Mold is a small town in north east Wales renowned for novelist Daniel Owen, its farmers market, a prehistoric gold cape and for fine schools that prepared for the world the multiple talents of Rhys Ifans, Jonny Buckland, acclaimed children's author/illustrator Jonathan Duddle and The Joy Formidable. Jack and Vera from Coronation Street were rude about Mold once, much to the consternation of its residents. Personally, the views of a man who spent most of his time fondling pigeons in Elastoplast-repaired specs had little effect on me. I did my first radio show in Mold in 1991. I did my first everything in Mold. It's my hometown.
So I'm very excited indeed at the prospect of hosting an event there for BBC Radio Wales Music Day on Friday 25 March 2011. And whack me hard with an irony mallet if the room we're using isn't the self-same room in which I saw my first ever gig, back in '86 or '87.
The bill that evening featured local new wave romantics, Disciples Of Spess. I wore a purple satin shirt and brothel creepers. My friend Paul (who looked 40 even when he was 14) illicitly bought us bottles of Newcastle Brown. The band sounded like Then Jericho trying to play Killing Joke with all the Killing taken out. As an aside, they're still going and they're very, very good. They now sound like Wire trying to play Killing Joke with all the Joke taken out. Obviously a massive improvement.
Radio Wales Music Day's raison d'être is to celebrate melodic and accessible Welsh music - and particularly new Welsh music - across the station. The bill I've assembled for our event in Mold fulfils those criteria excellently.
Colorama
Firstly, Colorama (the most naturally musical and melodically endowed band in Welsh Christendom at the moment) will hang their '60s tinged, folkish rainbows over our stage. They're re-releasing their three critically lauded albums on Cardiff's See Monkey Do Monkey Records, albums that have earned support from Radio 1, 6 Music and Radio 2.
Singer, songwriter and musical arranger for the band, Carwyn Ellis, learnt his chops in the rarefied environs of the Royal Academy. Although that peerless schooling refined his musicianship and broadened his palette for arrangement and composition, Carwyn joked that what he had learnt during his time there were "hang ups". Suffice to say the warm-hearted, organic music that flows out of his band's soul is far removed from the prescriptivism that can stiffen the halls of academia.
Colorama have never played in Mold. This will be a magical first.
Masters In France
Secondly, we are joined by Caernarfon's Masters In France; not a historical play or a sad tale of Lassie being deserted by Private Ryan, but one of the Welsh bands most likely to break through in 2011. Their guitar-propelled songs don't reinvent the wheel, but neither do they resort to musical or lyrical cliché. Singles such as Mad Hatter (released on the legendary Too Pure record label) slam riffs like fiendish harpoons into their prey.
Pushed into a corner I'd say that they were maybe reminiscent of a humble Kasabian with a sense of fun and mystery, rather than a sense of the vastness of their own egos. So, actually not like Kasabian at all, but such is the paucity of interesting, radio-friendly guitar-based music, I'm somewhat clutching at straws to offer you a contemporary reference point. They're clever, insistent and excellent live. Their new single Little Girl has been playlisted by daytime Radio 1 for the week commencing the 4 April. That's an incredible achievement.
This is the first time Masters In France have played in Mold, too. Spiffing.
Our third artist (although this isn't necessarily the running order for the night) will be Llandudno's Courteous Thief. Thankfully (for the audience) Radio Wales Music Day is about much more than the strange noises I play to drugged family members, music obsessives and insomniacs on Sunday nights. Radio Wales Music Day is about getting Welsh music to as broad an audience as possible via all of the different shows on the network.
The station's weekday Evening Show hosted by Alan Thompson has been a steadfast supporter of Welsh music over the years. Courteous Thief have benefited greatly from the Evening Show's patronage. Their rollicking, anthemic folk is guaranteed to get a few glasses raised on the night. Big strums, big hearts. Probably the first time they've played Mold. But, in all honesty, I have no idea.
Houdini Dax
Finally I've invited one of Wales' most talented new, young bands, Houdini Dax, to join the bill. Radio Wales Music Day is also about getting artists to play in front of new audiences. It's a great opportunity for Houdini Dax to enlighten unfamiliar ears to their sharp, energetic invention. They're a concentration, a fuzzy refinement, of all the best bits from the Nuggets compilations, particularly the one that compiles the best psych garage Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond.
And young minds that aren't hung up on authenticity and slavish re-enactment bring a great freshness to yesterday's sounds, especially when they're young minds sparked along by Houdini Dax's imaginations. Suffice to say it's the first time they have played Mold and it will be wizard. In fact, given the amount of wonders we'll be offering, I may have to join the Magic Circle.
Tickets are FREE and can be obtained by calling the BBC National Orchestra of Wales Audience Line on 03700 10 10 51, Monday to Friday 9am - 7pm. It is an 18+ event due to bar licensing restrictions. Tickets are allocated on a first come, first served basis and will be posted to the recipients.
I'd strongly advise you to reserve your tickets as soon as you can to prevent disappointment. There are only 200 available. Please only request tickets that you know you will be able to use. These excellent artists deserve to play in front of a packed room. Come along and enjoy some of best musical talent in the country on Radio Wales Music Day.
For those of you who cannot attend, the show will be broadcast live on BBC Radio Wales' Evening Show on Friday 25 March between 8 and 10pm.
