FEATURE:
Saluting the Queens
why I want to celebrate the great Cerys Matthews. Not only does she turn fifty-five on 11th April. One of our most respected and phenomenal broadcasters, you can listen to her BBC Radio 6 Music show Sundays at 10 a.m. There is also The Blues Show with Cerys Matthews on BBC Radio 2. You can follow Cerys Matthews on Instagram, Twitter and her official website. This may have a bit of a random approach. I wanted to celebrate a phenomenal broadcaster and artist. Also, on 12th April, Catatonia’s third studio album, Equally Cursed and Blessed, turns twenty-five. One of my favourite albums of the 1990s, it features incredible tracks like Dead from the Waist Down and Karaoke Queen. I am going to drop a track in from that album. I also want to come to a few interviews with Cerys Matthews from a few years back. There have not been many recently. I would love to hear from Cerys Matthews. An incredible broadcaster whose music tastes are like nobody else’s, she is someone who I have enormous respect for. Before getting to interviews from Cerys Matthews, a quick review and nod to a very special album that turns twenty-five soon. This is what AllMusic had to say:
“Equally Cursed and Blessed is another breath of fresh pop air from Catatonia. Cerys Matthews' distinctive vocal roars and whispers are in full force throughout these tracks, and the blend of songs on this release surpasses all of Catatonia's prior collections. The first single, the weeping "Dead From the Waist Down" features a full string section, and the magnificent "Karaoke Queen" is backed by a disco beat and razor-sharp guitar hooks. Pure pop like "She's a Millionaire" helps color the album on the brighter side, while the dark, brooding "Bulimic Beats" adds depth. Closing the album is the excellent "Dazed, Beautiful, and Bruised" where Matthews sends off an abusive former lover. Equally Cursed and Blessed could easily be Catatonia's chance to break into the United States, because with music like this, you simply can't go wrong”.
I want to source a few interviews with Cerys Matthews. A few years ago, The Home Page spotlighted and celebrated a wonderful and celebrated woman. As they say, Matthews is a “ferocious talent( Cerys Matthews MBE is) celebrated musician, award-winning BBC radio presenter, composer, theatre curator, documentary writer and best-selling author. She talks to Rosalind Sack about life in her creative family home in West London and why it is community, rather than things, that give her home soul”:
“Where do you live and why?
My home is in Ladbroke Grove, West London, where I’ve lived on and off since the late ‘90s. I live with my husband and we have five children between us. Two of those are adults now but they’re in and out as well, so it’s quite busy, which I like. That’s not to say that I don’t also love chucking everyone out on a Monday morning – which I do! I love the peace but, like everything in life, it’s the contrast that really defines what everything means. My home is like a little cottage, which is unusual for London; you look out of the windows and you just see greenery. Being a bit of a country girl at heart, I love that. We have a tiny garden and I plant potatoes in pots and lots of mint and we have a cherry tree.
What makes your house a home?
My collection of books and records, and a few guitars. Apart from those, I can’t collect many things because of the sheer size of our family and the logistics of living in a cottage. So I’m quite strict in that sense. I probably wouldn’t be that strict if space wasn’t such a huge issue, but I’d never move because this is where I like living. I know everybody here; I know people who work in the area, I know the families, the schools, the postman, the shopkeepers. It’s the people you’re surrounded by everyday that give your home soul. Home is less about things and more about community.
PHOTO CREDIT: Oli Green
You recently released your book, Where The Wild Cooks Go – a glorious mix of recipes, poetry and music from around the world. Can you describe your kitchen at home…
When I’m in the kitchen I’m like the captain of my ship. When I’m cooking over the gas I can look down into the area where we all hang out and there’s a table and the garden beyond and it feels like I’m at the helm. It’s tiny, there’s only room for one, so when I’m cooking I can’t do anything else. So there’s an element of peace while doing something I love. We have a big old dining table which we eat around when we can. In fact when I first moved to this house, I found it in the garden. It’s solid oak, so I just sanded it down, oiled it and we sit around there. I like a bargain!
It’s the people you’re surrounded by everyday that give your home soul. Home is less about things and more about community.”
What was your childhood home like?
I was born in Cardiff and we lived there for the first few years of my life in a house that was really similar to my home now. It was a ‘70s new build development, terraced, with young families in each of the houses that spilled out of the front door onto a communal lawn area. In a strange way I’ve kind of regressed with my house in London to the same kind of mass-produced houses for young families that we grew up in in Cardiff. There’s this idea that the kids can use any of the terraced houses as their home, and they do. It is really is quite idyllic in that sense. It’s very ordinary, but I like ordinary.
What’s on your bedside table?
Books. I love books, and music obviously as well. Because of the nature of my radio show I’m sent a load of books on a load of subjects and I’m always behind on my reading, I can never read enough.
Can you describe your front door?
It’s bright red. The housing community where I live was built by the architect Terry Farrell. It’s ex local authority originally built for artists who didn’t have enough money, that then reverted into private housing in the ‘80s. It comes with its own committee and because Terry Farrell painted the doors red you have to keep them all that colour, which I don’t mind. We have one of the only defibrillators in the area so there’s this idea that we can, to a certain degree, self-care. There’s a lot of elderly people (I don’t like the word ‘elderly’ any more, I’ll say ‘people of experience’) who live here alone and there’s a really lovely element of co-caring. So if someone breaks their hip, we take them to hospital, pick them up, make them soup. This kind of model should be looked at by central government when they build houses and housing communities, because it makes a huge difference to safety and love and contentment.
What’s the first thing you did to your home when you moved in?
I ripped out the kitchen and moved it from the front of the house, which is the darkest part, to where it is now, right in the middle of the house. We have a record player, so there’s almost always music playing and there’s lots of wood, so it looks and feels more like I have my hob and my fridge in the lounge. I’m fussy with my food and I try to buy sustainably where I can. I’m also passionate about knowing the nuts and bolts of dishes so I don’t buy readymade pastes or readymade spice mixes, which also allows you to eat with less plastic and less packaging as well. I like to know how it works, even it is quite basic, because I also like to cook quick.
What are some of the most memorable things that have happened in your home?
We used to have discos when the kids were really young. They’d love them. They could happen at any time of the day; we’d dim the lights, whack up the volume on the music and have dance competitions on the rug. I loved those times.
If the objects in your home could speak, which would have the best story to tell?
My father’s family were lead miners and somehow my father’s great grandparents stopped mining and opened a hardware shop in Abercynon. They must have earned quite a lot of money because they had a huge photograph taken of themselves, which must have been extortionate at the time. I’m talking maybe 90cm by 60cm and it’s framed on the kitchen wall. They’re dressed in their glad rags; so she’s wearing this gorgeous long-length, corseted, high-necked, low-sleeved, jet black dress with severe pulled back hair and little round wire glasses, and he’s stood up with a big old moustache, his gold pocket watch and one hand on her shoulder. It’s quite a stern black and white portrait and sometimes it feels like their eyes follow you around the room. My mum felt it was too spooky and used to keep it in the attic, but I love it”.
Rather than source interviews where Cerys Matthews talks about her music influences and relate that to her broadcasting, there are these interesting insights into her home. Her cultural influences. A more rounded impression of the wonderful broadcaster. Elle Decoration interviewed Cerys Matthews in 2020. If you have not heard Matthews’ shows on BBC Radio 6 Music and 2, then I would thoroughly recommend that you do. She is one of the most passionate broadcasters out there. Someone who is essential listening:
“As frontwoman of indie outfit Catatonia, Cerys Matthews was at the forefront of 1990s Welsh cultural renaissance Cool Cymru. Now a beloved broadcaster on BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music, she’s a staple of the summer festival circuit as both presenter and performer, and was awarded an MBE for services to music in 2014.
That same year, Matthews co-founded wild craft, food and music weekend The Good Life Experience – ‘a festival for curious types like me’– and has since penned Where the Wild Cooks Go (Penguin, £25), a collection of recipes, cocktails, music and poems that delves into the folklore of fruit and vegetables. ‘It’s like a history of the world through the prism of tomatoes.’ Here, she shares her, typically eclectic, cultural influences…
Growing up in Wales, in the heart of a minority culture, makes you realise early on that there’s more than one way to skin a cat. I try to throw the net as wide as I can when looking for great recordings, regardless of origin and language.
I’m currently listening to guitarist and singer Snooks Eaglin – his voice is like velvet. One of my career highlights was interviewing New Orleans musician and performer Allen Toussaint (right) just before he died. He told me stories of being in a band with Snooks when they were teenagers and the image of these brilliant musicians, young and carefree, will stay with me forever.
It’s impossible to pick out a favourite guest from my 6 Music show – it’s the smorgasbord of people that I enjoy best. One minute I’ll be chatting to Stephen Fry about Greek myths or astronaut Helen Sharman about being the first Briton in space, then we might enjoy poetry with Michael Rosen and a chat with one of the engineers behind The Shard, Roma Agrawal. I like to think of the show as the Sunday papers in radio form.
My most memorable travel adventure was trekking to the Everest base camp in Nepal last year with my two sons. The terrain changes, the plants change, the weather changes on a sixpence, and then you see your first glimpse of the elusive Everest – unbelievable. The Nepalese and Sherpa culture is beautiful. I totally recommend doing it – it is doable, we saw an 81-year-old walking the trails.
A recent cultural highlight was a trip to see our 3.2 million-year-old ancestor, ‘Lucy’, at the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa. During my stay, we ate great vegetarian and vegan food, drank tej – local honey wine – and visited the cultural hub Fendika on a Friday night for some of the best live music I’ve seen.
If I won the lottery, I’d buy a Picasso for my house – Le Rêve would be nice – and a massive indoor hammock in which to lie and look at it.
I’m looking forward to the end of this most peculiar chapter, but thus far it’s been okay. We’ve been trying to do those slow things at home – sowing seeds, reading, cooking to Spotify playlists and just spending time with each other”.
I am going to finish off with yet another 2020 interview. I would like to see some new chats with the amazing Cerys Matthews. She is someone who has a lot of fans and dedicated listeners. The Guardian spent some time with Matthews in 2020. I was keen to highlight her ahead of her fifty-fifth birthday. I know we will be hearing years (and decades) more of Cerys Matthews on the radio:
“What’s your Sunday morning ritual?
I sneak downstairs at 6am while everyone’s sleeping. I curate my radio show myself and sometimes I’ll hear something on a Saturday night and want to make last-minute changes. It takes me two seconds to get dressed. The joy of radio! I chuck on a bobble hat, puffer jacket and trainers and head to work.
What does Sunday feel like?
Wide-eyed and free- form. I think of the day like a Sunday paper – you go from one topic to the next. It’s why Sunday morning is such a wonderful time to be on air. People are pottering, enjoying their hobbies – so I can turn down the tempo.
How do you wind down?
At 1pm – show over – the team and I prepare for the following week, and then I head home to my kitchen. Cooking is my second passion – and eating sustainably. Cutting down meat is one thing, but we also need to see where our veg and fruit comes from. How does Yorkshire puddings with vegan haggis sound?
What’s playing?
Early blues: Jimmy Smith, Mississippi John Hurt and John Coltrane. It’s always jazz for me on a Sunday – it’s moody and thought-provoking.
A favourite spot?
La Bodega on Tavistock Square in Notting Hill, where you can eat delicious chorizo, tortilla and paella and watch Spanish TV.
A perfect evening?
Vintage films: Humphrey Bogart, Judy Garland, Hattie McDaniel.
Do you miss the day off?
I spent the 90s as a touring musician, rolling from gig to gig with no weekends – that was hard. But music is my passion. So my show isn’t just work – it’s part of my ritual. It’s less arduous than making sure the homework is done. The rest of Sunday is sacrosanct”.
I shall end it there. Even if I have not touched on her broadcasting start and favourite music much, I hope the above gives you a better understanding of and inside into Cerys Matthews. She celebrates her birthday on 11th April. I wish her many happy returns! It has been a pleasure discovering more about…
A broadcasting queen.