“We want people to feel like you can do anything you want if you really go for it. It don’t matter what background you’re from, or what football team you support… we’re all the same! “ – The Malakites
One band we think are about to springboard into the cosmos after making seismic waves throughout South Wales’ live music venues are rapturously transcendent guitar aficionados The Malakites. Taking the anxiety of wasted chances and turning it into a joyously boisterous anthem, their latest release, Morning After, is one of the finest tracks to come out of Cardiff’s vibrant music scene in 2023. Back in January we declared it a solid indie rock stormer with a killer false ending.
And their frankly remarkable output doesn’t halt there, with 2022’s Only Sometimes providing forthright jabs of high quality rock’n’roll ardor and debut single, Roses on the Doorstep, displaying a somewhat embryonic version of a group adroitly navigating their way around an excellent tune that’s only slightly more stripped down than the lads usual riotous fare.
The end of 2023 and the start of 2024 sees The Malakites headlining their largest hometown show yet at The Globe in Roath before taking on a slew of shows nationwide in January and February to kick off the new year. The band’s frontman Webber agreed to have a little chat with us to fill us in on where the group are at right now before their next chapter begins.
The Malakites, Hi. How do we find you today and who exactly are we speaking to?
My name is Webber, and today you find me keeping myself nice and warm inside the house with a cup of tea.
First and foremost, you’ve got a massive gig coming up at The Globe in Cardiff on 16th December. What can we expect from the night?
You can expect love, joy, carnage, soaring guitar riffs, melodic melodies and just everybody having a good time!
Then, come the new year, you’ve got a tour in the works. Fill us in on those dates too – what are you particularly looking forward to, being out on the road?
Yes! We’re going on tour in January and February and really looking forward to be playing some cool headlines shows across England and Wales. The road trips are always fun. We’ll be playing cities such as Manchester – 20/1/24, Sheffield – 26/1/24, Liverpool – 1/2/24, Birmingham – 3/2/24, Brighton – 8/2/24, Bristol – 9/2/24, London – 17/2/24, Swansea – 23/2/24… Oh and also supporting Circa Waves at Tramshed – 2/2/24, so extremely looking forward to that!
Your shows have built up a strong reputation already. Can you tell us about your favourite live show moments so far?
I’d say our favourite live show would probably be our sold out headline show at upstairs Clwb Ifor Bach at the start of the year. Also playing Y Not Festival back in July was mint as well.
You performed at the Shiiine On weekender in Butlins a couple of weeks back. How was it? Got any stories?
It was absolutely amazing, it was an absolute pleasure to be back! I was sat opposite John Powers (The La’s/Cast) and his son Finn Power (STONE) eating pizza in the artist canteen area, so that was pretty cool. Hats off to the organisers as well… Great people and great music!
Tell us a bit about The Malakites. What impact do you want your music to make on people’s lives?
We want people to feel like you can do anything you want if you really go for it. It don’t matter what background you’re from, or what football team you support… we’re all the same! We’re doing this purely because we all absolutely adore music, and we want people to feel like they can relate to how we feel about music! A lot of the lyrics in our songs have true, deep meanings that we’re sure others can relate to.
The Cardiff music scene is excellent right now. Great artists are springing up all over the place. Where do The Malakites fit into it all?
Yes, there is many great artists in the capital right now and lots that we are very proud to call our mates. However we believe that our sound is our own… all four of us have our very own different musical influences that we believe has been blended into one sound which is us – The Malakites!
Who are your biggest inspirations, musically or otherwise?
I can’t answer for the others as I’d probably get it wrong… but my earliest memories of music comes from listening to the band Doves and watching my dad’s old band rehearse as a child. But my favourites are The Stone Roses, U2, Nirvana and Catfish and the Bottlemen. Also been listening to a lot of the Sea Girls as of recently.
Are you able to tell us what’s coming from the band, after the UK tour is complete? Any new releases on the horizon?
Expect lots and lots of new music, bigger, bigger shows, bigger, bigger sounds and some nice, nice festival slots for the spring/summer!
Cheers Webber! Looking forward to coming along to The Globe on the 16th!
Cheers, see you there!
If you want to join us there, the last few tickets for The Globe gig are available right now, as well as tickets for all of their upcoming dates. You’re probably best off snapping them up as soon as possible before the shows start selling out.
If you’ve yet to hear it, you can check out Morning After on the youtube link below:
Edge of Arcady 
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