Independent Band Abroad: Throwing ourselves into a musical abyss

- Written by Heledd Watkins

It’s a big deal when an independent band gets invited to perform abroad. At first it’s an exciting OMG flurry of excitement, quickly followed by logistical dread: How do we fund it? What equipment can we take? Can we sell merchandise? Do we have 25 power adaptors? Will my hair straighteners work on a different voltage? It’s a lot, but by now we’re (ahem) kind-of a dab-hand at it. And though Brexit is throwing all manner of curve balls at bands these days, we’ll deal with those when they fly at us. Not to toot our own horn but HMS Morris have been lucky enough to showcase in Toronto twice (Indie Week and Canadian Music Week) Montreal once (Pop Montreal) and a frankly life-changing trip to Japan in 2019 for Kansai Music Week and events surrounding the Rugby World Cup - a huge thanks to Focus Wales, the PRS Foundation and Wales Arts International for helping to make those happen. These trips are in equal measures a joy (new audience, new country, new food) and pressure; how do we make the trip as worthwhile as possible? What connections can we make? Can we leave with a record deal or a booking agent on the team? As an independent, relatively unknown band you’re throwing yourself into a musical abyss, a whole new scene which has been happily dancing along without you for decades. This, I feel, makes it all the more thrilling, it’s a fresh start with fresh ears to excite. At the core of it, through the logistical mist, you just have to appreciate and enjoy it. It’s a privilege.

The trip to SUNS Festival in November felt different to previous excursions. First of all it was our first European adventure; I'd previously been on European tours as a session musician for other bands but this was the first time with the baby. This was also our first experience of a minority languages festival, the first time we had a purpose other than trying to make it, whatever that means, abroad. We were there to represent the Welsh language and to promote its music scene in the best light we could. It felt like it was much more than just the band, it was a “Hey look, we’re from Wales, we sing in Welsh, Welsh is cool, Welsh is alive, Wales has it going on!” Previously at events outside the UK, even sometimes just outside Wales, we’ve felt like mysterious creatures speaking a foreign tongue hoping people will embrace us and think we’re cute and endearing and want to take us home, but at SUNS for the first time we felt comfortable and confident. We arrived at the hotel to be greeted by a Welsh Speaker (Davyth Hicks from the European Language Equality Network) which may have initially sparked this feeling of comfort, albeit in a very surreal way. We also owe gratitude for this sense of ease to the groundwork laid by previous Welsh bands visiting the festival: Carwyn Elis, Adwaith, Sybs and more. This time we weren’t throwing ourselves into the abyss, more like the deep end of a kids pool.

Things got a bit more complicated as our SUNS experience went on, and some of the wider context of the festival made itself felt. We spoke in several interviews about the vibrancy of Welsh-language culture, and were met with surprise each time. It seemed that we were the only band speaking positively about the situation of our language, as the others generally saw theirs as struggling, even dying as their larger neighbors squeezed them from all sides. My first instinct was to question our own statements; were we playing up the positives of our situation to appear likeable? Were we still caught up in the Yma o Hyd whirlwind of November 2022? Actually, no, I don’t think we were. I don’t think I’ve heard the language being described as a dying one (by a Welsh person) since I was in highschool in the 2000s. It was sad to remember the gloomy vibe of those days, and to be told that this was how our fellow musicians felt about their own languages. I was also a bit embarrassed for a while to be projecting so much positivity - we weren’t playing it cool whatsoever! - but there was work to be done, and a culture (apparently a uniquely thriving one) to represent, so off I skipped down the beautiful corridors of Teatro Nuovo Giovanni da Udine (which by the way was a glorious place and a beautiful stage to perform on!).

The musical portion of the festival is arranged as a competitive concert, held in the theatre on the Saturday night, with each band performing a set of three songs. Think of it as a classy minority-language Eurovision without the sarcastic commentary (slightly disappointed about this). There was an eclectic range of bands and artists, from a trio of cellos (Violoncelli Itineranti of Slovenia) to Sardinian experimental folk (Ealûs) and the heart-felt pop of Olatz Salvador (Basque Country.) The audience got their money’s worth. To be honest it wasn’t clear when we were invited to perform that the event was a competition, but after a chat with the organiser Leo Virgili I came to understand why. He explained that they never wanted for the event to be competitive, and that it was always meant to be purely a celebration of minority languages and a meeting of like-minded people. However they had found it difficult to catch the attention of the press without the competitive edge. It was felt that the media wanted to see people battle it out, and if that was the most effective way to raise the profile of the languages featured, then despite the loving nature of the festival, that’s how it was to be.

Not gonna lie, I was pretty chuffed and glad it was a competition when we won the panel’s award! To be appreciated by people who have never heard of us before means a lot, and to be judged purely on performance rather than social media interactions or number of plays on radio 1 blah blah blah… Performing is what we love doing the most as a band, and that night our performance won us an award. Our handmade mosaic award is now sitting beautifully on the boiler in our house (I’ll let the other members of the band have it for a bit eventually).

We made friends that weekend in Udine and we felt proud of the way we presented Wales to the world. I would name it as my favourite musical trip abroad to date. Sometimes, even though it can be a lot of work, you need to leave home to appreciate it more. We thank everyone involved with the organisation of SUNS festival and hope to travel back to Udine again soon.

For the next year we’ll be at home preparing for the release of our new album, but after that I’m sure we’ll be planning our next international adventure.