Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

My musical interest began in the very early 80s when as a toddler I'd dance, no better than I do now, to songs from the Annie Nightingale and John Peel shows my parents recorded for me. , , and also informed my burgeoning tastes. Oh, and .

and the of the early- and mid-90s led to me getting an underpaid but pretty cool job at a local record shop in which I would fastidiously learn singles' chart positions each week and the catalogue numbers of some of our best sellers. So if you ever want to know about 's chart career or 's best sellers, please don't call. All this, however, meant that I thought I'd be great at reviewing music for Cardiff University's student newspaper, . I wasn't much cop, but at least it enabled me to avoid working in a bar after university.

I started work at and in my 18 months there we put Y Tystion, Big Leaves, Super Furry Animals and many more on the front cover. It was a great time in Welsh music: we wrote about loads of 'hot tips' that were being signed at the time such as Manchild, Mclusky, , and others not beginning with M.

In 2001 founded Honk magazine (the title of which was thanks to ex-fanzine editor and sometime contributor to this site, Andy Barding) - the first magazine talking about the Welsh music industry. My first issue featured an interview with Lostprophets. In the next five years - and changing the name to - I covered all the comings and goings, the triumphs and tragedies, the signings and the, erm, droppings. During those years the likes of Bullet For My Valentine, Lostprophets and Funeral For A Friend signed international deals.

Along the way I DJ'd, promoted and ran a small, short-lived but fun record label that put out records by some really very good South Wales bands whose appeal was 'selective'.

By 2006 I was working at Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Wales and my sometime, off-and-on love affair with music in Wales was allowed to continue. Now I'll be blogging about the latest news in Welsh music and my perspective on some of the issues affecting it. I hope you enjoy it.