Episode 1 Wales Unsigned

In September 2016, thousands of people made the journey to

a small patch of the North Wales coast for three days of music

and, as it turned out, mud - lots of it.

This is Portmeirion.

This is Festival Number 6 and this is Wales Unsigned.

# I'll always remember

# The summer in December... #

Questions are being asked tonight about how hundreds of motorists

became stranded in a flooded field at Festival Number 6 in Portmeirion.

In 2016, the festival got more publicity than it probably wanted,

but on the first day, as the happy campers arrived on site,

the sun was out and we had a job to do.

We're following 12 Welsh artists and bands as they perform their way

to fame and maybe even fortune.

# The west coast sun where we came from... #

I'm Heledd Watkins - that's me right there - and this is my second year

at Festival Number 6 with my band HMS Morris.

Last year, we were part of the Horizons project

and performed all over the UK.

This year, there are 12 more unsigned Welsh acts.

They're ambitious, they're talented and they're single-minded

and they all want to make it in the music business

and if you want to get noticed and make a little bit of money,

that usually means playing at gigs and festivals

just like this one.

The first of our bands performing at the village green in Portmeirion

on Friday afternoon are Cardiff four-piece Tibet.

# Ah-ah-ah-ah

# Ah-ah-ah-ah

# Ah-ah-ah-ah

# Ah-ah-ah-ah

# There is a place in my brain

# Where I stay every day

# When it's hard, get away

# Now I know, here we are

# In the world, not in space

# There's no fear in my place

# Ah-ah-ah-ah

# Ah-ah-ah

# And I'm fading away

# Ah-ah-ah-ah

# Ah-ah-ah, and I'm fading away

# Thoughts come and go

# In a way, do they know

# What it is that makes me

# Overflow?

# In my place, there are walls

# Made of stone, but it's me

# Who attacks and overflows

# Ah-ah-ah-ah

# Ah-ah-ah

# And I'm fading away

# Ah-ah-ah-ah

# Ah-ah-ah

# And I'm fading away

# Something's coming into my place

# I think it's bothering me

# Something's coming into my place

# I think it's bothering me

# Something's coming into my place

# I think it's bothering me

# Something's coming into my place

# I think it's bothering me

# Ah-ah-ah-ah

# Ah-ah-ah

# I'm fading away

# Ah-ah-ah-ah

# Ah-ah-ah

# And I'm fading away-ay-ay-ay. #

CHEERING

Also filmed while the weather was behaving itself,

this is a live acoustic track from Anglesey's Connah Evans.

# I thought that I could be without your smile

# I thought that I could live that way for a while

# But all I want to know

# Is if I come straight back home

# Would you be there waiting for me?

# All I want to know

# Is if I don't go down that road

# Would you be there waiting for me?

# Cos I just hope that time has healed us

# Drinking Monday mornings to feel love

# But now you wake and you're not by my side

# It makes me feel like I'm out of life

# Like I'm out of life

# Every time I think of you

# There's something that I wanted to

# Just tell you now

# I can't even remember how

# This all started, but from now

# It's all for you

# Cos I just hope that time has healed us

# Drinking Monday mornings to feel love

# But now you wake and you're not by my side

# It makes me feel like I'm out of life

# Like I'm out of life

# Oooh-oooh-oooh

# Oooh-oooh-oooh-oooh. #

Portmeirion has a way of bringing you under its spell

and the village could have been made to host a festival.

It's a platform for the big names as well as a place

to discover new acts on their way up

and you also come across music you wouldn't expect

at a standard pop festival.

CHORAL RENDITION OF "You'll Never Walk Alone"

This festival just gets bigger and so far better every year.

This is one of the nightly highlights

as the Brythoniaid Male Voice Choir takes the stage here on the piazza

right in the centre of Portmeirion.

# And you'll never walk alone

# You'll never walk

# Alone. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

JAZZY MUSIC

And a torch-lit parade

leads everyone out of the village for the night.

Well, everyone except us and a very talented singer-songwriter.

Tell us a little bit about the song that we're hearing from you today.

Fly came about from my illustration,

beautiful illustration

of a bowerbird I had done

for my last single, called Anywhere Is Home.

The song sort of describes a bird

and that bird you could say is myself.

And, um, it's just about also being a musician as well,

how you've just got to keep at it, you know,

and if it doesn't work out where you are now,

you know, fly, or go to another place,

and just keep at it and keep positive, yeah.

# Home

# Nobody knows

# We float

# Wherever we go

# Don't run for us

# Don't look up

# Just wait for us

# I'll fly

# Till I find another sky

# I'll fly

# We roam

# And rise with the sun

# Heavy hearts

# And wake up alone

# And the breeze won't leave

# Through the rain, I'll see

# Just wait for me

# Wait

# I'll fly

# Till I find another sky

# I'll fly

# Remember these wings

# I'll fly high

# Let this river

# Lead us where we'll lay

# The tide will take me

# Hold me so I stay

# It's almost day

# I'll fly

# Till I find another sky

# I'll fly

# Remember these wings

# I'll fly. #

Urgh, the joys of festival-going. Friday was lovely. Saturday...

not so much.

It looks pretty bad.

It is bad.

But let's just get back out there, shall we?

This is proper rain.

We thought the whole day might be a complete write-off,

but our musicians are made of stronger stuff

and here's our next unsigned Welsh act performing to, well,

a smaller audience than they deserved. This is Roughion.

How's it going, you all right?

Waaaay!

We're Roughion, we are based in Cardiff

and we do live electronic music,

so we are going to invite... Oh, she's already on the stage!

This is Lois Shenton and this is our debut single Ti And Me.

# Can we go back

# Back to a simpler time?

# Or can we travel through

# Travel through to an alternate universe?

# Where no-one knows our faces

# And no-one knows our place

# I don't have peace of mind

# The only peace of mind

# Is when I see you

# I want to let go

# But I can feel your soul

# From here

# It's you that haunts my sleep

# There's secrets I can't keep any more

# I can't have peace of mind

# The only peace of mind

# Is when I'll be with you. #

Thank you very much. Thank you.

CHEERING

On this very wet and windy Saturday afternoon,

let's head over to the Clough Stage here at Festival Number 6.

This band's from Denbighshire and they're called Anelog.

SHE SINGS IN WELSH

# Mmm-mm-mm-mm-mm

# Mmm-mm-mm-mm-mm

# Mmm-mm-mm-mm-mm

# Mmm-mm-mm-mm-mm

# Mmm-mm-mm-mm-mm

# Ooh-ooh-ooh

SHE SINGS IN WELSH

# Mmm-mm-mm-mm-mm

# Mmm-mm-mm-mm-mm

# Mmm-mm-mm-mm-mm

# Oooh

# Mmm-mm-mm-mm-mm. #

-Diolch, thank you.

-CHEERING

-Thank you very much.

-Thanks.

A bonus track now from one of our unsigned bands who didn't

make it to Festival Number 6, but they did make it to

the BBC studios at Maida Vale where our next programme is based.

This is Newport band Casey.

# I know I promised not to call

# But I left so much unsaid

# And you barely said a word at all

# But I knew exactly how you felt

# How fast did we decay?

# Cos I remember falling into love

# But never out again

# It felt like one day I woke up

# And we weren't there

# We'd lay our bones in the same bed at night

# But our love had disappeared

# Sink beneath the bed sheets

# Drowning in the thought of us

# A bloodless vessel, empty

# Toothless, I've been thinking of a way to let you know

# Hell is loving you in my sleep

# And waking up alone

# I guess I just couldn't bring myself to face the fact that maybe

# We were never what I wanted us to be

# Maybe the love that we had made was not the beautiful home

# I always imagined that we would build

# Because you were the light of my life

# But no matter how brightly you shone

# The shadow you cast was never dark enough to cancel out the glare

# I should have left sooner

# Maybe you were never there

# You never saw it as us

# Only ever you and me

# You were the blood in my veins

# You only came to watch me bleed

# Our love set me on fire and you stood and watched me burn

# You told me once you couldn't love me but I guess I'll never learn

# You told me once you couldn't love me

# Like it will go on

# I sink beneath the bed sheets

# Drowning in the thought of us

# A bloodless vessel, empty

# Toothless, I've been thinking of a way to let you know

# Hell is loving you in my sleep and waking up alone. #

That was Casey at the BBC Maida Vale Studios.

And now back to Festival Number 6.

It's the morning after a very, very wet day before

and this is the result.

And so I managed to squelch my way to somewhere a bit less muddy

and caught up with Rhys and Sion from our next unsigned Welsh band.

I'm not one to judge, but I think your choice of footwear for

this event is a little bit inappropriate.

What have you got to say for yourselves?

These are the shoes I wear to play drums

so I can't be playing drums in wellingtons,

you know. So...

Yeah, well, my wellingtons were a bit out of shape.

I've been with the sheep

so we don't want any of that stuff on the pedals.

-You could imagine.

-Yeah, I can imagine.

I'd get very angry if there was sheep dung all over my pedals.

Sheep dung, that's a very nice way of putting it, isn't it?

So tell us a bit about the song Digon that we're hearing today.

It's a song on our EP, Translated Enough.

So, I don't know what's it about, though?

It's quite a beast kind of thing so, yeah,

let the audience think what it's about.

HE SINGS IN WELSH

HE SINGS IN WELSH

HE SINGS IN WELSH

HE SINGS IN WELSH

What a weekend. One I definitely won't forget in a hurry.

A few last thoughts from me before a brilliant final song.

I've had a fantastic time here in Portmeirion.

I've been performing,

I've eaten too many Scotch eggs and I've been stuck in the mud.

Join me next time when we'll be in the legendary Maida Vale Studios

in London but playing us out now, this is Afro Cluster.

One, two, three. Mash it up!

# You can't go wrong

# Hey, ah-ha-ha-ha-ha

# You can't go wrong

# You can't go wrong

# You can't go wrong

# You can't go wrong

# Hit a crossroads

# But not lost, though

# A war begun, something I can't condone

# Reaching out, communicate Even Morse codes

# Decision's up to us Where we must go

# So I step up, embrace the unknown

# Unafraid of what's coming Still in control

# One of a dice and I'll toast There were young foes

# Stepping stones to the next episode

# No hostile takeover

# Only come with one goal

# Move your shoulder

# Well, our sounds get down

# Ladies, shake what your mama gave you like you've been Tasered

# The party's eminent

# Bacardi's kicking in

# Fellas misbehavin' Sipping on the gin

# Sin city's like King's Landing

# Play the game to win

# Feel the brush when we bring the killer touchline

# Buggin' out while we find our souls

# Stepping out of your comfort zone

# From the night till the early morn

# You can't go wrong

# You can't go wrong

# Yeah, ah-ah-ah

# You can't go wrong

# Buggin' out while we find ourselves

# Stepping out of your comfort zone

# From the night till the early morn

# You can't go wrong

# You can't go wrong

# You can't go wrong

# You can't go wrong... #

One last time.

This is for you, and you, and everyone that put this together,

and the love's been around.

# You hear

# You hear the s...

-# Sou...ou... #

-RECORD SCRATCHES

Festival Number 6, lose yourselves!

# You can't go wrong

# You can't go wrong

# You can't go wrong

# You can't go wrong

# You can't go wrong

# You can't go wrong. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE