CHROMA Announce Aotearoa (New Zealand) Cultural Exchange Visit To Explore The Power of Live Music For Minority Languages
“One of the highest anthem counts of any record around…supercharged female empowerment” - Joyzine
“Like a spaceship of aceness has flown over Wales and dropped them in the valleys” - Adam Walton, BBC Wales
"Gossip-by-way-of-DFA1979 pummelling riffage led by firestorm up front in Katie Hall" - Sweeping The Nation
“If their debut is anything to go by they’ll be filling out stadiums in no time” - Noizze [8/10]
"Summon the spirits of Beth Ditto and Kathleen Hanna" - PRS M for Music Magazine
“One of Wales’ best-kept secrets…righteous bilingual noise pop” - God Is In The TV
“This is the kind of debut that most bands would pray for” - The Soundboard
“Ones to watch” - Under The Radar Magazine
CHROMA Announce Aotearoa (New Zealand) Cultural Exchange Visit To Explore The Power of Live Music For Minority Languages
Bi-Lingual Welsh Alt-Rockers’ Debut Album Ask For Angela Out Now via Alcopop! Records
Stream/purchase - https://www.chroma.band/links
2024 Foo Fighters Support Slot Announced
Pontypridd, Wales bi-lingual alt-rock trio CHROMA are delighted to announce they will be part of a group of Welsh performers and academics to visit Aotearoa/New Zealand this month as part of a project examining live music and its importance to minority languages.
Prosiect Pūtahitanga is a creative practice and research project led by Cardiff University in partnership with the University of Waikato and FOCUS Wales. It aims to find points of connection between te reo Māori (the Māori Language), te ao Māori (the Māori world/world view) and Welsh-language culture through the lens of each country’s music scene.
Earlier this year, Māori band Half/Time visited Wales to perform at FOCUS Wales and a number of gigs around Wales, as well as giving a talk at Cardiff University.
For this stage of the project, Chroma—whose highly anticipated debut album Ask For Angela is out now via Alcopop! Records—will travel to Aotearoa (New Zealand), performing with Half/Time at a series of gigs, including the Festival of Weird in Kirikiriroa (Hamilton).
Academics from the University and Andy Jones of FOCUS Wales will also be going to exchange information, gather research and explore further collaborative opportunities.
Half/Time will lead the project team on a lost venues walk around Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), drawing their attention to challenges faced by musicians and promoters in the city which resonate with those experienced in the live music sector in Cymru.
Andy Jones and members of Half/Time will participate in a panel discussion at SAE Creative Media Institute in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) on the barriers and opportunities for developing infrastructure for music communities; and how artists can take the step from creating art to thinking about how to present themselves internationally.
The group will also meet with creatives, promoters, and funders to understand the challenges facing the emerging Māori DIY music scene in Aotearoa, identifying actionable steps to support the scene, and to discuss further artist exchange opportunities between Aotearoa and Cymru.
Zac Mather, drummer of Chroma, said: “It’s an absolute honour to be invited to Aotearoa to play some shows with our new friends Half/Time. We played with them earlier this year when they visited the UK and can't wait for them to show us their favourite venues and places they like to hang out.”
Wairehu Grant, guitarist with Half/Time, who is conducting his PhD on the creative and ideological crossovers between Māori and punk culture at the University of Waikato, said: “After the amazing time we had in Cymru earlier this year and the manaakitanga (hospitality) we were shown by both the Cardiff University team and the folks in Chroma, we’re super excited to welcome them all to Aotearoa. Really looking forward to playing more shows with Chroma and collaborating with the Cardiff team further.”
Andy Jones, founder of FOCUS Wales said: “We are delighted to be collaborating on this very important project, which connects our two music communities, and will deliver lots of exciting cultural exchange over the coming months and years.”
A number of academic activities are also taking place during the trip. Dr Elen Ifan of the School of Welsh and Dr Joseph O’Connell from the School of Music will interview musicians performing in te reo Māori in a development of a pilot project held at FOCUS Wales in May 2023, as part of research investigating what it means to perform in a minority language.
Dr Ifan will also be leading a creative-collaborative research workshop with Māori musicians at Creative Waikato in Kirikiriroa (Hamilton), the first of two workshops funded by the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol Grant Arloesi. The second will be held in Cardiff with Welsh musicians.
Dean for the Welsh Language Dr Huw Williams will also give a seminar at the University of Waikato on the language and culture of Wales, and the potential consequences of losing sight of their value and intellectual significance.
Dr Williams said: “It’s really exciting to be involved with this trip and to be representing the University to explore our partnership and shared interests. I’m sure it will be a huge learning experience for all of us.”
Cardiff University’s Academi Gymraeg Manager Catrin Jones, who is leading the project, said: “Although our countries are on opposite sides of the world, it’s clear that Cymraeg and Māori cultures have much in common. We hope strengthening links between Cymru and Aotearoa will increase the confidence of musical artists performing in their own languages, as well as deepen their understanding of the international opportunities open to them.
“In the long term, we are hopeful of creating a lasting partnership so that indigenous artists from Aotearoa, and Cymraeg artists from Cymru, can gain access to opportunities to develop their careers outside their home countries, as well as exploring a deeper connection with their own identity and language.
“This project has been made possible thanks to support and positive energy from Cardiff University, University of Waikato, FOCUS Wales, Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, Wales Arts International, British Council NZ, Creative Waikato and most especially, members of Half/Time and CHROMA.”
CHROMA's debut album Ask For Angela is out now via Alcopop! Records
UK Live Dates:
15th June 2024 - Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester (w/ Foo Fighters + Courtney Barnett)
Ask For Angela tracklist:
01. Don't Wanna Go Out
02. Girls Talk
03. Don't Mind Me
04. Woman To Woman
05. Head In Transit
06. I Wanna Be Where You Are
07. Life's A Bitch
08. Bombs Away
09. Look At Me
10. Interlude
11. Over The Hill
Cardiff University is recognised in independent government assessments as one of Britain’s leading teaching and research universities and is a member of the Russell Group, the UK’s most research-intensive universities. The 2021 Research Excellence Framework found 90% of the University’s research to be world-leading or internationally excellent. Among its academic staff are two Nobel Laureates, including the winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for Medicine, Professor Sir Martin Evans. Founded by Royal Charter in 1883, today the University combines impressive modern facilities and a dynamic approach to teaching and research. The University’s breadth of expertise encompasses: the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; the College of Biomedical and Life Sciences; and the College of Physical Sciences and Engineering. Its University institutes bring together academics from a range of disciplines to tackle some of the challenges facing society, the economy, and the environment. More at www.cardiff.ac.uk
CHROMA are:
Katie Hall - Vocals/guitar
Liam Bevan - Bass
Zac Mather - Drums
CHROMA online:
https://www.chroma.band
https://www.facebook.com/CHROMAbanduk
https://twitter.com/chromabanduk
https://www.instagram.com/chromabanduk
More about CHROMA:
Following 18 long months of waiting to get back into the studio during the pandemic, CHROMA are immensely proud and excited to finally be sharing brand new material from their forthcoming album, recorded during lockdown with support from Festival Republic and PRSF.
Influenced by the likes of Yeah Yeah Yeah’s and The Gossip, CHROMA have already received a groundswell of early radio support from BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music, Kerrang! Radio, Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru and ongoing support from BBC Introducing.
Boasting a healthy amount of live notches on their belt for a band yet to even release an album, they’ve previously appeared at Reading & Leeds Festival, BBC Radio 1’s Biggest Weekend, FOCUS Wales and Festival Number 6, along with European festival appearances in Barcelona and Brittany. Most recently supporting stablemates Tokky Horror, they've also played sold-out shows all over the UK with the likes of IDLES, Peace, The Joy Formidable, VANT and Tigercub.
They’ve been added to key editorial playlists across Spotify, given televised performances on BBC Wales and S4C, featured regularly on FA Wales media content and Visit Wales, and seen press support from the Metro, PRS M for Music Magazine, South Wales Argus and Y Selar. Pre-pandemic, the three piece secured a notable appearance at Maida Vale Studios in 2019, recording a live session for BBC Radio Wales which later got picked up by BBC R1 and played on air.
“It brings us such joy to announce that our debut album Ask For Angela is finally being released to the world this October,” say the band of the recent news. “After a few long gruelling years of waiting for the right time, at least it finally feels right that we put our first baby out for the world to see and hear. This album takes us in a direction that we as a band feel as if it affirms the sound that we’ve always wanted to create, and with thanks to Steffan Pringle and Tom E1 Mastering and Duplication, they’ve helped bring these songs to life. Ask For Angela is no longer just ours, but it’s yours, now and forever. We hope you find as much joy in this record as it was for us to create.”
Taking its name from the campaign of the same name launched to prevent sexual assault in the UK, the material on forthcoming debut album Ask For Angela variously reflects on the band’s collective experience growing up in the South Wales Valleys, and explores the myriad lived experiences of young women. Exploring infighting within the feminist movement, the oppression of trans rights in the UK, violence against women, and other weighty but hugely important topics, the trio ultimately invite the listener to a place of safety and empowerment with their inclusive music.
Recorded at Giant Wafer Studios, Llanbadarn Fynydd in the heart of Wales, Ask For Angela was produced and mixed by Steffan Pringle (Adwaith, Future of the Left, Boy Azooga) and mastered by Tom Langrish at E1 Mastering (IDLES, Fontaines D.C, DITZ) in London.
Riding high on a run of packed shows at SXSW Festival, FOCUS Wales, and a support slot with The Mysterines, the band announced their signing to Alcopop! Records earlier this year and were recently hand-picked to support legendary US rockers Foo Fighters at Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester on 15th June 2024 alongside Coutney Barnett.
New single ‘Don’t Wanna Go Out’ follows on from lead single ‘Don’t Mind Me’ and follow up ‘Woman To Woman’ which were released earlier this year, picking up support from Huw Stephens at BBC 6music and BBC Wales, Alyx Holcombe at BBC R1, Amazing Radio, Total Rock and many more, plus a groundswell of grassroots tastemaker support from God Is In The TV, Noizze, Stereoboard, Distorted Sound, Sweeping The Nation and more.
Fresh from an appearance at DMZ Peace Train Festival in Korea, the band have two special Cardiff and London headline shows this month, with tickets on sale now.
Watch the video for lead single ‘Don’t Mind Me’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEKCgFcumdk
Listen to previous single ‘Woman To Woman’:
Watch the video - https://youtu.be/1UCtuFsNte0
Stream and share - HERE
