Big Al Davies is a singer-songwriter and poet, active in many bands in the Caerphilly area since the 1980’s, after cassette only releases “God and Fish” and “Guts For Garters” he recently released his second CD entitled “The Ploughman’s Lunch” and his previous CD and download “Feztastic” in 2007.
Big Al plays Ukulele and Mandolin and sings with The Monte Dons, they have supported the Damned in the point in Cardiff and headlined the Caerphilly Big Cheese festival. He plays annually at Megaday (Caerphilly’s premier pop event) playing bass with local legends Doc Savage and also plays occasional gigs on guitar and vocals with his own band with Phil Blight and Geoff Llewellyn from the Monte Dons as the “Warden Hodges”.
WI: What is you’re favorite place in Wales?
AD: One place is hard, maybe Portmeirion but maybe home in Rudry, but I love lots of it, Cardiff, Caerphilly, Mumbles, Tenby, it’s all too much.
WI: Favorite Welsh band or musician?
AD: John Cale and the SFA (ok that’s two)…
WI: Favorite Welsh food or drink?
AD: Cawl with Rev. James (Brains Beer).
WI: What does Wales mean to you?
AD: It’s home, but I love the humour, the passions of the people, the countryside and the towns, it’s more than people imagine it is, the industrial South and the communities mean a lot to me, I liked my upbringing in Llanbradach in an old fashioned chapel family. It means music and poetry and standing stones and laughter.
WI: What do you most miss about Wales when you are away?
AD: The chatty everyday life, the scenery, the countryside, home is where the heart is. The Welsh accents, the terraced houses, the public houses in the countrysides that look so invitingly lit when driving past, the small music sessions that happen in houses and pubs but are not as well advertised as in Dublin and Ireland, the quiet knowledge of the inhabitants here that although sometimes looked down upon we are living in one of those special places of the world, a secret that will be discovered one day by many. The drive to Hay-on-Wye through the mountains, I miss Wales itself.
The second album from Big Al Davies and this time there are 13 songs of poppy goodness with beat sensibilities and more toe tapping tunes, Big Al has actually increased his sound palette this time to more layers of guitars and other stringed instruments. Feztastic was the forerunner to this collection of pop tunes, with Al exploring his usual areas of Britishness like on “Sid James Infirmary”, “i Wanna Work With Lovejoy” and “Three Field Farmer” his romantic side “Lovesick No 12” and “Everything We Had” across the comical “I’m Having The Wrong Life” and “I Won’t Get Drunk Again” and the pure punky pop of “The Summer’s Here”. Dare we say it but the Ploughman’s Lunch is a complete meal, satisfying and all the elements come together to produce a meal fit for a king.
The new CD will be available on itunes and all online stores as a download soon, and also in Spillers records in Cardiff soon, the online link is here.
