Super Furry Animals (also known as "SFA", the "Furries" and the "Super Furries") are a Welsh rock band, with leanings towards psychedelic rock and electronic experimentation.
The band formed in Cardiff after being in various other Welsh bands and techno outfits in the area. Lead vocalist/guitarist Gruff Rhys, drummer/vocalist Dafydd Ieuan and bassist Guto Pryce had been together since the early 1990s and had toured the north coast of France as a techno group. The other two members of the band are lead guitarist/vocalist Huw Bunford and keyboardist/vocalist Cian Ciaran. They then got to work on writing some songs, and in 1995 ended up signing to Ankst, the famous Welsh indie label. The band are considered to be part of the renaissance of Welsh music (and art, and literature) in the 1990s: other Welsh bands of the time include Catatonia, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and the Manic Street Preachers.
The actor Rhys Ifans was briefly lead vocalist of the band, before they found national success.
The name of the band came from T-shirts being printed by Gruff's sister. She was making Super Furry Animals T-shirts for the fashion and music collective Acid Casuals (variants of whose name have appeared throughout SFA's career - for example, in their song "The Placid Casual", their record label Placid Casual.)
SFA released their first record on Ankst in 1994, the " Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllynyngofod (In Space)" EP, to general critical acclaim. This release has been listed in the Guinness Book of Records as holding the record for the longest title for an EP.
Soon followed the "Moog Droog" EP, named after the synthesizer manufacturer Robert Moog and the Nadsat term for "friend" in A Clockwork Orange - and also a pun on Mwg Drwg ("wacky baccy" (slang for cannabis, more literally "bad smoke") in Welsh).
