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Super Furry Animals have made their mark on
the UK music scene over the last few years. Having been together
for almost ten years, they have outlived and outperformed most
of their contemporaries. SFA are perhaps a little more difficult
to pigeon hole than most UK bands due to their diverse high
quality output and it doesn't look like they are running out
of ideas any time soon either. Risto Sampola caught up with
SFA's keyboard player and programmer Cian Ciaran in Cardiff...
Risto Sampola: Super Furry Animals are now more or less
a household name across the UK, but when did you actually first
get together as a band?
Cian Ciaran: The drummer and me are brothers and our
singer lives about 20 miles from where we grew up and the two
of them were in a band before Super Furry Animals, and the other
two members grew up in Cardiff and were also in a band together.
Usually Welsh speaking bands play on the same circuit so you
always bump into each other and by the time of forming the band
time we all lived in Cardiff and knew each other from going
to the same clubs and social events. We actually started around
'93 with another singer who left the band to pursue acting and
I joined in around '95 and then we signed to Creation Records.
Risto: When did you first realise that you wanted to
be a musician?
Cian: Music has always been something I've dabbled in,
but more sort of electronic dance stuff, since I was 13 or 14
and it just went on from there.
Risto: How would you describe the changes in your musical
style over the years? I have heard SFA being described as Techno
and Rock and just about everything in between.
Cian: We listen to everything, except Britpop from Elvis
to Plastikman to Classical. We don't really differentiate that
much, because there's only good or bad music, which is a matter
of taste. My definition of good may not match with yours. As
far as genres go I suppose we're part traditional and part electronic.
Risto: You've had quite a bit of success in the USA,
which is something that most UK bands fail to do. What do you
put this down to?
Cian: It's still early days there really. We can play
in New York for 1,200 people or we can play in Orlando for 300
people, but for us it's a big step. We've played in Minneapolis
four or five times over the last four years and the first time
we had ten people, second time it was about 30 and by the last
time we were sold out. It's been gradual and last time was when
we really noticed the difference. Press has helped with their
write-ups that we didn't have before.
Risto: Are you the one who's responsible for SFA's liberal
attitude to technology?
Cian: No, we are all open minded to everything new that
comes along. We don't want to be blinkered in that respect.
Sometimes the songs just start on an acoustic guitar, sometimes
from messing around on a computer and sometimes from everyone
together at rehearsals. It's a different approach every time
and varies from song to song. At the end of the day most songs
you can just play back on an acoustic guitar even if the song
didn't start there. A shit song is still a shit song, no matter
how many tricks you do on a computer.
Risto: When did you first hear about Nuendo and what
was it that attracted you to it?
Cian: I'd seen it in magazines
and had seen it reviewed and heard it being compared to Pro
Tools. It's flexible and easy to use and great for editing for
doing things like reversing that one little bit of audio and
so on. And also just about all the editing is done on that one
main screen.
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Risto: Have you embraced VSTi's yet and if so how did
you get on?
Cian: I haven't really touched my synths for months since
starting to use all the virtual instruments. Maybe that's also
something to do with me wanting to learn the new programs that
are out there. It's just another instrument, so you don't have
to be fanatical about it. A microchip is a microchip whether
it's in a computer or a keyboard. It's how you use them and
apply them to your music that matters. Again, you can always
take the Pepsi-challenge, but it doesn't make your music any
better. I love both, virtual instruments and real ones and wouldn't
take one over another. A bad chord is still a bad chord even
if you play it with a great sound.
Risto: Now that computer power doubles just about every
year can you envisage a point where no additional hardware units
such as synths, fx-units, mixers and sampler are no longer needed
to produce a good quality album?
Cian: Yes, as long as there are no glitches in your system.
It's all become so much more affordable and people can make
great songs that actually sound good in their own bedrooms.
A program like Nuendo shows just how far we've come in the last
couple of years.
Risto: What spec computer do you run and how do you find
its performance?
Cian: It's a Carillon PC with a 2 GHz Pentium 4 and it's
running just fine with audio tracks, plug-ins and virtual instruments.
Risto: Do you see DVD's replacing CD's in the near future
with their ability to provide surround sound and visuals? It's
not like SFA's are strangers to DVD's or indeed surround sound.
Cian: I think DVD for me is almost the same as the difference
between mono and stereo when it comes to 5.1 surround sound.
DVD is definitely the way forward. It's closer to hearing the
sound live as some sound will come from behind you and it makes
more sense. I wouldn't want to guess how long it will take though,
but we'll soon see.
Risto: SFA have now played around the World to many audiences.
Do you use live gigs to gauge new material with a view to tweaking
songs according to audience reaction?
Cian: Definitely. I think that's true for every band
as you can test the waters by trying things out to see if they
work or not and then maybe change things and try out new stuff.
On the other hand, if something works then you know it.
Risto: What's next for SFA?
Cian: The plan is for the next album to come out early
next year.
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