The Blog

5 stories, 15 minutes.

Posted

Thu, 17th July, 2014.

Wilton’s Music Hall

7.30pm

5×15 stories bring together: Gruff Rhys, Sam Lee, Jocelyn Pook, Jon Ronson & Viv Albertine.

5 speakers. 15 minutes

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Liberty

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On the 21st July ‘Liberty (Is Where

will be released as a single. Here it is…for you.

American Interior Premiere Tonight, Cardiff.

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Close up Chapter blog

American Interior European Premiere

Tonight, Cardiff.

We are over the moon to be screening American Interior at Chapter, Cardiff tonight for the first time on an European projector.

Berlin based artist and film maker Phil Collins will be hosting a question and answer session after the film.

More surprises to be announced!

American Interior – The Video

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Exclusive Premiere now, on Guardian Music.

The American Interior music video is directed by Dylan Goch and is a distillation of what happened when he followed me on an investigative concert tour of the USA in 2012 in search of the remains of explorer John Evans (1770-1799). It features a 1meter tall avatar of said explorer. It was designed by Pete Fowler and built by The Felt Mistress. No special effects, colour tints, filters or animation were used in the editing – it’s all pretty much as it happened. You had to be there – and now you can!

If you like the look of it – American Interior – The Movie is coming to screens near you in May. The album (turnstile) and book (Hamish Hamilton) will be in the shops around the same time, and if you have a phone – well an app will be available too.

Director and Editor: Dylan Goch. Cinematography: Ryan Owen Eddleston. Graphics: Paul Nicholas at Bait. Produced by Catryn Ramasut at ie ie Productions.

Announcement!

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Relating to concerts

In the

SOHO

area of greater London

Gruff Rhys will play solo concerts at the Soho theatre, London for a week from the 5th of May to celebrate the release of the American Interior Album, App, Book and Film during the same week.

The songs of American Interior and other choice cuts will ring out for the first time in the heart of the metropolis and the ears of audience members. Rhys will also present a lo-tec Powerpoint Presentation on the life of explorer John Evans.

Ticket details: London /// Cardiff

‘American Interior’ is released May 5th, and can currently be preordered on iTunes or physically, including as part of a glorious box set.

Gruff’s current confirmed schedule is as follows.
May 1st – Liverpool Sound City
May 2nd – Acapela (Pentyrch), Cardiff (BUY)
May 3rd – Cardigan, Pembrokeshire (BUY)
May 5th – 10th – Soho Theatre, London (BUY)
July 25th – Caught By The River Festival, Port Eliot
July 26th – Indietracks, Derbyshire
August 30th – End Of The Road Festival

American Interior

Posted

In 2012 I embarked on an investigative concert tour of the American Interior, retracing the steps, and looking for the grave of a relative called John Evans.

John Evans left Wales for Baltimore in 1792 and walked into the wilderness of the Allegheny mountains in search of a lost tribe of Welsh-speaking Native Americans, believed to be the descendants of Prince Madog. Over seven eventful years, with very little in the way of resources, he embarked on a series of incredible adventures, lived with several First Nation tribes and left a trail of political chaos from which America never recovered.

I took his cue and travelled through the Midwest playing gigs and writing songs. In St Louis I picked up Kliph Scurlock from The Flaming Lips, who joined me on drums. We powered up the Missouri River by boat, playing more shows on the shore. In Omaha we went to Mike Mogis’s Arc studio and cut a record, then carried on upriver to play the UMOnHOn and Fort Berthold reservations. Dylan Goch who directed a film called ‘Separado!’ about my previous investigative concert tour joined me again and shot a new documentary on the way. When I got home I wrote a book about the tour and John Evans’s epic adventure. It’s called American Interior. The film is also called American Interior. As is the album. Just so there’s no confusion there’s an App that tells the same story in a brand new way. It’s called American Interior too.

Evans was last sighted in New Spain in 1799 under a new name: Don Juan Evans. Did he find the tribe he was looking for? What became of him? What is it that sends men and women to the ends of the Earth in the vain pursuit of glory? I’ll try and explain all in a PowerPoint presentation (across the nation) this summer.