Class of 2024
Boia Festival, Thursday night...
First of a series of posts from the 2024 Boia Festival in St Davids, Pembrokeshire: a Boia Presents… night in partnership with Pembrokeshire College, Forte and Beacons Cymru
The amazing thing about music is that the more you dig, the more treasure emerges. Local scenes are the lifeblood of music, and West Wales is well served if last night’s showcase preview at the 2024 Boia Festival is anything to go by…
As explained on the Boia website (https://www.boiafestival.co.uk/boia-presents/):
The bands playing here are a range of current Pembrokeshire College students and college alumni at various points in their musical journey and as such they represent an eclectic mix. All the bands have originated from the Level 3 Music Performance and Production course at Pembrokeshire College which enables aspiring musicians, performers, songwriters and producers to explore the exciting possibilities of working in the popular music industry. Through practical skills development and real-world hands-on experience students write, perform, record, and promote popular music in any genre they like, from EDM to metal using high quality industry standard equipment in excellent facilities.
I wasn’t sure what to expect, but all the bands on the bill were seriously impressive. Back when I was in a band in my late teens (see HERE for the gory details), I know that the levels of musicianship and performance weren’t anywhere near this! The only thing I’d say is that, apart from the first act, Jonesy, the night did turn out to be all about boys with guitars!
The first two bands are still students at Pembrokeshire College. The first, Jonesy, a six-piece group of second year student who had come together around the vocals of Cerys Rogers, with the impressive Bonnie Davies on bass (she also plays with heavy rock band Varicose). Someone I talked to at the gig suggested that Cerys sounded a bit like Nina Persson from the Cardigans, and he had a point. Chatting to guitarist, Jack Willmott afterwards, he told me they’d only really been going for a few weeks – which made their melodic, funky sound even more impressive.
The second college band, Slak, was probably my act of the night. Clearly influenced by the Arctic Monkeys, their energy was infectious. They’ve clearly been working hard on their live act, as well as on their reach, judging by their gig diary on Instagram! Their first single, Heart to Heart has been out for a few weeks and shows a real sense of fun, growing musicianship and showmanship. They have a number of original songs and their next single Hit and Run is due to be released soon.1
They finished their originals set with a song called Trophy which I was able to video and have posted here. Listening back this morning, the energy still comes through. A band to keep an eye on for the future:
The evening continued with Narberth based band, Midnight Motion Picture - past students on the Pembrokeshire College course. This four-piece is a great live act, and lead singer Tom Davies has a seriously impressive voice. In his own words, he sings “97.5 % of the time”, and no wonder.2 In terms of the quality of singing - if not quite the style of music - his voice reminded me of another Tom - Tom Chaplin from Keane - and that’s a massive compliment! He has an ease and range which means he is comfortable singing almost anything…
The band kept the energy up throughout, even though they were playing to a near empty room as a lot of the college band fans and parents drifted away. They also had a bit of an Arctics vibe about them at times, though Midnight Motion Picture are clearly accomplished musicians and work with a variety of styles. The first song, began with an almost prog-like swirl off guitar and bass, building up to a crescendo as they launched into their single, Old Rosy.
At the time, I did wonder if playing their best known tune and single might be a bit premature, but I needn’t have worried as they kept the songs coming – all originals - including a new one, Dirty Tiles, about erotic goings-on in their local pub, the Eagle in Narberth. The mind boggles, but I can see why they’re getting a growing reputation around the West Wales music scene. As they themselves say, they’re all about playing live.
The final act I caught was Mojo Jnr, the incarnation of Swansea bedroom-pop merchant, Josh David-Read. If the previous two bands nodded to the Arctic Monkeys in different ways, then Mojo Jnr brought to mind Babybird. The vibe was very different, a melodic indie feel that felt both nostalgic and very contemporary. Again, Josh and his band had to play to a near empty hall, which was a shame, but at least I was able to get to the front and get some pictures!!
This was the band that I’ve followed up on most today. I was intrigued by Josh’s song-writing in particular and have linked to one of his performances as part of the Bloc Sessions video series from Cardiff in the bonuses.3 I also videoed one of his songs from the Boia set and have posted below:
And finally…
The headliner for the evening was Cubzoa - aka Jack Wolter - who is also half (with sister Lilly) of the amazing psychedelic band, Penelope Isles who (IMHO) blew away the festival in 2022. Unfortunately Jack was still sound checking at 10.30 pm and I had to go. Having said that I know that’s he’s on the bill today (Friday) so will hopefully catch him there…
I’ve included a bonus video from him and Lilly below…4
More to come from the festival in coming days!!
Bonuses
Bonus 1: A video version of Slak’s single, Heart to Heart is here on YouTube:
Bonus 2: Tom Davies singing “97.5 % of the time” is a quote by him from the Out of Chaos podcast. The band, Midnight Motion Picture, are being interviewed by Kerry Curson on her podcast, which explores creatives and artists of all kinds:
Bonus 3: Mojo JNR in a video of a session he did with Bloc Sessions in Cardiff.
Bonus 4: Cubzoa - featuring Jack and Lilly Wolter - in a beautiful session video for Sound Records:
Wow, some great finds from the first night!