Artist of the Week: PASTEL

Photo featured by RaymontyPhotos

The Swansea music scene is currently going through a really exciting time - there's lots of great opportunities on the horizon, the spotlight will be firmly on Swansea during the BBC Biggest Weekend in May, and there seems to be a lot more gigs being put on across the city.

But perhaps the most exciting thing is the young bands that are emerging from the music scene and already getting a name for themselves. One young band at the forefront of this buzz is Pastel. 

Pastel are a 5 piece rock & roll / shoe gaze band consisting of Jack Yates (Vocals), Aaron Tormey (Lead guitar), James Yates (Rhythm guitar), Jake Smith (Bass) & Rhys Wheeler (Drums). The band have members originally from Manchester, Dublin and Swansea and were formed due to Jack missing his train back to Manchester after seeing the Stone Roses in Wembley. 

It's impressive to see a band make such an impression on the local scene after only being together for little over 7 months, with their first gig only in November of last year. Already the band have played shows in Cardiff, Newport and Swansea venues Britpop Cafe, Mozarts and The Hyst. They also have a show supporting The Riff in Sin City next month (13th April 2018). 

Most notably, the band won the Wave & Student Digz' battle of the bands competition in The Hyst earlier this month winning a slot supporting Scouting For Girls at Neath Carnival in July. Check out their winning set below: 

It's really encouraging to see a band working hard, producing decent tunes and gigging around South Wales with great enthusiasm & ambition. We're really excited at what's to come from these guys, They've been kind enough to share a live recording of their tune "Tomorrow's Afternoon" with us too, which you can listen to below.

Pastel Facebook | Pastel Instagram

Written by Simon Parton