60 Ft. Dolls were a Welsh rock trio active in the 1990s, known as the Cool Cymru era.

Formation

They were formed in Newport in 1992 by Richard J. Parfitt and Michael Cole, who met through Donna Matthews (later of Elastica), who was at the time dating Cole and working part-time in the same pizza restaurant as Parfitt. After problems finding the right drummer, they eventually took on pastor's son Carl Bevan. Initially influenced by touring American hardcore bands that played in Newport (and in particular prominent local venue

T. J.'s TJ's was a music venue and nightclub located on Clarence Place in Newport, Wales, Newport, South Wales. It opened in 1985 and shortly became a live music venue. It was an integral part of the so-called toilet circuit and the Music of Newport, ...

), the Dolls played noisy yet melodic rock, described by the '' NME'' as "

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...

mod Mod, MOD or mods may refer to: Places * Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band * M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US ...

...proto- pub metal

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

of the first order". In 1993, Huw Williams of the Pooh Sticks became their manager and released the debut single "Happy Shopper", named after a British convenience store chain, on his own Townhill label.

Tours and 90s success

In 1995 they joined the first 'BratBus'

NME tour ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

with Veruca Salt, Marion and Skunk Anansie. After support spots with

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

, Elastica and Dinosaur Jr., 60 Ft. Dolls released their second single "White Knuckle Ride" on

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. Having successfully promoted and sold records by punk rock and early post-pun ...

and then "Pig Valentine" on the RCA imprint Indolent Records. These early singles were championed heavily by BBC Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq, and as a consequence were picked up by influential American DJ Rodney Bingenheimer of

KROQ-FM KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock"). The stat ...

. This resulted in the band signing a deal with Geffen Records in the US. '' The New York Times'' listed "Pig Valentine" among its 1996 singles of the year. The band broke into the UK Top 40 with their fourth single "Talk to Me" (Indolent, 1996), the video for which extensively featured the Newport Transporter Bridge. This was followed by their debut album, ''The Big 3'', which was produced by Al Clay, Reviews called it "as close to soar-away rock perfection as it's possible to imagine" by the ''NME'' and "pure, unadulterated, no nonsense, emotional, tuneful, impassioned, purposeful, hedonistic rock 'n' roll" by ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

''. The album was included in '' Select'' magazine's top 30 albums of 1996 and '' Mojos 2003 retrospective feature "Top 12 Britpop albums of the 90s", which called it "a devilishly evocative document of the period". The band toured extensively in the UK, Japan and Europe, including several summer festival appearances such as Glastonbury 1997 as well as opening for The Sex Pistols at their 1996 Finsbury Park reunion gig. But they were dogged by alcohol problems, and after an exhaustive three tours of the US in 1997, never toured again. They released their second album ''Joya Magica'', in 1998 but the band were dropped from their label deal along with other acts at Indolent and split soon after. The band recorded two sessions for

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

's BBC Radio 1 show, in 1996 and 1998, and appear in the top 125 Peel sessions of all time. Mike Cole once played guitar for Newport's The Darling Buds but was asked to leave after just three gigs. He was also asked to stand in for

Paul McGuigan Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

on Oasis' 1996 tour of the US, but declined. The track "Hair", written by Mike Cole about his then-girlfriend Donna Matthews, was placed Number 7 in ''Mojos "100 Most Miserable Indie Songs of All Time" feature. The Dolls were included, with Catatonia and others, in a House of Commons Early Day Motion, extolling the virtues of Newport's rock and roll credentials. Carl Bevan's father, Pastor Ray Bevan, heads one of the biggest evangelical churches in the UK and once sang guest vocals on the Dolls' "Let The Spirit Move You", a 12" white label-only release, limited to one thousand copies and mixed by

Wubble-U Wubble-U was an England, English dance music act of the mid-1990s, that was signed to Bertelsmann Music Group, BMG's independent record label, Indolent Records. Members were Laurant Webb, Justin Bailey, Dave Pine, Charlotte Fairman and Dave Coker, ...

Later history

Richard Parfitt played as a session musician after the band split, working with the likes of McAlmont & Butler and Dido, and later released a solo album called "Highlights in Slow Motion" in 2002. He started teaching songwriting at Bath Spa University and then in 2015 Richard became a senior lecturer in popular and commercial music at the University of South Wales. Welsh

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

- soul singer

Duffy Duffy may refer to: People *Duffy (surname), people with the surname Duffy or Duffey *Duffy (nickname) *Duffy (singer) (born 1984), Welsh singer, born Aimee Ann Duffy Places *Duffy, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Duffy, Ohio ...

credits Richard Parfitt with "changing her life" and setting her on the road to fame after he hooked her up with manager Jeanette Lee. Carl Bevan took a few years off from music, before getting into producing into 2008. More recently, Carl produced Black Junk, the 2011 album by Cardiff trio Exit_International, which was shortlisted in the 2012 Welsh Music Awards. In 2012 the former 60 Ft. Dolls drummer launched a new project, the female-fronted rock and roll band The Lash. ''The Big 3'' was re-released as a 2CD special edition in 2015 by 3 Loop Music, including B-sides chosen by the band and tracks from their Peel sessions.

Discography

Albums

*''The Big 3'' (Indolent, 1996/ Geffen, 1997) UK: No. 3660ft Dolls at Official Charts Company
''officialcharts.com'' *''Joya Magica'' (Indolent/Geffen, 1998) *''The Big 3'' (2CD reissue, 3 Loop Music, 2015)

EPs

*''Supernatural Joy EP'' (Geffen, 1996) * ''Hair EP'' (Indolent, 1996)

Singles

*"Happy Shopper" (Townhill, 1994) *"White Knuckle Ride" (

Rough Trade Rough Trade may refer to: *Rough Trade Records, a record label * Rough Trade (shops), London record stores *Rough Trade (band), a Canadian new wave rock band * "Rough Trade" (''American Dad!''), an episode of ''American Dad!'' *Rough trade (slang), ...

, 1995) *"Pig Valentine" (Indolent, 1995) *"Talk to Me" (Indolent, 1996) UK: No. 37 *"Stay" (Indolent, 1996) UK: No. 48 *"Happy Shopper" (re-recording) (Indolent, 1996)UK: No. 38 *"Alison's Room" (Indolent, 1998) UK: No. 61

Compilation appearances

*"London Breeds" on ''I Was a Teenage Gwent Boy'' (Frug Records, 1994) *"Dr Rat" on ''Club Spangle'' (Spangle Records, 1995) *"British Racing Green" on ''For Immediate Use'' (Raw, 1995) *"The Universal" on ''Long Ago and Worlds Apart'' (Nippon Crown, 1995) *"Number 1 Pure Alcohol" on ''Home Truths'' (Echo, 1995) *"Happy Shopper" on ''Indie Top 20, Volume 21'' (Beechwood Music, 1996) *"Talk to Me" on ''Indie Top 20, Volume 23'' Beechwood Music, 1996) *"Pony Ride" on ''London Calling 1'' (London Calling, 1996) *"Talk to Me" on ''Mad for It'' ( Telstar, 1996) *"Stay" on ''The Best Album in The World Ever! Vol. 3'' (Circa Records, 1996) *"Stay" on ''The Magnificent Seven'' cassette (Melody Maker covermount, 1996) *"Baby Says Yeah" on ''John Peel's Sounds Of The Suburbs'' (Shifty Disco 1999) *"Talk to Me" on ''Shine 5'' (Universal Music TV, 1996)

References

External links

*
BBC - Radio 1 - Keeping It Peel - 60ft Dolls60ft Dolls
{{DEFAULTSORT:60 Ft Dolls People from Newport, Wales Musical groups established in 1993 Cool Cymru Musical groups disestablished in 1998 Musical groups from Newport, Wales 1993 establishments in Wales Welsh alternative rock groups Britpop groups British musical trios