Gruff Rhys, Mace The Great and Panic Shack

We were back at the Tramshed, Cardiff in March 2022, to bring to you a special PRS Presents, in collaboration with PRS Foundation as part of PRS Members’ Day, Cardiff.  

Performances from Welsh Talent: BAFTA-winning storyteller Gruff Rhys (full band set), alongside two #FundedbyPRSF artists: hip hop and grime rapper, Mace The Great and punk quintet, Panic Shack. 

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About the artists

Gruff Rhys

Gruff Rhys is a songwriter, producer and BAFTA-winning storyteller from Bethesda in Wales who has consistently sought a variety of outlets for the spectrum of muses behind his creative flights. Formerly most well known as the frontman of Super Furry Animals – a band that has been able to achieve that rarest of mixes, artistic adventure with popular devotion – he blended fuzz-filed rock, pure harmonies and cutting-edge electronics, while with his other band, Neon Neon, Rhys has documented the lives of maverick car maker John DeLorean and Italian activist and publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli in widescreen style.

With their blissful melodies, his solo records have explored untapped areas lyrically too. His first, 2005's ‘Yr Atal Genhedlaeth’, revelled in Welsh puns; 2014’s American Interior celebrated the unlikely yet influential 18th century explorer John Evans; Babelsberg offered a baroque take on the modern world in 2018; while a year later ‘Pang!’ created a multi-lingual mash-up, driven by folkish bleeps crafted in collaboration with South African artist-producer Muzi.  

However, while all those records certainly explored fresh territory, the Top Ten charting ‘Seeking New Gods’ climbed lyrically and musically on to totally new terrain, because for his seventh solo record Gruff Rhys created a conceptual record about his own mountain and became his most critically and commercially successful solo album yet.  

Mace The Great  

An exciting force of Grime and Hip-Hop, hailing from Cardiff, Wales. Having won a Triskel Award at the Welsh Music Prize 2020 and garnering the support of the likes of BBC 1Xtra, BBC Wales, ITV, S4C and the Focus Wales Festival & Conference; Mace The Great is now primed for a huge 2022. 

He continues to carry Cardiff on his shoulders with pride, and this evident love he holds for his city is reciprocated tenfold by his local community. Keeping humble and true to his roots, he is quickly building the foundations towards global success following on from the critically acclaimed EP ‘My Side of The Bridge’ released March 2021 via the MTGM label. Since the release he has gone on to be nominated for a Welsh Music Prize 2021, been unveiled as Welsh Ambassador for Independent Venue Week, attended the MOBO Awards as part of Class 22 and has been selected to be the first Welsh MOBO artist to perform and showcase at SXSW 2022, with support from PRS Foundation’s International Showcase Fund and as part of the British Music Embassy line up. 

Panic Shack 

Formed in 2018, Romi, Sarah, Emily and Meg make up the Welsh punk quintet: Panic Shack. Armed with brash, witty lyrics and killer hooks, they crashed through the UK music scene with a tidal wave of ear-crunching noise. Immediately building up a reputation for their raw, unapologetic live shows and off-kilter songs, Panic Shack prove that DIY does it better. 

With support from BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 6 Music, Huw Stephens, Jack Saunders, Radio X, Bob Vylan, and recently received PRS Foundation’s International Showcase Fund for their virtual performance at Euronsonic Nooderslag this year, it’s clear that this band have started something special. 

Having already played prestigious stages at Green Man Festival, Liverpool Sound City, Cardiff Castle, and 2000 Trees Festival, and joined bands like The Wytches, Grandma’s House, and Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard on stages across the UK, Panic Shack are only going to continue to create unhinged, earth-shattering music (until, of course, they’re rich enough to be sipping champagne after taking a dip in the pool at their mansions).