Young Marble Giants -

Young Marble Giants were a Welsh bare-pop trio from Caerdydd that released two EPs and the album Colossal Youth on Rough Trade in 1980/81. Singer Alison Statton subsequently formed the sophisti-pop threesome Weekend with later Working Week mainstay Simon Booth. The remainder of YMG morphed into The Gist.

Members: Alison Statton (vocals), Stuart Moxham (guitar, keyboards), Philip Moxham (bass), Peter Joyce (synthesizer, 1978)

Background

Young Marble Giants formed in 1978 in Cardiff when singer Alison Statton, bassist Philip Moxham, and guitarist-organist Stuart Moxham regrouped after the collapse of cover band True Wheel.

Stuart Moxham grew up in Cardiff in a musical household where his father sang with the BBC Welsh Chorus. He learned guitar from his friend, True Wheel founder Matthew Davis. Statton grew up in Cardiff in a music-listening household where her mother played piano.

True Wheel faded after a period of regular Cardiff performances. Philip formed a musical partnership with Statton while Stuart sought a vehicle for his songwriting. Stuart recruited both musicians for Young Marble Giants, named after a classical-sculpture book owned by Statton.

Stuart and Philip Moxham brought their cousin Peter Joyce into rehearsals to develop electronic accompaniment for the trio. Joyce worked as a telephone engineer and built a drum machine from a Practical Wireless design, then constructed a ring modulator and synthesizer for the group.

Young Marble Giants rehearsed in a vacant Cardiff shopfront and began playing local shows at Grass Roots, a coffee bar and youth center operated by Cardiff Community Concern at 58 Charles Street. Members of Cardiff trio Reptile Ranch established Z Block Records and organized the 1979 local-band compilation Is the War Over? Reptile Ranch persuaded Young Marble Giants to take a vacant slot on the album, and the trio recorded “Ode to Booker T” and “Searching for Mr. Right” at Grass Roots.

Z Block carried copies to London, where Rough Trade co-founder Geoff Travis heard the Young Marble Giants tracks. He offered the group a Rough Trade agreement, and Stuart Moxham proposed a full album in place of an introductory single. Rough Trade accepted the proposal and booked Foel Studios near Llanfair Caereinion in mid-Wales.

Discography: