Under The Driftwood Tree

Under the Driftwood Tree met while on the look out for surf breaks on the Pembrokeshire coast. Discovering a mutual love for not only surfing but acoustic based and folk tinged music, what started out as a beach party fireside jam has now turned into a touring band boasting a chilled out West (Wales) Coast surf sound of their own featuring soft melodic harmonies and exceptional song writing. A sound described as “completely unique” by the BBC.

Word of mouth began to spread as they started playing in local live music venues in Cardiff including; Barfly, Clwb Ivor Bach, 10 feet tall and The Globe. After some early busk style sessions for one of their favourite surf shops in their home town of Cardiff caused a roadblock the band realised that they were on to something that was capturing the hearts and minds of people. They found that the soft melodic drifting vocal harmonies (more often found in the music of West coast of America than West coast Wales) combined in subtle arrangements with the unusual instruments they play were a big hit with a large cross section of music lovers. Unsurprisingly in their first year together the band become Welsh winners of Surface Unsigned 2009 & were chosen to be the official band behind Stereoboard.com's “Access All Areas” campaign.

Expanding their musical universe Under the Driftwood Tree have already appeared on TV shows, making it to one of the final 10 bands on Channel 4's Evo Music Room & appearing on ITV’s The Wales Show. Alongside the aforementioned BBC Maida Vales sessions the band have performed on several other radio stations including BBC Radio Wales, RTE Radio 1 Ireland,The Wave, Cardiff Radio, Bryn Mawr FM and GT FM Under the Driftwood Tree have also received great press with reviews published in the Cardiff Echo, Bristol Post, the Capital Times and The Miniature Music Press and online.

Festival opportunities started to appear in 2010 with performances booked at music and surf festivals including Beach Break Live, The Eden Sessions (with Jack Johnson), Bug Jam, VW Festival, Santa Pod, Mighty Dub Fest, VW Festival, Connaught Village Summer Festival, Kingsfest, The Lazy Bishop Festival, Nibley Music Festival Blow Out, Newport Comedy Festival and Oxjam.

Exceptional song-writing skills transform their music into mini-tales of simple philosophies that everyone and anyone can relate to. Add this to a cheeky “live only” repertoire of “semi acoustic Gangsta Rap” irreverently mixed up, mashed up and “folked up” (videos of which often seem to find their way onto the internet) it is easy to see why the band already have a growing fan base that includes non other than Radio 1's Fearne Cotton who was so enthralled by the band that she invited them to the BBC's Maida Vale studios to record an interview & live session to be played to the listeners of her daytime show www.bbc.co.uk/music/introducing/artists/underthedriftwoodtree/interview/#emp

2011 will see Under the Driftwood Tree looking to capitalise on their initial success with the planned release of their first single. Having played a few select show cases in London including a packed out performance at the lavish Bedford venue, they have engaged live agency Program Music to organise and book shows nationwide to preface the summer festival season and build up to the release of their début single. They are off to a flying start having already started the year on the crest of a wave winning the prestigious Isambard Nu Folk Award and have already received their first offers for their “SURF & TURF” festival tour 2011 including the Secret Garden PArty, Blissfields, Chagstock, Green Man and Strawberry Fields Festivals