Music

Tenby Blues Festival

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Hot on the heels of the Boia Festival was the long running Tenby Blues Festival. As usual there were some great acts there playing on the big stage in the De Valence Pavilion and also in pubs and hotels around the picturesque town of Tenby. It brings a good vibe to the town with music spilling out of venues on the Blues Trail and the main hall always packed out for the headliners. A few acts in the pics below including The Cadillac Kings, The Zac Schulze Gang, Kara Grainger, Southern Fried Groove Queens, Martin Harley, Guy Davis and closing the weekend; Dana Gillespie.

Boia Festival 2023

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Some pictures from the Boia Festival in St Davids last weekend. This was the second year of the festival which is spread between 2 main venues in St Davids along with smaller spaces in local venues in the town. This year, Gaz Coombs headlined in the City Hall but some other great names came to the festival including Katy J Pearson, John Blek, Seamus Fogarty, Arborist, Jesca Hoop, Anna B Savage and many more.

Cor Tadau Trisant at St Davids Cathedral

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Cor Tadau Trisant, a male voice choir from the Llantrisant area sang in the St Davids cathedral on the 17th June. I took a few pics of the concert for the choir and stuck around longer than I’d planned as the sound of a great choir in the cathedral is such a lovely thing. The choirmaster and soloists had all met as part of Only Men Aloud! who gained prominence after winning the Last Choir Standing competition run by the BBC in 2008. They performed a mix of traditional and more modern songs from the musicals and recent pop songbook. The cathedral is a lovely place to take pictures and it’s always a pleasure to make a collection of images from events that take place there.

Gated Estates - The Globe at Hay

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A friend and the band he has put together have been creating some new sounds recently. They describe it as…

“Agitated art rock from the Brecon Beacons. Climatic melodies, staccato guitars, arpeggiated synths, impellent beats.
Like pulling back a metal sheet at the end of a garden and discovering a circuit board, but all the capacitors have been replaced with rolled up string which unravel very satisfyingly.”

I’m always a fan of great melody and when that comes with high level musicianship, skillful songwriting and innovation, I’m in. I’ve been playing Gated Estates on repeat since they released their first 3 singles and I’m looking forward to hearing the full studio album. This gig was the launch of the album and it was a great show in the old chapel that is now The Globe venue in Hay-On-Wye. An intimate space that they filled with energy. Check them out on Bandcamp or on the socials. The full album is out on the 9th June Music | Gated Estates (bandcamp.com)

Slocan Ramblers - Live music returns to St Davids

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I found myself with a smile on myself processing these images. It’s been a while since I shot any live music and it was really nice to get back on it with the fantastic Slocan Ramblers who returned to St Davids for a second time. Anytime I see bluegrass music performed live I’m certain that it’s the best music on the planet. The Slocan Ramblers are ridiculously talented players with great songs to go with the talent so it was lovely to listen and take some shots of them performing at this Boia Gigs event which has been on hiatus due to Covid etc.

Cover art - Mike Howe

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My friend Mike has used one of my images from Iceland as the cover art for his latest single: Returning. It was really nice to be asked and I always think there’s a strong link between music and imagery so was glad that Mike felt this picture fitted the theme of the track. Mike plays beautiful classical guitar; chilled music that is great for finding a bit of time and space in your day. Go check it out on Spotify or wherever you listen to your music.