The Moshville Times - Headline Act: CELAVI

Hot from their Download appearance, and with a new single / video out, here’s more about CELAVI…

Simple things first – where are you guys from?

Hello! We’re both from Bangor in North Wales – Gwion originally from Blaenau Ffestiniog and Sarah from Bethel. We’re both from, and still live in, rural communities.

How did you meet?

We’ve both been in the music scene growing up and we met in a different project. It became apparent in the other project that we both had the same musical ambitions, and that we were both equally driven. It was a natural progression to create CELAVI together. We both have some similar musical influences, and we both have some different musical influences. We think that’s what makes our sound authentic.

How long have you been playing as a band?

We’ve been writing music together for a few years, developing our sound and finding our identity as a band. We’ve been gigging consistently for over two years now, which has helped us grow both as musicians and as performers.

Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?

Ha! It’s all good! We wanted a name that reflected our sound and our vibe. Our band name is actually Latin and reflects the gothic, darkness of our sound. We find it interesting how people pronounce our band name, a lot thinking the name is French. We don’t mind how it’s pronounced, art can be subjective so it’s ace to hear the different pronunciations and chat about it!

What are your influences?

We draw a lot of inspiration from early 2000s nu-metal, Deftones and Slipknot in particular. Deftones are Gwion’s favourite band. The fearlessness of the evolution of their sound over the years and the intensity of their songs is something he’s always been drawn to. Slipknot has been a big influence on the both of us. The unbridled aggression and combined with their unapologetic chaos, we love it!

Bring Me The Horizon has definitely inspired us both; they are such an influential band. We love how they have developed over the years, and how they continue to develop. They always stay in their own lane and experiment creatively, doing what they want to do, regardless of what anyone says. We love this, something that we definitely can relate to.

We’re both massive nu-metal fans and bands like Linkin Park, Slipknot, Deftones, Limp Bizkit, Kittie and Bring Me The Horizon have been a massive influence on us growing up. We love the down-tuned guitars, the aggression and the melodic influences.

Describe your music. What makes you unique?

We draw a lot of inspiration from early 2000s nu-metal. Our music is also influenced with industrial and goth sounds, with electronic and rock undertones. We’re Wales’ first bilingual nu-metal band. As Welsh speakers, we’re passionate about using the language in everything we do, from writing and performing to promoting Welsh music more widely. Welsh is our first language, and it’s incredibly important to us to create and perform music in Welsh, both regionally and nationally. Growing up, we didn’t have a Welsh-language nu-metal band to look up to, so we wanted to create something that would help fellow metalheads, goths, emos and rock fans feel represented and seen through the Welsh language. We made history this year by being the first band to perform in the Welsh language at Download Festival.

If you like what we do, consider joining us on Patreon for as little as £1 per month!

Do you have any particular lyrical themes?

We find ourselves drawn to writing empowering songs, and encouraging our listeners to be their unapologetic selves. Mental health is also very important to us, and a lot of our songwriting explores the internal and external negativity people can face. We’re drawn to writing anthemic songs too – main character energy.

What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?

We’ve played over 80 shows to date across Wales and England, and every show has helped us grow as a band. Our live shows are loud, energetic and fierce. We put everything into our performances, we have so much fun! Seeing the crowd sing along to our songs, the headbanging and the mosh pits is such an amazing feeling. It’s like a circle pit catharsis.

What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?

We had pyros at our set at Download Festival this year – they were absolutely insane!

What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?

Gwion uses ESP/LTD guitars. It’s a brand he’s looked up to for many years as so many of his influences have played them. Particularly Steph Carpenter (Deftones) and Richard Kruspe (Rammstein). In terms of amps he’s recently moved over to Neural DSP’s digital modellers. Live Sarah uses a Telefunken M80 microphone. She was recommended this mic at a gig we played at The Fleece in Bristol by the Sound Engineer. She loves the mic and found one in pink too, ha!

What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?

We’ve just released “PLASTER”, the first single from our nu-EP that will be released later on this year. The full music video can be seen on our YouTube channel [or scroll down – Mosh]. We’ll be releasing a nu-single in the very near future, with a music video too.

What are your plans for the next 6 months or so?

We’re currently busy working on our nu-EP with Romesh Dodangoda (Bring Me The Horizon, Motörhead, Nova Twins, Holding Absence), with supporting music videos directed by Loki Films (Sleep Token, Lorna Shore, Limp Bizkit). We’ve just performed at FOCUS Wales, SXSW London, Download Festival and supported Headwreck. We’re looking forward to supporting As December Falls at Chepstow Castle this August.

If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!

We’d love to support Bring Me The Horizon or Deftones. These two bands are such a huge influence for us! We love them! As for the opener, they shouldn’t be opening but we’d love the chance to play with Headwreck again. We supported them recently in Cardiff and we’re big fans of the band! We caught their set at Download this year too. They’re so sick and lovely people too!

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If you want to check out more new music, then fire up our Headline Act playlists on Spotify and YouTube!