‘Without the uni, we wouldn’t be a band’: How two Cardiff Uni bands sold out Club Ifor Bach

On Friday 7th October, two bands, King Cerulean and Hello! Indigo not just played, but sold out Club Ifor Bach (Welsh Club) in Cardiff City Centre.

The Tab Cardiff had the privilege to speak to King Cerulean before they went on stage, and the vibes were immaculate.

King Cerulean

King Cerulean consists of: Tom (aka the visionary) who plays guitar, trumpet, and rap; Henry, the drummer; Tim on sax; Adam and Abbie who sing; Fin who plays keyboard; Tam the bassist and Ali who is the lead guitarist.

Although the band has a common love of music, their daily lives look very different, from Henry, the drummer, who is a practising barrister after graduating Law at Cardiff Uni, to Tom, who is a graphic designer who has just graduated from USW.

King Ceurlean met primarily through the Cardiff Uni Music Society, although the idea for the band originally came about whilst they were in a pie shop.

They stated: “Liam said ‘Why don’t we start a band?’ and within the hour, Tom had called up Gassy Jacks (now Gassy’s) and we had a 45-minute set to prepare for without a band.”

Tom said: “It was a fuck-it kinda moment.”

As the band started to form in 2018, they met and recruited more members, Tom said he knew Fin had to be in the band when watching him play because “his hands moved like rubber and I fell in love”.

The band said they gained inspiration for the name King Cerulean due to a king in the 16th century who “forced all his subjects to wear blue and dance to funk, if they didn’t, he killed them.”

Fortunately, everyone was in fact dancing at their gig so no one was killed this time.

King Cerulean have sold out Club Ifor Bach four times as of their gig last Friday. They also played Y Plas in the Student’s Union and sold it out on a Sunday with a crowd of 400.

Despite all this, the band’s goal is to just have fun and see where it goes although they would love to play at festivals or hear their next single on the radio.

The band credit Cardiff Uni as part of their journey stating: “Without the uni, we wouldn’t be a band”.

King Cerulean also credits the Live Music Society saying how after they wrote a song they would try it out on the Live Music soc or play it at Gassy’s with the society. Their performance at Y Plas has also helped the band a lot in finding those who are fans of their funk music.

King Cerulean says their biggest selling point is that they like their own music so their enthusiasm is infectious; their advice to aspiring musicians is to make music they like, not music they think others will like.

Most importantly, King Cerulean’s favourite VK? Orange.

Although Fin said his favourite VK was mango, kiwi, and coconut which he happens to be allergic to. We hope you’re okay Fin.

Before King Cerulean came onstage, two other Cardiff Uni bands played, Hello! Indigo and Opheliasbeard.

Hello! Indigo

Hello! Indigo is a lot smaller in terms of band members than King Cerulean but they are definitely just as big in stage presence.

Hello! Indigo has four members, Becks who sings, Tim on bass, and Fin and Mez both on guitar.

The band members all study/ studied law, politics, or nursing but they met on the second night of freshers in the queue for Tiger Tiger when Mez and Becks discovered a mutual love for music. They met the rest whilst living in Taly halls or through mutual friends.

Hello! Indigo was originally called Glasswalk but Tim and Jake came up with Hello! Indigo and the rest of the band loved it.

Cardiff Uni has helped Hello! Indigo become the band it is today in a similar way to King Ceurlean’s story. Last year at Cardiff they were avid members of the Live Music Society which gave them the opportunity to play at The Moon on several occasions. Hello! Indigo also supported King Cerulean at Y Plas at the big uni send off which they described as “amazing.”

Talking to The Tab Cardiff,  Hello! Indigo said despite the fact the band is currently a hobby: “We love writing music and are getting some stuff on Spotify. We’ve recently recorded our EP professionally and are so excited to show it to the world”.

Their advice to young musicians?

“Just go for it! Life’s too short, so start the band and record the music”

Most importantly, their favourite VK: “Always orange”

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