Skip to main content
MusicRadar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Artist news
  • Recording Week 25
  • Music Gear Reviews
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Controllers
  • Drums
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Guitar Amps
  • Software & Apps
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • As It Was preset
  • Don't Give Up
  • Ron Wood's drum secret
  • 95k+ free music samples
Don't miss these
Man plays Alesis Nitro Max drum kit with black sticks
Electronic Drums Best beginner electronic drum sets 2025: top-rated entry-level e-drums, reviewed by experts
Drummer sat at an e-kit places a pair of headphones over his head
Drummers Best headphones for drummers 2025: sound isolation for the studio, rehearsal room and stage
Clem Burke, Ancienne Belgique (AB), Brussels, Belgium, November 1998
Drummers Clem Burke's 10 essential drum albums
Drummers Listen to 11 isolated drum tracks from rock's drumming legends
Ray Cooper
Artists Percussionist Ray Cooper tells the story of his ‘lost’ live collaboration with Elton John
LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 10: Birdy performs at the VIP Opening of the David Bowie Centre, V&A East Storehouse, on September 10, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Dave Benett/Getty Images for David Bowie Centre at V&A East Storehouse)
Singles And Albums Jeff Beck, Roxy Music and Miles Davis all make the list of David Bowie’s 15 favourite tracks
Danny Carey
Drummers 6 of the most inspirational drummers of all time
DarWin
Artists “Most pop music is rubbish now”: Legendary drummer Simon Phillips on producing supergroup DarWin
Sleep Token
Drums “We tried it as a laugh and now it’s our standard setup”: The secret sauce behind Sleep Token’s live drum sound
Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones accept the award for Album Of The Year: Public Vote for their album 'Blue & Lonesome'
Guitarists “He tried it when he came in and he said ‘I can’t do it as good as you, Ronnie. You get back on the drums.’”: When Charlie Watts ceded the drums to Ronnie Wood on a Stones track
Drum Recording Techniques
Drums How the rules of drum recording were shaped over decades of trial and error
Miley Cyrus and Pino Palladino
Artists "We just didn’t want Pino to ever stop playing": Miley Cyrus honours legendary bassist Pino Palladino
Drum recording
Music Production Tutorials 10 tips for recording perfect drums
Hal Blaine
Drummers Read our classic interview with Wrecking Crew legend Hal Blaine
Drummers When British rock drumming ruled the world
  1. Artists
  2. Drummers

6 career defining records of SFA's Dafydd Ieuan

News
By Henry Yates published 2 February 2010

Super Furry Animals drummer picks his finest

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Dafydd 'Daf' Ieuan

Dafydd 'Daf' Ieuan

You know him best as the sticksman from Cardiff oddballs Super Furry Animals, but Dafydd ‘Daf’ Ieuan has warmed the stool for some of Welsh rock’s favourite sons and daughters.

Here Daf reveals six of his best recorded moments, telling Rhythm Magazine why they mattered so much along the way…

First up: Catatonia’s underrated debut

Page 1 of 7
Page 1 of 7
Way Beyone Blue (1996)

Way Beyone Blue (1996)

Before they became the drunken face of Britrock with 1998’s International Velvet, Catatonia laid down this underrated debut album with Daf on drums. With impeccable timing, he left as they hit paydirt.

Dafydd Ieuan says:

“Cerys Matthews was the face, but Mark Roberts [guitarist] was the boss. I’d known him for years ’cos we came from the same part of Wales and we’d been in Welsh language bands in the late-’80s.”

“We did most of Way Beyond Blue in Cornwall, in a studio you could only get to by boat. I had to restrain myself, not hit the drums as hard as I could, because I’d been playing in blues bands in working men’s clubs in North Wales. But they were still rocky, dangerous songs. I liked For Tinkerbell.”

“I always thought Mark was a natural songwriter and that Cerys could pull it off. Unfortunately, it came to the point where I had to choose whether I wanted to get the Super Furry Animals going or carry on with Catatonia. That’s why I left. Then they became mega-famous.”

Page 2 of 7
Page 2 of 7
Fuzzy Logic (1996)

Fuzzy Logic (1996)

Our hero and his psychedelic chums discover the joys of country air, expensive mixing desks and whirlpool baths…

Dafydd Ieuan says:

“We’ve been to Spain, France, Rio… it gives you a different vibe, different food, different cheeses. But I’ll never forget the excitement of going into Rockfield. It was the first time we’d been to a proper studio with all the gear, let alone a residential one with jacuzzis. I was in it every day!”

“There were no distractions, no people turning up, no ‘extra-curriculars’. It was good to get away. We were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. We did it all in six weeks. We did everything almost live then; we didn’t use clicks or Pro Tools ’cos it was early days for that technology.”

“I’ve always been a Ringo fanatic, and everything I did was copying him, especially the rolls. I was doing the nicest, laziest rolls ever. So I might not have been the most technical drummer, but I was good enough for the job.”

Page 3 of 7
Page 3 of 7
Radiator (1997)

Radiator (1997)

The Furries retreat to Wales to plot their next move. With hindsight, they probably shouldn’t have done it next to a runway…

Dafydd Ieuan says:

“We did Radiator in a little studio in Anglesey at the end of an RAF runway, so we’d be recording and a Harrier Jump Jet would fly low overhead and we’d have to do it again. There was a lot of personal shit going on - we had to go through all the rock clichés one by one - but that was the album I enjoyed most, because we weren’t hiring big-shot engineers.”

“This was before we got to grips with technology. We didn’t start using samplers, sequencers and clicks until our third album. It was still live, ‘1-2-3-4’, and if you started too fast you’d die about half a minute in! ‘Mountain People’ isn’t my best drumming, but it’s one of the first songs that evolved into a real groove.”

“I can’t be objective about whether it’s our best record. I was so involved in it, to the point where there’s nothing I don’t know about the process.”

Page 4 of 7
Page 4 of 7
The Great Western (2006)

The Great Western (2006)

As a member of the Welsh rock’n’roll mafia Daf was the obvious choice for the Manics singer’s solo outing. It was no holiday…

Dafydd Ieuan says:

“The official drummer of Welsh rock? I didn’t think about that till you mentioned it! I’ve known James for years, and obviously we’ve toured with the Manics, so he asked me to play on Run Romeo Run.”

“That’s a good experience, seeing other people work, watching how James works things out. He’s methodical and he doesn’t take any shit. He’s strict, but that’s probably a good thing. It was an eye-opener for me. “I’m a very different drummer to Sean Moore. Maybe that’s why he wanted me, out of curiosity. It was two or three takes and then fire it out.”

“James had his own engineer, and when you’re a jobbing musician, drum sound is out of your hands. I had my own snare, though. Apparently, the drummer who had to play the song live found it difficult to play!”

Page 5 of 7
Page 5 of 7
The Golden Mile (2008)

The Golden Mile (2008)

As Daf gleefully admits, his side-project with wayward Britpack actor Rhys Ifans is a 17-pint pub conversation made flesh. Their biggest hit was called ‘Let’s Go Fucking Mental’. Which says it all, frankly.

Dafydd Ieuan says:

“I’ve been mates with Rhys for 25 years. We’re mates from the pub, really, and we just transferred that to the studio; that’s probably why it took ages. I’ve never laughed so much making an album.”

“The drums sound dangerous and chaotic? That’s just the way I am! They were recorded in a little room the size of a garage, and the mics weren’t like the ones you get in Rockfield, so you end up making things sound more extreme ’cos you can’t compete with high-end production. I like the drums on the last track, The Golden Mile. It’s seven minutes, so I felt like collapsing at the end!”

“I’m working on the next Peth record, it’s just a matter of waiting for Rhys to get time off. I’m just gonna be the producer on the next one. It’s nice to sit back and tell somebody else what to do.”

Page 6 of 7
Page 6 of 7
Dark Days/Light Years (2009)

Dark Days/Light Years (2009)

Back to the day job for the Furries’ latest…

Dafydd Ieuan says:

“On this album, I was trying to lock into the groove, not show how fancy I could play. There’s a song called Helium Hearts, which was one take, where I’m doing a Stevie Wonder kinda thing.”

“The beauty of recording drums now is that we can do what guitarists and singers have done for years. Some songs, like The Very Best Of Neil Diamond, I played the whole take then dropped in a middle-eighth. Sometimes I’d play for 15 minutes then chop out the best bits and pick out the gristle.”

“The whole album was played to clicks. I don’t mind a bit of technology. When you listen to the record, you’re not thinking about how it was made but how it makes you feel.”

Page 7 of 7
Page 7 of 7
Categories
Drums
Henry Yates
Read more
Clem Burke, Ancienne Belgique (AB), Brussels, Belgium, November 1998
Clem Burke's 10 essential drum albums
 
 
Listen to 11 isolated drum tracks from rock's drumming legends
 
 
Ray Cooper
Percussionist Ray Cooper tells the story of his ‘lost’ live collaboration with Elton John
 
 
LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 10: Birdy performs at the VIP Opening of the David Bowie Centre, V&A East Storehouse, on September 10, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Dave Benett/Getty Images for David Bowie Centre at V&A East Storehouse)
Jeff Beck, Roxy Music and Miles Davis all make the list of David Bowie’s 15 favourite tracks
 
 
Danny Carey
6 of the most inspirational drummers of all time
 
 
DarWin
“Most pop music is rubbish now”: Legendary drummer Simon Phillips on producing supergroup DarWin
 
 
Latest in Drummers
Lars Ulrich of Metallica performs at Levi's Stadium on June 20, 2025 in Santa Clara, California.
"Stick with it. Focus…You've gotta put the time in”: Lars Ulrich’s advice to young artists
 
 
Simon Phillips performing with Toto in 2007
“Everybody knew Jeff was a great drummer”: How Simon Phillips succeeded in replacing Jeff Porcaro in Toto
 
 
Blue Carpet held at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 06, 2025 in Queens
The one where Courteney Cox plays Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit on the drums and goes viral
 
 
Simon Phillips
“I didn't recognise him. I found out later it was Dave Gilmour!”: Simon Phillips' chaotic session with Pete Townshend
 
 
DarWin
“Most pop music is rubbish now”: Legendary drummer Simon Phillips on producing supergroup DarWin
 
 
Matt Cameron of Pearl Jam performs live on stage during the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival at Fair Grounds Race Course on May 03, 2025
Matt Cameron explains why he left Pearl Jam and insists that the final Soundgarden album is coming
 
 
Latest in News
Wolfgang Van Halen
“My list of voice memos is in the thousands!”: Wolfgang Van Halen on his songwriting process for his new Mammoth album
 
 
Positive Grid Spark LINK XLR
Time to go wireless? Positive Grid’s Spark LINK XLR offers cable-free connections for live performance
 
 
Justice
"It saves us 900 hours digging through crates”: Justice on why they gave up sampling
 
 
spectrasonics
Spectrasonics announces Omnisphere 3, the "ultimate virtual instrument" that's been ten years in the making
 
 
A family photo of the newly refreshed Gretsch Streamliner and Electromatic Jet singlecut electric guitars, in various classic and bold finishes.
Gretsch relaunches the Jet in Streamliner and Electromatic series – and there is a single-pickup rock 'n' roll machine FTW
 
 
Charvel Limited Edition Sean Long Signature Pro-Mod San Dimas Style 1 HH HT M: the While She Sleeps guitarists artist model is now officially available in Neon Pink by popular demand.
By popular demand, Sean Long of While She Sleeps’ Charvel signature model now comes in Neon Pink
 
 

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...