A Cwmbran man who now lives in Sweden has shared the story of how he and his family recorded music tracks and filmed a video to back Wales’ journey in the football World Cup.
Simon Lewis, 43, a former pupil at Fairwater Comprehensive School, moved to Sweden in 1997. In a WhatsApp call with Cwmbran Life he said how the 1958 World Cup, meeting the team in 2016 and his son’s talent for music was the inspiration for them releasing three songs and filming a video in Henllys during a trip to Wales.
The video features many locations in the village including the One Stop shop and the Dorallt Park. It stars Simon, his 15-year-old son Noah and 12-year-old daughter Lola.
He said: “It’s a bit of story that started in the World Cup in 2014. I’ve got three children and my wife is Swedish. My oldest son, Leon is 18 and was ten then and playing for a club in Stockholm. Me and a couple of dads started a team, Blitz FC.
“In 2016 Wales came to Sweden to play their last friendly before (the Euros) France. I knew that you can’t fly direct here from Cardiff. I saw a flight was travelling to Stockholm’s Arlanda airport from Wales. I got my kids up, dressed in our Welsh shirts, and went to the airport. We were the only Welsh fans there.
“I said to Chris Coleman, ‘we have booked flights to France and the only time we can go is the semis so make sure you get to the semis’ and what happened?
“I’ve tried to give the bond of Wales football and rugby to my kids. During Covid we set up a studio in my second lad’s bedroom, Noah. He’s really into music, pumping out music and learning to play the drums.
“In Sweden they invest a lot in music in schools and my son has become a bit of a musician. Because of Covid we couldn’t go to Wales for three years.
(Photo: Simon Lewis)
World Cup qualifiers
“We were just watching Wales from a distance. We saw the Ukraine game. It was bonkers and we were ecstatic. Then in the summer holidays we booked a trip to Wales.
“I said ‘why don’t we make a song for fun?’ My son had a play about. The inspiration was that they are meeting USA in the first game so he went for a bit of a rip-off of West Coast sounds in the 1990s.
“I came up with some lyrics to the beat he did. It’s got to have a trumpet, every football song has a trumpet in it.
“Then we came to Wales and played the song to family and friends. My brother is a professional filmmaker. I said ‘why don’t we make a video for fun?’
“I got our old memorabilia, a Subbuteo table, the old red record player from my sister’s room and we made the video up on the spot. My brother went back home and started synching it together.”
Watch the video filmed in Cwmbran
The group set up a Twitter account. You can follow them at @BlitzBoyz2022. Their name is a reference to the football team Blitz FC.
“Then we were like hang one, why don’t we do a second song? That’s Welsh Sugar and the inspiration was the Michael Sheen speech (from the quiz show A League of Their Own). We took his words and put them onto the beats my son made.”
Watch Welsh Sugar by the Blitz Boys
Their third song is out today- The Big Match 2.0.
Simon said: “My brother is doing the video for The Big Match 2.0. We had a good laugh with it using my son’s talents and what my brother works with.
“The response on Twitter and YouTube has been great.
“For my kids’ generation, they are not aware of the struggle of Welsh football. In my sons’ eyes they have only done well.
“There isn’t a reference to the past (in the tracks). It’s about here and now. There is a lot of heartache seeing Wales fail, growing up
“It’s so fresh for them. Bale and Ramsay have got that into the changing room, the winning mentality. The past is important but the future is here.”
In a lovely added extra to the story, in 1958, Tommy, the three children’s grandad attended the opening game of the World Cup in Sweden- the last time Wales competed on the world stage.
Listen to the three songs on Spotify
Click here to visit the Blitz Boyz’s Spotify page.
Song 3 released today – 15 November 2022
Click here to listen to their third track– The Big Match 2.0
NEW RELEASE
“The Big Match 2.0”
Celebrate the international language of football. For the players for the fans of the Qatar World Cup 2022. From Cymru with love ❤️ #Qatar2022 https://t.co/SRWKpxuejX pic.twitter.com/7bWsZosbQo— Blitz Boyz (@BlitzBoyz2022) November 15, 2022
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