Bilingual nu-metal band Celavi release ‘brutal’ new single, Iodine

Stephen Price

Having recently been championed on BBC Radio 1, Wales’ first bilingual nu-metal band, Celavi, return with their brutal, cathartic, hard-hitting new track, Iodine today.

Sarah and Gwion are Celavi, and together they weave metal, goth, industrial, electro and rock influences to create a completely unique sound.

Never afraid to push boundaries, Celavi have received support from Alyx Holcombe of BBC Introducing Rock as well as from Nels Hylton of Future Alternative on BBC Radio 1.

Their latest release, ‘Iodine’ unleashes the anger and frustration of lead singer Sarah’s recent diagnosis of an auto-immune disease.

Catharsis

Sarah says: “Iodine is a vulnerable song and it expresses the fear I went through. My condition is being monitored and I feel a lot better, but at the beginning I felt scared and frustrated that my own body was turning against me. The song is a catharsis for me.”

Iodine was produced by Grammy-nominated producer Romesh Dodangoda (Bring Me The Horizon, Nova Twins, Motörhead, Holding Absence, Sylosis).

The accompanying music video, directed by Shaun Hudson (Slipknot, Sleep Token, Limp Bizkit, Lorna Shore), will be released in October, as will CELAVI’s highly anticipated nu-EP (produced by Romesh Dodangoda, supported by Help Musicians).

Iodine is released today (Friday 13 September) with Celavi making their London debut at the legendary Cart + Horses venue on the same night.

They sat down with Nation.Cymru ahead of the new single launch.

Sarah told us: “Iodine is an honest and chaotic single which reflects my recent diagnosis of an auto-immune disease. We feel that the brutal riffs, intoxicating vocals and frantic drums evokes the panic, fear and uncertainty that I experienced battling my illness. Iodine is a cathartic juxtaposition at the heart of our sound.

“Iodine is a vulnerable song and it expresses the fear I went through. My condition is being monitored and I feel a lot better, but at the beginning I felt scared and frustrated that my own body was turning against me. The song is a catharsis for me.”

Gwion shared: “We recorded the single with grammy-nominated producer Romesh Dodangoda in Cardiff. We’re massive fans of Romesh, and he has worked with so many of our favourite bands and influences including Bring Me The Horizon, Motörhead and Holding Absence.

“Working with Romesh is amazing, he’s so inspiring and we’ve learnt so much. He’s definitely developed our sound, and he gets the best out of us in the Studio. We’re so excited to be working with Romesh and Shaun, it’s such an honour for us.”

Sarah added: “We worked with Shaun Hudson (Loki Films) on the music video for Iodine which will be released in October.

“Shaun gets our sound and vision and understands the song, and the frustration and fear we wanted to convey in the music video. Shaun has worked with so many of our influences including Slipknot, Sleep Token, Limp Bizkit and Lorna Shore.”

Nu-EP

Gwion shared: “We’re getting ready for the release of our new EP, or nu-EP as we call it! The EP will be released on 31 October 2024, on Halloween.

“The EP has been produced by Romesh Dodangoda and is supported by Help Musicians. One of the songs on the EP is in three languages, we’re really excited to see what people think of it. We perform live in three languages too, and we had such good feedback at a gig in Cardiff recently, so grateful!”

Sarah added: “Our new EP is a collection of empowering, honest, fierce and cathartic anthems. We’re supporters of promoting self-worth, being yourself, and believing in yourself, regardless of judgment. It’s important to be yourself, regardless of what people might say or think. I think this is reflected in our new EP and in Celavi.

“We’re also working on more Welsh language songs that will be released in the near future. “

Live dates

Celavi will be making their London debut at the legendary Cart + Horses venue, birthplace of Iron Maiden on Friday 13 September 2024 to celebrate the release of Iodine.

Gwion told Nation.Cymru: “We’re performing at Percy’s, Whitchurch on the 1 November 2024, and we’ll be launching our EP with a hometown gig at The Skerries, Bangor on the 2 November 2024.

“We have a full live band with us, Connor and Dylan, and we love performing and seeing the mosh pits and the headbangs! We feel that we’re an awesome team, and bring so much energy together on stage!

“We’ve got some more exciting gigs to be announced in the very near future! Keep an eye on our website www.wearecelavi.com and our socials @wearecelavi for the updates.”

Welshness

Singing in Welsh was a natural choice for the band. Gwion shared: “Singing in Welsh is so important to us, and it’s what we always wanted to do with our band.

“We released our first Welsh language song Dyma Fi last year, and BBC Radio Cymru chose it as their track of the week, and was also chosen as their ‘Tracks of 2023’ and included in their Top 10 ‘Alternative Chart 2023’.

“It was such an honour for us, especially with a Welsh language nu-metal song. Our follow up single Neb Arall was supported by BBC Introducing Rock with Alyx Holcombe on BBC Radio 1 and also by Amazon Music Editorial Playlists (‘Breakthrough Rock’ and ‘Best New Bands’).”

Sarah shared: “It’s always been our dream to be played on BBC Radio 1, and to be played on the biggest radio station in the UK, for the first time too, with our Welsh language song is so emotional.

“Our song ‘Cofia’r Enw’ that was released last April was also supported by BBC Introducing Rock on BBC Radio 1 with Nels Hylton. It’s such a dream come true! We’re eternally grateful for all the support!

“We have a lot of monthly listeners in the US, and we have a following there who are keen for us to tour there in the future. We’ve also made some connections with bands in the alternative scene who would love us to come and support them on tour. It’s definitely something we’d love to do in the future.

“There’s definitely a place for us, and we want to be the voice for us metalheads, goths and emos!”

Gwion added: “We were aware that Welsh language nu-metal | industrial metal didn’t exist before, but we were so excited to bring something fresh and different to the Welsh language music scene.”

Flying the flag

Gwion said: “Our aim is to be the Welsh language metal band that we wanted to listen to and relate to growing up.

“We’ve had amazing feedback from Welsh language learners, and non Welsh speakers congratulating us on our BBC Radio 1 support and saying that our music has inspired them to learn Welsh and others have said that they haven’t heard Welsh language nu-metal before, and that they’re excited to hear it in a genre that they love. This really means everything to us.

“It’s so important that the Welsh language music scene is diverse and inclusive, and that people see representation within the scene.”

Sarah agreed, sharing: “It’s so important for us to be performing in the Welsh language and waving the flag for Welsh language nu-metal music.

“We perform bilingually, outside of Wales too. There’s so much respect for the language outside of Wales and internationally too. We’re proud to be encouraging more people to listen to Welsh language music, to learn more about Wales and our language, and to be learning our language too.”

Gwion told us: “We’d love to be able to perform at Welsh festivals like the National Eisteddfod and Tafwyl, it would be so awesome to bring our Welsh language nu-metal headbangers!”

Listen to Iodine here.

Keep up to date with the band at their official website, on social media @wearecelavi and on Spotify.