2016 saw the 10^th anniversary of the legendary Sŵn Fest in Cardiff. If you’re not familiar (have you been living under a rock?) Sŵn Fest is a festival ran over three days and in 10 venues around central Cardiff from Buffalo to The Tramshed hosting small, indie bands and singers. It’s a fantastic opportunity to find new bands and artists that go under the radar. This year the talent was explosive, from the bad boy sounds of the Cradles to the more mellow sounds of The Gentle Good, there’s something to tickle everyone’s taste buds.

Monico Blonde

I had the opportunity to view the set of a fantastic upcoming band, Monico Blonde. A quartet of four young lads whose talent hits you across the face, had the challenge of opening up the venue on Saturday 22^nd in O’Neills bar. If they were nervous it didn’t show, the crowd were enraptured despite the sober atmosphere (it was 2PM in the afternoon after all!).

The Welsh indie band only formed a few months ago but it certainly doesn’t show, they were gentlemen of the stage and no one could take their eyes off the stage. After their set they were more than happy to answer the eager press of which I was part of.

They credited Swn Fest with giving ‘up and coming bands an audience to play to and to get their name out there,’ they also said ‘Its nice to play a festival that’s sheltered from the rain!’ Clearly they are no strangers to the unpredictable Welsh weather!

However, the Welsh natives don’t plan on keeping close to home and have big plans to go as far and wide as they can. After months of rehearsing and practicing and recording their plan now is to ‘gig, gig, gig, gig, gig and gig some more!’

Monico Blonde, who have the silky charisma of a band that’s been together for years profess their ambition to ‘headline a gig in the Castle’ as in Cardiff Castle by the summer ‘so hopefully with gigs like this such as Sŵn Fest we will get a big enough name to be able to do that within the next few years.’

Their single is coming out at the start of December; they will also be back in Cardiff around this time.

The Cradles

Another highlight for me at Sŵn Fest was the Cradles, the indie rock band who are ever so reminiscent of the Beatles performed to the packed out venue of the Moon Club with the professionalism of a band twice their age.

https://soundcloud.com/the-cradles/you-cant-stop-thinking-about-me

Sŵn Fest will be back next year so keep an eye out for more opportunities to catch some great new bands!

Thanks to Get The Chance for the opportunity of a press pass!