Iconic Welsh musician, Gruff Rhys graces the 2018 Edinburgh Festival Fringe with his debut Fringe show Resist Phony Encores from the 17th – 25th August.
Playing a selection of his work spanning the last four decades, including songs from his new album ‘Babelsberg’, Gruff explores how he overcame chronic shyness, stoner rock and communicative dysfunction, by placing commands on cue cards to whip audiences into a frenzy and start the occasional civil war…
Gruff Rhys is a songwriter, producer, filmmaker and author. He started his journey as the front man of Ffa Coffi Pawb, who at the time were one of the leading bands on the Welsh language music scene. When they disbanded in 1993, Gruff helped form the legendary and uncompromising Welsh psychedelic band Super Furry Animals. Super Furry Animals have released nine critically acclaimed albums between 1996 and 2009 and have gained a reputation as a must-see, mind-bending live act at gigs and festivals across the world.
Rhys’s first solo album was released in 2005. Yr Atal Genhedlaeth was an all-Welsh language album where Rhys played most of the instruments. In 2014, Rhys released American Interior, a project that successfully combined Welsh history and American psychogeography. American Interior was released as an album, a film, a book and an app. His occasional collaboration with hip hop producer Boom Bip (under the name Neon Neon) has seen him write biographical albums about John DeLorean and the Italian left-wing publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli . He has also fronted a co-production with the National Theatre Wales. The Insatiable, Inflatable Candylion featured music and lyrics by Gruff and the play’s text by Tim Price. Most recently, he released a song titled “I Love EU” – a love letter to the ideals of the EU itself – in the run up to the Brexit referendum.
Rhys has also turned his musical talents towards films. He composed the film score to Set Fire to the Stars starring Celyn Jones and Elijah Wood, which won Rhys the 2015 BAFTA Cymru award for Original Music.
