Ahead of the much anticipated S┼Án Festival this year, I spoke to Elan Evans, Welsh Language Music Promoter at Clwb Ifor Bach, about what makes this festival so uniquely exciting.

How would you describe S┼Án, and what makes it different from other music festivals?
S┼Án Festival is a multi-venue, multi-genre, inner-city festival where we work with lots of different venues around the city centre to create one big festival. I think what’s nice about S┼Án is that you can sort of fall into different venues and watch bands – so you might watch a folk band to start your day, and by then end of the day you’re in a sweaty venue with lots of punters watching an incredible heavy electronic artist or something similar. There’s no specific stages, it’s all very mixed. So you might go to Fuel Bar, which is traditionally a heavy rock venue, but we might put a completely different artist there during the festival, which is really really cool. Also, one of the things that I really do like about S┼Án is that we don’t have a Welsh language stage, because it’s something that always sort of eats at me as promoter, when you go to other festivals. I do think festivals are doing it less now, where they pigeonhole Welsh language as a genre, but it’s not: Welsh language is just a language, and lots of different genres live within that language, and I think that’s something that’s really cool about S┼Án. It’s a great place to discover new music, old favourites, and you just fall into different venues. Also just seeing the different venues, as well; you might discover a new favourite venue while you’re here, which is always exciting.

Definitely. I think on the website you describe S┼Án as being a “homegrown” festival, which I really like. Is that idea of locality a consideration for you guys as organisers?
Absolutely, yeah. Clwb Ifor Bach took over S┼Án Festival in 2018; John Rostron and Huw Stephens started the festival years ago, and we all as staff used to go to S┼Án growing up and as adults as well, always huge fans. What was great about it then, and what we’ve tried to carry on with as a sort of legacy, is that they always gave a platform and a stage to local Welsh artists, which I think is so, so important for any festival. What makes S┼Án S┼Án is where it is, as well – its an inner-city festival in Cardiff, and I think if we were to ignore the bands and what makes Cardiff’s music scene so special it would be awful. When all three of us – Adam, myself, and Will – come together to put the lineup together, it’s something that’s always really, really important: asking who are those artists locally who are making waves at the moment, who are busy, who are enjoying performing, who we enjoy going to see? What’s nice about S┼Án, now, as well, is that it’s a brand that you trust.

I guess that must make the curation process quite difficult though. Cardiff’s music scene is so rich, is it a challenge to decide who you want on the lineup?
It’s a great problem to have! That’s a promoter’s dream, really, that it’s difficult to create a festival. What’s good is that its a real team effort, we’re quite a small team here but we’re all avid gig-goers, we go to events all the time, listen to loads of different music, and we’re all into different kinds of music as well, which is really important I think – you get that perfect storm of a mix and match of genres and different kinds of music coming together, and what ties it all together then is that it’s just really really good music. So yeah, it’s an incredible problem to have; you kind of do have your long list, your dream wish list of who you wanna work with for the year, then you obviously have to start to narrow it down a bit, and obviously with the different venues you’re working with capacity – it’s not like it’s a big field that you can stuff as many people as you want in there, you have to curate it in a way that you’re careful where you’re putting people. It’s really exciting this year, though, we’re using Tramshed on the Saturday which is cool, so that kind of widens the pool of what artists you can get. Because not only do we work with artists locally and in Wales, we also work with artists from around the world, who will stop off here at S┼Án for their tour.

I actually wanted to ask about the Tramshed stuff on Saturday – you have the Industry Sessions, which sound really exciting. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?
So S┼Án Industry Sessions are completely for free, you don’t need a S┼Án ticket, and they’re targeted to people who are interested in the music industry, who are intrigued by it, not necessarily who create music but might want a job behind the scenes in the music industry. It’s basically gonna be a series of talks, different panels, lots of different people involved, and its kind of gonna give you an all-rounded view of what the music industry is. Especially if you’re an up-and-coming artist, or you’re local and you’ve just started a band, or just started playing music, this is the perfect place to come to; we’ll have a networking room as well, and different organisations in Wales. Sort of like a fair, where you can go and chat to different people, talk ideas. I think it’s a really important part of the festival, we’ve done it previously at the Atrium, and we’re working with the Atrium again this year on these sessions, and I think it’s just a really nice, chilled way; it’s not like, stuffy, it’s gonna be quite lowkey, and hopefully jam-packed with people in the industry here in Wales and in England, and beyond. It’s a really good way for people to have those conversations, to get some advice on what path to take in the industry if they’re interested.

Do you have any tips for who to see this year?
I think with S┼Án, you go with an open mind and open ears and just let your intrigue take over. You can go with your long list of who you really want to go and see, but what I would recommend is just adding in those names that you’ve never heard of before – take a risk, you might discover your new favourite artist. That’s my tip. Also, what I love doing, and what’s really nice about S┼Án, is in the wristband exchange, we’ve got a wonderful team of volunteers who work with us – we would not be able to do the festival without them – and what I love about them
is that they’re so passionate about music, and so they’ve got really good recommendations.

Are the volunteering applications still open?
Yes! They’re still open. We’re so grateful to everyone who volunteers with us and it’s a really great way to get involved. In the application form, as well, you pick what field of the music industry you’re interested in, and we’ll try to match them with the same field, as it’s a great way to gain experience.

S┼Án Festival will take place in Cardiff from 20th-22nd October 2023. Tickets, lineup, and information about volunteering can be found on their website.

Interview by Polly Brewster