Gaz Tops swims across Wales

Gareth Jones, the presenter widely known as Gaz Top, celebrated his 60th birthday by becoming the first person to swim the entire length of Wales from south to north. This monumental 60km challenge, which took three weeks to complete, was documented for the S4C series Gareth Jones: Nofio Adre. 

Starting on August 17th, the journey began in the Bristol Channel off the coast of Porthcawl, where he was dropped 1km out and had to body-surf back to shore through two-meter waves. Throughout the trek, Jones navigated a diverse range of waterways, including the rivers Teifi and Conwy, and major reservoirs like those in the Elan Valley and Llyn Brenig. His swim across the lakes of Wales was particularly comprehensive, featuring Llyn Padarn, Llyn Mwyngil, Llyn Gwynant, Llyn Mymbyr, Llyn Eigiau, and Llyn Trawsfynydd. 

A highlight of the expedition was his crossing of Llyn Tegid, the largest natural lake in Wales, which held deep personal significance because his father had nearly drowned there decades earlier. He also reached the literal peak of his journey by swimming in Llyn Llyffant, Wales's highest lake. The swim concluded at the Liverpool Arms on Conwy harbour, where he finished the final leg by swimming down the River Conwy.

To support this feat, nutrition and sports science experts from Bangor University monitored his physiological health, advising him to consume a massive 5,000 calories per day to fuel his efforts and combat the energy-sapping effects of cold water. Despite facing significant physical hurdles, including a severe bout of stomach cramps and food poisoning on the second and third days near Llanelli, Jones completed the distance to highlight the natural beauty and environmental challenges of the Welsh landscape.

This video provides a first-hand look at Gareth's preparation and the extreme water temperatures he faced during his cross-Wales swim.

GIG REVIEW – Burning Flag, All Consumed, Maines @ The Live Rooms, Chester

When you’ve been sitting at the proverbial Gig Bus Stop waiting for over a year, waiting impatiently to be taken on a tragical blistery tour, suddenly two turn up… Second outing to witness the phenomenon of live [original] music in as many days…

Tonight they’re in the flesh, alive and spitting and threatening to finish off my one good ear for good… Bring it on…

Long time link2wales reviewer Mark Watson-Jones is today celebrating the fact he has inexplicably made it to 50 years. Considering he keeps his liver in a jar of Absinthe, making it this far is none short of a miracle. Although still serving time for being an emissary of syn Mark’s band took the night off and allowed three great bands to don their guitars and wish him many happy returns.

Maines as ever, (once you’ve coaxed them into appearing) never fail to deliver, and this is the first opportunity to experience their wall of bliss in almost two years. Pulling from their two EPs with songs [well; compositions] like, My Cull Cain, the excellent Malkovich, finishing with Whales, it’s the intricacy of those compositions that leave your mouth agape and your mind mesmerised. The ebb and flow of their sound can be a trickle and it can be a tidal wave. I grabbed a Maines mug too…

All Consumed are a godless bunch from Preston, but don’t hold that against them (their location). More core than grind, their set was toe-tappingly, head-bangingly, back-stabbingly to the point. All Consumed will iterate that there is no world order and their suicidal tendencies will have you clamouring to join this shapeless existence. They blasted through ten, maybe eleven punches to the head in no time at all, and the diverse line-up made for an excellent evening of noise pollution.

The Rage is a contagion that spored in Halifax and has spread through the punk fraternity in the form of Burning Flag. Their eagerly awaited third album in its vinyl form has been subject to the usual delays of world pandemics, Tory Brexits, Suez Canal boating disasters and (worst of all) Record Store Day.

‘Matador’ (and tonight’s gig) brings with it the debut of Holly on screaming vocal duty. She / we have waited eighteen months for this, since her onscreen live appearance when bands took to streaming their material live on Facebook (it was almost a glimpse into a sterile could-be world where we watched our favourite noise merchants from the boring safety of our homes). Like the new album, Burning Flag opened with Thrown Out and bar a couple of tracks ‘Matador’ was unleashed upon our very souls. Toxic by design, they know what they’re doing [play no nonsense punk rock] and they certainly know how to do it… Check their gig schedule, they’re coming in thick n fast…

Burning Flag bandcamp.

[pics 2, 3 and 4 by lorraine peaker]

Various Artists - Keeping it Rhyl

When Keeping It Rhyl – Punk-Plan appeared in the summer of 2021, it looked at first glance like a straightforward local compilation — another DIY record gathering North Wales bands under the Link2Wales banner. But behind the vinyl sleeve lay something far more ambitious: a speculative vision of Rhyl’s cultural future, built from sound, imagination, and community grit.

The compilation was conceived and produced by Jimmy Loizeau and Matt Ward of Goldsmiths, University of London, in collaboration with myself (Neil Crud). Together we built the album as part of a larger speculative design project after I asked: what if Rhyl, a struggling seaside town, built the world’s longest pier — one that housed a University of Music and Media?

From that question grew an imaginary urban plan — “The Punk-Plan” — and the record that gave it shape. Keeping It Rhyl became not just a collection of songs, but a “material manifestation of a possible future”, as one academic description put it. The album captures the sound of a community that’s endured decades of cultural ebb and flow — a sonic map of resilience.

Released digitally and on vinyl through Link2Wales on 14 June 2021, Keeping It Rhyl – Punk-Plan features 12 tracks (13 digitally) from artists connected to Rhyl and the wider North Wales underground. The tracks were “generously donated” by musicians who have long been part of the area’s independent scene — one that Link2Wales has chronicled and championed since 1999.

One news article reads:
Unlike many conceptual art projects, Keeping It Rhyl was released into the wild with the same energy as a punk record — available on Bandcamp, promoted across DIY channels, and embraced by the scene it came from. Reviews have been limited but appreciative. The Link2Wales site itself described it as a “collaborative compilation” uniting music and imagination, while a Reddit post in r/punk introduced it simply and proudly: “Link2Wales Records is proud to be part of the collaborative compilation album Keeping It Rhyl.”

For those who know the town, or who’ve ever felt the tug of a small scene refusing to fade, Keeping It Rhyl – Punk-Plan is more than a compilation. It’s a declaration: that even at the edge of the map, the beat goes on.

KEEPING IT RHYL Punk-Plan

Corona Logic albums

CORONA LOGIC: A LOCKDOWN TRIBUTE TO SUPER FURRY ANIMALS IN AID OF LLAMAU!

These albums were recorded entirely in lockdown by Welsh or Welsh based musicians at home using whatever means were available to them, creating a rich tapestry of sound paying tribute to the genius music of Super Furry Animals.

It’s completely free to stream and download, but we strongly encourage you, if you have the means, to donate to Llamau:

“Our mission is to eradicate homelessness for young people and vulnerable women. For thousands of the most vulnerable people in Wales, homelessness is a frightening reality. End homelessness and change futures”

Please donate here referencing ’SFA’:
www.llamau.org.uk

Pete Fowler, the Super Furries legendary sleeve artist has also created beautiful bespoke artwork for the project combining many elements of his iconic sleeve designs.

We hope you enjoy the music and please do donate if you can!
SFA OK!

Neil Crud on TudnoFM #190 with Luke Gallagher in Session

Luke Gallagher has emerged from a post-apocalyptic Covid Wrexham to release a new album (his third) ‘Aran Road’.It’s about time we had some live music in this dead world… and great to have company in this big empty building.
Funny anecdote - Stuntface guitarist James Flames was a supply teacher at Luke's school - They called him Mr Armstrong.!

Drunken Marksman – Dance To The Apocalypse
SØØN – A Nothing
Cheap Surgery – Live On Me
Fflaps – Malltod (Peel Session 1.8.90)
Luke Gallagher – A Bad Day To Be Me (*live in session)
Urbn DK – Your War
Scotch Funeral – I Am The Oil Spill
Eye Licker – Choking Hazard
Mike West – The Next Life
Laffing Gas – The Gulch
Gulch – E.P.T.S
Luke Gallagher – In The Night (*live in session)
Bratakus – The Half Woman
Wanweird – Head Inside your Head
Tuff Guac – My Kind of Elevator Music
Bleed To The Red – Nitro
Pi$$er – Time
Luke Gallagher – These Things Take Time (*live in session)
Fatalist – Doubt is our Product
Moot – I Want To Be Like Clint Eastwood
Uncle Peanut – Hong Kong Underpants (*session Apr17)
Yr Anhrefn – Y Ffordd Ymlaen
El Borracho – Twozzlebanger
Diskobra – Rémálom
Bombardement – Blood. Cash. Self-Destruction
Dan Amor – I See You (*session)
Jimmy Bullet & Nil By Nose – Whirlpool
Destroy? – Crowd Control
Overload – Ketamine
Endless Swarm – Ecclefechan
Los Blancos – Dilyn Iesu Grist

COW – All My Friends Are Dead To Me - EP

On All My Friends Are Dead To Me, Liverpool / North Wales band COW introduce themselves with a debut that’s scrappy, self-aware and quietly affecting. Sitting somewhere between jangly indie rock and fuzzed-out grunge, the EP feels intentionally rough around the edges — less concerned with polish than with capturing a moment, a mood, and a slightly bruised sense of humour.

The title track sets the tone immediately, pairing bleak one-liners with a wry delivery that never tips fully into self-pity. Lines about friends settling down while the narrator (Kyle) stands still land with a deadpan honesty that feels both funny and uncomfortably relatable. It’s this balance — melancholy offset by irony — that gives the EP its personality.

Musically, COW lean into fuzzy guitars, loose structures and an organic, almost live-room feel. There are clear nods to 90s alternative touchstones — Dinosaur Jr-style grit and Sonic Youth-esque textures — but the songs never feel like exercises in nostalgia. Instead, they sound like a band working things out in real time, confident enough to let imperfections remain, and track 3: A Blank Canvas For Weirdness fills me with hope-sorrow-excitement and dread.

Across the EP, the songwriting grows in ambition, culminating in Happy Birthday, an 8min closing track that explodes into chaos. Its climactic guitar solo is loud, messy and emotionally charged, providing a fitting release after the restraint of earlier tracks. It’s the moment where COW fully embrace noise, and it’s one of the most memorable points on the record.

All My Friends Are Dead To Me may not shout for attention, but it doesn’t need to. Its strength lies in its honesty and its refusal to over-explain itself. As a debut, it feels less like a finished statement and more like the sound of a band finding their voice — and doing so with enough conviction to suggest there’s far more to come.

*Kyle is/was in Gintis and Mexican Walking Fish and collects vintage leaf blowers.

Listen Here - YouTubeMusic

Rabo De Toro – Rabo De Toro - album

 

Today, Bangor’s own Rabo De Toro crash onto the scene with their self-titled debut album, released through Link2Wales Records. It’s a record that doesn’t so much introduce itself as kick the door down, light a fire in the corner, and dare you not to join in.

Opening track Fake News Knobheads sets the mood from the very first riff — sharp, snarling, and full of scathing wit. What follows is ten tracks of raw, unfiltered energy: Bound By Woodbines, Fast Fake Pisstake, Hello Stupidity, Circus Atari, and more, each one bristling with humour, venom, and a healthy disregard for the rules.

Yes, it’s punk — but not punk as you know it. There are shades of Sleaford Mods in the sneering vocals, flashes of Bad Brains in the frenetic pace, and hints of Gogol Bordello’s ragged chaos. Just when you think you’ve got the measure of it, the band flips the table with a grotesque, brilliant cover of Russ Abbott’s Atmosphere — the novelty disco hit reborn as something darker, funnier, and far more dangerous.

What makes Rabo De Toro so compelling is the balance of anger and absurdity. The riffs are jagged, the lyrics bite hard, but there’s always a wink behind the sneer. It’s an album that can make you laugh, rile you up, and maybe even inspire you to smash your local government office windows — before planting flowers in the rubble.

As debuts go, this one doesn’t just land — it detonates. With Rabo De Toro, the Bangor mischief-makers have released a record that’s brash, fearless, and impossible to ignore. If this is day one, the future promises to be loud, chaotic, and a hell of a lot of fun.