A small note before we begin this show...
ALL: # Aaaaaahh... #
A beautiful evening of harmony awaits you!
Come and join us in this pageant of music and song!
But first, the opening titles!
APPLAUSE
# Say what you want
# Break my heart a thousand times
# But it's still right here
# All you left me was lies
# Let the banners unfold
# Let them fall to the floor
# We once had each other
# But now we're not so sure
# Are we living in the past
# Where there's nothing left to fear?
# Won't you say that you love me?
# Tell me what I want to hear
# A cold war for the mind
# My distant colours still bleeding
# A broken promise for the soul
# Never loving, never healing
# I no longer know
# My left from my right
# Between your hopes and fears
# And my choice to decide
# So say what you want
# Break my heart a thousand times
# But it's still right here
# Will we ever survive?
# Are we living in the past?
# Where there's nothing left to fear
# Won't you say that you love me?
# Tell me what I want to hear
# A cold war for the mind
# My distant colours still bleeding
# A broken promise for the soul
# Never loving, never healing
# Never ever healing
# Whoa
# My distant colours still bleeding
# Still bleeding
# Are we living in the past
# Where there's nothing left to fear?
# Won't you say that you love me?
# Tell me what I want to hear
# A cold war for the mind
# My distant colours still bleeding
# A broken promise for the soul
# Never loving, never healing. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Lovely to have Manic Street Preachers back in this room!
Distant Colours, from their Resistance Is Futile LP.
We have a room, I'm surrounded by beautiful, wonderful people,
come and keep up with me.
Over here from Devon, we have Ben Howard!
APPLAUSE
From Cardiff, the dazzling singing talent of Gwenno!
She will be singing in Cornish, a first for this show.
We're going to be welcoming Ray LaMontagne to this show.
We also have, from Ottawa, Canada, Melissa Laveaux!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Now, a lot of dazzling Welsh artists in the room tonight.
Let's have another. This is Boy Azooga!
CHEERING
# The face that no-one can forget
# Is the face behind her cigarette
# The face that no-one can forget
# Is the face behind her cigarette
# The face that no-one can forget is the face behind her cigarette... #
Woo! Woo!
# The face that no-one can forget
# Is the face behind her cigarette
# The world is but a silhouette
# To the face behind her cigarette
# The face that no-one can forget is the face behind seven bars on guitar... #
Woo-woo!
Wooo!
# Doo doo doo da doo
# Doo doo doo da doo. #
OK!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Boy Azooga!
The Face Behind Her Cigarette.
Excellent new Welsh band.
Speaking of great Welsh people, I'm delighted to see at the table
here, a man that's just popped in to join us,
it is Radio 1 broadcaster and, like us, a supporter of new music.
We welcome Huw Stephens! Lovely to see you. Hello.
Welcome to our new gold tabletops. Very nice.
Makes it nice and exciting, a bit more glamorous.
Now, anybody you are particularly enjoying in the room
here this evening?
Well, when I heard the Manics were on, I booked my bus to come here.
And then you added Boy Azooga and Gwenno... Yes.
..and I was doubly excited, we were all excited.
There's street parties in Cardiff! I thought so.
It's a national holiday, it's been declared specially!
Absolutely, yes. It's a Sunday, so it's a holiday anyway, but there we are.
It's been a big week.
A lot of great music comes from Wales,
a disproportionately large amount of good music.
Why do you think that is? I can't say why.
All I know is it's a really exciting time at the moment.
Cardiff is buzzing, Swansea, you know.
The whole of Wales has really exciting pockets happening.
People are just creative and talented
and aren't afraid to try things out.
Look at Boy Azooga and Gwenno,
they obviously haven't taken advice from a lot of people,
they're just doing their own thing,
and it sounds brilliant on record and live.
They're two marvellous examples of new Welsh artists,
which we're very pleased to have on.
Gwenno, of course, speaks both Cornish and Welsh.
She's going to be singing Cornish later. That's a first for us.
It's great, I think it's wonderful. Do you speak Cornish?
I wish I did. I speak Welsh.
We went to the same school, me and Gwenno!
The rumour that everyone in Wales knows each other is completely true!
LAUGHTER
And...amazing
that she speaks Cornish.
The new album is completely in Cornish.
The first album was entirely in Welsh.
It's just brilliant, seeing the reaction to her music,
and seeing her play all these concerts around the world.
It's a really exciting time.
Well, later on, we'll have a chat with Gwenno.
Perhaps you could join us and help us translate? I've got a little bit of Welsh.
Croeso. Diolch yn fawr.
Yeah, that's it. Thank you, I'll leave it at that! Thank you so much.
We'll talk to Huw Stephens again a little bit later in the show.
As he was talking about, this marvellous artist,
who sings in Cornish, and in Welsh,
but now in Cornish, we welcome Gwenno!
# Tus Aberfala
# Heyl a Hellys
# Tus Lostwydhyel
# Lulynn, Lyskerrys
# Tus Porthleven
# Pensans, Porth Enys
# Tus Loch, Bosvena
# Un govyn sy yn-hesys
# Eus keus?
# Eus po nag eus?
# Mars eus keus, dro keus
# A po nag eus keus
# Dro'n pyth eus
# Tus Lanvowsedh ha Lannwedhenek
# Tus Porthperan Tys Eglosvelyan
# Pennmeyn, Porthkernow
# Porthpyra, Porthysek
# Lannstefan ha Breanek
# Un govyn sy yn-hesys
# Eus keus?
# Eus po nag eus?
# Mars eus keus, dro keus
# A po nag eus keus
# Dro'n pyth eus!
# A po nag eus keus
# Dro'n pyth eus!
# Essa
# Sen Senan
# Sen Ostell
# An Ros
# Tus Porthlustri
# Kelliwik ha Kammbronn
# Tus Delyow Boll
# Porth Ia ha Menyon
# Tus Eglossenor
# Penrynn ha Resrudh
# Tus Porth, Lannaled
# Un govynn sy yn-hesys
# Eus keus?
# Eus po nag eus?
# Mars eus keus, dro keus
# A po nag eus keus
# Dro'n pyth eus!
# A po nag eus keus
# Dro'n pyth eus! #
APPLAUSE
Thank you, Gwenno, with "Eus Keus?",
which is "Is there cheese?" translated from the Cornish.
I'll be discussing that with her later.
Now, we have really international flavours this evening
because now we go with a bit of Haitian style,
and we welcome Melissa Laveaux!
APPLAUSE
# Danbala retan
# Se bon
# Ayida retan
# Se bon
# Whoa-whoa
# Le ma monte cheval mwen
# Gen moun k'a kriye
# Le ma monte cheval mwen
# Gen moun k'a kriye
# Le ma monte cheval mwen
# Gen moun k'a kriye
# Le ma monte cheval mwen
# Gen moun k'a kriye
# Danbala Retan
# Feels good
# Tastes better
# Yeah
# Ayida retan
# Feels good
# Tastes better
# Yeah, yeah
# Le ma monte cheval mwen
# Gen moun k'a kriye
# Le ma monte cheval mwen
# Gen moun k'a kriye
# Le ma monte cheval mwen
# Gen moun k'a kriye
# Le ma monte cheval mwen
# Gen moun k'a kriye
# Danbala Retan
# Se bon
# Feels better
# Ayida retan
# Feels good
# Se bon
# Le ma monte cheval mwen
# Gen moun k'a kriye
# Le ma monte cheval mwen
# Gen moun k'a kriye
# Le ma monte cheval mwen
# Gen moun k'a kriye
# Le ma monte cheval mwen
# Gen moun k'a kriye
# Le ma monte cheval mwen
# Gen moun k'a kriye
# Ohhh-ohh
# Ohhh-ohhh
# Oooo. #
APPLAUSE
Melissa Laveaux!
Another wonderful language.
I will be discussing that a little bit more later with her...
A little bit later on in the show.
So, it is a lovely pageant of music and song this evening.
We welcome back to the show a man who is now about to
have his third album come out.
We welcome Ben Howard!
APPLAUSE
# Door is locked
# My gums are bleeding
# Outside she reads
# Outside she's reading
# The evacuation procedure
# Out loud
# Clothes are off
# My health receding
# Somewhere she dreams
# Somewhere she's dreaming
# Of Caribbean Nica Libres
# At dusk
# While the faithful dispose of a generation
# And all of the mountains whisper knowingly
# I order a Colada
# And sit to count my dollars
# And watch eagles soar in circles
# Perpetually
# Door is locked
# My gums are bleeding
# Outside she reads
# Outside she's reading
# The evacuation procedure
# Out loud
# Clothes are off
# My health receding
# Somewhere she dreams
# Somewhere she's dreaming
# The Caribbean Nica Libres
# At dusk
# While the faithful dispose of a generation
# And all of the mountains rumble knowingly
# I order a Colada
# And sit to count my dollars
# And watch eagles soar in circles
# Perpetually
# Forever
# Such a beautiful thing
# Now I am older
# I don't look over my shoulder
# I know what is there in front of me
# Ten Marlboro cigarettes
# The unrolled butts into the bottle tops
# Today I will stare at the sea
# With my eyes in front of me
# Now
# Is there a now? #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Ben Howard!
Lovely changes.
A lot of you watching this show tonight, wherever you may be,
perhaps at home, perhaps in somebody's else home,
perhaps you've broken into somebody else's home and are watching this!
Wherever you are, you may have imagined that
I spend all of my time in a darkened room with amazing artists.
Well, that's not entirely true because, this afternoon,
I went to the outside with some amazing artists.
Let's have a look at that.
I think you were last on the show about four years ago. Yes. Yes.
Have they been an agreeable intervening four years for you?
It's our longest break between albums in our entire history,
since 1991, 1990, you know, four years is a long gap for us.
We got kicked out of our studio in Cardiff,
which got bulldozed for flats.
That happens everywhere, it's rubbish, isn't it? It does.
I bet they were luxury flats. They were luxury flats!
We were surprised this was still here when we came back.
Although there is a housing estate going up. Yes, that's right.
We turned up, and we were like, "Is this the right place?" Yes.
That is the modern world.
So we've had to buy a new place and convert it into a studio.
You know, getting older and kids, and stuff,
so, it's not that we haven't tried, it's just nothing worked until...
Is it harder work, or easier and more enjoyable?
I think... I still have a great time making a record.
I love having to stay behind after Nick and Sean go home.
I still love the process of getting a lyric
and having the pressure of seeing how good the lyric is,
and having to come up with a tune to go with it.
I love, you know, the post-midnight hours of recording.
I don't know if you enjoyed this album as much. It was...
It was a bit stressful, this album.
Why? My mum got really ill, and... I'm sorry.
I just wasn't as connected.
The lyrics... I love writing the lyrics, don't get me wrong.
You know, I really...
As ever, I always, when people ask me which instrument I play,
I actually always say "the pen", you know? It's not the bass.
My real instrument is the pen.
That's a very good... Have you got your pen with you?
I have got my pen on me, yes!
Is that the pen? I've always got a pen on me.
Is all the talent, in fact, in this pen?
If I nick it, I'll be able to...
Resistance Is Futile, which is a good...
I mean, you have very good titles. What inspired that one?
Well, titles are hugely important, even going back to me and Richey.
We very rarely wrote a song without a title.
Or an album without a title. Does it start with a title?
Often times it does, yes. It really does.
We want to get that mix of melancholia,
severe melancholia, mixed with still a vague fight,
still a sense of resisting the...
..the avalanche of digital hysteria,
so it's just a mixture of resignation,
with still that idea of being the last gang in town.
OK, the modern world.
What are the good things and the bad things about the modern world?
I don't want to rant about it, really,
I just find it hard to find my place in the modern world.
I feel very displaced in it.
I have an e-mail address, and I don't know what it is.
We must communicate!
That's right. The people that hate people party!
Yes, it's... We do, kind of, today, obviously, we're on Later
and we do feel like the old guard, which is quite strange.
I never thought I'd feel like that.
So, I suppose, not fitting into the modern world
is represented by that feeling, I suppose.
Like you, I was never that comfortable with the modern world,
from the age of sort of 15, really. I was stuck in 1938, or something.
What are the good bits that we can celebrate about the modern world?
Well, definitely, if I had been living in this age
when I was 12, I would have watched so much telly.
Because I watch a lot of TV anyway, a lot.
To think of what you could watch now, would be...
I don't know if it's a particularly positive thing, but, you know...
And then watch it again, easily. Yes. That's the other thing.
"Oh, I've missed it", that's the end of it. But now you just press a button and find it.
When we're on tour, whenever I'd go to his room or call him,
he was always just listening to something off the Radio 4 archive.
Yes, yes. You know, every day. Not all bad.
I mean, is there another age that you would like to have either,
I was thinking about this earlier,
either lived in, or visit?
For me, it would have been the '70s.
You were alive in the '70s!
No, no, I would like to have been at a prime age in the '70s.
That's what I mean. Oh, what, having it large with all...
I was born in 1969, I would like to have been... Jensen Interceptor...
No, no, I would have gone for the Welsh car. What was it called?
Gilbern. The Gilbern, yeah, exactly.
I would like to have been in a major rock and roll band,
at my prime in the '70s.
Well, they did appreciate a guitar hero back then. They did.
# As I wake to a sunset
# The light dances on the Mersey
# And I think of the 96
# As the tears fall down on me
# There is courage, there is pride
# You can see it in your eyes
# Fight for justice, fight for life
# There are angels in these skies
# As the night falls around me
# I see joy and devotion
# These times will never leave
# Like the rain on the ocean
# There is dignity and pride
# There is poetry and life
# There are ghosts within these stones
# There's defiance in these bones
# Ohhh
# Oh-oh-ohhh
# Oh-oh-ohhhhh
# Oh-oh-oh
# And all the hatred they tried to throw at you
# But you stayed so strong
# Yeah, all the hatred, it never was the truth
# So keep keeping on
# This is forever
# Whoa-oh-oh
# We'll never leave you now
# This is forever
# Whoa-oh-oh
# We'll never leave you now. #
APPLAUSE
Thank you, Manic Street Preachers!
Now, a man with a beautiful voice, a Grammy award winner,
a man who has made six studio albums.
A man, who I am delighted to say, is in this room with us now.
We welcome Ray LaMontagne!
# Tell me what you're feeling
# I can take the pain
# Tell me that you mean it
# That you won't leave again
# Tell me what your heart wants
# Such a simple thing
# My heart, it's like paper
# Yours, it's like a flame
# I can't make you see
# If you don't by now
# I'll get through these chains
# Somehow
# Take it if you want it
# I'm so tired, I just don't care
# Can't you see how much you hurt me?
# It's like I wasn't there
# Tell me what your heart wants
# Such a simple thing
# My heart, it's like paper
# Yours, it's like a flame
# My heart, it's like paper
# Yours, it's like a flame
# I can't make you see
# If you don't by now
# I'll get through these chains
# Somehow
# Tell me what your heart wants
# Such a simple thing
# My heart, it's like paper
# Yours, it's like a flame
# My heart, it's like paper
# Yours, it's like a flame. #
APPLAUSE
Ray LaMontagne! Such A Simple Thing.
Now, let's come over to this corner,
and let's chat to the guest who sang so beautifully earlier on.
Melissa Laveaux.
Welcome to the show, Melissa. Beautiful.
Beautiful, hearing you earlier.
And you are influenced by... Tell us what inspired this album.
The American occupation of Haiti, from 1915 to 1934,
and the fact that all these songs are cheeky,
or have a little bit of eroticism in them,
or are just part of Haitian folklore and culture,
I thought it was beautiful.
And is that where your family were from? Yes, my family is from Haiti.
And what's the language that you were singing in?
It is Haitian Creole.
Is that like the same Creole that would have been
spoken in New Orleans? Yes, close enough.
But in Haiti, it has developed into the official language,
with its own grammar and syntax, and everything.
The cool thing about Haitian Creole is that you can hear French,
you can hear English, Spanish,
Yoruba, Ewe... Wow.
It's the language of jazz, really, I suppose. Probably.
And also, one of the things that made you get into music was
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, was that right? Yes. How did that work?
I found out that she was singing these religious songs.
A fat, black, queer woman,
the first one to play electric guitar on tour.
The one woman who inspired Elvis.
If Elvis swung his hips and everything,
that was Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and I thought, not enough people
know her, and I'm actually really inspired
by people who aren't known well. I love her!
Shotgun guitar... Oh, she's great.
What are you going to play for us next? Tolalito.
What is that? Tolalito is a song,
it's a mishmash of two songs that I heard when I was a kid,
it talks about voodoo,
and voodoo, the American soldiers who were occupying
tried to cancel it, and discourage Haitians from practising it,
and it talks, it refers to the fact that in voodoo, when you
are possessed by a divinity, they are riding you in a sexual way.
In the song, she says, "Last night I dreamt you were a bicycle,
"and I rode you all night." Well, there we are. Excellent!
That sounds like the title of an English musical song! Perfect!
We're looking forward to hearing that.
Thank you very much for joining us. Melissa Laveaux.
Beautiful sound, we look forward to hearing her later.
Now, let's slip over to this corner,
and welcome back Boy Azooga!
Azooga, Azooga, Azooga!
One!
Two!
Four!
Two!
One, two!
One, two, kung fu!
# Went to a party
# Stood around, then I felt a fool
# I tried getting busy
# But they ain't busy being cool
# So now I'm flicking through the paper
# With a pint glass in my hand
# I've gotta walk on through the vapour
# To the place I understand
# Oh, we all got the loner boogie and it's coming for you
# Yeah, it's coming for you
# Ah, it's coming for you
# I've got the loner boogie and it's coming for you
# Yeah, it's coming for you
# Ah, it's coming for you
# One, two, kung fu
# I don't wanna, I don't wanna I don't wanna, I don't wanna
# I don't wanna, I don't wanna, I don't wanna go outside
# Go outside, no, no
# I don't wanna, I don't wanna, I don't wanna, I don't wanna
# I don't wanna, I don't wanna I don't wanna go outside
# Stay in and hide, woo!
# Loner boogie is a comin' for you
# Yeah, it's coming for you
# Ah, it's coming for you
# One, two, Kung Fu!
# I got the loner boogie and it's coming for you
# I've got a screwed up heart on BBC Two
# I've gotta check it and I really... Woooo! #
APPLAUSE
SHE SINGS IN HAITIAN CREOLE
# Last night
# I had a dream
# You were a bicycle
# Last night
# I had a dream
# And I rode you
SHE SINGS IN HAITIAN CREOLE
APPLAUSE
Melissa Laveaux!
Tolalito!
What charming music we have got this week.
And now over at the table, a man we met earlier, and a woman
we heard earlier singing so beautifully,
Huw Stephens and Gwenno!
APPLAUSE
Lovely to see you. Lovely to see you both.
And a beautiful song you sang, it sounded great,
what you did earlier. Thank you.
Also, I think it's great, the fact that you're the first
person we've had on who sings in Cornish. That really is great.
I didn't, you know... And you speak Cornish and Welsh.
How does that happen? Just my parents.
I wasn't raised in Cornwall, but I have spoken Cornish all my life.
And I had made an album in Welsh,
and that was where I needed to go next.
So it just seemed like, you know, the most obvious thing to do.
And the song that you did for us... Yes.
..what's the title of that, in Cornish?
"Eus Keus?", which means, "Is there cheese?".
And what is "Is there cheese?"
Is there some hidden sort of meaning?
Well, there could be.
I found it, because I did a lot of research for the record,
just exploring the language, you know, this ancient language.
And I found this phrase, it's a 17th-century phrase,
a harvesting phrase, I think, about finding cheese.
It's my favourite foodstuff. Yes.
And there aren't enough songs about cheese. No. But what is the line...?
So it says, "Is there cheese? Is there or isn't there?
"If there is cheese, bring cheese.
"If there isn't cheese, bring what there is."
But it sounds like there's almost something more
philosophical about it. Well, yes.
Maybe now is not the time to go into it, but it sounds like there's more to it.
I like the idea because the Druids believed in the power
of repeating words, and so it's a tribute to the Druids as well.
I do say all the place names in Cornish as well,
throughout the verses.
It sounded great, and we'll hear some more in a moment.
Huw, any smatterings of Cornish for you, or just Welsh? Just Welsh.
I'm just hungry now, after all the cheese chat. Yeah, no...
I didn't know you spoke Cornish in school. You kept that quiet. Did I?
Yes, I had no idea until the album came out. Really?
It's a brilliant record.
What do you particularly love about Gwenno's stuff?
You can say it while she's here.
Well, I just like the fact that you're totally doing
your own thing, really.
And, what's brilliant is Gwenno and Boy Azooga are on the Heavenly
record label, and they released a Manics single as well, and,
you know, these are guys who are just really ambitious musically,
and I thought that performance was brilliant earlier on. OK.
Quick question, Cornwall or Wales?
Oh!
Wales, of course!
Yeah. I'm just interested to know who's going to put
a statue of Gwenno up first, if it's going to be Cornwall or Cardiff.
There's a big mural on the side of a venue in Cardiff of Gwenno
at the moment, so we are halfway there. Oh, right.
Maybe here, in Maidstone, the administrative capital of Kent,
I insist that we have one here first!
Thank you very much for joining us, Huw Stephens and Gwenno!
More from Gwenno in a minute.
Now, let's welcome back the wonderful Ben Howard!
# Towing the line
# I watched the host drink all the wine
# And now she rambles through the who and who have nots
# The old man is a painter of tired seascapes, tired of adventure
# So my mind wanders, picking at the table to cure the wrong
# Like a bird in a world with no trees
# You were hung up there in your disbelief
# I know I'm a hard rock to drag around
# Love is in the early mornings
# In the shadows under the trees
# Not in the cuckolded ashes
# Floating down from the rookery
# Down here I'll crow for you
# You crow for me
# Down here I'll crow for you
# You crow for me
# Towing the line
# I watched the host drink all the wine
# And now I'm purring for a drop of anything
# Throwing stones at your window
# You turn to me as if it was simple
# Why can't you be like the blackbird and sing?
# I say I'm the westerlies in Ireland
# So decadent, so violent
# Can't you see I'm a forager crawling at the bedrock?
# Love is in the early mornings
# In the shadows under the trees
# Not in the cuckolded ashes
# Floating down from the rookery
# Down here I'll crow for you
# You crow for me
# Down here I'll crow for you
# You crow for me
# Mmmm-mmm
# Mmmm-mmm-mm
# Mmmm-mmm
# Mmmm-mmm-mmm
# Mmmm-mmm
# Mmmm. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# Marghek an Gwyns ow tonsya
# Dres an howldrevel
# Tir Ha Mor
# Marghek an Gwyns ow nija
# Dres an howlsedhes efan
# Tir Ha Mor
# Marghek an Gwyns ow nija
# Dres an dowr efan
# Tir Ha Mor
# Ooo-oooo
# Ooo-oooo. #
APPLAUSE
Gwenno, with Tir Ha Mor!
How ruddy marvellous!
Very pleased to be in this room this evening.
There's a lovely mix of music, which I hope you've enjoyed.
We now close with the way we started. Manic Street Preachers!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# You wrote your autograph
# On the far side of the sky
# You recorded the falling rain
# But you never told us why
# You painted with fire
# Only the ashes now remain
# The monochrome desire
# You left us, too young to explain
# Will you lead us to an empty room
# And frame it with the sky so blue?
# The little boy who saw the truth
# He left us with international blue
# International blue
# Here's my gift to you
# A soundtrack to the void
# The deepest of interludes
# All the myths that you destroyed
# And I saw that colour
# Through a clear wide window
# And I saw that colour
# And I knew I had to go
# Will you lead us to an empty room
# And frame it with the sky so blue
# The little boy who saw the truth
# He left us with international blue
# International blue
# Will you lead us to an empty room
# And frame it with the sky so blue?
# The little boy who saw the truth
# He left us with international blue
# International blue
# International blue. #
APPLAUSE
Thank you! Thank you to all my guests.
I would like to thank them all.
Thank you, guests, I love you madly!
Well, we will be back on Tuesday at 10pm with Bjork and lots more.
In the meantime, would you have a little bit of a groove
that you could give us? You've got a guitar, let's face it.
Yes, a bit of Rebel Rebel.
All right, here we go.
I like this groove.
It's Vic Reeves!
One! Two!
One, two, three, stop!