Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys has never been one to rest on his laurels. In addition to writing most of the music on the band’s nine albums, he’s released three solo albums (including this year’s dreamy Hotel Shampoo), teamed with Boom Bip to form the Mercury Music Prize nominated Neon Neon and worked with artists as diverse and Mogwai, Simian Mobile Disco, Danger Mouse, Goldie Lookin’ Chain and Gorillaz. Oh, and he co-directed and starred in his first documentary film, Separado. Whew. His latest US tour, which brings him to the Red Palace tonight, began Wednesday in New York. We talked to him late last month about his new record, how his Gorillaz collaboration almost didn’t happen and (most importantly!) what the future holds for the Super Furries.

Some bands can learn a lot from the Super Furry Animals. You could enlist an army of keyboards or even one of the guys from Sebadoh to improve your live performance, but sometimes all it takes is getting the audience to wiggle their fingers above their heads and howl to have a good time. Last night at the 9:30 Club, the Furries managed to coax the audience into this bizarre display not once, but…

Formed in their native Wales in the early 1990s, the Super Furry Animals were signed to Creation Records in 1995 by label head Alan McGee after seeing the band at the Camden Monarch club. He famously asked the band if they would sing more songs in English, only to be informed by the band that every song in their set that night had indeed been sung in English. Not the type of people to…

Euros Childs is best known as the frontman of Welsh popsters Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci. Formed in 1991, the group, along with the Super Furry Animals, Catatonia and others repped for Wales during Britain’s Britpop era in the mid-1990s. The group, a critical darling that never quite found their place in the mass populace, called it quits in 2006 after a long career that included 10 albums. Since the group’s split, Euros has released three…

It’s hard to identify Jim Fairchild without first acknowledging that he was formerly the guitarist in the Modesto, Ca. group Grandaddy. Fairchild, however, has kept himself busy since the group’s demise in 2006, touring with numerous other bands and also finding the time to record and release his first solo record under the moniker All Smiles. The resulting Ten Readings Of A Warning, a collection of charming, laid back lo-fi pop that belies his…

England’s “Britpop” movement in the mid-1990s has proven to be one of the most enduring music trends of recent memory. Checking the local club listings will reveal all sorts of dance nights aligning themselves with “Cool Britannia,” Creation Records and the like. Not many of the bands from that time are still together and making music though. The two stewards of the movement, Blur and Oasis, continue to release records now and then, although…

During their set yesterday at the 9:30 Club, Nick Zammuto, one half of The Books, introduced a song as being about the end of the world then changed his mind and said it was about conception. It was a good synopsis of the band’s music — it could be anything you want it to be. The Brooklyn band’s songs are pastiches — mostly instrumental with guitar from Zammuto and electric cello from Paul de Jong,…

Editor’s Note: This week’s agenda was compiled by DCist staffers Kyle Gustafson, Tom Lee, and Sommer Mathis. This week kicks off at the 9:30 Club with a doubleshot of artists from Wales. One is legendary, one should be (and might be yet). One is proud of their Welsh heritage, one not so much. One has panties thrown at him on a regular basis, the other throws carrots at their audience on a regular basis. Tuesday:…