The story that Catatonia were formed after Mark Roberts spotted Cerys Matthews busking in Cardiff in 1992 was an invention for the media in order to give the band a newsworthy biography. While the duo did go busking, they did not meet this way. Matthews had been a fan of Roberts’ previous band Y Cyrff . They began dating as well as writing songs together at the end of 1991. For five years after this they remained in the relationship, many aspects of this being played out publicly in their lyrics. They took the name of the band from Matthews’ experience working in a mental health facility as well as the novel The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley . They believed it to mean a sense of extreme pleasure and sleep, and wrote the song ” Sweet Catatonia “, subsequently naming the band after the song. As Sweet Catatonia, Matthews and Roberts recorded a series of demos at the city centre youth project in Cardiff, nicknamed “Grassroots”.
invention for the media
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