Originally released in 2014, the album has now been remastered and will be released for the first time on Rough Trade with bonus tracks that have long been out of print on LP and never released digitally. The single ‘Y Gwenan Gorn’,out now on streaming services, was previously only available on a vinyl EP. This is accompanied by a visualiser using clips from the original “American Interior” full-length film. The CD and 2LP editions feature 5 extra tracks. The 3LP Deluxe version includes five additional tracks and is pressed on Apricot/Purple/Rosé Vinyl in a triple gatefold sleeve.
So what’s the history of “American Interior”
In 2012 Gruff Rhys embarked on a solo ‘investigative concert tour‘ through the heart of America following the route taken by his distant relative John Evans. Every night he presented songs augmented by a PowerPoint presentation detailing his relative’s unbelievable history, along with any new information that had come his way during the day. He was ultimately looking for Evans’s lost unmarked grave. Along with many major cities, the tour took him to play shows at the Mandan and Omaha tribe reservations, a Missouri vineyard, villages that no longer exist and lay at the bottom the Mississippi River and a New Orleans bordello. What transpired from that ‘investigative concert tour’ was the 2014 album, plus a book, film, and exhaustive tour of the same name. With the aid of the dusted-off PowerPoint presentation, Gruff Rhys and a full band revisit the project in 2025 to perform the songs that formed both the album and the soundtrack to the film.
“Revisiting American Interior 11 years later feels very prescient. In following the unusual story of explorer John Evans (1770-1799) it becomes clear that faked narratives can have profound and unpredictable consequences in real life.” Gruff says of the reissue ” barely believable journey of verification in searching through continental scale wilderness for a [fictitious] Welsh-speaking tribe believed to be living on the Great Plains of North America had a dramatic political effect on the fledgling USA and a devastating impact on himself and some of those who helped him on his way. I wrote the album of songs inspired by his life; which also served as a soundtrack to a documentary film based on a book that detailed his journey, intertwined with my investigative concert tour, all three of which I worked on simultaneously during a 2-year fever 2012-14. By far the most ambitious undertaking I’ve ever attempted. Living with one foot in the 18th century, and wearing the same clothes (for cinematic continuity) for that entire period, left me pretty exhausted. (Imagine a cold extra from The Revenant movie). It took me a while to process the whole experience and its lessons and I feel I owe it to my former self to take these songs back on the road for a couple of months and re-tell the story for a new decade”.
Tickets for the tour are available from this link.
Gruff Rhys 2025 Dates:
Mar 21st -Tenby – Y Lle Da festival
Mar 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th – Cardiff – Sustainable Studios – American Interior performances
May 7th – Belfast – Black Box – American Interior Screening + Q&A
May 9th – Stockport – Savoy Theatre – American Interior Screening + Q&A
May 10th – Wrexham – Focus Wales
May 15th – London – Rich Mix – American Interior full band performance
May 16th – Leeds – The Wardrobe – American Interior full band performance
Jun 7th – Swansea, Gwyl Tawe Festival
Jun 11th – Guildford – The Boileroom
Jun 12th – Tunbridge Wells – The Forum
Jun 14th – Ipswich – Brighten The Corners festival
Aug 29th – Brighton – Psych Fest
