Image via focuswales.com
One of the most stunningly beautiful countries in the world, Wales is also home to an ever-thriving music scene. Now, Sonicbids artists from all over the globe have an opportunity to experience Welsh – and international – culture by performing at the FOCUS Wales festival. Featuring a combination of music and comedy, FOCUS Wales will celebrate its fifth year in 2015 and expects its attendance to exceed 5,000. We spoke to festival coordinator Andy Jones about the creation and success of FOCUS Wales, its partnership with Sonicbids, and some of his favorite moments over the years.
Why did you create FOCUS Wales?
Together with my good friend and colleague Neal Thompson, we created FOCUS Wales with the aim of establishing an annual event to showcase exciting emerging artists of all genres from across Wales and around the world. As promoters and musicians ourselves, we felt that Wales needed an event of this nature, and so we made it happen.
What do you think makes this festival stand out? How did it gain such a following in only five years?
Wales has always had a great new music scene, but no event that brought everything together. So, I feel the success and growth of FOCUS Wales owes much to the fact that the music scene here really wanted the festival to work. The event itself is also a lot of fun, with so many exciting emerging acts alongside established touring acts, and often performing in unconventional spaces that ordinarily don't host shows. And so, as our reputation has grown, so have the audiences.
How did the decision to merge music with other areas of performance (interactive discussions, comedy, and workshops) come about?
Bringing in other elements has been a natural development for the festival, and comes from seeing how well these aspects have worked at events around the world such as
SXSW in Austin, TX, or
CMW in Toronto. We also wanted to bring music industry investors to Wales to see what's happening here. It's working, with bands picking up
management,
booking agents, and
record labels, too. Having keynotes such as Alan McGee of Creation Records (Oasis, Primal Scream, Super Furry Animals), and the likes of Michael Rother of NEU! and Kraftwerk has also helped to turn heads within the industry and grow and develop our festival audience through the process.
What has been your most memorable moment from FOCUS Wales so far?
There are so many, but one of the stand-out moments for me was watching a Japanese band we booked through Sonicbids called Moja. They played an awesome set during the festival as part of a sell-out show supporting the band The Whip. They got great
reviews from this, too. After the show, they sold out of their entire tour
merchandise within 15 minutes of playing! That's CDs, vinyl, T-shirts, badges – everything!
Their singer, Haru, said it was the most enjoyable show they'd played in their lives. That was a great moment, and seeing how much it meant to those guys was a good feeling.
How did FOCUS Wales decide to partner with Sonicbids?
This was a natural move for us, seeing how successful the platform has been for key industry events across the globe in reaching out to the best emerging international acts. Since our first edition in 2011, we've been delighted to welcome Sonicbids artists from all parts of the world, including acts from the US, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Korea, Belgium, Finland, Austria, Italy, Ireland, Croatia, Germany, and Sweden. We're excited to be welcoming even more again in 2015.
You're looking for 10 Sonicbids artists. What exactly are you looking for? What makes an artist stand out?
We're looking for artists that grab our attention through being an exciting and explosive live act, or an act that has songs that make everyone in the office listen up.
Why is this a good opportunity for Sonicbids artists?
Our festival represents a great opportunity for international acts to play at an exciting music festival in the land of song, Wales. It's also a great way for acts to showcase directly to UK and European music industry investors and media.
