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Biography
Infobox musical artist | name = Gorky's Zygotic Mynci| image = Gorky's Zygotic Mynci.jpg| caption = Gorky's Zygotic Mynci| image_size =| background = group_or_band| alias =| origin = Carmarthen , Wales | genre = Neo-psychedelia Neo-prog Psych folk Alternative rock Britpop British folk-rock cite web |url=Allmusic|class=artist|id=p182746|pure_url=yes|title=Gorky's Zygotic Mynci|author= Stephen Thomas Erlewine |publisher= Allmusic |accessdate=15 May 2012| years_active = 19912006| label = Ankst Records Fontana Records Mantra Records Sanctuary Records | associated_acts = Tystion , Ffa Coffi Pawb , John Lawrence (musician)|Infinity Chimps | website = http://www.gorkys.com/ www.gorkys.com| current_members =| past_members = Euros Childs Richard James (musician)|Richard James John Lawrence (musician)|John Lawrence Megan Childs Euros Rowlands Steffan Cravos Sion Lane Cenwyn Brain Sammy Davies Osian Evans Rhodri Puw Peter Richardson'''Gorky's Zygotic Mynci were a Wales|Welsh alternative rock musical ensemble|band , formed in Carmarthen , west Wales in 1991. They sang songs in both Welsh language|Welsh and English language|English . They split up in May 2006.
Biography
The group was formed by Euros Childs (vocals and keyboards), John Lawrence (musician)|John Lawrence (vocals and guitar) and Richard James (musician)|Richard James (bass guitar) whilst still at Bro myrddin|Bro Myrddin Welsh Comprehensive School in Carmarthen. http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/artist_profile/gorkys-zygotic-mynci.htm Gorky's Zygotic Mynci at Stylus Magazine Beyond their main roles in the band, all three were multi-instrumentalists and often swapped around instruments both in the studio and onstage. With Sion Lane (keyboards) and Steffan Cravos (violin) added to the lineup, Gorky's recorded the self-released cassette "Allumette" (1991). Sion and Steffan left shortly afterwards (the latter going on to form Welsh language rap group Tystion ) and drummer Osian Evans was recruited for second cassette "Peiriant Pleser" (1992).
Euros Childs' sister Megan Childs (violin) subsequently joined the group and the band signed to the Welsh record label Ankst . The band's first release for the label was Patio (album)|Patio (1992), a 10" collection of various live, home and studio recordings (this was later expanded for the 1995 CD version) which John Cale once proclaimed to be his 'favourite album ever'. Gorky's also released a number of singles and EPs on Ankst, demonstrating a taste for Psychedelic music|psychedelia and playfulness evidently inspired by the Canterbury scene of the 1960s and 1970s ( Kevin Ayers ' album Shooting at the Moon is cited in the notes to Tatay as "the best LP of all time", and the record also includes a version of Robert Wyatt 's "O, Caroline"). The band began to be championed by BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel (other than that, it was extremely rare to hear Welsh language music on such a station).
In 1994 Gorky's released their first full studio album, Tatay . By 1995, Euros Rowlands had replaced Osian Evans on drums in time to record a second album - Bwyd Time - which featured a wide range of instrumentation (such as the parts for the celesta and sitar credited on "Iechyd Da"). Both albums were produced by Alan Holmes who also provided their colourful artwork. These early releases show a huge range of influences and styles: "Thema o Cartref", the opening track of Tatay , for example, is a relatively gentle harmonium -backed song, while "When You Hear the Captain Sing" appears to be a tribute of sorts to Captain Beefheart and "Amsermaemaiyndod/cinema" presents one song in the right channel and a completely different one in the left. The 1996 compilation '' Introducing Gorky's Zygotic Mynci '' (the band's first release in America) compiled material from the Ankst album and singles and summed up this phase of Gorky's career.
Now attracting the interest of larger record labels, Gorky's left Ankst and signed to Fontana Records. Their next album, Barafundle (1997), was produced by Gorwel Owen who had also worked with the Super Furry Animals . The wide-ranging instrumentation remained ("Diamond Dew" has a prominent part for the jaw harp ) and there were still psychedelic touches, but the album as a whole was more laid back than their earlier work, tending more towards folk music . This gentler direction was largely maintained and refined in their later records, though the occasional poppier and rockier number, such as "Poodle Rockin'" from Spanish Dance Troupe or "Mow the Lawn" from Sleep/Holiday , continued to crop up.
Following their fifth album - 1998's appropriately-titled Gorky 5 , which was released on Fontana's sister label Mercury Records - the band were dropped by Fontana. They quickly signed to Mantra Recordings (a division of the Beggars' Banquet label). In 1999, Gorky's released their first album for Mantra, Spanish Dance Troupe . This would be the last Gorky's album to feature input from founder member John Lawrence, who left the group during the recording sessions. Richard James took on Lawrence's former role of main guitarist, and Gorky's also recruited former Ffa Coffi Pawb member Rhodri Puw as a sideman to play guitar and bass guitar on tour. In 2000, Gorky's appeared with John Cale in a movie called Beautiful Mistake , in which they performed 1994 album track "O Caroline II".cite web|url= http://www.xs4all.nl/~werksman/cale/movies/beautiful_mistake.html |title=John Cale on screen - Beautiful Mistake |publisher=Xs4all.nl |date= |accessdate=15 May 2012 In the same year, the band released an acoustic mini-album called The Blue Trees in 2000, after which drummer Euros Rowlands left Gorky's to take up a career in teaching.
Rowlands was replaced by former Topper drummer Peter Richardson, and at around the same time Rhodri Puw was confirmed as being a full member of the band. This lineup of Gorky's recorded and toured two more albums - How I Long to Feel That Summer in My Heart (2001) and Sleep/Holiday (2003, on the Sanctuary Music label). The latter would prove to be the final Gorky's Zygotic Mynci album. Although Euros Childs and Richard James would spend time working on separate projects for a while, the band did not announce their formal split until May 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/5022382.stm BBC Wales news story
Name origin
While in the band, Childs said that one of the most frequent questions he was asked was about the origin of the band's name. After struggling to come up with one, they decided "we might as well stick with the most ridiculous crap name we could think of." http://www.leedsmusicscene.net/article/2389/ Leeds Music Scene interview
'Gorky's came from the word "gawky"; Lawrence says that "gork" was school slang for a dimwit. http://stewartlee.co.uk/press/writtenformoney/1996-june-gorkys-sunday_times.htm Stewart Lee Sunday Times interview
Zygotic was "hijacked from GCSE biology"; it was derived from the word zygote , something pertaining to a fertilized egg cell. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zygote Wiktionary: zygote definition
Mynci is a misspelling of the word "monkey" using Welsh orthography|Welsh spelling rules , rather than a direct Welsh translation, and is pronounced like "monkey".
Discography
Albums
Patio (album)|Patio ( Ankst , 1992 as 10", expanded CD version in 1995)
Tatay ( Ankst , 1994)
Bwyd Time ( Ankst , 1995, UK #150)
Barafundle ( Fontana Records|Fontana , 1997, UK Albums Chart|UK #46)
Gorky 5 ( Mercury Records , 1998, UK #67)
Spanish Dance Troupe ( Mantra Records|Mantra , 1999, UK #88)
The Blue Trees ( Mantra Records|Mantra , 2000, UK #126)
How I Long to Feel That Summer in My Heart ( Mantra Records|Mantra , 2001, UK #76)
Sleep/Holiday ( Sanctuary Records|Sanctuary , 2003, UK #132)
''20: Singles & EP's '94-'96 (2003)
cite book | first= David | last= Roberts | year= 2006 | title= British Hit Singles & Albums | edition= 19th | publisher= Guinness World Records Limited | location= London | isbn= 1-904994-10-5 | page= 232 Also reference Zobbel for the lower chart positions
Singles
Gorky's have the ignominious distinction of being the only group with 8 UK Top 75 singles without ever making the Top 40. They have, however, had singles peaking at 41, 42 and 43. That Petrol Emotion and BK (musician)|BK have had 7 Top 75 singles without making the Top 40.
"Merched Yn Neud Gwallt Eu Gilydd" ( Ankst , 1994)
"The Game Of Eyes" ( Ankst , 1994)
"Llanfwrog" EP ( Ankst , 1994)
"Gewn Ni Gorffen" ( Ankst , 1994)
"If Fingers Were Xylophones" ( Ankst , 1995, UK #117)
Richard James (musician)|Richard James - guitar, vocals (19912006), bass guitar (1991-1999)
Rhodri Puw - bass guitar (19992006)
Peter Richardson - drums (20002006)
Previous members
John Lawrence (musician)|John Lawrence - vocals, guitar (19911999)
Euros Rowlands - drums (19952001)
Osian Evans - drums (19911995)
Sion Lane - keyboards (1991)
Cenwyn Brain - guitar (1991)
Sammy Davies - keyboards (19911992)
Steffan Cravos - violin (19911992)
References
Reflist
External links
http://www.gorkys.com/ Official website
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/music/sites/gorkys-zygotic-mynci/ Gorky's Zygotic Mynci biography from BBC Wales
http://www.lofipop.co.uk/gorkys Gorky Dispenser - a fan site
DEFAULTSORT:Gorkys Zygotic Mynci Category:Welsh alternative rock groups Category:Welsh rock music groups Category:Welsh-language bands Category:Welsh-language music Category:Musical groups established in 1991 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2006 Category:People from Carmarthen Category:Entities with Welsh names
