Wavves

Wavves land in Cardiff for a headline set at Clwb Ifor Bach on 1 July 2026. Formed in San Diego around songwriter Nathan Williams in 2008, Wavves began as a lo-fi project built on short, nervy songs that fuse indie rock, pop-punk, surf and noise pop. Those blown-out early records gave way to a tighter, more direct approach with the arrival of Stephen Pope and Alex Gates, captured on King of the Beach (2010). Since then, the band has moved between ragged hooks and cleaner power-pop across Afraid of Heights (2013), V (2015), You're Welcome (2017) and Hideaway (2021), and teamed up with Cloud Nothings for No Life for Me (2015). Today, Wavves lines up with Williams, Pope, Gates and drummer Ross Traver.

On stage, the group keeps it fast and tuneful: overdriven guitars, clipped rhythms and choruses built to be shouted back. The set leans from early fuzz blasts to the more streamlined side of their catalogue, keeping the scrappy pulse that has driven Wavves since day one.