Euros Childs, from Freshwater East, is a singer, songwriter, guitarist and keyboards player who was a founder member of influential Welsh rock band Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci (GZM).
In the mid-90s when Brit Pop was at its commercial height, with bands like Oasis, Blur, Pulp, and Teenage Fanclub regularly bothering the charts and major venues, Wales had a similar movement, labelled Cool Cymru, led by Catatonia, The Stereophonics, The Manic Street Preachers, and Super Furry Animals.
GZM was part of that movement and although they never achieved the same level of success of some of the other bands they were arguably the best of that bunch with a musical style of breathtaking variety, swinging between harmony drenched, melodic and folksy songs and those that boasted an amazing and quirky, psychedelic feel. Their influence remains strong today.
When GZM broke up in the early noughties, Euros embarked on a solo career – touring regularly and releasing a dozen or so albums. His songs on them, like GZM, range from seemingly whimsical yet romantic, bittersweet tunes to occasional all out aural assaults. Whatever Euros does he does it with great spirit and lashings of wit and humour.
Currently, Euros is touring and recording with those Brit Pop legends, Teenage Fanclub, so it seems like the wheel has come full circle.
The songs chosen to illustrate Euros’s undoubted talent as Artist of the Week are drawn from all his work.
There are two songs from GZM – Miss Trudy, which was they only song of theirs which got into the charts, and Only The Sea Makes Sense, a song which takes as its starting point a walk on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path but evokes emotions brought on by being close to the sea.
The third song, Candyfloss, was recorded by the band Jonny, in which Euros was accompanied by Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub – their friendship goes back a long way. It’s another song into which Euros inserts a few place names of his beloved home shire.
The final two songs are taken from his solo career.
My Colander, which finds Euros dancing around his parents’ Freshwater East kitchen with various utensils, illustrates his wackier side, whilst the final song, Do I Still Figure In Your Life, is a tender, heartfelt ballad which evokes his romantic nature – the song is a cover, originally recorded by ‘60s harmony group Honeybus (a band GZM covered also) and which was a big hit for Joe Cocker though Euros strips it of its cocksure posturing to beautifully reinvent it, as the best cover versions should.
Local Artist of rhe Week: EUROS CHILDS