Sunday 8th April 2018
No scooting today - both me and the Vespa deserved a rest. It was Sunday after all. Mainly though it was so I could spend some quality time with Lloyd & Delyth and get a feel for where they live.
I've been involved in music production since my teens, even managing to make a decent living out of it throughout the nineties. When the bottom fell out of independent recorded music towards the end of that decade, I had to start supplementing my income with teaching the subject at a local college, although I always maintained a studio and kept my hand in the game, so to speak. However, a combo of teaching workload and the arrival of our two kids in quick succession meant that my creative ambitions were put on a bit of a back burner for a good few years around the end of the noughties.
That started to change around 2013 and I found myself increasingly back in the saddle, if not financially, then certainly creatively. The kids were now that bit older and able to play together, enabling more music time for Dad. An update of my studio kit provided some inspiration and enthusiasm. I got asked by a friend to DJ at his local club night, something which I had never done, but which spurred me on to create some exclusive music. To help promote the night and my music I also finally gave in (after years of snarky resistance) and joined Facebook.
By the turn of 2014, one or two of the new online friends I had made were telling me that one of my productions was being played by the DJ duo A Love From Outer Space, or ALFOS for short (Andrew Weatherall & Sean Johnston) at their increasingly popular nights up and down the country. The vanity in me shot to the surface : 'oooh, I'd like to hear that out loud on a packed dancefloor', something I used to experience a fair bit in the 90s and take for granted, but which hadn't happened for years. In February they were due to play in Salford - a short train ride away from me. I bought a ticket. Billy No Mates here was travelling up alone (which I now realize is no big deal for an ALFOS night, many folk do) but a mutual friend called Martin suggested that his friends Delyth & Lloyd would be going up from Wales, and would be ideal folks to look after me. Cursory introductions were made via messages and a meeting place for pre gig drinks arranged.
On top of this, Lloyd is a music producer too. A phenomenally talented one. He is famously modest so I didn't even know the extent of his skills until Delyth secretly passed me a memory stick containing dozens of very fully formed demos. I had known them for well over a year by this point, I may add. I was so impressed by what I heard that, without either of them knowing, I naughtily passed them on to a label called tici taci, which was increasingly finding favour with ALFOS, had a long standing connection with Andrew Weatherall himself, and was run by the nicest label boss in the business, Duncan Gray. He was just as impressed, and Lloyd was given the news that his tunes had not only been listened to, but that someone he respected wanted to release them.
I had the pleasure of providing a remix for his first release, Y Llwynog (Welsh for 'The Fox', and under his nom de plume of The Long Champs) and I even managed to get Delyth to speak a few words to use as vocals (recorded by Lloyd whilst she was peeling spuds on a sunday morning, legend has it). All was looking great, but life is a funny thing, and around this time Delyth had a serious, urgent health scare which required substantial surgery. Happily it went well, although recovery was no picnic. She set herself a goal of being well enough to attend another ALFOS (in the exact same Salford venue where we all first met) a few weeks after the op. Not only did she make it, but she seemed her usual vivacious self, and to top it off ALFOS played my remix of Lloyd's tune, the one with her voice on it. The great thing about the ALFOS 'family' is that many do get to know each other very well, so many there (including the DJs themselves) were party to this couple's recent woes, and just as celebratory to see Del back on a dancefloor. It was a magical moment and exactly what was needed after all the heartache.
They both came to stay at mine for a day or two and meet the family in the summer of 2016, but as I said before, this was my first time visiting them. Most of the day was spent in the house which suited me just fine after being outdoors so much the last couple of days. We chatted whilst they prepared their weekly Sunday lunch. The dogs (Missy & Moe) got gradually less suspicious of this complete stranger, and even started nudging me for attention. 6 Music or Lloyd's eclectic iTunes library were on quietly by default in the background, through the telly. It was all incredibly relaxing and civilised. When the roast dinner came it was the business. Del had warned me to bring some elasticated trousers as she didn't like anyone to go hungry. She was right, - 2 roast meats, Yorkshire pud, and every conceivable trimming. I was stuffed. Bootiful! We watched a Netflix original to stop us all falling asleep late afternoon - Annihilation, which was an entertaining blend of Arrival, The Hunger Games, Event Horizon and Under The Skin, with some proper gory bits that had Lloyd exclaiming 'ych-a-fi!' in disgust.
We got off our arses for a walk around the village early evening. It was a very scenic history lesson. Like most Valleys villages, Blaengarw was almost exlusively reliant on coal mining - an industry which has long since departed from South Wales, and the UK in general. Most of us remember that Margaret Thatcher's government and its National Coal Board went to war with the miners union (NUM) over proposed pit closures in the mid 80s, eventually got their way after a very bitter industrial dispute, and an industry that employed hundreds of thousands of workers was over. The impact on communities like Blaengarw can't be over emphasised. By Lloyd's own admission, the village is literally a cul-de-sac, at the top of the Garw valley road. A cul de sac that survived, thrived even, for many years thanks to the two pits that dominated life - visually, professionally, socially. Once these were gone, the relative isolation must have hit home. A feeling of unfairness still hangs in the air - a feeling I'm all too familiar with from back in Stoke, where not one but two thriving local industries (coal and ceramics) are all but reduced to proudly sad memories of a more vibrant, booming town.
As in Stoke, great effort has been made to turn the former pit head sites into publicly accessible parkland. This has been done very well, in no small part thanks to EU money - 'Oh, the irony' Lloyd exclaims, shaking his head (a majority of people in this area voted Leave in the referendum - again, much like in Stoke). These newer green areas blend in with the surrounding mountains seamlessly, and are dotted with monuments to the toil that once went on beneath.
Apparently, the surrounding slopes and forests are very popular with mountain bikers. It's nice to see some positive aspects coming from such a traumatic recent past.
Del and Lloyd have been together for nearly quarter of a century, and married for over 20 of those. They have no kids, save for their two 'girls', Missy & Moe. They plan their year around holidays and gigs to a large extent, and are two people that anyone can see were made for each other.
Lloyd is born and bred in Blaengarw though and I was learning more and more, about both the village and himself, as the tour continued: the steps where he and some mates put on an outdoor gig as teens; the location of his Mother's house, almost spitting distance from theirs (we knocked on to say hello, and you can see where he gets his lovely nature from - I even got a cwtch); and The Workmen's Hall, where he was once very involved promoting all sorts of community activities, including a cult film night. VERY Lloyd, that.
The tour ended with refreshments at The Blaengarw Hotel, which today is the local pub. Turns out that Lloyd's Grandparents ran it for a great many years, and he also worked there for a time. Delyth has been known to knock up a Christmas dinner there for some of the local elderly folk too. That said, they realized that they hadn't been in the bar for quite some time, and Lloyd was quite obviously feeling happily nostalgic about the family history of the place. Was very nice to see - and the Valleys prices per round were a thing of beauty too. Cheers!
Before we got too 'settled' it was a few strides home for an evening comprising lots more chat, a couple of comedies (Cunk On Britain and Still Game), and some superb eggs benedict for supper! Lloyd had work the next day and I had a big ride down to Pembrokeshire ahead so it was to bed at a reasonable hour, thoroughly spoilt.
