Swn Festival, Day 1
Swn Festival, Friday 23rd October
By Ed Townend
As a photographer used to working exclusively for three songs you’d think covering the magnitude of Swn would be a doddle. It was far from! The sheer diversity of music on offer was being played from the middle of the day to the middle of the night and in various venues miles apart or right next to each other. The amazing acts I did see kept me rooted to the spot whilst simultaneously blowing me away. Here’s a run down of the pathetic 12 acts out of the massive choice of bands Swn had to offer.
After I missed out on the rather lacking-in-bands-I-knew Thursday, (which was a shame as I’ve heard great things since) Exit International opened up Friday night’s proceedings with an ear-splitting set in The Welsh Club (which is celebrating its 25th anniversary). Wholly noisy and intense, Exit International are also dry and charmingly raucous. Their scuzzy and dirty humour is apparent in the Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster (if you’ve seen Shaun of the Dead you’ll have heard them) reminiscent ‘Chainsaw Song’. The double bass guitar onslaught is unusually textured with room for high-pitched yelps in between hardcore attacks. Truly original and reminiscent of a time (before I was aware admittedly) of incredible punk acts tearing vocal cords and blowing minds. Be warned though, Exit International are purely R-rated, both lyrically and for ‘riotous noise’. Bring earplugs and mark them as the next big thing with an impending album produced by Steve Albini (yes, that Steve Albini, of Manics, Nirvana and Pixies fame).
After dizzyingly crashing descent down Clwb Ifor Bach’s staircase I just manage to catch the start of Talons' magnificent set. Slightly grander in size and standing since I last saw them supporting Vessels in Buffalo, the now six-piece are working on a split with And So I Watch You From Afar and are signed to Big Scary Monsters (alongside tonight’s headliners Pulled Apart By Horses and Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly). Their sound is a mix of beautiful symphony and incredible noise. The drums are superb and emphatic whilst the two leading violins blur the lines between rock and concerto. A mixture of subtle guitar work and outright hammering away is sadly broken up when the entire set might’ve worked better as one fluid piece. It’s fair enough to cut down on pieces for records – especially in the MP3 ‘shuffle era’ – but live, a bit of masking interludes by different instruments in order for tuning would’ve really shown how rock can develop into almost operatic qualities. Talons’ incredible musicianship is a marvel to behold and feel in their air being blown out of the speakers.
After finally being able to move my feet from the broken ground of Clwb (see what I did there?) I scurried over to Y Fuwch Goch (or ‘The Red Cow’) a bar opposite Clwb Ifor Bach which had been temporarily decked out as a venue for Swn. Unfortunately my lateness mean that instead of gazing at the timid Sweet Baboo and being wrapped up in his impressive and compelling lyrics I was faced with a barrage of people between me and the ‘stage’. Sweet Baboo is otherwise known as Stephen Black who has been playing on his lonesome with acoustic guitar for years in Cardiff and has recently found success with Businessman Records and his new album “Hello Wave” with airplay on BBC 6 Music. His beautiful videos for every song are available via his MySpace, and you should check them out before seeing him support Euros Childs at Clwb Ifor Bach on the 9th November (note my guilt for not sticking around for his set) I did manage to hear the wonderful ‘If I’m Still in Love When I Get Back Home from Travelling’ before walking out rather solemnly to venture to Barfly.
The rain hit as I started to walk towards Soft Toy Emergency in Barfly. Female-led-synth-pop is certainly in right now (a la Lady Gaga and La Roux) but the five-piece from Liverpool have a slightly harder take on it, with attitude live compared to their weak studio sound. However, despite the louder and cooler live appeal, they barely stuck in the mind and after a few good snaps of their lead singer thanks to some flashy lights I walked out into the rain once more.
After a slightly drenching walk through Friday night town I went upstairs to wait for my absolute must-see of the festival: Johnny Foreigner. Half noise, half thing of beauty, Johnny Foreigner are from Birmingham and I caught them by accident supporting The Futureheads last year and fell in love with their finger mashing, yelp-talk-sing style. Fronted by witty and incredibly talented Alexei, voiced by smiling and driving Kelly and backed up by synth-drum-maestro Junior the band played through both their chattering classics and brand-new masterpieces. Having unfortunately been leaked about a week before, it was shocking to see members of the front row singing songs from an album not even available yet. Brilliant songs like ‘Eyes Wide Terrified’, ‘Criminals’ and the incredibly stirring, irresistibly dance starting ‘Salt, Pepa and Spinderella’ made for an astounding set. In between songs nervous banter played a part from discussing the latest films to playing a birthday song attributed to yours truly for my 18th the next day (awesome) and the wearing toil of the tour was in contrast to the brilliant performance of all three Foreigners. Their new album ‘Grace and the Bigger Picture’ is a perfect example of how talented and downright fun they are.
Finally, after an all-out dance off between me and Alexei at the end of the set (or so I wished) I staggered downstairs once again to see Pulled Apart By Horses. As headliners for The Welsh Club I wasn’t surprised to be naturally swamped by people in the smaller downstairs venue. Ringed by a fair half-dozen flash-wielding photographers, the post-hardcore, jaggedly erratic and frankly bearded band screamed into an action-packed nine song set. With crowd invasions by the members and stage invasions by guests (including Exit International’s Scott on guitar) as well as the odd moshpit or two the set was probably the place to be of the night. The band went on to support Biffy Clyro at the Great Hall on Sunday but really played like a headliner on Friday. Drenched in some ghastly liquids I managed to make it through the set front and centre and thoroughly enjoyed it. My night one of Swn was complete and I was definitely looking forward to the full next day.
To see Ed's fantastic photos from Swn Festival, check out theSprout's Flickr page.
