The five-band members already knew each other by sight. Each of them were all in different Welsh language bands, and had seen each other playing gigs in different welsh language pubs. Gruff and Dafydd started going to a rock workshop organised by a youth club and both decided to learn the drums, infact all five of them started of as drummers!Daffyd Ieuan eventually became the full-time drummer, and brought his brother Cian Ciaran with him to play keyboards. Guto Pryce became the bassist. Bunf played guitar and Gruff sang and also play the guitar. They all met properly, formally, in a club. Dafydd moved down to Cardiff and Knew Bunf and Guto to say hello. They all started talking and went to clubs and raves together.
Daffyd and Cian were both originally from Anglesey, Gruff was from Bethesda, a small village the south of Bangor and Guto and Bunf were both from Cardiff.
The furries started in 1995 where they started off as a techno band, but
by 1995 SFA had written 40 songs and had transformed into one of the best bands
Wales have ever produced.
Gruf: "We are doing songs
that are quite traditional, but we try to be inventive. We don't want
to do predictable records and in the future we will develop and make things
that are more cognitive. We don't want to do a futuristic album that will
sound like crap in five years time. You know the space '99 idea that involves
beige jump suits, we don't make this jump suit music. We make lasting
music."
They signed onto the Anskt label and released two fat track EPs in their
first year together called "Llanfairpwllgwngyllgogerychyndrobwllantysiliogogogochynygofod"
(In Space EP) which included four tracks sung in Welsh and "Moog Droog E.P" which
included an early version of "GOD! Show me magic."
In 1996 they signed with Creation Records and released their first album
"Fuzzy Logic" and released the track "If You Dont
Want Me To Destroy You" which went directly to number 18 on the British charts and to second
place on the Indie chart. Other tracks released were "Hometown Unicorn" and "Something
4 The Weekend".
1996 also saw the Furries touring around Europe, USA and Japan, Germany, Holland and Britain as special guests of The Manic Street Preachers, and in the release of 'The Man Don't Give A Fuck,' which reached a respectable number 24 in the Christmas rush despite receiving absolutely no airplay whatsoever.
A year later they released "Radiator" which included tracks "Play it cool" which was chosen to be on "The Best of Shine '97" and "Herman Lvs Pauline".
Super Furry Animals have been most compared to ELO, early Supergrass, Gorky's Zygotic
mynci and Roxette. The first. Cos there's a faint whiff of the uncaring
uncool about them. The second, for their rampant pop sensibilities. The
third, cos they're mad Welsh psychedelic fuckers and they used to be on the
same label (the band loathe this comparison with a passion, incidentally:
seeing it as a typically patronising English way to lump all Welsh bands in
together). The fourth, cos they're well weird but the comparison Super Furry
Animals most enjoy is that with The KLF.