óÏó´«Ã½ Wales Music | 10:44 UK time, Thursday, 15 October 2009

Fifteen years ago, Newport was at the centre of a resurgence of Welsh indie music as the world's press praised the likes of 60ft Dolls, Novocaine and Dub War.

Our Welsh music history site takes a look back at the time, including a 1994 edition of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Wales documentary series The Slate.

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    This was the year before I moved to Wales, but I remember reading about it in the NME and hearing Lamacq et al talking about it. It was a funny time. I think after grunge and Britpop everyone was looking for the next big thing, which inevitably meant anything vaguely promising became overhyped and cursed.

    That still happens, of course, but it's funny to see a whole city become the focus of attention, albeit briefly.

  • Comment number 2.

    The whole 'New Seattle'-thing came about because A&R and the music media were obsessed with geography as much as genre. No wonder, really, when you consider the effect that Manchester, Seattle and Camden [hell, the Thames Valley!] had had on British music in preceding years.

    One sign of the disintegration of the traditional music industry is that things are less geographically obsessed, these days [not as defined by A&R men throwing chequebooks around]... democratization brought about by the internet & the various ´óÏó´«Ã½ Introducing shows might be helping, too.

    Now, instead of geography forming the mould, seems to be more about gender and which 80's electro records you can rip off before anyone else.

    60ft Dolls at In the City in 1995 is - still - so fresh in my mind. An amazing gig, Changed the way I thought about music, which - given the rather conservative nature of their albums - might surprise some. They were as close as I've ever got to the Stooges or the MC5. With a young Van Morrison [mostly] on vocals.

    I wonder if anyone has a scan of Mike Cole's appearance in 19, or Jackie, or whatever it was. Hunk of the Month, or something. Hilarious.

Ìý

´óÏó´«Ã½ iD

´óÏó´«Ã½ navigation

´óÏó´«Ã½ © 2014 The ´óÏó´«Ã½ is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.