Preview: Five bands to see at FOCUS Wales 2023

-
Spring has finally decided to show it's hopeful and vibrant face. There's a sense of freshness in the air that only this time of year can bring, as the world comes back to life after a long and cold winter. Flowers and trees are blooming, animals are born and the smell of freshly cut grass fills the air. For those of us with hayfever, it can be a time of adjustment too, but the positivity is hard to ignore.

Similar feelings stir in the music industry this time of year. Festival season starts to spring into life and one of the key industry events before the big summer festival season is Wrexham's FOCUS Wales. More than just an industry knees-up, FOCUS has become a yearly highlight of the festival calender with artists and punters travelling from far and wide for three days of music, film and conferences. 

This year, the festival shares it's weekend with the Coronation of King Charles III and the symbolism of a new era- new is what FOCUS does best! We took a deep dive through the bill to have a look at 5 of the most exciting acts to play the festival this year:

                         1) Mary Shelley

   ðŸ“· Madelyn Barkocy

Punk music from a band as interested in making you dance as they are making you think. The eclectic Brooklyn four-piece are driven by creative impulses and it makes for a fascinating live experience. Fusing Punk, with shoegaze, dance beats and a collective love of Hip Hop is no mean feat, but Mary Shelley make it work and make you want to work it too. Better bring your dancing shoes. 


Bandcamp   Facebook   Twitter  Instagram
 

You have three chances to see Mary Shelley at FOCUS, they play:

4th May - The Wynnstay Hotel
5th May - Centre of Creative Industries @ Glyndwr University
6th May - The Parish


                  2) Cloudsurfers 



Another band coming to the festival with an explosive reputation for live performances are Dutch Garage Punks Cloudsurfers. The frantic energy of the live Cloudsurfers experience is built around a crippling addiction to killer, fuzzy hooks and a twin drummer setup that will threaten to tip you over the edge. The band promise to try their best to run you over "..like a heavy weight freight train."  



Cloudsurfers.net   Facebook   Instagram


                  You can see Cloudsurfers at FOCUS:

                   6th May - The Penny Black

                               3) Dust

                                 ðŸ“· Charlie Hardy

As part of their extensive UK tour, Aussie band Dust bring their jagged, experimental post punk to Wrexham. Offering a contemporary take on the genre, the band like to play around with conventions by adding elements of Jazz and Electronica to proceedings. For those who like their music to challenge, inspire and entertain in equal measure.



            Bandcamp    Facebook    Instagram


                  You can see Dust at FOCUS:

                        5th May - The Parish


                             4) Shelf Lives


Having only been a musical double act since 2021, Shelf Lives have certainly ruffled a few feathers along the way. The electro-punk duo have already gatecrashed their way on the Glastonbury festival, as well as tour support slots with Skunk Anansie.  They're the hybrid of Peaches and The Kills that the world didn't think it needed - until now.


Bandcamp   Facebook   Instagram   Twitter

You can see Shelf Lives at FOCUS:

5th May - The Penny Black

5) Cowboyy
 

Cowboyy have only been a band for less than a year and are so young, I feel inclined to advise them to think about their life choices and get a proper job. Thankfully, they're a band brimming full of ideas and youthful exuberance, combining Math Rock time signatures and Post Punk weirdness to impressive effect. Don't go back to the day job.


Bandcamp   Instagram   Twitter

You can see Cowboyy at FOCUS:

5th May - The Parish


FOCUS Wales begins on Thursday 4th May and ends on Saturday 6th May and is a multi-venue event.  

Find out more and grab one of the remaining tickets from FOCUSWALES.COM

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New Video: Sleeepy Anderson - Gamblin' Shoes

-
Image
  It's getting increasingly difficult and frustrating for those of who want to write about music. Don't get me wrong, I'm not moaning about it (well, not much anyway). It just becomes a thankless task when you have to wade your way through several hundred submissions a week, wanting to cover a large percentage of it, but having the real world to deal with and therefore barely able to scratch your arse without ruining the itch. That sounds a lot less poetic now I read it back to myself.   I'm not the biggest fan of social media, I find myself using it a lot when my anxiety levels are at their highest; coincidence? I think not. However, sometimes when at risk of pulling my hair out at not being able to keep up with my inbox, social media actually comes up the goods. I know, I can barely believe it either..    Sporadically, an artist pops up on the socials and the algorithm pulls a blinder. These things don't happen often; it's the musical equavilent of a total ecl
Read more

Album Review: Two-Man Giant Squid - Intro to Basement

-
Image
The notion of personal taste should be very much like this wonderous and deeply mysterious universe; ever-expanding and shifting as the agents of change take effect.  It should be, but it isn't.  Such are the limitations of the human brain, our tastes in subjective matters are often crystalised at key points in our life; rarely shifting. Evolution rewarded those could survive, not those who expanded their horizons and our brains are not wired much beyond that. Music taste is no different. We may see subtle changes over time, but research has indicated that 14 is the average age where our tastes are formed. We also tend to be drawn to personalities that we identify with. That recognition of patterns and structures that is often shared by the music we love is what keeps us coming back for more.  Hailing from Brooklyn in New York, Two-Man Giant Squid  make lucid and tight Indie Rock that flicks the switch in whatever part of my brain deals with such things. Intially starti
Read more

Interview: "The audience were like oysters in the bay - The oysters clean the bay and then there's more oysters. " Mary Shelley talk aquatic analogies, new material, touring the UK and why A.I won't kill Rock n' Roll.

-
Image
  📷 Madelyn Barkocy Fate is a rather fickle beast - and without wanting to get a bit Forrest Gump   on you so early on - it really can throw some curveballs in your direction. There I was, a mere week before the start of FOCUS Wales -  innocently minding my own business and trying to muster the motivation to tackle the ever-expanding black cloud of my inbox - and I get an email that changes my musical landscape for the forseeable future. Fast forward a week and I'm totally swayed by a band that has traveled a few thousand miles over the Atlantic Ocean to tour the U.K. and play as many shows as possible at a showcase festival in sunny Wrexham. That band, of course, is Brooklyn, New York Art Punks Mary Shelley. Anyone who may have had the misfortune to talk to me about music since may have had this band rammed down their throat slightly; I would apologise if I felt the need to. After a couple of false starts and some self-induced tech idiocy (How do you record on Zoom again?), I fin
Read more