THOUGH their days of tromping round in a beaten up old tank may be behind them, Welsh wizards The Super Furry Animals can't fail to attract the weird and wonderful.

From getting Paul McCartney to chew on a carrot as ambient background noise for their chart-topping Rings Around the World album to turning down a £2million offer from Coca Cola to use one of their tracks, there have been some memorable times.

The latter incident provokes a hoot of laughter from the band's guitarist Huw Bunf Bunford, who recalled how they missed out on cashing in big time.

"We're not stupid, so we thought if we were going to dance with the devil then we might as well really go for it. We wanted £5million for them to use Hello Sunshine."

Unsurprisingly, the deal fell through, though it's not something that any of them are losing any sleep over in a hurry. Far from it.

After taking a year or so off, lead singer Gruff has been busying himself with an acclaimed solo album while putting together material for their next album due at the end of August.

These masters of fuzzy pop psychedelic are about to make a suitably melodic return to the scene this summer including a debut headlining gig at Lounge On The Farm.

"It should be a really good gig, I hadn't heard much about it before but will be looking forward to checking it out as I enjoy the smaller kinds of festivals," explained Bunf.

Long before they became the Super Furry Animals they were playing in various Welsh-speaking bands.

They have just finished a stint of home-city gigs in Cardiff at the small venue at which they played their very first shows.

"They were good gigs but as it was an internet giveway, it didn't quite attract some of the psychos who might normally have come - I mean that in the best way possible!

"I'll always remember that about 15 years ago, that place was a bit fascist about who it let in."

As a youngster, Bunf rebelled against his parents who wanted him to take piano lessons and found himself gravitating towards rock music.

After school he found himself in a number of rubbish jobs, as he puts it, before landing an art teaching post. Admitting to being something of a soft touch, he conceded that his heart wasn't really in it and he returned to music.

When The Super Furry Animals came to the attention of a certain Alan McGee of Creation Records and Oasis fame, it seemed that stardom was finally within their grasp.

"We had spent years playing awful places when we were singing in Welsh and had to do it all over again in England, but it was a really great time for us.

"Alan McGee was ok, but he was pretty much hands-off. After one of our London gigs he came up to us and said, 'I can't understand a word of what you are singing, can you please do it in English.' But we couldn't understand his Scot's accent either!"

Their first album, Fuzzy Logic featuring God Show Me Magic was a hit with critics but only reached 23 in the charts. It was not until the follow up, Radiator, came out two years later that they really gathered momentum.

Along the way, they've been voted as NME live favourites and confounded their critics in scoring an impressive tally of hits in the singles and album charts. They are still in the Guiness Book of records for having the longest EP song title for Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogochochynygofod (In Space).

These days they all have their family commitments and their laid-back guitarist has recently become a father for the first time. But that's not going to deter him from taking to the road once again with the band. He sounds upbeat about the new album.

"We've definitely tried to write some real pop songs on this one. It's quite different from our last, with each of the first five songs boshing out in about three minutes each," he explained.

But it's playing live which has always been at the heart of their agenda. Does Bunf have a favourite gig?

"I think my favourite was one of the strangest when we were playing Glastonbury in 2002 or 2003 and right at the end of the set when we were doing Man Don't Give A ....

"This guy just tried to drive a truck right through the middle of the mosh-pit. That was insane!"

Though a repeat of such bizarre incidents are unlikely in the garden of England, it's destined to be a memorable day out for the lad's first visit to the county at Lounge on the Farm.

* Super Furry Animals play Lounge on the Farm at Merton Farm near Canterbury on Friday, July 13. Tickets £20 on the gate.