Threatmantics - viola ‘n’ roll

(Muso's Guide, February 23, 2009)

Interview

To listen to Threatmantics frontman Heddwyn Davies, one could almost believe that the Welsh music scene is one big love in.

Spotted and selected by Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci frontman Euros Childs for support - their first tour slot - Heddwyn has recently been working with the band’s Richard James on a Welsh folk record.

So is it a case of “who you know”? Straight-talking Heddwyn believes it’s down to just one thing - a hell of a lot of hard work.

“We spent a lot of time putting together little runs of two or three shows up in North Wales, but we’d never really had enough money to be able to put a tour together,” he explains.

That was until the band - Heddwyn (vocals/viola), brother Huw (drums/keys) and Ceri Mitchell (electric guitar) put out their second single on BBC Radio Wales Evening Session guru Huw Stephens‘ singles club, which is co-run by Euros Childs’ management - now Threatmantics management.

“We got introduced through that, and Euros got to hear our stuff and asked us to support him like a one-off show in Cardiff. On the back of that, he asked if we would do the tour with him.”

Heddwyn, who describes Euros as one of his own all-time musical heroes, says that the experience was “pretty special”. So is he now friends with his idol? “He did physically assault me and Huw after one night out, so that’s as close as you can get, I think!”

A mere five months after the release of their debut long-playing record Upbeat Love, Threatmantics still make a pretty manic live experience - all that hair and viola flying around. Do the band enjoy themselves onstage?

“I used to get very nervous about a year or so ago - those were dark days! It is the easiest way to convert people to your music. I suppose when people read the line-up - viola, keyboards, drums - they think it’s a bit folky, but that’s not what it is.”

So how would Heddwyn define the Threatmantics sound?

“It’s a lot louder and a lot punkier live. It’s the best way to make people understand.”

And… Why the viola?

“My and Huw’s dad is a violin teacher, so I learned when I was young and played it for a few years, then gave up when I was 16 and I started getting more interested in rock.”

“When I went to uni and started a band playing guitar and it was just going nowhere! I tried the viola again, and found that the years of hard graft when I was 12 or 13 had paid off. I can just play loads more - everything that I wanted to play on guitar I can play on viola! So it worked out in that respect.”

The viola certainly offers Threatmantics something different, and marks them out in the scene. Dad must be proud?

“He’s not seen us yet! There’s a muted response - he’s more of a purist! Whether he’d approve of me sawing my viola in half and blaring out of a massive PA, I don’t know. I don’t think he’s quite ready for that.”

If viola is a sign of Heddwyn going back to his roots, then surely so is the band’s occasional dip into Welsh language lyrics.

“Singing and writing in Welsh is not an important part of the band per se. I write some songs in Welsh because that’s what seems to fit the song - there’s no political agenda per se, but anyone who spends time singing any Welsh songs in Wales, there’s always going to be some degree of politicisation.”

Heddwyn does admit that the big hitters on the Welsh scene do influence any young band coming through.

“Obviously, the musical landscape is extensive with Gorky’s and Super Furries and the Manics as well, so we’re influenced by that, but there’s no sort of crusade in being Welsh.”

Upbeat Love is an exciting, exhilarating record. From the viola-driven jog of single ‘Little Bird’ to the soulful ‘James Lemain’, there’s lots of new delights to discover on each listen. So what’s next?
“Upbeat Love took about a year from start to finish, which was mind-boggling. Some of the tracks have been around for a very long time compared to others. Every now and again we’ll come back to one that we haven’t played for a while and I quite enjoy that, but we are really excited about some demos we’ve just finished which are already in our live show.”

Having a break any time soon? It seems like there’s no threat of that.