With two great albums already under their belts, and a stunning live presence, this young Welsh band are ready for greater things.
Despite a five-year gap between their first and second albums these young talents are still in their early twenties and are heirs apparent to great rock duos like Royal Blood, The White Stripes and The Black Keys. They are Dion Wyn Jones (vocals, guitar) and Sion Eifion Land (drums). They are already the most streamed Welsh language band in history with four of the songs from their first album ‘Rhyddid o’r Cysgodion Gwenwynig (Freedom from the Poisonous Shadows)’ crossing beyond a million streams on Spotify alone. Reading Indie Life caught up with them for a chat during a gig at the Purple Turtle on March the 10th.
Reading Indie Life: You’ve been on tour the last few weeks. How’s it been going?
Sion: Yeah, it’s been good, hasn’t it?
Dion: Yeah, it’s been fun. We played Sheffield on Friday, Tunbridge Wells on Saturday, London last night and Reading tonight. Yeah, it’s been awesome.
RIL: Any favourite memories so far?
Dion: I think Tunbridge Wells was a surprise.
Sion: Yeah, we’ve never been to that part of England really, especially gigging and we kind of didn’t know what to expect. So, it was surprising kind of, how good a gig it was.
RIL: You guys are from a rural part of Wales. What’s your local music scene like?
Sion: Well, the Welsh language music scene is kind of a, it’s kind of a unique genre of music really, because …there’s not many Welsh language bands. It’s kind of an all-in-one scene. There’s not like a Welsh language rock scene, or a Welsh language punk scene, or a Welsh language folk scene. It’s kind of just the Welsh language scene. So, we’re all merged together. Usually in gigs we’d get we’d play and then maybe a folk band might play in the same lineup. So, it’s a bit mixed matches, which is very good as well. But yeah, it’s nice to also play on a line up where it’s just kind of rock stuff. But yeah, growing up, it’s just kind of a mix and match of different influences, different genres and stuff.
RIL: Were there a lot of Welsh speaking bands that you came across growing up that inspired you to carry on that tradition?
Dion: Yeah. It’s like our local area is quite small. So, like you’ve got Caernarfon, which is a very small town, but driving four hours to Cardiff is quite normal for us to play a gig, you know? But there’s loads of great bands in our area. You’ve got like Kim Hon, Y Reu, Candelas, loads of different bands. Yeah. They’ve inspired us across the years.
RIL: How important is your Welsh identity and being able to sing in Welsh?
Dion: Very important.
Sion: Well, yeah, it’s our first language. We learn English in school but our village, it’s the most Welsh place on Earth. 96% of the population speaks Welsh. So yeah, it’s just really important because one, it’s our first language, and then just to kind of spread that and perform in the Welsh language in many different places. Like we’ve played Canada and Italy and obviously England here as well. So, it’s kind of nice to showcase our culture in a rock way.
RIL: Do you feel that might put limits on you, or is there more acceptance now? Kneecap have done well whilst using the Irish language recently.
Dion: It’s a weird one because it’s our language, we think in it. So, it’s like, it just feels so normal to us, you know? I don’t think we’ve ever thought about it in a way of we should do this, we should do that. It’s just like if a song comes out in Welsh, we’re going to sing it in Welsh and we’re just going to continue to do. Plenty of Welsh bands are doing it. Adwaith haven’t released an English song, have they? And people have been great with us so yeah, all good.
RIL: You guys were picking up a little bit of buzz just before COVID happened with a lot of streams going on, was it really bad timing, or did it give you a chance to pause and reflect?
Sion: Both, I think, yeah, it was kind of like, ’cause we were on a bit of a trajectory and then it kind of stopped that, but we also, we were gigging quite a bit. And then the whole streams thing was kind of like, we didn’t expect it at all. So, we had the time to reflect, oh gosh, that was a bit bonkers. And it gave us time to mature more musically and get to know ourselves best, to get to know how we kind of deal with things and yeah, just mature as a band, really. So, yeah, both really. And I think it definitely benefited our sound.
Dion: I mean, we were kids at that time. We were 17 and 18. It was like, it was all weird, wasn’t it? Just like everything happening so quick. Now in this second chapter it has been fun finding our feet and just doing what you like to do.
RIL: Did you do a lot of songwriting in the years in between or was it harder to get going?
Dion: In the first three months of lockdown, it was like, OK, we’re just going to have a break, chill out a bit. And then, yeah, that turned into, what, two years of no gigs? No, nothing, really. And so. Yeah, we took five years to write the second album. So, I mean that kind of answers your question.
RIL: Do you think the next album is going to be a bit easier now? Have you got any ideas or started yet?
Sion: Yeah, unless there’s another pandemic around the corner, I think it’s going to be much easier. We’re hoping to go back to the studio around May, or that way, and get back to recording more material. So yeah, hopefully that’ll be coming out either by the end of the year or early next year, we don’t know yet. We’re like, we’re just planning it as we’re talking in the car really on this tour. But yeah, hopefully May or June (to record).
RIL: What were the key themes of the last album?
Dion: I think like musically, I think we did a shift heavier, kind of punkier sound. I think that was natural, both of us listening to punk bands. But yeah, that was quite natural, wasn’t it?
Sion: Yeah.
Dion: Working with a producer called Gethin Pearson. He was into heavier stuff, wasn’t he?
Sion: Yeah.
Dion: So that was nice because it was kind of accommodating to our sound. It was never like, OK, turn that down. It was like, OK, turn it up, that sort of thing. Lyrically…
Sion: Lyrically, he writes the lyrics so…
Dion: Lyrically, it was just kind of a thing of where we were and that last five years. And I think we’ve done that with both albums, really spoken about our kind of experience where we are. And it’s just that chapter in our lives, isn’t it?
Sion: Yeah, yeah.
RIL: Have you ever had any Welsh Christians contact your social media thinking that you might be something to do with the Alpha course?
Dion: (laughing) No, no, though we might do after this interview comes out!
RIL: Where did the name come from originally?
Sion: When we were 15, we kind of started the band and then, yeah, we went to school together and we were in our physics class and we were learning about alpha, beta, gamma rays. And then when our physics teacher was talking about the alpha rays we kind of just turned to each other and oh, Alpha would be a cool name for a band. And it kind of works as well because it’s spelt in the Welsh way. So PH in Welsh is double F and we pronounce it in the exact same way. So, it kind of, it doesn’t matter what language you speak, you’re going to understand what alpha is.
Dion: Yeah. It’s weirdly aged quite well as well. It’s a total contradiction.
Sion: Yeah, we’ve had people ask us if We’re Alpha males. We’re most definitely not!
RIL: You’ve done everything as a two piece so far. Do you think you might get the temptation to put more instruments in there or expand the sound?
Dion: Members? No chance. I couldn’t see anyone else standing there now or standing over there. I’d just find it weird.
Sion: Yeah, I think we’ve got… because we’ve known each other for so long. We’ve played with each other for so long. We’ve kind of got this chemistry between us and then if we make a mistake or something, we kind of just jam a bit and get out of it. And then we’ve got that on the stage chemistry and in the studio and we’re writing stuff as well. So, I think it’ll be hard to bring another member in because it’s kind of going to imbalance that maybe. But yeah, the closest thing we’re going to get to another member is that sampling pad I’ve got actually.
RIL: Who were your biggest influences, growing up?
Sion: My dad was a professional drummer, so I kind of got influenced by him really. He was a session musician in Cardiff in the 80s and 90s, and then he became a full member of a band from the 90s onwards (Bryn Fôn a’r Band). And then when I was a kid, I was just kind of going around and going to the studios and stuff because he had to look after me whilst my mum was teaching in the school she works in. And yeah, got to go to gigs with him and stuff and going to experience it that way. And then he introduced me to Led Zeppelin and Zappa, like all kinds of prog rock bands. Hard stuff as well, so stuff like that growing up. And then I listened to quite a lot of Pendulum. And then more electronic stuff and then I went back to rock. More like White Stripes and kind of like the stuff you (Dion) like as well.
Dion: Mine’s a kind of different story. Like my dad was a massive The Alarm and Mike Peters fan, so I grew up watching loads of him. My mum was a massive ABBA fan. And yeah, as I grew up then, like playing guitar with my brother – Jimmy Hendrix, blues stuff. Then I went back to The Black Keys, Jack White. More now, like punkier bands and fresh bands like that who are still gigging.
RIL: For anyone who has not seen you guys before, what can we expect on stage?
Sion: A lot of noise, good noise hopefully! We like to have fun on stage. Just a fun, noisy night, hopefully.
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