Sweet, Sweet, Sweet, Sweet Catatonia Quiz

Answer: For Tinkerbell

The 'For Tinkerbell' EP featured three English songs, 'For Tinkerbell', 'New Mercurial Heights' and 'Sweet Catatonia', and two Welsh songs, 'Gyda Gwen' (a Welsh version of 'New Mercurial Heights') and 'Dimbran'. 'Sweet Catatonia' was later released as a single in its own right.

The contents of both the 'For Tinkerbell' EP and its sequel, 'Hooked', appeared on a compilation album, '93-94'.

Answer: Gyda Gwen

'Gyda Gwen' means 'With a Smile'. It originally appeared on the 'For Tinkerbell' EP, and the lyrics to the song were printed in the inlay for the album. You have to fast forward for about 5 minutes from the end of the title track in order to get to the hidden part, which is preceded by the band talking and Cerys Matthews trying to find a note. (True story: I didn't even know the track existed until I read an article about Catatonia in 'Record Collector'', and it mentioned that 'Way Beyond Blue' had a hidden track!)

Answer: True

Clancy Pegg was the token English band member, and played keyboards for them in the early days. However, she and Cerys did not get on, and when Catatonia moved from Crai to MRM, the record company also decided that she did not fit in with the band and made the decision to get rid of her. Both Cerys and guitarist Mark Roberts played keyboards in the studio instead.

Answer: Mulder & Scully

'Mulder & Scully' peaked at Number 3, 'Road Rage' at Number 5 and 'Strange Glue' at Number 11. 'Game On', which had no video and received little promotion, only charted at Number 33. 'I Am The Mob', the first single from the album, barely made a dent at Number 40. Mark Roberts freely admitted that 'Mulder & Scully' was a gratuitous attempt to get Catatonia into the charts by capitalising on the popularity of the show!

Answer: The lyrics were an attack on the record company

'That's All Folks' - which, incidentally, is my favourite Catatonia song - was a dig at Warner Brothers, and featured the following chorus: 'Did no-one warn us, no-one want us? / They did not warm to us.' Cerys sings the words 'warn us', 'want us' and 'warm to us' to sound like 'Warners'. It is also the longest song they've ever done, at just over 6 minutes.

Catatonia were in danger of being dropped by Warners at the time, and decided to musically give them the finger by writing a song about them, figuring that having it as the final song on what they thought would be their final album would be fitting. 'My Selfish Gene' was originally a B-side on 'I Am the Mob' (and the line 'Am I your Easter bunny?' in the song is also thought to be a dig at Warners), but was used as the final track on 'International Velvet' instead.

Answer: Space

Catatonia were sent a demo of Space's music and were curious to see if they could reproduce it live, so they took Space on as a support band in 1996. The two bands became firm friends, often playing football together in between gigs, and Tommy Scott wrote 'The Ballad of Tom Jones' with Cerys in mind.

As both bands appeared on the same festival bills in the late '90s, they often performed it live with Cerys. At their own gigs, Space used a video of her wearing a black turtleneck, which gave her the appearance of a floating head.

Answer: Londinium

Cerys later complained about the video, saying it was 'underwater, over-expensive and over my dead body'. In it, the band are trapped inside a dingy goldfish bowl, representing London. (It even has pearly kings and queens!) They escape via a sewer (and a random man treads on Cerys' head while she's climbing out of a manhole), and drive off in a black cab to what we can assume is Wales.

At the end, Cerys dives off a cliff into the sea.

Answer: 0

Catatonia used to sing quite a few songs in the Welsh language; some songs come in both Welsh and English versions, such as 'Gyda Gwen'/'New Mercurial Heights', 'Dimbran'/'Confucius Stare', and 'Difrycheulyd'/'Snail Ambition'. 'Way Beyond Blue features one track entirely in Welsh, and two others ('Dream On' and the title track) in Welsh and English. 'International Velvet' featured one song, the title track, which was entirely Welsh except the chorus.

However, 'Equally Cursed & Blessed' featured no Welsh songs, leading some purist fans to accuse the band of selling out.

Answer: Paper, Scissors, Stone

'Stone By Stone' was the only single from 'Paper, Scissors, Stone', released in 2001. It charted at Number 19 on the UK singles chart, but was received poorly by critics. The album itself peaked at Number 6 on the UK album chart. At the end of the video, the band lay down their instruments and walk away, a sign of things to come. Plans for a further single were shelved.

The band split up in September 2001 after cancelling the tour to promote the album, while Cerys went into rehab for problems with heroin and alcohol.

Answer: Baby, It's Cold Outside

Cerys and Tom Jones duetted on 'Baby, It's Cold Outside', with Tom as the 'wolf' and Cerys as the 'mouse'. The song was released as a Christmas single in December 1999. (As for the other answers, 'Burning Down the House' featured the Cardigans, 'Lust for Life' featured the Pretenders, and 'You Need Love Like I Do' was a duet with Heather Small of M People.)