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The Poppies were a Welsh rock band which was active during the mid-2000s. Many of the songs were in the Welsh language.
In early 2003, Sam James (guitar and vocals), Twm Champagne (drums) and Eifion Austin (bass) met and formed The Poppies in Aberystwyth. Austin, originally from Morriston in Swansea was a first year politics student at Aberystwyth University while Twm (from Carmarthen) studied Film & TV. James was still studying at the local Welsh comprehensive Ysgol Gyfun Penweddig.
The band's first gig was held in Aberystwyth in 2003. They quickly gained support from Radio 1 DJ's Huw Stephens and Bethan Elfyn and often appeared on S4C's Welsh language music programme Bandit.
During 2005, the band recorded a Maida Vale session for Steve Lamacq's BBC Radio 1 programme and released the Dau Bys EP on the Ciwdod label. They also won the 'Best Live Act' at the Radio Cymru Awards and 'Best Welsh Language Act' at The Pop Factory Awards. Around this time ex-Catatonia guitarist Owen Powell became the band's manager.
In the summer of 2005 the band moved to Splott in Cardiff where they shared a house. In early 2006, Twm Champagne was replaced by Gethin Jones, a jazz student at Cardiff's Royal College of Music and Drama. The band focused on recording English language material from this point onwards and lost much of the support they had initially found in the Welsh language scene. This culminated in a popular Welsh language music magazine labelling the group traitors to the Welsh language. Copies of the magazine (which had photos of the band on the cover) were then ritually burned at the National Eisteddfod annually, as this level of betrayal is hard to forgive and memories live long in the principality.
Failing to secure a recording contract the band began to gig less as James toured as bassist with The Heights, Gethin concentrated on his jazz studies and Eifion's played bass for The Spencer McGarry Season. The band split up in late 2007. James moved to London with members of The Heights to form 'Rogues', and Gethin and Eifion formed 'Avash Avash'.
Sam James is also an ex-member of the bands Mozz, The Dancing Bullets, The Heights and Rogues. In 2010 he sang lead vocals on Example's UK top ten single "Won't Go Quietly". He is also the organiser of the Castell Rock festival in Aberystwyth.
Eifion Austin went on to play with a number of bands including Alun Gaffey and latterly, Ynys. At the current time he is working on an acid jazz/shoegaze/indie fusion album under the name Cleifion.
Gethin Jones is a well-respected professional jazz drummer in London who fits kitchen worktops in his spare time.
Wales has a strong and distinctive link with music. Singing is a significant part of Welsh national identity, and the country is traditionally referred to as "the land of song". This is a modern stereotype based on 19th century conceptions of Nonconformist choral music and 20th century male voice choirs, Eisteddfodau and arena singing, such as sporting events, but Wales has a history of music that has been used as a primary form of communication.
BBC Radio Cymru is a Welsh language radio station owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts on two stations across Wales on FM, DAB, digital TV and online.
Huw Meredydd Stephens is a Welsh radio presenter, broadcasting on BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 6 Music.
The Alarm are a Welsh rock band that formed in Rhyl, Wales, in 1981. Initially formed as a punk band, The Toilets, in 1977, under lead vocalist Mike Peters, the band soon embraced rock and included marked influences from Welsh language and culture. By opening for acts such as U2 and Bob Dylan, they became a popular new wave pop band of the 1980s.
John Davies was a Welsh historian, and a television and radio broadcaster. He attended university at Cardiff and Cambridge and taught Welsh at Aberystwyth. He wrote a number of books on Welsh history.
BAFTA Cymru is the Welsh branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and was founded in 1987.
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Ieuan Rhys is a Welsh actor. His television work has included thirteen years in the BBC Cymru soap opera Pobol y Cwm, Seargent Tom Swann in the last series of A Mind to Kill and six series of the Welsh-language version of Mr & Mrs – Sion a Sian for HTV. For the last four series he portrayed Eurig Bell, the "not to be messed with" Deputy Headmaster in S4C's Gwaith/Cartref.
The music of Cardiff has been dominated mainly by rock music since the early 1990s with later trends developing towards more extreme styles of the genre such as heavy metal and metalcore music. It, along with the nearby music scene in Newport, has brought a number of musicians to perform or begin their careers in South Wales.
Lisa Gwilym is a Welsh broadcaster, best known as a presenter for BBC Radio Cymru and the Welsh language television channel, S4C.
Genod Droog were a Welsh hip hop, indie pop band from Wales, which was formed in 2005 by Carwyn Jones, Gethin Evans, Dylan Roberts, Aneirin Karadog and Ed Holden, and split up on 16 November 2008.
Radio Cardiff is a community radio station serving Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. It broadcasts on a terrestrial frequency of 98.7 FM and streams online via the website and TuneIn, and was formerly called Beats FM. Since October 2016 Radio Cardiff also transmits through an app for smartphones and tablets which is free to download.
Twm Morys is a Welsh poet and musician.
Gareth 'Gai' J Thomas 'Toms' is a Welsh singer-songwriter, musician, producer and actor. In 1992 he co-formed the popular Welsh ska-rock band Anweledig, which developed into one of Wales' top live party bands. From 1997 to 2007 he created an 'off the road' Welsh folk outfit Mim Twm Llai, releasing three albums on Recordiau Sain. Since 2008, he dropped the Mim Twm Llai pseudonym for his own lifelong nickname Gai Toms, performing solo on guitar or with his backing band. His latest album titled 'Orig', based on the life of Welsh wrestling legend Orig Williams, gave us Gai Toms a'r Banditos.
The Broken Vinyl Club were a Welsh 60s-influenced indie rock band based in Aberdare in South Wales and signed to Acid Jazz Records.
Kizzy Meriel Crawford, known as Kizzy, is a Bajan-Welsh singer songwriter from Merthyr Tydfil, who sings in both English and Welsh, using traditional and modern sources.
Alffa (transl. Alpha) are a Welsh language blues rock duo from Llanrug in North Wales, formed in 2015. The group currently consists of Dion Wyn Jones and Sion Eifion Land (drums).
Gwilym (transl. William) are a Welsh-language pop rock group from Ynys Môn and Caernarfon. The band consists of members Ifan Pritchard, Llyr Jones, Llew Glyn, Rhys Grail, and Carwyn Williams. The group was founded in 2017.
