We Love Wales

Well, where shall I start... I've been meaning to write about our love of Welsh music again for some time but exciting things kept cropping up that I wanted to include in this post so it's taken a while. Lets start with the most imminent event...

We're super excited to welcome The Keys to Oporto this Tuesday from Cardiff. This Psych/Rock band have some serious pedigree, partly under their previous guise as 'Murry The Hump', including numerous sessions with the late great John Peel. Coupled with some superb local supports in the form of The Sultones & Spirit of John, this will be a fantastic night. More info on the bands & the night on the Facebook Event. We'll also have spare prints of Tom Newells awesome poster for sale on the merch stand at the back for super cheap prices! Don't miss out.

Check out this stream of 'Strange Garden' from The Keys' Maida Vale session with Mark Lemarr for his Radio 2 show:

Here's the video for the title track of The Keys' new album 'Fire Inside'.

Next up on the agenda is SWN festival!

Curated by Radio 1 DJ Huw Stevens' SWN festival is back in Cardiff this week from Thursday 21st - Saturday 23rd October, with well over a hundred acts performing throughout the city. Dead Young will be in attendance to watch some of the most talented Welsh artists together with some select new bands from around the country, and we'll also be DJing on the Saturday night keeping the party rolling! Here's some of the Welsh acts we're especially looking forward to:

Yucatan & We//Are//Animal who have both featured on our Dead Young Club 10" records. The Keys & Colorama who are both booked in to play with us at Oporto soon. The Victorian English Gentlemens Club who have played for us in the past, plus other great Welsh acts we're into such as Gruff Rhys/Neon Neon collaborator Cate Le Bon, ace surf band Y Niwl and Masters In France & Race Horses who's videos we've previously featured on the blog.

Plus there's loads of other bands travelling to SWN from around the country including our Leeds friends Ellen & The Escapades, previous guests at Oporto Young Rebel Set (visiting again 24th November) as well as loads of other great bands like Chad Valley, Dutch Uncles, O Children, Tom Williams and The Boat, The Vaccines & many more. Can't wait!!

Lastly, as previously mentioned, Colorama will soon be visiting us from Cardiff, bringing their Psychedelic Folk/Pop to Oporto in Leeds on Tuesday 30th November. We'll get more information to you nearer the time, but for now I'll leave you with their video for 'Candy Street' from the forthcoming album 'Box'.

Gig Listings

(Click for larger image)

With so many shows coming up between now and Christmas we've put together a nice informative listings poster/flyer for y'all. Included are all the gigs at Oporto (every Tuesday night) plus some of the special Gaslight Club nights with travelling guests. The Gaslight Club continues to run every Monday at Oporto with a brilliant selection of local artists hosted by Gary Stewart. Also included are the co-promoted shows with Communion and Good Folk, as mentioned in the previous post.

For more information on all the shows please join our Facebook Group from which you will be invited to the events, but not spammed with loads of messages we promise! I can also direct you to event pages for the following upcoming shows:

Tuesday 12th October - Insect Guide Album Launch w/ Laboratory Noise & Dead Sea Colour

Tuesday 19th October - The Keys w/ The Sultones & The Spirit of John

Tuesday 26th October - Communion presents: Mariners Children, Tristram, Joseph & David, and Johnny Powell

Also keep your eyes peeled for the Gaslight Club Christmas Special, more info coming soon!

Communion & Good Folk

It gives us great pleasure to put on so many free gigs at Oporto, we're now up to at least one a week (not including The Gaslight Club - every Monday), and we wouldn't have been able to get there without the help of some good friends of ours...

"Good Folk is a Leeds-based collective of friends into music and arts, promoting gigs and soon to be releasing records. We love fuzzy indie-pop, alt-folk and everything twee in between." NOT just folk music (question at your peril).

Good Folk have put on several great shows with us before, and the next one is this very Tuesday 5th October with Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo, Charlie Bath & Tom Brookes. Read more about these great acts on the Facebook Event.

Additionally, Good Folk are bringing some excellent acts to our Gaslight Club on Monday nights. On Monday 8th November, Ah Holly Fam'ly will visit us from Portand, Oregon bringing their beautiful folk music for what's sure to be a lovely evening.

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"Communion was born in the summer of 2006 at Notting Hill Arts Club. Founded by Ben Lovett (Mumford and Sons), Kevin Jones (Cherbourg) and producer Ian Grimble, it grew into a community of musicians, industry and fans alike, and provided a platform for the newest bands on London’s circuit. The night has seen the likes of Noah and the Whale, Laura Marling, Mumford and Sons, JJ Pistolet and Peggy Sue grace the stage and has become closely associated with the nu-folk movement in the capital. As well as this, it helped spawn the careers of artists such as Esser, The Holloways and Example, in keeping with the eclectic ethos that Communion has come to stand for.

In 2009 after regular sell out nights, Communion was asked to be on the committee for the Camden Crawl and launched a sister night in Brighton, first at the Hanbury Ballrooms and then at The Albert. There are now also club nights at Mr Wolfs in Bristol, Whelan’s in Dublin, in Sydney, Australia and now Oporto in Leeds. Communion Records was founded in September of 2009 and aims to continue the club night’s all encompassing philosophy and championing of new talent."

Communion got off to a bang last Thursday when they welcomed Cattle & Cane, Killing Fields of Ontario & Matt Corby to Oporto for a packed out show and a mega good time! This will no doubt repeat later this month on Tuesday 26th October with performances from Mariners Children, Tristram, Joseph & David, and Johnny Powell. Keep an eye on Communion's Facebook Group for details.

Communion shows will continue on the fourth Tuesday of every month, except December of course when we'll all be playing with presents and eating leftover turkey...

I probably need not remind you that all of the events above are free, but I have anyway. Enjoy!