Cambrensis men’s apparel brand from South Wales are in the process of putting out their latest line in defiant fashion and what better way to mark the occasion than gathering together some of the region’s best under-the-radar rock’n’roll talent for a sweaty night of festivity at Cardiff’s Moon club?
We admit to not catching the first two acts to perform, Swansea’s Motel Thieves and Airflo’s frontman Cam Artigan due to our Saturday tardiness, but when we do finally make it to the venue we’re greeted by the gritty snarl of local newcomers New Found Freedom. Having only formed in February of this year the group are clearly in their infancy, but their output is sheer 70s punk rock shot through with acrid melody, their leather jacketed, drainpipe jeaned frontman, looking not unsimilar to The Cribs’ Ryan Jarman, growling his way through a set of speedy and snotty original numbers interspersed with covers of The Stooges’ ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’s and The Ramones’ ‘Chinese Rock’.
The next band we get to see are grungey Cardiff four-piece Intërum. It turns out there is a strong contingent of the band’s fans in the crowd but frontman Jayden Davies still seems ecstatically overwhelmed with the feedback each of their metal-infused, riff-laden tunes garners. Davies and bassist Amelia Wallace pull off some awesome back-to-back guitar poses of the type not seem since Tim Wheeler and Charlotte Hatherley of Ash performed Weezer’s ‘Only In Dreams’ in the early 00’s (there’s gotta be footage on Youtube of it somewhere). Continuing the night’s custom of banging covers the group put together a satisfyingly heavy version of ‘Just’ by Radiohead and bring out their latest explosive single ‘Battery’ along with a blisteringly fierce song they announce as their newest track ‘Bucket List’.
Headliners Swansea’s Stone Deaf ensure their mic stand is clearly adorned with the Welsh flag before the whole group take to the stage, delivering a set of solid and cold rock tracks drenched in hefty distortion. Only two singles into their career, frontman Mike Pole is somewhat vocally critical of their releases so far, admitting this may be due to his alcohol intake, but acknowledges the nearly 45,000 streams their latest release ‘What Good Is Sorry?’ has gained before ploughing into a loud, caustic and excellent rendition of their most well received song to date. Their finely selected covers are Arctic Monkeys’ ‘Crying Lightning’ and The Strokes’ ‘Reptilia’, the latter tacked onto the end of their set after asking their audience whether they want an original or a sing-a-long, the two tracks appearing to signpost the lofty path the Swansea trio hope to tread along themselves. Although they may not agree, the set is a reluctant triumph, signalling an incredibly likely future for the band.
Head over to the Cambrensis site to find out more about the label, now.
You can find tracks from Motel Thieves, Airflo, Intërum and Stone Deaf on all the usual streaming platforms right now. We hope to hear some New Found Freedom on the them soon too. We’ve stuck a track we’re into from each below: