Catatonia - Biography
Catatonia nearly had it all before they collapsed. Their first two albums contained moments of brilliant Britpop, but that might have sounded wimpish if not for the husky voice of lead singer Cerys Matthews who, at the band’s peak was something of a sex symbol. But then drugs and alcohol got in the way of everything. The band's music got worse and an entire tour was canceled due to Matthews's exhaustion and anxiety. She now enjoys a drug-free career as a solo artist. The legacy of Catatonia may not match that of their mid-‘90s English contemporaries Blur or Oasis; or even their fellow Welsh peers Super Furry Animals or Manic Street Preachers. But in their early days, their brand of straightforward pop was undeniably infectious and it's hard not to enjoy the strong yet playful vocal delivery of Matthews.
In early ‘90s Cardiff, Cerys Matthews was a busker who often performed with her future boyfriend, guitarist Mark Roberts. Eventually they decided to recruit enough members to have a proper band. In 1992, Sweet Catatonia was formed, featuring Matthews, Roberts, bassist Paul Jones, drummer Dafydd leuan (or simply Daf) and keyboardist Clancy Pegg. By 1993, the band changed their name to Catatonia and signed to a small Welsh label, Crai, who released their first single and five-song EP of the same name, For Tinkerbell, which became an NME single of the week. The next year, a second single/EP, Hooked (1994 Crai), was released, earning further praise from NME and Melody Maker. That August, “Whale” was released on Rough Trade before the band relocated to London.
Catatonia began 1995 with a brand new single, “Bleed,” released on the Nursery label. Shortly thereafter, Daf left the band and joined another up-and-coming Welsh band, Super Furry Animals. Pegg was out as well, joining Crac before eventually becoming a bassist for a rap group, Tystion. Catatonia recruited Aled Richards as their new drummer. They did not seek out a replacement keyboardist, instead bringing in a second guitarist, Owen Powell.
The new lineup was signed to Blanco Y Negro, an affiliate of Warner Bros that was owned by former Rough Trade founder, Geoff Travis. In early 1996, the band put out the first single, “Sweet Catatonia,” off their impending debut full-length. While they toured with Marion, Nursery released all of the band's pre-Blanco Y Negro singles in one LP, The Sublime Magic of Catatonia (1996 Nursery). That August, the band put out their first top 40 UK single, “You've Got a Lot to Answer For.” The stage was set for, Way Beyond Blue (1996 Blanco Y Negro), which was released one month after the single. Produced by the band and Stephen Street, Way Beyond Blue included many of the band's past singles as well as a few new songs. It was an impressive debut and one of the best LPs to come out of the Brit pop era.
1998 was the band's best year. While critics fawned over Catatonia's debut, their commercial success in the UK was still fairly modest. In January, 1998, that changed when they put out their new single, “Mulder and Scully.” Referencing the popular The X-Files series helped an already catchy song reach number three on the UK charts. Their second full-length, International Velvet (1998 Blanco Y Negro), hit stores a month later. In March, “The Ballad of Tom Jones,” a collaboration between Matthews and Liverpool’s Space, was released as a single and reached number four. Another single off the LP, “Road Rage,” debuted at number five in May and International Velvet finally became a number one album in the UK after fourteen weeks of climbing the charts.
Catatonia were now at the peak of their popularity and it was no surprise when their third album, Equally Cursed and Blessed (Blanco Y Negro), debuted at number one when it hit the shelves in April, 1999. From there, however, it quickly slid down the charts, failing to match the commercial success of International Velvet. “Dead From the Waist Down,” the album's lead-off track, had been a number one single but “Londinium” and “Karaoke Queen” failed to break the top 20. It was an unfortunate turn of events for the band, given that they had made an album that critics and fans held in high esteem. Equally Cursed and Blessed did not reach American shores until almost a year later.
It was a steady decline from there. Matthews and Roberts had broken up and Matthews’s addiction to heroin and alcohol of was becoming unmanageable. Their fourth album, Paper Scissors Stone (2001 Blanco Y Negro), was poorly received by critics and fans alike. A subsequent tour, planned for August, was canceled. The next month, Matthews told her bandmates that she planned to leave Catatonia and the news of their break-up followed.
Matthews eventually kicked her heroin habit, claiming to have resolved to quit after receiving concerned phone calls from both Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens. She then fell in love with country music producer Seth Riddle, with whom she moved to Nashville in 2002. Her debut solo album, Cockahoop, came out on Blanco Y Negro in May 2003, three months after she and Riddle were married. Her second album, Never Said Goodbye, was released in August 2006. A Welsh language mini-album, Awyren=Aeroplane, followed in 2007, following her divorce from Riddle.
