Capturing Cardiff: Live music and the city

Cardiff currently has an incredibly vibrant local music scene

Until fairly recently, things didn’t look good for live music in Cardiff. The Globe, a relatively new venue on Albany Road, had been threatened with closure after noise complaints, and there were perennial rumours that Womanby Street’s Clwb Ifor Bach could go the same way. The worst blow, though, to the city’s music scene, was the February 2009 closure of the Bay’s most popular venue, The Point.

But then came November, and some fresh life was breathed into Cardiff’s music scene with the opening of two new venues – Cardiff Arts Institute and the re-opened Coal Exchange. Music fans across South Wales simultaneously let out a gasp of excitement and a sigh of relief.

The Coal Exchange, on November 1, was the first of the two venues to open. The building, which was originally constructed during the Victorian period, was used as a live music venue from the 1980s until it closed in October 2007.

Coal Exchange spokesperson Fran Morgan explains the building’s closure and subsequent re-opening: “Macob own the building, and they were due to do a re-development [into flats and offices] but they decided it wasn’t a good idea in the current climate. There are no more plans to re-develop drawn up at the moment; we’re very pleased, very excited, with being back open.”

Mount Stuart Square's Coal Exchange building, when in use as a trade centre, was allegedly the site of the world's first million-pound deal

The 1,000-capacity venue played host to its first gig on November 5 – Alabama 3, who were, in a fluke of symmetry, the last band to play the venue on 27 September 2007, before it closed its doors for seemingly the last time. Since then, the venue has managed to attract gigs from some big names, including Welsh favourites Super Furry Animals and one of just two UK dates from American supergroup Monsters of Folk.

The Coal Exchange is currently hosting two to three gigs per week

Life-long Cardiff resident and percussionist in local band Cat Mouse Cat, Robin Morgan, is excited about the possibilities that this signals for the future: “The Coal Exchange opening back up was quite a good time for music – the fact that it closed down and opened back up is promising for the future.”

Robin also feels that this sense of regeneration is reinforced by the November 5 opening of Cardiff Arts Institute on Park Place. “The scene’s emphasis is on new music, but also on new Welsh music,” he explains. ” It’s got to be promoted and there are Cardiff bands coming up through that system.”

Cardiff Arts Institute describes itself as a "canteen, social club and music room"

The quirkily-decorated bar-come-venue’s manifesto places emphasis upon stimulation and innovation, as well as upon the nurturing of new talent.

The Arts Institute encourages creative engagement such as the colouring-in of menus (coloured pencils are provided!) and even has its own ping-pong table

CAI puts on a lot of live music nights featuring local bands like Cat Mouse Cat, Decimals and King Louis Collective. Heath-born Cardiff resident Paul Stollery describes the venue as, “a bit different from your average venue, which can only be a good thing.”

With this influx of new venues, many are positive about the state of Cardiff’s music scene. Cardiff has become a formidable musical presence within the UK, partially thanks to the rise of mainstream bands such as Los Campesinos! and The Automatic, and partially thanks to the Huw Stephens-curated Swn festival which takes over a plethora of the city’s venues for three days each autumn.

Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens talks about Swn festival and the Cardiff music scene

But will Cardiff be able to sustain these new venues in the current economic climate? Paul isn’t entirely sure: “I think there’s a chance we could see a venue go, but mainly I think Cardiff has just been unlucky. I hope that as new venues open they will be able to address the problem.”

He does, however, feel that seemingly negative events for the city’s live music scene may have proven to be blessings in disguise. “Although it was quite sad to see The Point go, I think that if it hadn’t closed there wouldn’t have been the opportunity for the Coal Exchange and CAI to open,” he explains. “For every door that closes, there’s a window that opens.”

This optimism is echoed by Robin: “I think The Point closing definitely showed that music, despite being an escape, can also raise a lot of emotion in people. It has to be preserved and people have to put an effort into that preservation.”

These are the current venues open in Cardiff:

Green points signal small venues; yellow points signal medium-sized venues; red points signal large venues.

~ by Emma Davies on December 10, 2009.