Catch Wilson Noir at Castle Arcade on 16 and 17th October 1-3.30pm
CARDIFF, WALES — You can hear the history in the beat, but the energy is brand new. Wilson Noir isn’t just an emerging talent; he’s the direct, dynamic inheritor of South Wales club culture, and he’s lighting up dancefloors across the region.
Blending family legacy with a fresh underground edge, Wilson Noir is bringing new energy to the South Wales DJ scene — bridging the golden era of Catapult Records with the forward-thinking sounds that define his dancefloors today. Emerging from the heart of South Wales’ vibrant underground, Wilson Noir is fast becoming one of the region’s most exciting new DJ talents. Known for his playful, crowd-focused sets, Noir delivers a distinctive blend of vintage rhythms and modern electronic production, bridging old-school UK dance culture with today’s underground energy. Noir’s sound is the definition of New Old Cool — it’s a signature style that’s quickly making him one of the most talked-about names in the scene.
DEEP ROOTS IN THE UNDERGROUND
The store’s infamous in-store sessions became the stuff of local legend, hosting acts like Bonobo, Netsky, LTJ Bukem, Blame, Vibes, Nic Fanciulli, Drop Music, and High Contrast — who famously worked there and was discovered by Hospital Records in the basement. Known for its expert curation, Catapult helped shape the identity of Welsh club culture and nurtured countless local talents. Though its doors closed in 2014, its influence still echoes through South Wales’ dancefloors — celebrated in reunion events, online communities, and in the next generation of DJs like Wilson Noir, who carries forward that same DIY ethos, crate-digger curiosity, and commitment to keeping the dancefloor alive.
FULL CIRCLE: ARCADE RESIDENCY
Building on this legacy, this October, Wilson Noir returns to Catapult’s very first home in the Castle Arcade with a two-day residency for the City of Arcades Project, as part of the Cardiff Music City Festival. The festival — a two-week celebration of Cardiff’s thriving music scene — fills venues, clubs, and hidden corners with gigs, talks, installations, and pop-up performances. Designed to champion both international names and emerging local talent, it blends performance, education, and innovation to strengthen Cardiff’s live music ecosystem.
In collaboration, the City of Arcades Project shines a spotlight on the city’s Victorian and Edwardian arcades — once shopping streets, now cultural landmarks filled with independent shops, cafés, and creative spaces.
For Wilson Noir, performing within the Castle Arcade, where Catapult Records first took root, is a full-circle moment — a chance to bring his signature sound to the very heart of Cardiff’s musical heritage. The residency aligns perfectly with the festival’s spirit: connecting past and present, heritage and innovation, while celebrating the enduring energy that continues to drive South Wales’ electronic music scene.
Wilson Noir said:
“Growing up around Catapult Records, I could feel how music brought people together. Every set I play is about capturing that energy and creating something new on the dancefloor. To play in the Castle Arcade—where it all began—is surreal.”
Ruth Cayford, Head of Creative Industries and Culture Development at Cardiff Council, added:
“Wilson Noir embodies the spirit of Cardiff’s evolving music scene. His deep-rooted connection to the city’s musical heritage, combined with his innovative approach, makes him a perfect fit for this year’s festival. We’re thrilled to see the next generation, supported by groups like Sound Progression, taking the lead.”
SUPPORTING THE SCENE
Noir’s journey is championed by Valé, the popular South Wales streetwear label, a partnership that underscores the connection between local music, fashion, and creative culture. As a member of Sound Progression, Cardiff’s youth music development organisation supported by the Ed Sheeran Foundation, Noir is an integral part of the next generation — shaping Cardiff’s electronic music scene with bold creativity and unstoppable energy.
Catch Wilson Noir at Castle Arcade on 16 and 17th October 1-3.30pm For more information about Cardiff Music City Festival, go to cardiffmusiccity.wales
The Stylistics brought their timeless soulful charm to the New Theatre on 12 November as part of their Greatest Hits Tour. The iconic Philly Soul group – who have been through a number of line-up changes during their 56 years of performing – delivered a glorious evening of greatest hits and plenty of nostalgia.
It was evident from the average age of the crowd that I was a couple of decades too young to be a real Stylistics fan (almost everyone else there that I spotted who were under the age of 50 seemed to be accompanying parents or grandparents). And it’s true – I only discovered Philly Soul at all during an extended virtual YouTube crate dig during lockdown. The lush string arrangements and comforting harmonies were a real balm for me during lockdown (which already feels like a lifetime ago). While I might not have been harking back to discos in the 1970s, seeing the Stylistics live was still a bit of a nostalgic experience for me.
Before we get to the band, I want to mention the support act – an “El-Tom John project” fronted by Tom Cridland. Tom apparently learned to play the piano during lockdown, specifically to play Elton John songs and tour them around the world. He’s also the presenter of The Greatest Music of All Time podcast (and fashion designer with his own sustainable fashion label?). He’s unfathomably tall and wearing a suit covered in sparkly stars, and warms the crowd playing a series of early Elton classics on a keyboard.
My 70 year old mother (who is my date for this outing) comments, rather unkindly, I think, “don’t give up the day job”. But she’s lucky enough to have enjoyed Elton as a performer throughout her whole life (I really only got him from the second outing of Candle in the Wind onwards). I still don’t like Candle in the Wind, but I do listen to Tiny Dancer on repeat for the whole of the next day.
Then it’s time for the main event. Advertised as a Greatest Hits Tour, the group doesn’t disappoint, with a show packed full of “old school disco bangers”, as the lady from Ebbw Vale sat behind me calls them.
Formed of two members of the original line up (Airrion Love and Herb Murrell) and two “newer” members (Bo Henderson and Jason Sharp), the group shoops, boops, and sways gently through 85 minutes of classics. Their choreographed dance moves are impeccably timed (although having been performing as a band for 56 years, you’d hope they’d have got the timings down for these). They bring the house down with You Are Everything, along with other classics I’m Stone In Love With You and Can’t Give You Anything (But My Love) (which was a hit single in the UK back in 1975).
My personal favourite is Betcha by Golly Wow, which follows a little preamble with the band talking about how long they’ve been performing and touring, and how old they are now (and how, with the help of “that little blue pill”, everything still works – just not the way it did when they were 50. There are screams and whoops of laughter and delight that ring around the venue, as you might imagine).
Even with the two original members performing at the ripe age of 75, the band are still oozing charisma and charm (and can we talk about the vocals? It’s like having double cream poured into your ears). I’m guessing the dance moves are probably a little less enthusiastic than they were 40 years ago, but they’re still delivered with style. By the end of the show, pretty much the entire crowd is on their feet, clicking their fingers, clapping, swaying, and singing along. It’s a feel-good show that proves The Stylistics are still one of the greatest soul groups of all time. For soul fans of all ages, if you get the chance to catch them on tour, I recommend it.
Hello friends. We were wandering through the Cardiff indoor market the other day (aren’t all the new food places WONDERFUL??) when we came across a young man who described himself as a public typist – improvising stories for people on a little typewriter.
We were most taken with this idea, so here’s a little feature on Adam of Found Out There.
My name is Adam. I am a public typist. I travel the island improvising stories on a typewriter for people in public. I’ve made a little cabin of wonder in Cardiff Market where I’ll be typing stories until Christmas.
You are welcome to give me three random words, the name for a character and I’ll type you a unique story as you wait. Lovely as gifts for children, adults, friends, family or for yourself.
Between now and the end of the year, my opening hours will be:
Monday – Thursday 11 – 5 Saturday 11 – 5
I’ll be participating in the Night of The Arcades on the 15th November and my hours will change in December to include the extras Sundays the market will be open.
People can also order stories via my website if they can’t attend the market in person: Found Out There.
YOU GUYS Sŵn Festival is COMINGGGGG – it takes place this coming week, Thursday, October 17th – Saturday, October 19th (and honestly we’re grateful for having Sunday to recover!). Tickets are RUNNING LOW so this is your casual weekend reminder to get over to the Sŵn Festival tickets page and get yours nowwww.
This years venues include; Clwb Ifor Bach, Tramshed, Jacobs Antiques Market, Tiny Rebel, The Moon, Fuel, Mad Dog Brewery, and Cornerstone. We’d be insane to try and pick out the best gigs of the festival (although we will be pingponging between the ground and top floors of Clŵb for Mari Mathias / Half Happy / Wu-Lu etc etc) on Thursday, Tramshed on Friday for BuzzardBuzzardBuzzzard, Das Koolies and Jane Weaver) , and Jacob’s basement on Saturday for the DIY showcase and Fuel for IAmDrug.
Check the day splits here:
This year Sŵn is part of Cardiff Music City Festival, supported by Welsh Government and Cardiff Council – more info at the Cardiff Music City website.
As well as the main festival, Sŵn is also running their reimagined conference, Sŵn Connect. A two-day music industry conference offering bespoke networking opportunities that will run alongside Sŵn Festival. More on that in the next post …. STAY TUNED!
Cardiff friends! Our exploration of Cardiff’s cultural scene continues today with a peek inside CULTVR. Genuinely one of my favourite venues in the city, CULTVR is one of the only spaces of its kind IN EUROPE (never mind Wales / the UK), and it celebrates its fifth anniversary this year. Big thanks to the team at CULTVR for taking time to chat with us about their amazing venue.
Q. For those who have never heard of CULTVR Lab, can you describe it to us please?
We are a test bed to research and develop immersive art projects and XR live performances. We deliver our activities through three platforms, with CULTVR Lab bringing together producers, technologists, film, theatre makers, artists, academics and performers to explore the limitless potential of immersive storytelling through the digital arts. Our educational platform CULTVR Academy facilitates workshops, lectures and curriculum based activity to advance the knowledge of emerging technologies and skill transfer. And finally, we have created CULTVR Portal, an immersive digital archive for future generations capturing the creativity of Wales and showcasing the best of contemporary Welsh culture in a free for all online platform.
We never anticipated that we would be the first immersive arts lab to open in Europe focused on fulldome cinema, XR live performances and digital arts. We were hosting live immersive events four years before the Sphere in Las Vegas opened its doors! And we did this totally independently of public funds and corporate investors, which is incredible. We have the largest screen in Wales with 225 sq mt of surface area, which makes our arts centre quite unique.
💎Cardiff’s hidden gem💎
We've realised that so many locals still don’t know about us! So here's a quick 30-second video to give you a glimpse into who we are and what we do in one of the most unique venues in Cardiff!
We have been creating immersive films for the last 10 years and making XR live performances since 2017. We had to travel to the other side of the pond to create and present our work, as simply we could not showcase it anywhere in the UK as the infrastructure was not in place yet. Additionally, we had experience touring portable domes across Wales and internationally so we decided to create CULTVR to be able to showcase our own XR projects and also to facilitate the presentation of immersive art creations from fellow artists working in this medium.
Without experiencing the transformative power of immersive spaces it’s difficult to be inspired enough to commit to the hurdles needed to be overcome to produce for the medium. It’s even harder, if when you are hooked you have no way of testing out and learning as you create. Domes and immersive rooms need to be more accessible and greater in number, and luckily the overall excitement towards immersive technologies is helping significantly in lowering the price of entry into this arena. So for us to be able to produce content, we soon realised that we also needed to create the physical infrastructure to be able to R&D and present immersive work to audiences.
Please introduce us to your team!
Our team consists of six talented artists, designers, producers, engineers, and creators at the forefront of technology. We believe in cross-disciplinary practice and collaborate with a team of specialised freelancers for specific projects when we need to expand the team in a certain direction.
Our directors, Matt Wright and Janire Najera focus on the creative and artistic aspects of CULTVR while working with organisations, artists, and technical teams to produce immersive experiences. Lauren manages CULTVR’s daily operations, ensuring the smooth functioning and alignment with our mission. Mauricio Martin leads the creative aspects of our XR programs, while Rhys Davies oversees immersive filming and live event activations. Jamie Wilson specialises in 3D design and animation supporting the delivery of digital art experiences.
Exciting News! Three of our immersive productions are on tour! 🌍✨
Polydomous – House of Digital Art 📍 Mauritius From the Shadow of the Stone – RAM Festival 📍 Italy The Voyage of Arka Kinari – Astra Film Festival 📍 Romania#fulldome#immersivefilmpic.twitter.com/z5KBzsQh9I
Since we opened our doors, we have presented film screenings, dance, theatre, live music performances and have hosted conferences, networking events, training sessions and brand activations to name a few!
We delivered the first programme of immersive art residencies in Wales back in 2021, supporting 12 artists to create their own XR (Extended Reality) projects. And we continuously receive visits from schools, college and university students from Wales and beyond to get an introduction to immersive media and learn about the opportunities and the skills needed to produce for this medium.
We have also established international partnerships with other immersive centres presenting the work of international artists at the Lab and have hosted international festivals that attract delegates from around the world. We also regularly host visiting Delegations of International visitors (from Norway to Quebec and the Basque Country to Hong Kong) to showcase the space as a best in class European facility that helps to drive forward a creative medium by lowering the barriers of entry to all.
🚨 DJ Yoda is BACK at CULTVR to present the XR live performance: 50 Years of Hip-Hop! 🚨 DJ Yoda will feature some of the genre’s most iconic tracks under our immersive dome.
Often people tell us when they come that it feels like they have travelled to Berlin, which we take as a great compliment.
You have had a bit of a bumpy journey opening just before the covid pandemic started – can you talk a bit about that, and how it’s affected what your vision was for the venue?
We never anticipated that we would have to close our doors a few months after opening our arts centre. Although we could not bring audiences together under the physical space of the dome, during the pandemic we expanded our team as many organisations all of a sudden realised the value of interactive and immersive experiences as a way to engage with their audiences. We came together during this period and the team concentrated on expanding our spaces and creating new areas within the Lab for when we reopened. It was an incredibly rocky and challenging first few months and we couldn’t quite believe our luck, but eventually we rose above the challenges and ironically ended up being one of our most productive periods. Needless to say we haven’t looked back since and continue to slowly grow however we won’t lie, the current post pandemic climate and general cost of living places huge pressures on the smaller independent grassroots venues.
Are there any frustrations or difficulties you face running the venue?
A colleague once mentioned that being a pioneer often means struggling to get the support you need at crucial moments, as you need to wait for the sector to catch up. It was very hard to explain to funders and other organisations the potential of immersive arts as it is an ‘experiential’ medium (you need to be in the space to fully get it) so we created the space in the hope it would be easier to showcase what we had envisioned. In other cities we’ve worked in, projects like this are embraced from the start, as they recognise the value for the local community and the international exposure it brings. However, here in Wales, it has been challenging to navigate the existing frameworks that primarily support established organisations, as we’ve emerged as a new arts venue with a different vision. It is in our DNA to embrace multidisciplinary practice and operate across sectors, so we fall through the funding gaps as we are a cinema, a theatre, a live music venue, a research centre, a gallery and an immersive arts lab at the same time.
Are there any events coming up over the next 12 months that you’re really excited about?
We are incredibly proud to be hosting FDUK for the second year in a row. Fulldome UK is the UK’s longest running immersive arts festival and fulldome artists and filmmakers from around the world will be descending on Cardiff to experience a curated programme of the world’s best fulldome films alongside a packed schedule of talks, presentations and immersive live performances.
In addition, to celebrate our 5th anniversary, we are presenting a new collaboration we have been making with the incredible Slowly Rolling Camera (performance at the Lab on 6 December 2024) . SRC was the first live XR performance we programmed at the Lab in 2019 when we made an immersive visual score for their album ‘Juniper’, and we are very much looking forward to this show. 4Pi are creating the visuals in house and can not wait to present the outcomes live on the 6th of December. It’s sure to be an amazing night and those lucky enough to get hold of a ticket (which are selling fast) will no doubt have a night they won’t forget.
Next March, we are hosting the Best of Earth Awards Ceremony, a coalition of some of the most prestigious and respected fulldome film festivals from around the world, including FullDome Festival in Jena, (Germany), Dome Fest West in Los Angeles, (USA), Dome Under Festival in Melbourne, (Australia), SAT Fest in Montréal, (Canada), and Brno Fulldome Festival (Czech Republic) and FDUK. Audiences in Cardiff would be the only ones that would have access to watch all of the selected immersive films.
We will continue to throw all of our efforts and resources to support the wider Welsh community in embracing and engaging with the transformative possibilities of cultural immersion and we are always on the lookout for collaborations that facilitate this. Our aim is to create a permanent facility with one of the world’s first LED domes in Cardiff, so currently we are looking at various opportunities that can facilitate this.
Also, finally, HOW DO WE PRONOUNCE YOUR NAME! Is it Cult – VR, or “culture” … or is it up to us to decide? 🙂
It is a play on the word culture and what we do at the Lab, shared virtual reality experiences. Both pronunciations work well and we enjoy having a playful name that can be interpreted by audiences. Ultimately, we promote cultural immersion so hopefully our name transmits this connection.
Pink Floyd’s iconic album ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’, originally released in March 1973, turns 50, and what more fitting a place to celebrate it and experience it than in a 360º cinema, through the music set to visuals. With the help of modern technology, the idea of a show combining breathtaking views of the solar system and beyond, played out to 42 minutes of The Dark Side Of The Moon in surround sound, has been embraced by the band. NSC Creative have led the visual production efforts, working closely with Pink Floyd’s long time creative collaborator Aubrey Powell from Hipgnosis.
Mesmerica is a visual music journey presenting music of Grammy-nominated composer and percussionist James Hood together with visually-hypnotic, 3D animated art curated from artists around the world.
FDUK 2024 will take place on Friday 11th and Saturday 12th of October and will feature the work of leading fulldome artists and producers from the UK and around the world. The event is a great opportunity to experience fulldome creativity in all its diversity, and to meet and learn from fellow immersive creatives.
Prepare for a night like no other, with the multi-talented Beardyman and the captivating Teddy Hunter, alongside DJs and VJs sets featuring João Saramago and Andrew Wagstaff. Presented by Cardiff Music City Festival.
Immersive documentary film about the extraordinary journey aboard the 70-ton sailing ship, Arka Kinari, ingeniously transformed into a cultural platform to amplify the urgent call for action on the climate crisis. Delve into the inspiring voyage across oceans of musicians Filastine & Nova, connecting distant shores through the unifying language of music and art to raise awareness about climate resilience on a global scale.
Devil’s Flower by Black Mantis is a new project from South Wales based producer Deri Roberts. His latest album Devil’s Flower sees him delve into his darker electronic side fusing together his love for sound sculpture, electronica, and jazz, resulting in an ever changing world of sound with a visual score produced by the award winning immersive studio 4Pi.
Join us for a special live performance with Slowly Rolling Camera celebrating 10 years since their first album. With their sixth studio album ‘Silver Shadow’ being released this summer this performance will envelop audiences in the dynamic interplay of magnetic melodies and cinematic visuals. Accompanied by an immersive visual score created by award winning studio 4Pi Productions, this XR performance pushes the possibilities of storytelling within shared immersive spaces inspired by the visual and musical interplay found in moving images.
DJ Yoda returns to CULTVR to present the XR live performance: 50 Years of Hip-Hop. This event is not just any club night; it’s an immersive experience that combines the best of hip-hop music with 360º visuals. DJ Yoda will feature some of the genre’s most iconic tracks presenting for the first time a fully immersive AV set dedicated to hip-hop in the UK.
If We Disappear is an immersive acoustic-visual journey crafted by Berlin multimedia artist and sound designer, Emika. Set against the backdrop of her latest album, Falling In Love With Sadness, this unique live show is designed for the planetarium, combining Emika’s distinctive voice, piano melodies, and hypnotic beats with 360º visuals. The performance delves into themes of love, loss, and the search for meaning in chaotic times, inviting the audience to reflect on where love goes when everything else is falling apart.
HUGE THANKS TO THE CULTVR TEAM! If you want to follow and support, here are all the links you need
Join us as we dive into the first in a series of independent business profiles here on We Are Cardiff. First up is one of the most unique venues we have here in Cardiff (possibly Wales, and the world?). Porter’s has always supported grassroots talent, and provides a platform for artists to hone their talent. If that wasn’t enough, they’re also on a mission to keep the venue FREE for all who want to enjoy it. But they need your help! Chloe Jackson-Nott speaks to founder Dan Porter.
Where did the idea of Porter’s begin? Tell us your origin story
Dan. For 12 years I was a struggling actor and towards the end of my pathetic ‘Career’ I had a very well paid series of jobs. At that point I decided to quit while I was marginally ahead, and , whilst thinking about what else I loved, I came to the wild conclusion that the answer was ‘bars’, so thought opening a bar was a sensible idea. I’d never run a business or a bar so I just attempted to open the kind of place I would want to go to, one that was driven by events and the arts, and which supported artists (in the way that I had been supported).
Porter’s has free entry on most of the band nights. Why have you decided not to include an entry fee?
Dan. Simple. I wanted it to be a fun place for everyone and wanted to remove any financial barriers to entry. We estimate that we have happily spent over a million pounds on ‘free’ live music over the years and never charged a penny for people to enjoy it. It is frankly a terrible business model, but it is a philosophy we stand by and are proud of.
Porter’s needs the help of its veterans and local community more than ever right now. How can we help?
Dan. O. M. G. We really do. We are in dire financial difficulty. We never make a profit (see above) and everything we take on the bar goes into running Porter’s and making it what it is. We had to overstretch financially to complete the recent enforced relocation, and we REALLY need to claw back that overspend JUST to get us back on an even keel AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. We have set up a Crowdfunder for this so that we can continue to do the things we’ve always done.
I’ve always said that I want Porter’s to be a place that people come through on their way to bigger and better things and I hope people recognise the value we think places that Porter’s have. Without places like us (and the other amazing independent Cardiff venues) I think the future is bleak for the arts and future generations of artists. Where else are they going to come through?
Help us and use us (and all the venues) before it’s too late.
If you had the opportunity to open a second Porter’s anywhere in the world, where would you choose?
Dan. New York City or on a Greek Island.
Porter’s has a great range of craft beers. Do you have a favourite?
Dan. Thank you, I think we do. I think I’ve tried them all and as a consequence can’t remember any of them.
The first Thursday of every month is Jane’s Calamity night which is a musical theatre singalong. What is your favourite musical?
Dan. I can give you my top five: Fiddler on the Roof, Company, A Chorus Line, Hair, Hedwig and the Angry Inch. I could probably give you my top 10 but won’t.
HOW CAN YOU HELP PORTER’S? Here’s a message from Dan:
Follow Porter’s on all the usual social channels and share their messages asking for donations. If everyone that follows We Are Cardiff can donate just £5, that smashes their goal. Please consider helping this fine Cardiff institution stay open!
Also, are you out for drinks in Cardiff? Or going out for a gig? GO VISIT PORTER’S and enjoy yourself a night there! Porter’s has moved into its second home relatively recently, and so some of you might not know where it is. It’s on BARRACK LANE, which is the little alley that runs between the old Debenhams through to Cineworld.
Flying, bungee jumping, free falling and so much more at P!nk’s Summer Carnival! It’s a huge understatement to say the party started in Principality Stadium; the greatest show on earth began!
Kicking off the show as support acts were KidCutUp, Gayle and The Script. KidCutUp warmed up the crowd in between sets, Gayle rocked the stage in her Cymru bucket hat and scarf, and The Script made sure the crowd were ‘still alive but barely breathing!’
We knew before the show started that we were in for a treat, but from the first song P!nk really showed us how the night was going to continue. When she sang ‘I’m coming up, so you better get this party started;’’ that was not a lie. At the top of the stage, towards the roof, standing proudly singing was P!nk herself! And what an entrance she made. She threw herself off the top and bungee jumped down completing acrobatic tricks on the way whilst STILL singing.
The entire show was filled with fun. There were segway flamingos, hanging bunches of bananas, palm tree, fireworks, flames… you name it, we saw it! We even saw two couples get engaged during her set, which was absolutely adorable to witness.
Just coming up to the halfway point, P!nk started singing Cover Me In Sunshine before her 13-year old, Willow, walked out onto stage and joined her. The bravery and courage of Willow to perform in front of a stadium filled with fans at such a young age was commendable, and Willow probably had the biggest cheer of the night.
P!nk introduced a cover of What’s Up? by saying that she was once arrested for disturbing the peace by singing it when she was younger. The entire stadium definitely disturbed the peace with this song too and bystanders around Cardiff outside could probably hear every lyric as clear as day.
I’d like to take a moment to give P!nk a huge pat on the back for introducing every single person on stage individually and making sure they had their moment to shine. She introduced and named every band member, every back-up singer and every dancer and made it known that she was friends with the most talented people on the planet. A lot of bands and artists don’t take the time to give the other creatives on stage a platform and the fact that P!nk used a couple of songs to hype each one up, was fantastic to see.
Ending her set with So What! came with the most anticipated moment of the night. She flew! Strapped into a harness, P!nk was raised up into the air and launched around the stadium making sure every single fan in that venue got a chance to see her. It was so surreal that she looked like a doll being flown around!
It was an absolute pleasure to experience P!nk’s Summer Carnival and we’re so glad that she started the tour off in Cardiff!
Here at We Are Cardiff, we love hearing about new businesses and ventures thriving. Tracer Booking Agency are newly in town, and we had the chance to speak to the founder. Read on!
Introduce yourself
Hi, I’m Rich, a music promoter, musician and freelance venue representative from Birmingham, living in Cardiff.
I’ve been in the music industry for around 15 years as a musician, promoter, and fan. I am the guitarist in Cardiff based Hyper-Fuzz band Death Cult Electric, and previous ticketing manager for Orchard Live, as well as working freelance for Sŵn Festival on multiple occasions.
What was your motivation to start this new venture?
I’d been out of the promoting world since January 2023, where I was running Tone Deaf Creatures promotions (along with my business partner Ethan John who now runs HMG promotions. Shout out to Ethan!) and I felt now was the time to get myself back into doing what I love, bringing my favourite bands to Cardiff and try to run the best events I can.
I was working for Orchard Live, working on the biggest and best events Wales had to offer. These included Queens Of The Stone Age and Bryan Adams in Cardiff Castle throughout 2022/23 and I’d learned a lot from my time there from everyone I came in contact with. I felt I needed to put all of this into a project of my own.
Why did you choose the name ‘Tracer Booking Agency‘?
The name had been on my mind for a while, but had recently changed its meaning. The name represents tracing over everything I have done and learned in my 15 years of being in the music industry. Start with all of that expertise and skills I have picked up and then build a bigger picture from there.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself
I have actually ‘Hassled the Hoff’ in a very bizarre situation including an angry taxi driver and a card company awards ceremony. That’s all you’re getting on that!
Any future plans for expansion?
I intend to move into artist management once I have a few more shows under my belt as Tracer Bookings, but I am always happy to offer advice to any musician or artist who needs it.
We will be expanding the team also, looking to bring in another person who has a passion for booking artists on tours and big support slots. Watch this space!
Any exciting upcoming gigs?
I’m super excited to be bringing one of my favourite bands, and good friends of mine, JOHNNY FOREIGNER to Clwb Ifor Bach on 12th June. Support comes from Cardiff favourites MY NAME IS IAN and Math-Pop newcomers GOOD THINGS (featuring members of SAMOANS, ROUGH MUSIC and MATTERS). Tickets are on sale via GIGANTIC and CLWB.NET.
We are working behind the scenes on some exciting shows at a venue I’ve been looking forward to be working with for some time, but you’ll have to wait for that!
How can people get in touch with you?
We are on Facebook and Instagram, and you can email us with you EPK or any press releases on TracerBookingAgency@gmail.com. I always love discovering new bands, so if you’re noisy, shouty, or have good riffs, please send them over!
Alright kids. There are a couple of COOL THINGS happening this weekend around Cardiff, so I’m doing a mini events guide. This is by no means exhaustive so please ADD YOUR EVENTS IN THE COMMENTS THANKSBYEEEEE.
A great chance to visit the “new” location on Barrack Lane (okay not so new anymore but I haven’t been there yet, soooooo). Anyway. A great independent venue, go along and support – this is a FREE EVENT supported by Cardiff Council. Yes you heard!
Perennial classic which launched Danny Dyer directly into the hearts of the British public after his fabulously awkward wanking scene. Go watch it and lament miserably over how you saw it when it came out and how are you nearly 50 now??
HOFFI 4 – LUCAS ALEXANDER / MACE THE GREAT + GUESTS @ BUNK HOUSE
Some of you might remember the Bunkhouse on St Mary Street running banging nights in their basement waaay back in the day. They closed off the basement to non-residents for years, but suddenly they seem to be smashing out massive grimey nights again. Lovely little underground venue with a great line up, go headbutt the speakers and have a wonderful bubble.
I know Jacobs are getting a double entry but what you gonna do they’re a total gem in the city. If you’ve not seen it, this classic retains its claim as the quintessential Welsh film (buy yer own feckin glue). Go buy a ticket NOW.
A full day of fun on the water and fun out of the water! Live music from Live Lounge, local food from the Farmers Pantry, coffee from Coffie Pass. This year’s Paddlefest features the first ever Welsh Championships Kayak Cross (an event that will make its Olympic debut in Paris this year) alongside the GB SUP and GB Canoe Slalom races. If you’re going along for the day, there’s a load of taster sessions for you to book – Indoor Wave, Air Trail and SUP Tasters. The white water will be flowing all weekend.
MONDAY 5 MAY
CARNEDD OPEN DAY @ Ty Wilcox, Dunleavy Drive, CF110BA, Cardiff; 12:00-21:00
If you, like hundreds before you, ever temped for Cardiff Council in the 90s or 2000s, chances are you might have humped printer paper around or spilt tea pon de replay while wearing ill-fitting brown office shoes somewhere around the maze of dim corridors in Ty Wilcox. Today, this empty monument to 1980s instant coffee Welsh brutalism has been reimagined as a CREATIVE SPACE FOR GIGS. No really. The Carnedd collective is holding an open day there on Monday 5 May (the collective comprising of SHIFT, tactileBOSCH, Umbrella, and Dyddiau Du). Thanks to Xavier Boucherat’s Through the Night newsletter for the tip on this event).
Cardiff has been greeted by some fantastic artists already this year but we were able to catch Witch Fever and Big Special as April kicked in last week! Witch Fever were supporting Cassyette at The Globe and Big Special were joined by Grandmas House and Slate on their Clwb Ifor Bach tour stop.
If you haven’t heard of Witch Fever, where have you been? This band is a new era of music made up of four musicians from Manchester; Amy, Alex, Alisha and Annabelle. Screaming confrontational lyrics into crowds of moshers before Amy jumps into the action, Witch Fever are one band that should be on your Spotify playlist.
A personal favourite I’ve managed to catch live a couple of times is Blessed Be Thy. It’s the perfect ‘scream at the top of your lungs’ song. Unfortunately, Amy may have sung too heavily and has recently caught a batch of tonsillitis. They’ll hopefully continue their tour with Cassyette once it’s cleared up – you can find future dates here: Witch Fever on Tour with Cassyette Tour Dates
Making up punk duo Big Special, Joe Hicklin and Callum Moloney, the two started their DIY NOW tour in Cardiff. If we needed one word to best describe these two it’s ‘energetic.’
They’ve been described as wanting us to dance through the darkness and that’s exactly what it felt like they were achieving upstairs in Clwb Ifor Bach. Back last year, Big Special were on stage at 2000 Trees and it’s great to see that they’re only continuing to thrive. With influences from different genres, you’re likely to find a song just for you from this duo.
There’s more chances to catch Big Special as they’re just over the bridge in Bristol next month. They’re also on the line-up for Reading & Leeds this year. You can find all the information you need here: Big Special Tour Dates
A hoy hoy friends. Today’s post is one I’ve been wanting to write for aaages, about a newsletter I signed up to a while ago that’s brought me much joy, as it covers ‘weirdo music’ in and around Cardiff. It’s called Through The Night and writer/curator Xavier was kind enough to spare me some time and some words on it. If weirdo music is your thing (and there’s all sorts of great stuff on there, so it really should be) please do sign up for Through the Night.
So, ready? Here we go!
WAC: Hello. Please introduce yourself.
I’m Xavier, from Cardiff. Since moving back in 2014 I’ve been putting on and playing shows here, initially as part of the Hotel de Marl collective, and now under the Sgarab Tapes moniker. I used to be a freelance music writer but am thrilled to say those days are behind me
WAC: You’ve been writing the Through the Night (TTN) newsletter for a while now. What inspired you to start it up?
Just before lockdown I felt we were seeing an especially fruitful time for weirdo music in Cardiff, culminating in a sell-out show in Tiny Rebel for Special Interest, a New Orleans-based outfit who play a sort of mutant no-wave dance-punk. Wild shit, largely the work of Luke Penny from Cardiff punks Cankicker. Happily, the pandemic failed to take the wind out of things, and so in Jan 2022 I threw together some listings in an effort to signpost things. There was once an outfit called ‘The Joy Collective’ who, along with putting on a tonne of leftfield stuff in Cardiff, ran a vital blog that did a similar thing, and I’m picking up where they left off.
I know that ‘Weirdo music’ is a pretty unhelpful catch-all, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t basically boil down to stuff I like, including projects I’m involved in. But fundamentally, this is a free, artist-led newsletter with no allegiances, least of all to pissant music monocultures of the sort which Cardiff Council loves to flaunt, if not actually support (see the presumably defunct ‘Music City’ project, for example), and which commercial venues are required to continuously indulge. Basically, TTN is dedicated inches for noise and drone, ambience and electronics, industrial, improv and weird jazz, anything that runs the risk of failing to draw an audience. At the same time I’m also open to including artists that are perhaps more easily pigeon-holed on paper, but in practice push boundaries, musical or otherwise, and that’s why I’ll still include certain punk & hardcore, weird metal, or club music. Ultimately I want to help anyone taking a chance, including the DIY promoters and venues; Lesson Number 1, Subvert Power Control, Paradise Garden, and on the performing arts side of things there’s TactileBOSCH.
I should point out another thing I don’t owe any loyalty to, which is publishing deadlines: in theory it’s once a month, but this doesn’t always happen since right now I am retraining as something with far, far more social utility than music-writing. Along with Cardiff I also do my best to cover similar stuff in Newport (home of Le Pub and more recently The Cab, which has quickly established itself as a righteous DIY space for punk and hardcore) and Swansea, (which is frequently the site of the excellent NAWR Music, led by the incredible Rhodri Davies, an improvising harpist from Aberystwyth), but am always concerned I might be omitting the real gear in these locations and am always keen to hear from punters on the ground
WAC: You also run a record label called sgarab tapes. Can you tell us a bit about that, and your own music production?
‘Label’ is a bit grand, for now it’s just a cassette and digital imprint for music I’ve made, on my own and with other people, but this year there will be some releases from artists whose music excites me and hopefully a Cardiff-focused compilation. Some people have asked about the logo, it’s the Summoner from the Canterbury Tales, whose job was to bring people before the church to answer for their crimes and face punishment, which is sort of what it’s like coming to our gigs
Of course, it’s a stupid time to be doing any of this; venue closures and rising costs make things like rehearsing, equipment, touring and getting people out of the house a struggle. Strangely though, it feels like things have never been better in Cardiff for adventurous sounds, at least in my time. Personally I think this is largely thanks to SHIFT, a performance space buried deep in the remains of the Capitol Centre which many, many hands have helped transform into a vital hub of experimentation, cultural solidarity and, I stress, real, actual fun. It’s been a riot, and I’ll be gutted when someone somewhere decides it’s got to go (presumably when the council finally decides to demolish the centre and replace it with unaffordable flats). A lot of highlights there over the last two years (Tara Clerkin Trio, Elvin Brandhi and Yeah You, Lo Egin, Viridian Ensemble) but a recent one that I think underlines what it’s all about was a residency by the Dutch performer Svartvit, who I suppose you could describe as an extreme noise artist. He’s also an extremely nice guy who, as part of the residency, ran a free, open workshop in which he described the processes by which he makes music, which embrace things like chance and situation, and by no means rely on expensive tech. Two of us ended up using what we learned to perform as an improv duo on the final night of his residency. I loved the name of the workshop, which was ‘democratising and de-quantising sound’, which I think is what it’s all about for me (de-quantising is a fancy way of saying working outside of traditional parameters or guidelines)
As for my own music, I perform solo as Beauty Parlour, which I normally describe as an extended exercise in world-building that looks to capture the ‘air of calamity’ I think hangs over South Wales a lot of the time. The music itself takes a few forms, from flooded ambience to manic, industrowave stuff that you can sort of dance to. I also play alto sax and sampler / synth in a band called ‘The Panama Papers’, which began as a hopelessly convoluted in-joke and has since expanded into a jazz-not-jazz-electronics outfit
WAC: Who are your favourite local musicians / artists that you’ve featured? Anyone you’d like to pick out for us to listen to?
I’ve mentioned Cankicker (goth-adjacent dirge-punk from Splott, really looking forward to their second LP which should be out this year) and Rhodri Davies (awe-inspiring improvising harpist, also plays in Hen Ogledd; last time I saw him he was supporting my favourite band of all time The Ex at Clwb Ifor Bach, and the performance was him simply going hell for leather on a smaller harp until all but two or three of the strings had snapped, it was special). A few more from across Wales who I’ve featured these past couple of years are Ardal Bicnic (duo of Rosey Brown and Heledd C Evans, no music online but whose shows have featured everything from scorching violin and clarinet loops to mic’d-up gelatine desserts), Sachasom (deranged, Machynlleth-based beatmaker; what if J Dilla had been made to watch S4C?), Ordeal By Roses (South Wales’s premier power electronics act, ‘And Darkness…’ is my favourite) Somatic Responses (prolific modular synth and electronics producer), and Ash Cooke (improvising guitarist from North Wales, currently putting on some very interesting stuff in Aberystwyth)
WAC: Any hopes / dreams / ambitions for your work for 2024?
Only that I can find the time to carry on doing this stuff. If the newsletter actually helps anyone, that’s mission accomplished. There are a couple of Sgarab releases available now:
Okay kids. We don’t often do last minute TONIGHT style announcements, but here you go. TONIGHT (22/3/2024) at CultVR Lab, don’t miss this unique live performance.
Das Koolies, returned to their rave roots last year with their expansive debut album DK.01 taking an extended road trip through the former Super Furry Animals’ techno, pop, krautrock and psych influences before hitting the road for real on a sold out UK tour.
Now, Huw Bunford, Cian Ciarán, Daf Ieuan and Guto Pryce are back in Cardiff for a unique live performance, in collaboration with immersive studio 4Pi Productions and Dah Dit Dit, the creative minds behind their groundbreaking music videos.
Supported by Welsh Government, Cardiff Council and Cardiff Music Board, the Soundspace Session on Friday 22nd March will see the bands’ sonic adventures and poignant beats bound songwriting enhanced by immersive visuals, under the dome at experimental digital arts centre, CULTVR.
Das Koolies:
“Home sweet home, yet unfamiliar territory to all of us, as we turn the Das Koolies’ sounds into something altogether otherworldly at only our second Cardiff live outing. Our album, DK.01, recorded in the secrecy of our HQ in Cardiff Bay, is made of our shared imaginations and experiences but, beyond our own imaginations lie possibilities unexplored. Something unexpected. For perhaps one night only, DK.01 becomes an immersive experience at CULTVR and together we’ll find out what that world looks, sounds and feels like.”
Matt Wright, Artistic Director of 4Pi Productions:
“Over the past decade, 4Pi has been at the forefront of innovation in immersive creativity and live performance. Through this live XR experience, we aspire to offer audiences a deeper insight into the band’s artistic vision.”
We Are Cardiff 