Huw Stephens: ‘The Bandsplain podcast is like a thesis on a pop single’

Born in Cardiff in 1981, Huw Stephens is a Welsh radio and television presenter renowned for shining a light on new music. Aged 17, he joined BBC Radio 1, at the time becoming the youngest presenter in the station’s history. He has continued to have a notable presence on Radio 1, alongside regular slots on 6 Music and BBC Radio Cymru. He has spent much of his career championing the Welsh creative scene, including co-founding the Cardiff music festival Sŵn. Stephens will be presenting from the 6 Music Festival in Greater Manchester on BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Sounds, 25-28 March. 

Bandsplain

I listened to an episode about Edwyn Collins’ A Girl Like You – just an hour on that song! It’s like a thesis on a pop single. The host, Yasi Salek, is great; she’s hilarious, honest, and I love how intrigued she gets with the details of bands’ lives. She does genres and scenes as well, and sometimes has guests like Miranda Sawyer. Podcasts about music are quite hard to do, but she has a great way of chronicling without it being too much about her perspective. With the benefit of hindsight, Bandsplain brings in a band’s relevance and importance decades later.

Geraint Jarman

He was a musical icon in Welsh-language culture who crossed boundaries: he sang rock and reggae; he was a poet; he worked with extraordinary musicians from across Wales; he nurtured a lot of young bands. He died aged 74 last year, and left a huge discography – 17 albums. There’s a great boxset of his music that came out. I interviewed him a few times; I respected him enormously, as did everyone. But his passing makes you realise how much he created, and how true to his art form he was. His most accessible album is probably 1992’s Rhiniog.

Machynlleth Comedy festival

It’s in mid-Wales, and it started in 2010. It’s become one of the most well-respected comedy festivals in the calendar. I’m reliably informed that comedians love Mach because it’s well curated and it’s in a beautiful, small market town, easy to navigate, with a real sense of cultural identity, so it’s a perfect marriage of place and event. I went last year for the first time; Amy Mason was fantastic. There’s loads of great names this year – Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Mike Bubbins – but, as with a music festival, I also like going to see people I’ve never heard of before.

Record shopping

The first thing I do when I’m in Manchester is go to Piccadilly Records. In Cardiff, near me, there’s Spillers, Cardiff Record Exchange, Kellys Records. I’m not specifically browsing for rare records, just finding things: second-hand records, new records. When I was first getting into music at 15, it was CDs. I never got rid of my CDs, and I still love a good CD compilation, but I usually buy vinyl now. There’s something about going into a record shop wherever you are, seeing what the staff recommend, what they’re playing, having a browse through the racks and finding treats.

Wu-Tang: an American Saga

I watched all three series back-to-back in the recent cold, miserable January we had. I’m a casual Wu-Tang Clan fan, but I found it to be so interesting and beautifully done. It was co-created by RZA, and all the members of Wu-Tang Clan who are still alive had a role in producing, so you know that it’s authentic. I loved how slow-paced it was, the acting was superb, and I found it all very moving and fascinating. Sometimes you need escapism in television, but the fact that it was all based on a true story made it even more extraordinary.

A Room Above a Shop by Anthony Shapland

This was recommended to me at the Green Man festival last year. Two men live together in secret above a shop and it’s a quiet, unfolding, very subtle love story. You feel every creak of the floorboard, every ring of the shop door. It was very restrained, beautiful writing; it reminded me of Cynan Jones and Cormac McCarthy. I read it, I loved it, then I was looking at pictures and realised I’d met Anthony Shapland once, many years ago, at his art space’s opening in Cardiff. This is his debut novel, and I thought it was masterfully written.