Hailing from Caerphilly the band consists of Huw Webb (Vocals, guitar), Dan John (Guitar), Dean Powell (Bass) and Michael Nash (Drums).
Stellar Echoes return with their latest single ‘The Light’ in support of their debut album ‘Now Is All There is’.
South Wales based Stellar Echoes fuse elements of alternative, indie and psych rock bringing you a sound that has been described as not for the faint hearted.
The last single before the album is put out into the world, ‘The Light’ was released on 21st July and is out on all streaming platforms.
Swansea, South Wales based modern psychedelic indie band Motel Thieves have releases their new single ‘Purple’. Produced by Nick Brine (The Stone Roses, Oasis, The Verve).
‘Purple’ delves into the enigmatic nature of dreams, weaving through a captivating tapestry of heavy riffs, soaring guitars, and melancholy, all whilst harbouring a slight edge of unease. ‘Purple’ embodies the phenomena of deja-vu and encounters of familiar faces whilst dreaming, but things aren’t always what they seem…
Motel Thieves draw influence from psychedelia, britpop, and indie rock to craft a uniquely powerful combination of sound. The five piece nails the sound of Northern Soul, combining a fusion of 70s charm and the raw energy of 90s alternative rock. They have built a name for themselves on the live front, performing a number of sold-out shows across Swansea (The Bunkhouse), Cardiff (Clwb Ifor Bach), Manchester (Castle Hotel), & London, and have earned bookings supporting The Royston Club, Bez (Happy Mondays), Pastel and upcoming gig with STONE.
Enjoy the chilled out, dream-like track out now on all streaming platforms.
LIVE SHOWS
June 20th – Jacaranda, Liverpool, UK
June 22nd – The Globe, Cardiff, UK (Supporting STONE)
The four piece band are making a big noise in Abertillery, South Wales with their new single ‘Are You Really There?’ and bonus B-side ‘Black Belt’.
The band say: “The band is an avenue for all of us to channel the day to day energy, happiness and struggles that comes with being four blokes in their mid 20’s from South Wales.”
You can hear their musical influences are drawn from different sub genres of rock and alternative music add to that their high energy and power and you have yourselves The Pleasures, making waves in Wales!
After months of gigging all around South Wales, recording, writing and building their fanbase, The 8:48 have released their debut EP Now In A Minute.
The rock band consists of Kyle Bellamy, Dylan Hooper, Harrison Ollier and Dylan Clarke, ageing from just 14 to 18. The 8:48 has proven they mean business, releasing their first two singles last year and now they are going for the next level with this collection of new songs.
Dylan Hooper, the band’s bassist, pianist and the producer of the EP, talked about the process of creating the project.
“It’s essentially two years of work starting from the initial writing process all the way to the final mixing adjustments. But I’m proud of us for how far we’ve come and, on a personal note, I’m pretty proud of myself to have produced an EP.”
Lead guitarist Harrison Ollier, said: “I can’t wait for people to hear it, I love all of the songs so I’m excited to hear what everyone’s favourite is. I definitely have a favourite though, but you don’t get to know which song yet you’ll have to wait for it come out!”
Drummer Dylan Clarke, who recently made the last 40 contestants in the Young Drummer of the Year competition, said: “It’s taken hours and hours of recording, but I’ve really enjoyed making this EP. As much work as it took, it’s a very rewarding process to be able to hear a finished, radio ready collection of songs at the end of it.”
The EP comes off the back of the band having a very successful streak of gigging, playing in Cardiff, Swansea, all around the Vale and even Cwmaman. The most notable performance came at the start of December when the four boys performed a set in St David’s Hall as part of the annual Christmas Showcase with Cardiff County and Vale of Glamorgan Music Service.
Frontman Kyle said: “Playing in St David’s Hall was unreal. The sound of songs that I wrote in my back garden filling the venue was something else. Never in a million years did I think anyone apart from us four and a few others would hear them.”
“It felt like a fever dream to be honest, it just went so quickly. But performing in front of 2,000 people was special, it’s not something I’ll forget anytime soon!”
Now in a Minute, the debut EP from The 8:48, is out now on all streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and more.
South Wales four piece The Now release another fantastic brand new single ‘Girl You Got Me’, via Trew Music, ahead of the release of their debut album later this year. The song is accompanied by the release of a new music video.
Recorded at Real World Studios and produced by Grammy Award winning Oli Jacobs, who has previously worked with Harry Styles and The 1975, Girl You Got Me tells the story “When you believe you’re set not to fall in love again after previous heartaches, that one person comes around and catches you while you’re weak and brings you back to your feet – But at the same time you’re on your knees caught up in love !”
In 2021, the band’s single, ‘Dr Jones’ managed to start their rise to success with it featuring on BBC Radio 2 – The Rock Show with Johnnie Walker and also numerous plays on Planet Rock with Wyatt featuring the track on his show “The New Rock Show”. Not long after the release of Friendly Fire, they were contacted by BBC Introducing Wales presenter “Adam Walton” to air ‘Friendly Fire’ on the station.
The first single, ‘Holy’ from the band’s debut EP in 2022 gained a huge amount of airplay around the globe. Apart from plays on BBC and numerous independent stations in the UK, it was “The Coolest Song in the World” for a week in Little Steven’s Underground Garage on Sirius XM across North America. Further singles from the EP ‘Shoot Them Down’ and ‘Rockstar’ continued the success garnering swathes of airplay.
This year has seen the first single (Devil Inside Me) from the album once again picked as “Coolest Song In The World” in Little Steven’s Underground Garage Sirius XM show as well as Track of the Week on Planet Rock !
Having just recently supported Reef and Florence Black. The Now are on a mission to leave no head left unturned and one can be sure, this is only the beginning for The Now, with their debut album and festival performances already lined up 2023.
The Now consists of: Shane Callaghan on Rhythm Guitar & Lead Vocals, Will Scott on Drums, Callum Bromage on Guitar & Vocals and Jay Evans on Bass Guitar & Vocals
Junior Bill, the ‘21st Century Joe Strummer’, spins a tale of post-Brexit isolation in dub-pop anthem ‘TEETH’
After the roaring success of Junior Bill’s first 2023 single ‘Boys From Jungle’ – praised, played and playlisted worldwide – then the mournfully and politically-loaded follow-up ‘Flag of St George’ comes the third Junior Bill single of the year. ‘Teeth’ is a melancholic reggae number about a lonely, isolated society where sugar passes for joy and life stays stagnant around a tiny cul-de-sac in post-Brexit Britain.
Junior Bill is the project of Cardiff songwriter Robert Nichols – acclaimed as ‘a 21st Century Joe Strummer’ by BBC 6Music’s Tom Robinson earlier this year. The group have found support both locally in their home country of Wales as well as internationally on radio and press in Australia, Spain, Brazil and Canada. Turning debut album ‘Youth Club!’ into a series of singles released over the course of the year, has shown a broad range of reggae, psych, indie and blues that has a core element of storytelling about pressing and urgent politicised life.
The songs of Junior Bill reach into the lives of others in an unusually empathic way, whilst still remaining extremely “singable”. Gigwise said “it’s a political maturity set against a childlike honesty that makes Junior Bill so intriguing.” ‘Teeth’ tells the story of an elderly woman who can’t stop eating sweets, living a lonely life in a Truman Show-style world where people “live and work and die” all in one isolated neighbourhood. It’s all somewhat reminiscent of Britain’s increasingly claustrophobic societal atmosphere. This toy-town is recreated in the song’s video, a naive stop-motion animation made by Junior Bill and his friends. The track deals with themes of isolation, the loneliness of ageing, our increasing inability as a nation to care for the vulnerable, as well as the song’s main hook singing of the both immediate and deeper long-term need for the country’s national healthcare.
In the live music scene Junior Bill have made a lasting impression, opening for Supergrass during their reunion shows after a supporting tour with drummer Danny Goffey, then last year making their debut at Glastonbury Festival. The band returned to their hometown of Cardiff in January to a packed out show, and have a series of dates to come throughout the UK whilst releasing more singles and then the debut album ‘Youth Club!’ before the end of the year.
LIVE DATES:
29th April – All Roads Festival, The King Arthur, Glastonbury – solo
4th May – The Canteen, Bristol – band
5th May – Fork & Tune, Cwmcarn – band
26th May – How The Light Gets In Festival, Hay on Wye – solo
The South-Wales based rock trio Feverjaw return with their second release of 2023, ‘Sweetener’. This new single is as intense as it is melodic, capturing the listener immediately and demonstrating why Feverjaw are one of South Wales’s most promising rock bands. As fans have grown to expect, the chorus is anthemic and real arms in the air stuff.
Taken from Feverjaw’s forthcoming new EP ‘Intention Of Malice’, ‘Sweetener’ serves as a stand out track from the EP with its hard hitting drums and melodic lead guitar.
Earlier this year Feverjaw released the acclaimed single ‘When You Know’ which touched on new ground for the trio. They have steadily been building their audience and their reputation as a band to watch.
Feverjaw are Dale Hawkins (vocals, guitar), James Carey (bass) and Lewis Bligh (drums). The trio are an incredible live act with a sound that delivers driving guitars, anthemic choruses and undeniable hooks.
The Vanities return in 2023 with brand new single, “Private Army”. A notable departure from their signature 80’s sound, “Private Army” is an epic orchestral affair, a haunting lament on the folly of humankind in the new era of war in Europe.
The Vanities are an electro-rock duo from Cardiff made up of Rhys Bradley (vocals/guitar) and Adam Hill (bass guitar). Following a riotous period of early success in the noughties, the band retreated into a self-imposed, decade-long exile before returning in 2021 with their critically acclaimed album, “2001”.
Lead single “London” was singled out for particular praise and enjoyed heavy rotation on BBC Radio Wales, leading to the band supporting New Romantic legend Tony Hadley on his 40th anniversary tour in 2022.
The band will be playing a small number of select “unplugged” shows in support of the release.
01/04/23 – The Second 45 15/04/23 – TIWNFEST 29/04/23 – HMV Cardiff 16/05/23 – Acapela Studio w. Peter Cox (SOLD OUT) 17/05/23 – Acapela Studio w. Peter Cox
Composed of members of long-standing Cardiff stalwarts TJ Roberts, Rainbow Maniac and AHGEEBEE, Show Dogs meld acerbic observations of contemporary Welsh life and politics, set to a chamber-pop soundtrack. Artwork comes from photographer Elijah Lewis Thomas and Ben Wood.
On Y Rhwd Gwelw, translated as ‘The Pale Rust’, Show Dog’s continue their exploration of contemporary Welsh life and the country’s political landscape. Opening with the track ‘Tropical Republic’, the lyrics consider the potential future of a Welsh republic, particularly lead singer TJ Roberts’ propensity for romanticising such a distant prospect. Second is the single ‘Don’t Go In The Water’ which explores the pollution of welsh waters and the paranoia induced by living so close to irradiated mud. The EP closes with the band’s namesake, ‘Show Dogs’, an republican anthem dealing with national identity and monarchy.
The band continue to move towards a more rich and orchestral instrumentation, including a wide array of percussion, vintage synthesisers and twelve-string guitars evoking ‘Village Green’ era Kinks and The Boo Radleys. Engineered and produced by Thomas V Westgard and Secondson (Danielle Lewis, Super Furry Animals) at After Life Studios. Show Dogs proclaim that punk is not dead in Wales and its message has arrived in 3-part harmony.
South Wales band Black Heart Drifters launch their very first music video for the cool and moody ‘Mary Celeste’ from their album ‘Outlaws Under A Western Sky’.
UPCOMING GIGS:
Friday 26 May: Cruisers Rumble Fest, Southam RFUC
Saturday 03 June: The Patriot, Crumlin
Friday 11 Aug: James Turners Birthday Bash, Lydney Town Hall
Friday 18 Aug: The Pitt, McCanns Newport
Friday 08 Sept: Summer Sales Fest, Kemble
Saturday 23 Sep: Dros Ben Tan, NeathFriday 08 Dec: The Pitt, McCanns, Newport
Indie Revolution 