Cardinal Black

In Wales, Cardinal Black brought together Tom Hollister on vocals, Chris Buck on guitar and Adam Roberts on drums around a rhythm-and-blues repertoire infused with rock and soul. The band’s story actually goes back to the early 2010s, when Hollister, Buck and Roberts were already a promising trio, taking part in sessions encouraged by Steve Winwood before travelling to Arizona at the request of Alan Niven to develop an album; the project stalled and the lineup split in 2011. Cardinal Black was revived during the 2020 lockdowns, when the musicians began exchanging ideas remotely again and returned to some unfinished sketches from ten years earlier. The group released the EPs Tell Me How It Feels and Cardinal Black in 2021, followed by the album January Came Close in 2022. On stage Cardinal Black often expands its format with keyboards and backing vocals, and in 2022 they notably supported Peter Frampton on his UK tour. Sam Williams, who had joined on bass to allow Tom Hollister to concentrate on singing, left the project in 2025. In the meantime the band also released the live record Live at The Memo in 2024 and their second studio album Midnight at The Valencia in 2025.