SUPER FURRY ANIMALS have released one of their earliest recordings, revealing the dreamy space-rock of Pocket Sam to fans with acclaimed-actor and original singer, Rhys Ifans on vocals.
Captured on tape at Grassroots Studio in Cardiff as the Furries started to form in the Welsh capital in 1993, the track is lifted from the bonus disc of the band’s upcoming Precreation Percolation compilation, out on Fri 1 May 2026, which also returns their debut EPs, originally released on legendary Welsh indie label, Ankst, to vinyl for the first time in three decades.
Having announced their live return late last year and immediately sold out a run of nine Supacabra 2026 Britain and Ireland tour dates, their first since late 2016, Super Furry Animals keep the party going through the summer by scheduling unmissable, additional appearances in Bristol, York, Llangollen, London, Exeter, Dublin, Birmingham and Salisbury.
One of three unheard tracks to feature Ifans, Pocket Sam joins AK Serenade and Choking On Your Lust on a 22 track CD and 31-track digital ‘bonus disc’ of material that the band produced prior to signing to Alan McGee’s Creation Records in 1995. Alongside Of No Fixed Identity, which the Furries released as a time-limited, Bandcamp-only fundraiser for the Save The Severn Estuary campaign in 2022, Ifans’ vocal delivery is met with embryonic, recognisable Furry sonics as the band’s early line-up gathered around synth, psych and melodic rock influences.
With an acting career at a tipping point of going stratospheric, Rhys Ifans vacated the singer role by 1994, prior to the band uniting with studio talisman, Gorwel Owen at his Ofn Studio on Ynys Môn, to record their two Ankst EPs. Holding the world record for the longest ever EP title, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwy
By 1995, with a record deal on the table and future classics such as God! Show Me Magic and Hangin’ With Howard Marks already making up the band’s set list, the band’s path following “two years of chaos” (including a legendary 1993 debut ‘gig’ at Bangor University’s Banana Lounge, lasting all of five minutes due to technical and chemical misadventure) was set. In the album’s liner notes, singer, Gruff Rhys writes: “It would have been the best gig ever, had we not daisy chained so many synthesizers together, that it resulted in a terminal systems failure.”
As nomadic travelling and other musical projects came to an end, Rhys and Dafydd Ieuan (formerly of Ffa Coffi Pawb), Huw ‘Bunf’ Bunford and Guto Pryce (formerly of U Thant) and, finally, Cian Ciarán (formerly of Wwzz) cast the final Super Furry Animals line-up in stone. It took a higher leap for some than others as Ieuan departed Catatonia on the eve of a lucrative deal with Warner Brothers. “Don’t worry” he told Rhys, in early 1995, “we’ll be signed by Christmas”. He was right, by summer they’d joined Oasis, Primal Scream and The Jesus and Mary Chain in the Creation Records family, leading to a huge London signing party that members the band were famously thrown out of.
“The two-year ‘Precreation Percolation’ was over and, for better or for worse, our lives would never be the same again,” says Rhys. “But we live to tell the tale. The music featured here features some of the residue of that foundational period.”
The span of intriguing genre experimentation, spanning long-form electro, blissed out instrumentals and expansive prog-influenced rock, heard across much of Precreation Percolation was subsequently refined and channeled into their thrilling, 1996 debut album, Fuzzy Logic and their untamed live performances.
While consciously and frequently referring to the unheard, untold and unforeseen as a naturally nostalgia-resistant band, Super Furry Animals look ahead to reconvening with fans to celebrate their shared history as the Supercabra Tour gets underway in Dublin on Wed 6 May. All of the band’s confirmed tour dates for 2026, with most dates SOLD OUT or with limited remaining tickets, are as follows:
Wed 6 May: Dublin, 3Olympia Theatre – SOLD OUT
Fri 8 May: Glasgow, The Barrowlands – SOLD OUT
Sat 9 May: Glasgow, The Barrowlands – SOLD OUT
Thu 14 May: Llandudno, Venue Cymru – SOLD OUT
Fri 15 May: Llandudno, Venue Cymru – SOLD OUT
Sat 16 May: Cardiff, Utilita Arena – SOLD OUT
Thu 21 May: Manchester, O2 Apollo – SOLD OUT
Fri 22 May: London, O2 Brixton Academy – SOLD OUT
Sat 23 May: London, O2 Brixton Academy – SOLD OUT
Wed 24 June: Bristol, Bristol Sounds
Sat 11 July: York, Museum Gardens
Thu 12 July: Llangollen, Live at Llangollen Pavilion
Sun 12 July: London, Alexandra Palace Park
Fri 21 August: Exeter, Beautiful Days Festival
Sun 30 August: Dublin, Wider Than Pictures
Sat 5 September: Birmingham, Moseley Folk & Arts Festival
Thu 3 – Sun 6 September: Salisbury, End of the Road Festival
Delving into an archive that can’t be complete until a lost batch of six further demos, recorded in a Crystal Palace studio in 1994, have been found (with the band offering no reward, yet endless gratitude if anyone can locate them), Super Furry Animals have once again worked with archivist, Kliph Scurlock and mastering engineer, Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering, to pull together Precreation Percolation’s impressive track listing.
With Ifans’ acting diary already overflowing by that time, another, eight-track demo session went largely without vocals but has been revisited and select tracks presented in 2026 Redux form. With vocals added selectively by Ieuan, the songs are revived after they were abandoned in the rush of youth and band momentum over 30 years ago.
The Precreation Percolation running order across all formats is confirmed as follows:
Standard Black Vinyl / CD1 / Digital – The Ankst EPs
A1. Organ Yn Dy Geg
A2. Fix Idris
A3. Crys Ti
A4. Blerwytirhwng?
B1. Pam V?
B2. God! Show Me Magic
B3. Sali Mali
B4. Focus Pocus /Debiel
CD2 Bonus Disc / Digital
Organ Yn Dy Geg
Fix Idris
Crys Ti
Blerwytirhwng?
Pam V?
God! Show Me Magic
Sali Mali
Focus Pocus / Debiel
Don’t Be A Fool Billy (Mortal Wombat Version)
Choking On Your Lust
Pocket Sam
Of No Fixed Identity
AK Serenade (4-track demo)
Bulletproof (4-track demo)
Dim Brys, Dim Chwys
Trk05b (Cassette demo)
The Man Don’t Give a Fuck (1993 demo)
AK Serenade (2026 Redux)
Bulletproof (2026 Redux)
Fine Time (2026 Redux)
Quest (2026 Redux)
Rise ’n’ Shine (2026 Redux)
Additional Digital-Only Tracks
God! Show Me Magic (demo – 2026 Redux)
Frisbee (demo – 2026 Redux)
Don’t Be A Fool Billy (demo – 2026 Redux)
Hanging with Howard Marx (demo – 2026 Redux)
Something Came From Nothing (Cassette demo)
Fuzzy Birds (4 track demo)
Rise ‘n’ Shine (4 track demo)
Trk05a (Cassette demo)
Tetrachromacy (Cassette demo)
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