Cian Ciaran

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Cian Ciarán
Cian Ciaran Summersonic 2008.jpg
Cian Ciarán performing with Super Furry Animals at the Summer Sonic Festival, Tokyo, Japan on 10 August 2008.
Background information
Born (1976-06-16) 16 June 1976 (age 46)
Bangor, Wales
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter, producer
Instrument(s)Keyboards
guitar
backing vocals
drums

Cian Ciarán (born 16 June 1976) [1] is a Welsh musician best known as the keyboard player in the band Super Furry Animals. [1] In addition to keyboards, he plays guitar and drums and sings, and is a songwriter, composer and producer.

Contents

Career

Cian was born in Bangor, Wales. Prior to the formation of Super Furry Animals, he played in the electronica groups Wwzz [1] and Aros Mae. He has been a member of techno collective Acid Casuals [1] and is currently producing under the names Paps, Kirkland and as himself. He has guested with, produced and mixed several artists, including Kaiser Chiefs, [2] Mogwai, [3] and Manic Street Preachers. [4]

His first solo single "Martina Franca", was released in June 2012, with the full album, Outside In, released in July 2012 on Strangetown Records. Ciarán's second solo album, They Are Nothing Without Us, [5] was released in 2013.

In 2013 and 2014 Ciarán took part in several anti-nuclear and pro-clean energy protests, [6] including a solo performance at the top of a wind turbine in Norfolk in September 2013. [7] [8] In 2013, he travelled to Fukushima, Japan to witness the devastation from the nuclear power plant meltdown in the wake of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. [9] He appeared as a guest on the Channel 5 programme The Wright Stuff in 2013 to discuss his views. [10]

Ciarán is also label manager for SomBom and Strangetown Records. [11] As part of Strange Village, [12] a television production company, Cian and his brother Dafydd Ieuan were presented with a BAFTA Cymru Award for the soundtrack to Pen Talar, [13] and were nominated for awards in 2012 for Alys and 2013 for Gerallt. [14] [15]

Personal life

Cian's brother is musician Dafydd Ieuan and he also has two sisters. [1] His father, Dr. Carl Iwan Clowes, OBE, was an anti-nuclear campaigner, health consultant and official consulate in Wales for African country Lesotho. His mother's name is Dorothi. [6] [16] [17] Cian's partner is musician Estelle Ios. The two lead the band Zefur Wolves, while Ios is also a member of the group Baby Queens, which Cian manages as part of Strangetown Records.

Campaigner

In September 2018, Ciaran launched a legal challenge against the decision by EDF to dredge mud from the seabed near the Hinkley Point C building site in Somerset, and dump it in the Bristol Channel near Cardiff Bay. On behalf of the Campaign Against Hinkley Mud Dumping, he submitted an application for an interim injunction against the dumping. [18]

Discography

Solo albums

Acid Casuals

Ciaran & Wilding

Filmography

2000 Beautiful Mistake (Camgymeriad Gwych) (with Super Furry Animals) (himself)
2004 9 Songs (with Super Furry Animals) (himself)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Super Furry Animals</span> Welsh rock band

Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. For the duration of their professional career, the band consisted of Gruff Rhys, Huw Bunford, Guto Pryce, Cian Ciaran, Dafydd Ieuan. An earlier incarnation of the band featured actor Rhys Ifans on lead vocals.

Dafydd Ieuan is a Welsh musician and producer, best known as the drummer with the band Super Furry Animals, The Peth and The Earth (band).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gruff Rhys</span> Welsh musician and filmmaker

Gruffudd Maredudd Bowen Rhys is a Welsh musician, composer, producer, filmmaker and author. He performs solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals, which obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He formed the electro-pop outfit Neon Neon with Boom Bip. Their album Stainless Style was nominated for the 2008 Nationwide Mercury Prize. He won the 2011 Welsh Music Prize for his album Hotel Shampoo, which was followed up by American Interior in 2014, accompanied by a film, a book and a mobile app. His most recent album, Seeking New Gods, was released in 2021. He is considered a figurehead of the era known as Cool Cymru.

<i>Phantom Power</i> (Super Furry Animals album) Album by Super Furry Animals

Phantom Power is the sixth album by Welsh indie rock band Super Furry Animals, released on 21 July 2003 by Epic Records in the United Kingdom. The record was originally conceived as a ten-song concept album using D-A-D-D-A-D guitar tuning, but the band chose to abandon this idea during recording as they didn't want to constrain themselves. The group did attempt to create a "more coherent" album than their past efforts by choosing songs which worked well together. Phantom Power was recorded at the band's own studio, AV Happenings, in Cardiff with the Super Furries producing and engineering themselves for the first time. The album features a range of musical styles, from country rock to techno, although many of the tracks are based around the acoustic guitar. According to chief songwriter and vocalist Gruff Rhys, the album's lyrics deal with "broken relationships and war".

<i>Rings Around the World</i> Album by Super Furry Animals

Rings Around the World is the fifth studio album and the major label debut by Super Furry Animals. Released on 23 July 2001 by Epic Records in the United Kingdom, it was the first album by any artist to be simultaneously released on both audio CD and DVD. The record reached number 3 in the UK Albums Chart and includes the singles "Juxtapozed with U", "(Drawing) Rings Around the World" and "It's Not the End of the World?".

<i>Phantom Phorce</i> 2004 remix album by Super Furry Animals

Phantom Phorce is a remix album of Super Furry Animals' 2003 record Phantom Power. The remixes had previously appeared on the DVD version of Phantom Power—they were re-released as Phantom Phorce on the band's own Placid Casual label as a way of ensuring the remixers would receive royalties for the tracks. The album features a commentary from the fictional 'Kurt Stern' who appears between songs to discuss the re-recording of Phantom Power under his guidance after being unhappy with the original. First editions of the album came packaged in a case that doubled as a paper model of a video game arcade cabinet, and included a bonus CD; the Slow Life EP. Critical reaction to Phantom Phorce was generally positive.

Under the Influence is a series of various artist compilation albums released by DMC UK. The tracks for each album are chosen by an artist or band to show the music that has influenced their work. UtI compilations have been compiled by Morrissey, Ian Brown, Paul Weller, Paul Heaton, Bob Geldof, Super Furry Animals, and Carl Barât. Each album has sleeve notes written by the compiler discussing the tracks selected.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hometown Unicorn</span> 1996 single by Super Furry Animals

"Hometown Unicorn" is the debut single by Super Furry Animals, released on Alan McGee's Creation Records label on 26 February 1996. It reached #47 in the UK Singles Chart and was voted as "Single of the Week" in NME.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">God! Show Me Magic</span> 1996 single by Super Furry Animals

"God! Show Me Magic" is the second single by Super Furry Animals. It reached #33 on the UK Singles Chart on its release in April 1996, the first single by the band to reach the Top 40.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Something 4 the Weekend</span> 1996 single by Super Furry Animals

"Something 4 the Weekend" is the third single by Super Furry Animals. The title track is a more mellow reworking of the song "Something For the Weekend" from the band's debut album Fuzzy Logic. The original version is included as the last track on the single. It reached #18 on the UK Singles Chart on its release in July 1996. "Something 4 The Weekend" replaces the original album version of the song on the American release of Fuzzy Logic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">If You Don't Want Me to Destroy You</span> 1996 single by Super Furry Animals

"If You Don't Want Me to Destroy You" is the fourth single, and the last to be taken from the album Fuzzy Logic, by Super Furry Animals. It reached #18 on the UK Singles Chart on its release in September 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hermann Loves Pauline</span> 1997 single by Super Furry Animals

"Hermann ♥'s Pauline" is the sixth single by Super Furry Animals and the first to be released from their second album Radiator. It reached #26 on the UK Singles Chart on its release in May 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The International Language of Screaming</span> 1997 single by Super Furry Animals

"The International Language of Screaming" is the second single from Super Furry Animals' album Radiator. It reached #24 on the UK Singles Chart on its release in July 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Play It Cool (song)</span> 1997 single by Super Furry Animals

"Play It Cool" is the third single from Super Furry Animals' album Radiator. It reached number 27 on the UK Singles Chart on its release in September 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demons (Super Furry Animals song)</span> 1997 single by Super Furry Animals

"Demons" is the fourth and final single from Super Furry Animals' album Radiator. It reached #27 on the UK Singles Chart on its release in November 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">It's Not the End of the World?</span> 2002 single by Super Furry Animals

"It's Not the End of the World?" is a song by Welsh band Super Furry Animals. It was the last single to be released from the Rings Around the World album and reached number 30 on the UK Singles Chart on its release in January 2002. Singer Gruff Rhys has variously described the track as being about the extinction of mankind and as "a romantic song about growing old".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden Retriever (song)</span> 2003 single by Super Furry Animals

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Gift That Keeps Giving</span> 2007 single by Super Furry Animals

"The Gift That Keeps Giving" is a song by Super Furry Animals taken from their 2007 album, Hey Venus!. It was given away as a free download single from the band's official website on Christmas Day 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Super Furry Animals discography</span> Music discography

The discography of Super Furry Animals, a Welsh indie rock band, consists of nine studio albums, four extended plays, twenty three singles and three video albums. Super Furry Animals were formed in 1993 in Cardiff, Wales by Gruff Rhys, Huw Bunford, Guto Pryce, Cian Ciaran and Dafydd Ieuan.

The Peth are a Welsh rock music supergroup band formed in Cardiff in 2008 by Super Furry Animals drummer Dafydd Ieuan as "an excuse to spend large chunks of his time in a recording studio" while other members of the Super Furry Animals were busy with solo projects. Ieuan asked actor, and former Super Furry Animals lead singer, Rhys Ifans to provide vocals for several tracks he had written, and recruited eight other people for the group, including Super Furry Animals bassist Guto Pryce, Meilyr Gwynedd, Osian Gwynedd, Mick Hilton, Dic Ben and Kris Jenkins. Ben was in an early incarnation of the Super Furry Animals along with Ifans, while Jenkins frequently plays percussion for the Super Furries and has appeared on all the group's albums since 2001's Rings Around the World as well as contributing to the 1999 single "Northern Lites".

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Cian Ciaran biography". BBC. Retrieved 9 November 2007.
  2. ↑ "Medieval marketing: a winner for Kaiser Chiefs' return". Music Week. 6 June 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  3. ↑ Stratton, edited by Andy Bennett, Jon (2010). Britpop and the English music tradition. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate. ISBN   9780754668053.{{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  4. ↑ "Manic Street Preachers stream new song 'Europa Geht Durch Mich' – listen". NME. IPC Media. 13 May 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  5. ↑ Super Furry Animals' Cian Ciaran announces release of second solo album, NME
  6. 1 2 "Rock star Cian Ciaran speaks of his fears over the building of a nuclear energy plant in Wales". WalesOnline. 15 December 2013.
  7. ↑ Adam Vaughan (25 September 2013). "Super Furry Animals' keyboardist to perform atop wind turbine". The Guardian.
  8. ↑ "Super Furry Animals' Cian Ciaran plays wind turbine protest gig". BBC News. 26 September 2013.
  9. ↑ "Rock star Cian Ciaran speaks of his fears over the building of a nuclear energy plant in Wales". Wales Online. 15 December 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  10. ↑ Fletcher, Alex (26 September 2013). "Digital Spy". Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  11. ↑ Owens, David (15 June 2012). "What the Super Furry Animals did next". Wales Online. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  12. ↑ "Interview: Cian Ciaran - part two - Rocksucker". 14 May 2014. Archived from the original on 14 May 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  13. ↑ "Pen Telar". S4C. Archived from the original on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  14. ↑ "BAFTA Cymru". Bafta.org. 16 June 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  15. ↑ Waldram, Hannah (27 August 2010). "Super Furry Animals break to pursue solo projects". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 28 August 2010.
  16. ↑ "House where two Super Furry Animals grew up goes on the market". Walesonline.co.uk. 6 May 2012.
  17. ↑ 2012 New Year Honours#Officer of the Order of the British Empire .28OBE.29
  18. ↑ "Legal challenge to Hinkley nuclear mud dumping off Cardiff". BBC News. 10 September 2018.


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