After the initial hilarity of his Welshness and the realisation that somehow it's illegal for him to utter a single word related to the closure of 6 Music (have a go at saving it, apparently Facebook campaigns ALWAYS work), I resorted to my back-up questions.
Me: A few days ago Edith Bowman spoke out about the 6 Music closure and how important a station like that is when programs like the X Factor and people like Simon Cowell are having such an influence on new music. What do you think about programs like the X Factor and that method of finding ‘talent’?
Huw Stephens: I think X Factor is just pure Saturday night entertainment and there’s nothing wrong with that but I think that you and I and hopefully everyone reading this knows that there’s so much more new music out there than what’s on the X Factor. It’s everybody’s job just to push it, find it, nurture it and discover it. I think the X Factor is so far removed from what a lot music lovers actually want. It’s relevant to some people, it’s not relevant to others, in the same way that my show is relevant to some people and not to people who watch X Factor probably, but there’s room for everything. If people want to watch it then there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, I’ve watched X Factor plenty of times
Me: What do you think of sources like Spotify and Mflow and their benefits (or lack of) for small bands?
Huw: I think it’s really good. Everybody gets their music in different ways, some people still buy CD’s and vinyl, other people…don’t want to pay for music and get it from services like Spotify. Some people just listen to the radio to get their music fix. As long as the music industry can work a way of carrying on with all these free services then I don’t think it’s a bad thing.
Me: What small bands at the moment would you like to see make it big?
Huw: I think Frankie and the Heartstrings are a very exciting band who I like a lot. They’re from Sunderland, and they’re just a brilliant band because they take it seriously but they’re not po-faced about it, they’re really fun and they enjoy being in a band and their tunes are amazing. I reckon Washed Out will do well at some point too, but that’s the beauty of music really because you know who’s going to big next, because it’s up to the people to make them big.
Me: What festivals and line-ups would you recommend for well-known bands, and for scouting out smaller bands?
Huw: Green Man festival is brilliant. I think for new bands the inner-city festivals are good like Great Escape in Brighton and Camden Crawl. For festivals in a field, Bestival is always good, Rob Da Bank always books lots of really good new bands there, and Reading and Latitude as well have always got good new bands on the smaller stages. So hang about the smaller stages at those and you’ll be all right.
Me: What do you think of this year’s Reading and Leeds line up and reunions in general at festivals? Do you think they block the path for smaller bands who have the potential to headline stages or do you think it’s a good chance to see a band you might not have seen the first time round?
Huw: I’m not sure you know, there are so many festivals and so many stages at festivals that I think there’s room for everybody. I think reunions are fine, if people want to see The Libertines or Guns N’ Roses or Blink 182, and they’ve never seen them before, then seeing them at a festival is going to be incredible. I do think there’s room for newer bands to headline. There are so many festivals now that you can chop and change what kind of bands you use to headline them.
Me: What band would you like to see re-united at a festival or elsewhere, whether possible or not?
Huw: I’d love to see Talking Heads live, they haven’t played for years, that would be amazing.
Me: How likely do you think that might be?
Huw: I don’t know, are any of them dead?
Me: I’m not sure. I don’t think so.
Huw: Well if they're dead, it's probably quite unlikely, but if not, let's start the campaign here!
Looks like another Facebook campaign barely worth bothering with...
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