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The Changing Man - Carwyn Ellis



Carwyn Ellis has played with some of the giants of music, although you’ve probably never heard of him. But with his new band Colorama and a charity single with some of the biggest names in rock in aid of the Haiti disaster, he’s hoping to put all that right. Dave Owens meets the reluctant star in waiting.

LIKE putting an elephant in a bucket” is the amusing way in which Carwyn Ellis describes the difficulty he correctly assumes I will have trying to neatly box his career.

He’s not wrong. This multi-talented musician’s history would seriously trouble the combined forestation of the Amazon if it were to be committed to CV form.

The North Walian has played with, and appeared on bills alongside, some of the biggest and coolest names in rock ’n’ roll history.

Oasis, Paul Weller, Shane MacGowan, Edwyn Collins, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Ryan Adams and the Stereophonics are just some of the many names on his zeitgeist-friendly roll call of honour.

Carwyn cites his meeting with Noel Gallagher and Oasis as indicative of how the industry works.

“Doing the work I did with Noel or Oasis, that was more down to playing with the North Mississippi Allstars as there was a bit of a buzz around them and Oasis would regularly come and see us play.

“I got work through doing that. (Noel installed Carwyn in Proud Mary, the first band he signed to his own Sour Mash label.)

“It’s much more word of mouth. I’ve never been on an agency so there’s never been anything like that. I’ve never been a session musician per se. I’ve just been lucky to get noticed, I suppose, and get phone calls.”

Modesty evidently prevents Carwyn from stating the real reason why he spent 12 years in London working constantly. Basically, he’s very, very good at what he does.

“I’m not much of a go-getter, not much of a socialiser. I just play, so if someone gives me a call it’s because they’ve seen me or someone has told them that I’m good,” is his concession to modesty.

One person Carwyn does have a lot of time for, though, is the older half of the Gallagher siblings.

“Noel got me into Proud Mary, so I’ve got that to thank him for. He’s a brilliant fella, he’s good value for money. He called me up and asked me if I’d like to go and play with this band (of his) so I said yes, sure, and got asked to do it.”

Although for about three weeks he was also a fully-fledged member of Oasis.

“I got roped in to do the promotional tour for Oasis’ Songbird single,” he says. “I saw a side to (singer) Liam that many people don’t seem to see which was really focused, really quiet and on the ball. So for about three weeks we went around doing Songbird on telly and radio. I don’t shout about it, but the boys say I can put it on my CV if I want to!”

Click here for the full interview.

Source: www.walesonline.co.uk

1 comment

Anonymous said...

Is this the guy who plays piano on the The Hindu Times video?