Last updated: 18 November 2008
Texas Radio Band formed in the late 1990s by Matthew and Rhodri in the south Wales village of Llansteffan, near Carmarthen.
Beginning by jamming at each other's houses on guitar, keyboards and bass, they took their name from The Doors' album track Texas Radio & The Big Beat.
Members
- Matthew Williams: vocals, guitar
- Rhydian 'Squids' Jones: bass
- Alex Dingley: guitar
- Rhodri Davies: keyboards
- Gruff Ifan: drums
- Brychan England: percussion
Recruiting Rhydian Jones and Rhodri H on bass and trumpet respectively, they soon decided to record a demo. A session at Celtic Recordings resulted in early demos of the songs Casino, Bobsleigh and Seymoor.
The demo led to some interest, including airplay on Radio Cymru. Encouraged, they set about preparing for a debut gig. Zabrinski frontman Matthew Durbridge offered to fill the drum stool, and the debut live performance was a three-song set at a battle of the bands competition in Bro Myrddyn in 1998. A support slot for Big Leaves at the Waterside in Carmarthen came soon after, and was broadcast by Radio Cymru.
We're not really the most prolific band. Writing songs has never been a natural thing. But I think now we've finally come of an age where we can get focused on things. Technically we've really improved.
Matthew Williams
Following an appearance of the TRB track Rowlin Mowlin on the £5 Heb Newid compilation album, Rasp Records approached the band to record an EP. The result was Y Tywysoges, which led to further Eisteddfod appearances and radio sessions.
University commitments had led to a revolving line-up within the band, but things settled down in time to record a number of four track demos in Cardiff. One of these found its way to the offices of Boobytrap records, which led to the band entering Rockfield studio to record the Love Is Informal single with producer Greg Haver. A surprising highlight of the label's monthly singles club, it introduced the band to a wider audience.
While Love Is Informal was a promising burst of guitar pop, the band entered a period of downtime, which ended with the release of the debut Texas Radio Band album, Baccta' Crackin', in April 2004 on Slacyr Records.
