COLUMN RHYS MWYN – Youth (or Martin to his Welsh family on Anglesey)

So who exactly is this Youth who has just spent time in North Wales hosting nights in Anglesey, Ll?n and Caernarfon? Well, his family is from Llangefni, his father is buried there, but for most of us from the Punk era, Youth is the bassist of the band Killing Joke. Remember; his real name is Martin Glover. The ‘Youth’ comes after the reggae musician from Jamaica, Big Youth. ‘Martin’ is from his Welsh family on Ynys Mon.

I met a number of the family as Youth performed at Canolfan Ucheldre in Holyhead a week ago. We had a lovely chat with them but every time I said ‘Youth,’ they said ‘Martin’.
There was something funny in this, but, going back to the initial question, who is Youth? The family were fully aware that Youth had produced records with the likes of Paul McCartney. While teasing Youth – I suggested that we need to get Paul up to Llangefni for afternoon tea with the family!

What I learned while spending time with Youth is that he played bass on some of the tracks on Kate Bush‘s ‘Hounds Of Love’ album. Now, we all love Kate Bush but, let’s be honest, we can’t name the musicians who appear on every track by her. All we could have said was – “well that’s cool!”

And if this was a Pub Quiz in Llangefni, I would at least be able to answer a question about the track Naked In The Rain‘ by Blue Pearl, the techno ‘hit’ he had with the singer Durga McBroom in 1990. I’m sure I remember the video!

During my time working in the ‘Pop World’ I had been on a discussion panel with Youth in Swansea sometime in the 2000s, a job he will have remembered. And this is us; a few years later, his manager had contacted me before the gig in Ucheldre asking for a harpist to accompany him. It was suggested that Cerys Hafana would be perfect, and this is what happened.

Without a doubt, Cerys Hafana is a genius and an artist/musician of the highest quality. A Cerys and Youth formula will surely work and I’m someone who still feels that there is value in introducing the Triple Harp to musicians from outside, or to the rest of the world. Cerys had a great response from the Ucheldre audience.
At one point Cerys’ bragging rights claimed the attention over the main attraction. It’s not a competition but it was nice to see them sparking the imagination, and Cerys fascinates them.

Youth went on to play at Ty Glynd?r and the Market Hall, Caernarfon (Republic of Cofiland) and then Pwllheli and Abersoch. Somewhere between all this we had an excursion around the Neolithic Burial Chambers of Anglesey (Barclodiad, Bryn Celli and Trefignath). Alan McGee (Creation Records) was dragged up to DJ in Caernarfon by Youth. Accepting that Alan was from Glasgow, everyone remind him that it was in Caernarfon not Carmarthen (think about it). Thank goodness he was in the right place.
I didn’t expect to learn so much!

Golwg magazine online
Rhys Mwyn hosts a weekly show on Radio Cymru
Youth on spotify