You wouldn’t need a big abacus to add up all the bands I saw where I grew up in north Wales from the age of 14 until I left for university in Liverpool in 1989.
If it hadn’t been for Buckley’s Tivoli and an occasional long-haul jaunt to The Bistro in Rhyl, you’d be able to do all the adding up on your fingers and toes.
From Wednesday 23 to Saturday 26 April, more than 150 bands will play across a range of venues in Wrexham, a very tangible demonstration of just how far north Wales has come in terms of its support for original music makers.
Aberystwyth's Georgia Ruth is playing in the vaults of St Giles Church
It’s a remarkable evolution. And it’s one guaranteed to have an incredible soundtrack.
Bringing a host of musicians to town isn’t just about entertainment, although – hopefully – that will be at the forefront of the audience’s minds.
These bands, a good proportion of who come from the area, will get the opportunity to gauge themselves against some of the most interesting new artists from elsewhere in the UK and Europe. That’s vital when you’re starting out.
Kids In Glass Houses from Pontycymmer are playing on Friday 25 April
Music makers who only have their geographical peers to inspire them quickly hit a glass ceiling. Playing alongside ‘proper’ touring bands lets newer artists see what’s required - song-wise and performance-wise - to progress.
It’s so inspiring to be able to get out and witness other musicians first hand. Also, great opportunities can be created and shared when music people hang out together.
There’s a great history of provincial venues and the touring artists they attract, being a catalyst for local musical success.
The Tivoli, which hosted a thrilling range of the finest rock and indie artists of the late 80s and early 90s (Radiohead, Oasis, Manic Street Preachers and many, many others) inspired the likes of The Joy Formidable and Jonny Buckland from Coldplay.
The legendary TJ’s in Newport, and the US punk bands it used to attract in the 80s, was the crucible in which The Manics, 60ft Dolls, Dub War (now Skindred) were forged.
Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff has inspired and nurtured every Welsh artist of note in the last quarter of a century.
Alan McGee, co-founder of Creation Records
The Black in Aberdare and The Muni in Pontypridd schooled a host of now internationally renowned bands; Funeral For A Friend, The Blackout, Kids In Glass Houses, Bullet For My Valentine.
Witnessing and experiencing live music is key to propagating great live music.
When I was marooned in Mold in the late 80s, the general response to our pleas to the powers-that-were, to support our musical dreams, was one of, “you can always go to Liverpool or Manchester to play…”.
But you don’t inspire a scene 50 miles away from your doorstep. Liverpool and Manchester were on different continents to us. And there’s little a big city likes more than to patronise visiting country bumpkins.
This is one of the many satellite reasons that FOCUS Wales is important.
All We Are, a 3 piece from Liverpool providing psychedelic soul and RnB
The festival’s sense of responsibility to local Welsh artists is tacit in the range of informative workshops that have been arranged, that are free to any of the performers at the festival, and accessible to anyone else as part of the fee they pay for their festival wristband.
Music makers can learn how best to access the media, about the importance of online platforms to independent artists and they can hear voices as authoritative and esteemed as Alan McGee (founder of Creation Records), Huw Stephens (BBC Radio 1 and Radio Cymru C2), John Robb (acclaimed music journalist, biographer and blogger) and, well, me.
But these seminars are merely compliments to the main shebang. The focus of FOCUS Wales is, resolutely, the thrilling array of music you can sample in a handful of venues across Wrexham over four nights.
The 'seething and atmospheric' Be Forest from Italy
I’m looking forward to seeing Georgia Ruth in the hallowed, and very beautiful, vaults of St Giles Church; Italy’s seething and atmospheric Be Forest; Cian Ciaran from Super Furry Animals playing a very rare solo gig (off the back of two stunning solo albums); Euros Childs; Seazoo… the list is, more or less, endless – and is available, in full, on the FOCUS Wales website.
Who knows what
the legacy of festivals like FOCUS Wales will be?
With thousands of creative
minds being inspired over this particular weekend, the repercussions for our
musical futures can only be good ones.
Adam Walton talks to FOCUS Wales festival organiser Neil Thompson
Listen to Adam Walton on BBC Radio Wales on Saturdays at 22.00
