Gwdihw Cafe is one of the smaller venues in Cardiff, roughly 200 capacity it offers a slightly different night out to the usual. We spoke to the bloke currently behind it all, Lloyd.
I spoke to Lloyd about how he became manager of a venue, the joys and difficulties of running one and the effect Independent Venue Week has on Gwdihw Cafe.
Lloyd studied at university in Cardiff and that's how he first discovered Gwdihw, "I was in my third year at Uni and my friends started a night here" (a night thats still going), "I got tired of going to the usual places, this was something different". After finishing university he did music reviews before working for Quench magazine, from there he went to helping at Student Festival which led him to further links with the music industry. After being head of marketing for Undertone and 10 Feet Tall he then took over running Gwdihw; a job he says "you can't do without caring, you have long hours, I would say unsociable hours but if I wasn't working I'd be here anyway!".
Gwdihw is a lot smaller than the likes of Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff hence having a much smaller night despite this Lloyd says "people come here, not knowing the bands or the Dj but will still come because they know what we put on and they like it. Usually you can come here and see 3 or 4 bands on the door" and may I add, usually for £5 or less.
Gwdihw like to promote local bands and have a night for nearly every genre ranging from Hip-Hop to Funk & Soul to Indie which makes every night a bit different but always with a lovely atmosphere; "There have been nights we've packed the venue out, but there's never any agro, it's always a very nice atmosphere" says Lloyd and I mean with a rustic, homely look to the venue you can't conceive anything other than a nice atmosphere.
Obviously being a small venue a lot of bands make there rounds through Gwdihw, I asked Lloyd who is favourite bands and Djs to come through Gwdihw were; "I'll tell you a band that'll be big soon; Tibet. They played hear twice last year and were brilliant", not only that but for last IVW Frankie & The Heartstrings played and they've had fantastic and famous Dj's on like John Morales who used to play the infamous Studio 54 in the 70's on as well!
Indepedent Venue Week is a very important week for venues like Gwdihw because it means an increased publicity for events and bigger acts. "It's like every other week but the acts are just a bit bigger" says Lloyd, "it's a really good way of celebrating venues and recognise the effort that's put into them" and celebrating is exactly what Gwdihw are doing.
Independent venue week is running Monday 25th - Sunday 31st January and Gwdihw have a great programme. On Wednesday they have 16 Bit Sound which is a group which make music using video game music and the such like, a Welsh music showcase on Thursday, Tasker with City Bass on Friday and a guarenteed stunner the Resonators on Saturday night. All for less than £5 each, I would definitely recommend popping down at some point in the week.
It doesn't end there however, venues continue running after IVW and I would definitely recommend heading down to see Wonderbrass on their Mardi Brass night on Pancake day which is off the back of a highly successful show from Bass 12. Expect pancakes and a great night of music.
I spoke to Lloyd about how he became manager of a venue, the joys and difficulties of running one and the effect Independent Venue Week has on Gwdihw Cafe.
Lloyd studied at university in Cardiff and that's how he first discovered Gwdihw, "I was in my third year at Uni and my friends started a night here" (a night thats still going), "I got tired of going to the usual places, this was something different". After finishing university he did music reviews before working for Quench magazine, from there he went to helping at Student Festival which led him to further links with the music industry. After being head of marketing for Undertone and 10 Feet Tall he then took over running Gwdihw; a job he says "you can't do without caring, you have long hours, I would say unsociable hours but if I wasn't working I'd be here anyway!".
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| Gwdihw means Owl in welsh! |
Gwdihw like to promote local bands and have a night for nearly every genre ranging from Hip-Hop to Funk & Soul to Indie which makes every night a bit different but always with a lovely atmosphere; "There have been nights we've packed the venue out, but there's never any agro, it's always a very nice atmosphere" says Lloyd and I mean with a rustic, homely look to the venue you can't conceive anything other than a nice atmosphere.
Obviously being a small venue a lot of bands make there rounds through Gwdihw, I asked Lloyd who is favourite bands and Djs to come through Gwdihw were; "I'll tell you a band that'll be big soon; Tibet. They played hear twice last year and were brilliant", not only that but for last IVW Frankie & The Heartstrings played and they've had fantastic and famous Dj's on like John Morales who used to play the infamous Studio 54 in the 70's on as well!
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| The colourful front of Gwdihw Cafe |
Independent venue week is running Monday 25th - Sunday 31st January and Gwdihw have a great programme. On Wednesday they have 16 Bit Sound which is a group which make music using video game music and the such like, a Welsh music showcase on Thursday, Tasker with City Bass on Friday and a guarenteed stunner the Resonators on Saturday night. All for less than £5 each, I would definitely recommend popping down at some point in the week.
It doesn't end there however, venues continue running after IVW and I would definitely recommend heading down to see Wonderbrass on their Mardi Brass night on Pancake day which is off the back of a highly successful show from Bass 12. Expect pancakes and a great night of music.
-Luke
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