Way back in 2012, Gruff Rhys (the guy who sometimes sings in Welsh, other times in English for bands such as Super Furry Animals and Neon Neon) embarked on a tour around America. Being the far-out kind of dude he is, Rhys dubbed the tour an “investigative concert tour” and used it as an opportunity to re-trace the steps of his relative John Evans who had disappeared circa 1792 while searching for a mythical tribe of Welsh-speaking First Nation Americans.
On said tour, Rhys performed with a puppet avatar of John Evans and a kickass PowerPoint presentation. I’m not making this up.
The tour was such a blast that the project, now called American Interior, has been released as a book, film, app, and album. Although the latter iteration is well and truly available in the UK, it is now due to be released in America on November 4 via Turnstile with bonus content that is so ultra-awesome we can’t even tell you what it is yet. Knowing Rhys, the bonus content could be anything from a vile of yeti DNA to the Welsh transcription of the lyrics of Roy Orbison’s entire back-catalog. You’ll just have to wait to find out, though.
Finally, as if to bring the whole thing full circle (or perhaps spin it off on an entirely new axis) Rhys will be touring America to celebrate the American release of American Interior, which is the album that follows the app, film, and book about the American tour he embarked upon to re-trace the steps of the American tour his distant relative undertook over 200 years ago. Watch a video for the title track below, and then check out the tracklist and tour dates.
American Interior tracklist:
01. American Exterior
02. American Interior
03. 100 Unread Messages
04. The Whether (Or Not)
05. The Last Conquistador
06. Lost Tribes
07. Liberty (Is Where We’ll Be)
08. Allweddellau Allweddol
09. The Swamp
10. Iolo
11. Walk into the Wilderness
12. Year of the Dog
13. Tiger’s Tale
Tour dates:
11.06.14 - Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle
11.07.14 - Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall
11.08.14 - New York, NY - Baby’s All Right
11.10.14 - Toronto, ON - The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
11.11.14 - Ferndale, MI - The Loving Touch
11.12.14 - Chicago, IL - Schubas
11.14.14 - Seattle, WA - Barboza
11.15.14 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
11.18.14 - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel
11.20.14 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
• Gruff Rhys: http://www.gruffrhys.com
• Turnstile Music: http://www.turnstilemusic.net
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