Ryan's Gig Guide - March 2020

SINGLE: Runaway by Karkosa Runaway is the stunning latest single from local popsters Karkosa. Packed with uplifting keys, brass & indie guitar riffs, it deserves to be as massive as Aztec Camera’s 1987 classic Somewhere In My Heart or anything by The Killers. mouse-pointer www.officialkarkosa.bandcamp.com/track/runaway  Listen THE VHTS You NEED to check out this raw as f*ck two-piece. A high-octane bluesey mash-up of Motorhead & White Stripes, they’ll blow your bloody socks off! mouse-pointer www.facebook.com/thevhts THE VANILLA PODS The Vanilla Pods are a new indie- grunge band from Kidderminster. New single Kingpin is available on the usual streaming platforms and is accompanied by a great animated video made by the band themselves. mouse-pointer www.facebook.com/thevanillapodsmusic Calan have come a long way since they started out busking in the streets of Cardiff to help pay for university fees.Now they tour right across the planet, performing in venues and at festivals as far afield as Canada, USA, Borneo and Australia. Winners of Best Band at the inaugural 2019Welsh Folk Awards, Calan will release their much-anticipated fifth album, ‘Kistvaen’, on 3 April 2020. A kistvaen (or cistvaen) is a tomb or burial chamber formed from flat stone slabs in a box-like shape. If set completely underground, it may be covered by a tumulus. The word is derived from the Welsh cist (chest) and maen (stone). Calan are at the forefront of a wave of new young Welsh bands, riding the wave of a country discovering their heritage of traditional music. In the past it has always been overshadowed by their Celtic cousins or set aside for the more familiar touristy male voice choirs, but here the reels, jigs and pagan harmonies are accompanied with a pounding beat and healthy dose of pop or rap.The Welsh are beginning to believe that folklore rocks.Their brand of high energy routines, verve and raw excitement is far reaching – with broad appeal. mouse-pointer www.calan-band.com  Listen CALAN Fat BlokeWith No Tattoos www.ryansgigguide.com rgg Apr 2020 21 www.ryansgigguide.com 20 rgg Apr 2020