Stereophonics' home village festival among best kept secrets

Mention Cwmaman and the first thing that springs to mind is probably Stereophonics.

And no wonder, the debut album Word Gets Around which shot the band to fame was all about growing up in the Rhondda Cynon Taf village.

But, while the big time beckoned for Kelly Jones and the boys, Cwmaman's own star refused to dim.

For the past decade-and-a-half it has been staging an event that has become the best kept secret among music fans.

Called Cwmfest, it is a free micro-festival run on a voluntary basis - like so many of these small scale bashes often are - and set across a handful of pubs scattered around the village.

Since its inception in 2008 it has played host to hundreds of bands and prides itself on being a diverse musical melting pot - hosting everyone from young punks and heavy metal headbangers to seasoned folkies and soulful blues acts.

For one weekend each September, as summer segues into autumn and the verdant green forestry surrounding the village turns heathery red and burnished brown, it cranks up the decibels in this otherwise quiet and remote locale.

In fact, its uniqueness has a lot to do Cwmaman's status as an outlier, the ex-mining community being nestled among tree-lined mountains and accessible only by one long and winding road.

A seemingly endless slalom of potholes and double parked cars, it is so notorious that The Road Up Is The Worst was actually the title given to a very early Stereophonics TV documentary.

"Yeah, that stretch can be an absolute nightmare and it doesn't make Cwmaman the most accessible place," said Nick Geake, one of the festival's organisers.

"Yet the majority of groups and punters who turn up for the festival year after year are from far outside the village.

"So it goes to show just how much pull it's built up over the years."

A 52-year-old instructor in mechanical engineering at Coleg y Cymoedd in Nantgarw, he recalled Cwmfest's formative days.

"At the start there was a lot of Community First funding being injected into the village and, as the 'Phonics came from here, a group of us thought we'd see if we could do something music-based.

"Everybody seemed to be starting their own band in the early '00s - it was a really buzzing scene."

As a result there was no shortage of budding musicians who wanted to sign up, and 15 years later that line-up includes a whopping 50 acts gigging at six different venues.

One of those pubs - The Top Club in Glynhafod - has a special place in Nick's heart.

"I used to play guitar in Zephyr, which was Kelly Jones and Stuart Cable's first band together, and I vividly remember us doing one of our first shows there in the 80s," he said.

"We were all nervous as hell, so much so Kelly was panicking about not being able to remember the words of some cover we were doing.

"It's great then that Cwmfest's been used by lots of similarly young bands in the years since as a means of cutting their teeth on a live stage.

"A lot of them have also gone on to much bigger things."

Among this year's line-up is Dorian Richard Holmes, whose band Mahouts play The Bonki on the main drag through the village - Brynmair Road.

"What I love about Cwmfest is that it achieves so much on the least amount of money possible," said the 36-year-old Aberdare singer-songwriter, who also sat on the festival committee between 2018 and 2019.

"It's always done everything on a shoestring; borrowing equipment, accessing whatever grants or sponsorship is available and holding fund-raising shows throughout the year to help stage it.

"And I love that hardscrabble ethic.

"Best of all though, it's always prided itself on making sure every band which plays gets paid - that's special."

He said playing gigs in Cwmaman has always had a specific appeal for him.

"The locals can be a tough crowd in the sense they very much know what they like, but once you've got them onside they're awesome.

"The vibe in the village during that weekend is great, everyone's up for it - it's honestly the best audience I've ever played for.

"You can tell that from the fact the same bands come back each year without fail."

For Shaun Griffiths, owner of The Shepherds Arms - or The Sheps as it has always been known locally - it's the busiest date in the calendar.

"Even bigger than Christmas," laughed the 44-year-old. "It's massive and sets us up nicely for the next 12 months, which is great after having been shut down for so long during Covid - that had me begin to doubt we'd ever open up again.

"But we weathered that storm and now it's nice not to have to constantly worry about money."

The festival has developed a huge word of mouth over time, Shaun said.

"People come from miles around to check it out and I usually have to take on more staff in order to cope.

"Last year I even had to put someone on the door to limit the access to 'one in, one out' - the pub was that rammed.

"The only problem is it can be hard finding enough people willing to work for just a couple of days, so I normally resort to drafting in members of my own family to help out.

"I'm sure my sister and my cousin will be overjoyed to hear I'm planning on commandeering their weekend yet again."