Swan Hill Release New Double A-Side ‘Rosebud/Landlines’

Aug 29, 2023 — Leave a comment

Swansea indie-fuzz favorites Swan Hill have not one, but two new offerings of hooky guitar goodness in the shape of Double A-Side ‘Rosebud/Landlines’. Following hot on the heels of the success of 2022’s ‘Unlucky’, these two complimentary tracks showcase the band’s unmistakable style.

The anthemic ‘Rosebud’ has become a staple of the band’s live sets with it’s driving guitar riff, searing Mascis-esque dual guitar solos and vocal harmonies akin to the Wilson brothers after several cans of Oranjeboom. The lyrics touch upon age old topics such as the loss of youth, microwaveable evening meals and the poor selection of vinyl at charity shops.

‘Landlines’ broadens the band’s musical palette, opening with a simple programmed drum machine beat before bursting into layers of angular guitars and asymmetric descending basslines. A paean to an obsolete format of tele-communications, this catchy sub 3 minute indie banger is the synthesis of the coolness of early Strokes and the chaos of Guided by Voices you never knew you needed.

The tracks were recorded by the band in a shed somewhere in the valleys of Neath and brought to life by the mixing and mastering of esteemed Leeds based producer Bob Cooper (Jools, Ferocious Dog, Don’t Worry , Hot Mass).

Swan Hill are Chris (Vocals/Guitar), Dan (Guitar), Rory (Drums/Vocals) and Owain (Bass/Vocals). Since their first few shows in 2021, the band have made a name for themselves as a tight knit musical unit, spreading their gospel of fuzzy power pop and off kilter humour on small stages across the UK that they can barely fit their pedalboards on. This has included a DIY tour of England, a couple of packed out sets at The Swansea Fringe Festival and headlining the legendary Clwb Ifor Bach.

‘Rosebud/Landlines’ is the new Double A-Side single from Welsh fuzz enthusiasts Swan Hill. The band’s 90s tinged indie will be sweet-feedback-laden music to the ears of fans of Pavement, Weezer and Dinosaur Jr. Out July 28th on streaming services and cassette tape.

Emily Marsden – Editor
#MusicSceneWales
@MusicSceneWales
musicscenewalescymru@gmail.com

Motel Thieves Release New Single ‘Purple’

Jul 31, 2023 — Leave a comment

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)

June 24th – Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, UK

July 21st – The Bunkhouse, Swansea, UK

Emily Marsden – Editor
#MusicSceneWales
@MusicSceneWales
musicscenewalescymru@gmail.com

Subterrania Release Debut Single ‘Benidorm’

Jul 27, 2023 — Leave a comment

Hailing from Swansea, four piece band Subterrania release their fantastic, high energy debut single ‘Benidorm’.

The band said of the single:

“The song is basically about being fed up of your hometown and the need to get away sometimes to let your hair down on vacation.”

Available now across all streaming platforms.

This Friday the band have a release party at the Hanger 18 in Swansea. Ticket link below:

https://ticket247.co.uk/Event/subterrania-supported-by-redwood-city-fluff-elian-at-hangar-18-music-venue-swansea-174503?fbclid=IwAR1yMJH-nUSFfg_J9Y-wzPWM-ODQRPBXx7DU3t2A9AVWdqEdV6332EShPK0_aem_AcTol5Z6cGSdzU8DmvhfeCSnDAEjC4x-6e-y8Wrjvn21zdXtd-1YQg-GCTwVpC8kAio

Emily Marsden – Editor
#MusicSceneWales
@MusicSceneWales
musicscenewalescymru@gmail.com

Tom Emlyn Shares Bonus Solo B-Sides from New Album and Upcoming UK Tour Dates

Jul 11, 2023 — Leave a comment

Ahead of a raft of upcoming dates, emerging Swansea singer songwriter Tom Emlyn has shared three stripped back bonus b-sides from his new album ‘Return Journey Revisited: Scaredycat Vol 1’. Listen to solo acoustic versions of ‘Broken Mirror’, ‘It doesn’t Bother Me;’ and The Thing Most Feared In Secret below. .

Scaredycat Vol. 1 Bsides | Tom Emlyn (bandcamp.com)

UK Tour dates

20th July – Nozstock
27th July – The Glad Cafe, Glasgow
28th July – Sketchy Beats Cafe, Edinburgh
12th August – Brecon Jazz/Fringe festival
19th August – Tiny Rebel Newport
6th October – Hippo’s Swansea
27th-29th October – Boia festival St Davids

Emily Marsden – Editor
#MusicSceneWales
@MusicSceneWales
musicscenewalescymru@gmail.com

Mithras To Play Swansea

Jun 23, 2023 — Leave a comment

Mithras / Absolution / Mortuary Spawn / Deliberate Miscarriage

Saturday 22nd July

Hangar XVIII Music Venue, Swansea

Mithras are back from their 6 year hiatus and are playing Wales for the first time in their 20+year career. On top of that, they’re playing songs never heard live before, meaning this will be a spectacular gig that any self respecting metalhead will sorely regret missing. Support comes from a stellar all UK line up – Birmingham’s Absolution, Mortuary Spawn from Leeds, and South Wales up-and-comers Deliberate Miscarriage.

Tickets are available here – https://ticket247.co.uk/Event/mithras-plus-support-at-hangar-xviii-at-hangar-18-music-venue-swansea-147972

Emily Marsden – Editor
#MusicSceneWales
@MusicSceneWales
musicscenewalescymru@gmail.com

The Stray Pursuit Release New Single ‘Let It Be Known’

Jun 19, 2023 — Leave a comment

The Stray Pursuit is a young Swansea-based alternative rock band. Taking their musical influence from bands such as Stereophonics, Kasabian, and The Enemy.
Their eclectic individual music taste makes each song distinctively their own; with guitar-heavy riffs and powerful, catchy vocals.

The four-piece consists of the lead singer, Aaron Morgan; lead guitarist, Dylan Evans; bassist, Fred Wilkinson; drummer, Ben Lewis, and they had their first gig in November 2018.

They sold out the famous Swansea music venue Sin City in March 2019 with their debut single release show of “Out of This World”. Since then, they have released 3 more singles and have featured on This Feeling’s ‘Big in 2020’, playing gigs as far as The Dublin Castle, Camden.

The band started as Aaron & Fred both got on the wrong bus from college and ended up an hour away from home. After getting chatting the pair discovered they were in rival local bands. But when Fred invited Aaron over for a jam, they soon realised they worked very well together. Aaron invited Dylan, who was in his previous band, and Dylan brought Nicky. Ben joined the band in April 2023, as the founding drummer Nicky Bevan, sadly lost his life (due to mental health problems) in December 2022.

As a result of the pandemic, and Fred finishing university, the boys took a hiatus until June 2022. Since then, The Stray Pursuit have been in the practice room working relentlessly to perfect new tracks and tighten up their enthralling live performances.

The boys have been in the studio recording their first EP at Longwave Studios with Romesh Dodangoda in Cardiff. They plan to release their debut EP by December 2023. They are also in the process of booking a tour, so stay tuned for the coming months!

The song is about someone struggling with insecurities and self-consciousness and trying to overcome them. Hence the lyric “My fear, all over my skin”. I wrote the song in the summer of 2021 on a 4 stringed acoustic guitar. – Quote from Dylan (Lead Guitarist).

In their own words:
Our energetic live performances and crowd interaction as well as heavy guitar riffs that speak to you like lyrics, are what we attribute to our consistent sell-out shows of local music venues.

Our founding drummer passed away in December 2022, aged 20. We have always tried to write songs and lyrics from the heart, but now it has a real purpose. It has given a deeper and more poignant perspective to our song writing.

For fans of:

Kasabian, Catfish and The Bottlemen, The Enemy, Himalayas, Green Day.

Upcoming live dates:

30th June – The Bunkhouse, Swansea. Hometown headline show! (With Stickman and The Rogues)

September 1^st – Via Fossa, Nottingham (with The Fiends)

Emily Marsden – Editor
#MusicSceneWales
@MusicSceneWales
musicscenewalescymru@gmail.com

Gŵyl Tawe 2023

Jun 5, 2023 — Leave a comment

Datganiad i’r wasg – Manylion llawn ar gyfer Gŵyl Tawe 2023 (*see below for English version)

Pleser Menter Iaith Abertawe yw cyhoeddi’r manylion llawn ar gyfer Gŵyl Tawe ar ddydd Sadwrn y 10fed o Fehefin yn Amgueddfa Genedlaethol y Glannau, Abertawe.

Yn ymuno gyda’r rhaglen cerddoriaeth fyw bydd Rogue Jones a Gillie. Hyn fydd perfformiad cyntaf Rogue Jones yn cefnogi eu ail albwm syfrdanol “Dos Bebés”, tra fod senglau diweddar Gillie ar Recordiau Libertino, “i ti” a “Llawn”, wedi gweld adolygiadau rhagorol a pherfformiadau fel rhan o Focus Wales.

Yn barod wedi eu cyhoeddi i chwarae ar draws llwyfan awyr agored Cymru Greadigol a llwyfan Coleg Gŵyr Abertawe yng nghanol yr amgueddfa mae Ani Glass, Hyll, Lloyd x Dom + Don, Los Blancos, MR, Sage Todz, She’s Got Spies, SYBS, a The Gentle Good, gydag Adwaith yn cau’r noson.

Yn dechrau’r digwyddiad yn y bore bydd sioe theatr ryngweithiol i deuluoedd gan Familia de la Noche. Ymunwch â Brogs y Bogs, archarwyr y llyffantod, a helpwch nhw i ffrwydro drwy’r ffosydd a difetha’r Cwac Tŷ Bach yn y sioe newydd hon! Dewch i neidio, dawnsio a chwerthin llond eich bol gyda’r amffibiaid anhygoel, fydd yn siŵr o ddiddanu’r teulu cyfan. Yn dilyn hyn bydd amrywiaeth o berfformiadau gan ysgolion lleol gan gynnwys corau, grwpiau dawns, ac offerynwyr.

Yng nghyntedd yr amgueddfa fe fydd arlwy o stondinau a gweithgareddau gan bartneriaid megis Coleg Gŵyr Abertawe, Siop Tŷ Tawe, Canolfan Celfyddydau’r Taliesin, yr Oriel Mission, a’r Mudiad Meithrin. Bydd gweithgareddau gwyddonol gan Technocamps, a bydd yr artist Rhys Padarn yn cynnig gweithdy yn galluogi mynychwyr i greu ychydig o waith yn ei arddull Orielodl eiconig. Bydd yna hefyd cyfleoedd i fwynhau sesiynau stori a chân gan Cymraeg i Blant, ac i dderbyn gwersi blasu gan Dysgu Cymraeg Ardal Bae Abertawe yn ystafelloedd dysgu’r amgueddfa.

Mae’r ŵyl yn hollol rad ac am ddim, a bydd yn rhedeg rhwng 10:00 a 20:00. Mae’r digwyddiad yn cael ei gynnal mewn partneriaeth ag Amgueddfa Cymru, a gyda chefnogaeth gan Gyngor Abertawe, Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru, Coleg Gŵyr Abertawe, a Llywodraeth Cymru trwy Cymru Greadigol.

—————————————————————————————————————

Menter Iaith Abertawe are pleased to announce the full details for this year’s Gŵyl Tawe on Saturday the 10th of June at Swansea’s National Waterfront Museum.

Joining the music line up in the afternoon will be Rogue Jones and Gillie. This will be Rogue Jones’ first live performance in support of their acclaimed second album “Dos Bebés”, while Gillie’s recent singles “i ti” and “Llawn” on Libertino Records have seen rave reviews and performances at Focus Wales.

Already announced to be performing across the festival’s Creative Wales open-air stage and the Gower College Swansea stage in the heart of the museum are Ani Glass, Hyll, Lloyd x Dom + Don, Los Blancos, MR, Sage Todz, She’s Got Spies, SYBS, and The Gentle Good, with a headline set from Adwaith closing the evening.

Starting the event in the morning will be an interactive theatre show for families from Familia de la Noche. Come join Frogs in Bogs, the superhero frog plumbers, to crack a clogging crime and defeat the evil Toilet Duck in this new, hilarious, all-jumping, all-dancing, blockbusting show for all the family! This will be followed by variety of performances from local schools including choirs, dance groups, and instrumentalists.

The foyer of the museum will see stalls and activities from partners such Gower College Swansea, Siop Tŷ Tawe, the Taliesin Arts Centre, the Mission Gallery, and the Mudiad Meithrin. Technocamps will offer STEM activities, and the artist Rhys Padarn will offer a workshop enabling attendees to create some of his iconic Orielodl artwork. There will also be opportunities to enjoy story and song sessions from Cymraeg i Blant, and to receive taster lessons from Learn Welsh Swansea Bay Region in the museum’s Learning Rooms.

The festival is completely free to attend and will run between 10:00 and 20:00. The event is delivered in partnership with Museum Wales, and with support from Swansea Council, the Arts Council of Wales, Gower College Swansea, and Welsh Government via Creative Wales.

Emily Marsden – Editor
#MusicSceneWales
@MusicSceneWales
musicscenewalescymru@gmail.com

Tom Emlyn Releases New Album ‘Return Journey Revisited: Scaredycat Vol 1’

May 22, 2023 — Leave a comment

Tom Emlyn announces his new album ‘Return Journey Revisited: Scaredycat Vol 1’ out now.

Swansea-born songwriter Tom Emlyn vividly depicts why he is one of the most prolific and inventive songwriters emerging in Wales, with his new album ‘Return Journey Revisited: Scaredycat Vol 1’. Recorded in 2018 and mastered by Charlie Francis (R.E.M., Pixies). A treasure trove of recordings dating back to 2016, 2017, and 2018, these songs offer a window into the sheer scope of Emlyn’s songwriting talent, his captivating songs uniquely exploring the particularity and peculiarity of human experience.

Featuring his gorgeous recent singles ‘Broken Mirror’ – a heartfelt and poetic ballad of lost love and ‘Like a Cigarette’ inspired by his days busking outside a cafe in Frankfurt acting as a living and breathing earworm that charts his travels around Europe and Germany in 2017. Plus forthcoming third single ‘It doesn’t bother me’. Compared to Bob Dylan or Elliott Smith, Tom Emlyn’s sound, while rooted in garage rock, is tinged with psychedelia, folk, jazz, and blues overtones – including a recent adoption of the harmonica as a lead instrument.

Tom explains “Abandoned work is a normal part of the music-making process, but I felt these songs deserved a second chance. I also wanted to release it as a (small) protest against certain smoke-and-mirrors aspects of the music industry. People will tell you to wait and wait, hold back all of your material for the “right time”. I can’t do that anymore; for me, a song is only new when it’s just been written, although it can be remade in live performance. I find it quite agonising to sit on this material for so many years. I’ll be thirty in 2023. That’s why I want to get this sizeable backlog of unheard material out there, so I can move on to new things, and that’s why this is the third album I’ve released in a year.”

“There were many people involved in these tracks – different engineers, studios, producers, and musicians in Swansea and Cardiff. I think the album has a unified feel despite being a bunch of stuff that was recorded in various studios and spaces, before being rescued from the cutting-room floor. It’s a bit of a lighter, ironic affair, full of magic realism and surreal images of the natural world, half-acoustic and half-electric, with an eclectic, eccentric, sprawling feel. Scraped from the bottom of a very deep barrel – but somehow holding together.”

Tom Emlyn crafts honest, swirling evocative songs; tall tales, and dark jokes that cut straight to the bone. His current solo work maps an alternative Southwalian landscape, a hallucinated community drawn from psychogeography and local history. Written on foot and by bus, his observational, poetic lyrics and simple 60s-folk-influenced melodies explore what it means to belong to a place – the bitterness, the love and the humour. “The truth is, all of my music is one long song – constantly flowing from inner worlds and mysterious, unknown places.” He reveals “Songwriting is like a diary for me, and it’s time to share Return Journey Revisited: Scaredycat Vol 1. with you. It might be a slightly imperfect document, but I think it’s all the better for it.”

In summer 2022, Tom released his debut solo album ‘News From Nowhere’, a bittersweet love letter to his hometown of Swansea, described by Adam Walton (BBC Radio Wales) as a record of “undoubted brilliance, eloquence and energy”. It has been positively received, with airplay and support from Radio Wales, BBC Horizons, R.E.P.E.A.T. fanzine, God Is In The TV, and Joyzine, among others. Tom’s second album ‘I’ve Seen You In Town’ followed hot on the heels of the first – a more mellow, acoustic affair which was also well received. He also released the ‘Scounger EP’ on Bandcamp this February. He is currently promoting these records with intimately explosive solo and band performances across Wales and beyond, with a string of releases planned for 2023.

Tour dates

27th May – in it together festival Margam
16th June – Cwrw, Carmarthen
17th June – Cwrw (solo record shop in-store to promote new album)
17th June – Elysium, Swansea (to promote new album)
12th August – Brecon Jazz/Fringe festival
6th October – Hippos, Swansea

Emily Marsden – Editor
#MusicSceneWales
@MusicSceneWales
musicscenewalescymru@gmail.com

Tom Emlyn Releases New Single ‘It Doesn’t Bother Me’

Apr 28, 2023 — Leave a comment

Tom Emlyn releases his new single ‘It Doesn’t Bother Me’. The follow-up to ‘Broken Mirror’ and ‘Like a Cigarette’, it’s the last of three singles leading up to the album ‘Return Journey Revisited: Scaredycat Vol 1’ released on the 5th of May 2023.

Engineered by Randell Denning, BBC studios Swansea in 2018 ‘It Doesn’t Bother Me’ rattles with introspection, as Emlyn sketches out nightmarish visions of characters who lose themselves in the pursuit of success. Amidst a scorched strum of fuzzy guitars, battered acoustics and skippy keys and synths. It’s a raw earworm that tries to throw off the shadow of doubt.

Emlyn says: “This song is from the mind of an unreliable narrator, trying to convince himself of his own aloofness as much as he is the listener. It paints a nightmare picture of self-doubt, anxiety, dead-end jobs, bad decisions, time running out. Schizophrenic images of audible lights in the engine yard. Losing your real self in the pursuit of money, recognition, anything. The masks we wear to convince ourselves and others of our resilience.”

“Honky-tonk Bob, mentioned in the lyrics, was a real person I met who played around the open mic nights of North Wales. He used to play amateurish piano, with his foot tapping a rudimentary beat on a hi hat with some kind of stuffed animal attached to it. The last I heard of him, he’d joined the army. A lost and misguided soul. This song tries to use sarcasm and absurdity to overcome uncertainty and dread, even if that involves a certain amount of self-deception. The keyboards and bass synth on the track were all done in the moment and improvised in one take.”

Swansea-born songwriter Tom Emlyn vividly depicts why he is one of the most prolific and inventive songwriters emerging in Wales, with his new album ‘Return Journey Revisited: Scaredycat Vol 15’ released on the 5th of May. Recorded in 2018 and mastered by Charlie Francis (R.E.M., Pixies). A treasure trove of recordings dating back to 2016, 2017, and 2018, these songs offer a window into the sheer scope of Emlyn’s songwriting talent, his captivating songs uniquely exploring the particularity and peculiarity of human experience.

Featuring his gorgeous recent singles ‘Broken Mirror’ – a heartfelt and poetic ballad of lost love and ‘Like a Cigarette’ inspired by his days busking outside a cafe in Frankfurt acting as a living and breathing earworm that charts his travels around Europe and Germany in 2017. Plus forthcoming third single ‘It Doesn’t Bother Me’. Compared to Bob Dylan or Elliott Smith, Tom Emlyn’s sound, while rooted in garage rock, is tinged with psychedelia, folk, jazz, and blues overtones – including a recent adoption of the harmonica as a lead instrument.

Tom Emlyn crafts honest, swirling evocative songs; tall tales, and dark jokes that cut straight to the bone. His current solo work maps an alternative Southwalian landscape, a hallucinated community drawn from psychogeography and local history. Written on foot and by bus, his observational, poetic lyrics and simple 60s-folk-influenced melodies explore what it means to belong to a place – the bitterness, the love and the humour.

“The truth is, all of my music is one long song – constantly flowing from inner worlds and mysterious, unknown places.” He reveals “Songwriting is like a diary for me, and it’s time to share Return Journey Revisited: Scaredycat Vol 1. with you. It might be a slightly imperfect document, but I think it’s all the better for it.”

In summer 2022, Tom released his debut solo album ‘News From Nowhere’, a bittersweet love letter to his hometown of Swansea, described by Adam Walton (BBC Radio Wales) as a record of “undoubted brilliance, eloquence and energy”. It has been positively received, with airplay and support from Radio Wales, BBC Horizons, R.E.P.E.A.T. fanzine, God Is In The TV, and Joyzine, among others. Tom’s second album ‘I’ve Seen You In Town’ followed hot on the heels of the first – a more mellow, acoustic affair which was also well received. He also released the ‘Scounger EP’ on Bandcamp this February. He is currently promoting these records with intimately explosive solo and band performances across Wales and beyond, with a string of releases planned for 2023.

Tour dates

4th-6th May – Focus Wales, Wrexham

12th May – Dyddiau Du, Cardiff (solo to promote new album)

20th May – Second 45 record shop Llanelli (solo to promote new album)

27th May – in it together festival Margam

16th June – Cwrw, Carmarthen

17th June – Cwrw (solo record shop in-store to promote new album)

17th June – Elysium, Swansea (to promote new album)

12th August – Brecon Jazz/Fringe festival

6th October – Hippos, Swansea

Emily Marsden – Editor
#MusicSceneWales
@MusicSceneWales
musicscenewalescymru@gmail.com

Tom Emlyn Releases New Single ‘Broken Mirror’ Accompanied By A New Music Video And Announces New Album Release

Apr 17, 2023 — Leave a comment

Swansea born Tom Emlyn is one of the most prolific and inventive songwriters to emerge from Wales. Tom crafts honest, swirling evocative songs; tall tales, and dark jokes that cut straight to the bone. His current solo work maps an alternative Southwalian landscape, a hallucinated community drawn from psychogeography and local history. Written on foot and by bus, his observational, poetic lyrics and simple 60s-folk-influenced melodies explore what it means to belong to a place. Tom has been comapred to Bob Dylan or Elliot Smith.

Emlyn says: “This was a song I wrote after I came back from traveling in about 2015. It was a bit of a prototype for some of my other songs like Empire or Under the Weather, which try to use the Welsh landscape as a metaphor for a breakup. It’s not really as biographical as it sounds, there’s a lot of fiction in there too. It also deals with the choices you make in life and realising that there are many ways to look at a situation. It’s quite conversational and imagistic.”

Tom also announces details of a new album to be released on the 5th of May, ‘Return Journey Revisited: Scaredycat Vol. 15’. This album is a treasure trove of captivating songs dating to between 2016 – 2018.

Of the album Tom says:
“Abandoned work is a normal part of the music-making process, but I felt these songs deserved a second chance. I also wanted to release it as a (small) protest against certain smoke-and-mirrors aspects of the music industry. People will tell you to wait and wait, hold back all of your material for the “right time”. I can’t do that anymore; for me, a song is only new when it’s just been written, although it can be remade in live performance. I find it quite agonising to sit on this material for so many years. I’ll be thirty in 2023. That’s why I want to get this sizeable backlog of unheard material out there, so I can move on to new things, and that’s why this is the third album I’ve released in a year.”

Emily Marsden – Editor
#MusicSceneWales
@MusicSceneWales
musicscenewalescymru@gmail.com