IT'S 30 years now since a group of Welsh bands emerged from across the border to challenge Britpop with their own version of 'Cool Cymru'. 

While the likes of Manic Street Preachers, Super Furry Animals, Catatonia and Stereophonics all experienced mainstream success and became household names for many music-lovers it was  Carmarthen's Gorky's Zygotic Mynci who provided a more interesting and eclectic proposition.

Formed in the early 90s while still at school,  the band's taste for anything goes psychedelia and playfulness and habit of singing in their native tongue marked them out as something completely different.

After eight Top 75 singles on the UK Singles Chart and a succession of brilliant albums, frontman Euros Childs elected to keep the flame alight with an incredibly prolific solo career since the band split in 2006.

A new tour, which calls into Birkenhead's Future Yard on October 10, will mark Euros’ return to the stage with a band for the first time in seven years as he prepares to release his latest collection of songs Beehive Beach.

"I did have a tour planned in 2020 but obviously with the pandemic that was scrapped and then after that I'm not really sure why it's taken so long," laughs Euros. 

"For whatever reason it's taking me this long for me to get something together. I have done a lot of gigs in the meantime but they've been with Teenage Fanclub (Euros joined the Scottish indie legends as keyboardist in 2019) and in the last four yeas I've probably played more gigs than I ever have before but obviously that isn't with my own band so I'm really looking forward to this tour."

The experience of touring with Teenage Fanclub and playing on their last two albums has clearly given the 49-year-old a new-found enthusiasm for getting back out on the road.

"I've been all over," he says. "The last place we played was Mongolia! We've been to America a couple of times and Japan and it's been a whirlwind. Many a trip has been taken!"

Euros' new solo album Beehive Beach comes out on October 25 via his own National Elf label and sees him recording with a band once more in the shape of Stephen Black (bass and clarinet), onetime BMX Bandits member Stuart Kidd (drums & vocals) and Georgia Ruth (vocals and recorder).

"The last few records I did they've been pretty much solo in the truest sense of the word and there's been hardly anyone else playing on them," he says. 

"This time around it has been with an actual band playing live and we recorded it in a converted chapel in Pembrokeshire.

"This new album is a number I can actually remember as it's my 20th but it feels a bit like my debut because I haven't made one for five years."

Euros has something of a following in Wirral with the likes of The Coral and Bill Ryder-Jones proclaiming themselves huge fans with the latter even calling Gorky's 1998 album, Gorky's 5 as his favourite ever album.

"That's so great and I've loved having their support," he says. "We supported The Coral 20-odd years ago and that was a great experience. It's good to see them still going."

With Gorky's brilliance still being discovered by new generations and so many bands from that era deciding to reform could Euros ever think about recording with his former bandmates again?

He adds: "It's almost 20 years since we split and it's like looking back on your school days really and it feels like a long time ago - maybe it was more like school into college actually - I was 15 when we started. 

"I don't think we'd ever get back together - my take on it is that's it's something that happened at a time so not really, no." 

Seabird Presents
Euros Childs
+ Selma French
Wednesday 9th October 2024
Doors 7pm
75 Argyle Street
Tickets £20 advance (+BF) – Standing
futureyard.org