THE HERALD spoke with the delightful all-girl Welsh-medium band Adwaith from Carmarthen this week.Adwaith’s sound is a mixture of folk, indie and alternative with harmonies being a key element throughout their songs. The band’s main influences lyrically are The Staves, but they tell us that they take a lot of inspiration from Fleet Foxes and First Aid Kit too.
Their live shows are very chilled and relaxed, which makes them quite different from the many Welsh rock bands in the area.
The girls from Adwaith all grew up playing instruments or singing, but it was the Welsh music scene which sparked their interest in music.
“The Welsh music scene has become more popular in recent years because of events such as Maes B and Gwyl Crug Mawr. I think that’s what has really inspired us to get this band together.”
Gwenllian, Hollie and Chelsea started creating music together as a three piece last August, but the girls found their drummer, Heledd, at the first gig they played soon after.
Starting off as a three piece, Adwaith played folk instruments such as the guitar and mandolin, but they have slowly introduced some electric guitar and bass into their music over the last couple of months.
They told us that the added drums has taken their music “to the next level” and boosted their sound, too.
“We’re just having fun experimenting and finding our sound,” they said.
We asked the girls how they fit into the west Wales music scene, to which they replied: “There aren’t many bands with our sound in the area and very few all-girl bands. So I believe people are very intrigued to see what we have to offer.”
We went on to discuss the male-dominated music industry and the girls spoke about what it is like to be an all-girl band in such a heavily male field.
“We’ve had a tonne of messages saying how great it is to see an all-girl band. It’s something different that people seem to have a lot of interest in!”
We then spoke about the benefits and drawbacks of being in a Welsh-medium band.
“The Welsh music scene is very small compared to the English music scene but everyone knows each other! It sounds cliché but it’s one big community and everyone supports each other.
“The downfall is that there aren’t as many gigs because of the lack of Welsh speakers in the area but we hope by introducing Welsh music, we can change that!”
Adwaith advise that we should also be listening to Ffug, Ysgol Sul, Mellt and Cpt. Smith, who are all from west Wales.
“What’s the best advice you have been given so far?” we asked.
“The best advice we’ve been given is to not change our sound for anyone. We need to keep the originality and not lose our quirkiness or naivety.”
They added that the advice they would give to someone thinking of creating their own music would be to “do it!”
“It’s not a massive money maker and it takes a lot of your time, but it’s worth it when you get praised for your music and when you meet a load of new, awesome people.”
When we went on to ask what the most memorable response to their music has been, Adwaith said: “I guess being asked to play in Clwb Ifor Bach at the end of this month when we’ve only just started off. The response has been really great and we hope it continues to grow.”
Adwaith are playing a gig at The Parrot on Friday (Jan 15) and then they will play at Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff on January 30.
They said that they are hoping to get some demos recorded soon and they may release an EP later in the year.
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