Barry Horns see ‘big spike’ in people listening to their songs after criticism from the Welsh Conservatives

The Barry Horns band say they have seen a “big spike” in the number of people streaming their songs after Conservatives criticised them as “toxic” in the Senedd.

The number of listeners for their song ‘This is Wales‘ jumped to 115,000 on Spotify following criticism by the Welsh Conservatives that they had received a Welsh Government grant to promote Wales in Qatar.

Tory Shadow Sport Minister Tom Giffard said the band had tweeted “Kick the Tories out of the Senedd” and similar messages critical of his party, and that the £17k they were given by the Welsh Government amounted to an “endorsement”.

They were also accused in the Daily Mail newspaper of being “anti-Tory”.

But the Barry Horns told Nation.Cymru that the criticism had boosted the popularity of their music, saying that they were “quite surprised” with the response. They added that they couldn’t wait to “go global in Qatar”. They also took to Twitter to thank the Daily Mail for their “promo work”.

Responding to the comments from the Conservatives, the band said: “We used to have a particularly opinionated Eb tenor horn player who knew the Twitter account password, but since lost his place for various reasons.”

‘No problem’

Tom Giffard, the Welsh Conservative spokesman for sport, had called on the Welsh Government to “distance itself” from the band.

“Anyone who spends even a small amount of time on social media will see The Barry Horns is one of the most abusive and toxic social media accounts today,” he told the Senedd.

“Most of the content is unrepeatable in this chamber but they seek to castigate any individual with a different political viewpoint to their own.”

Labour’s Economy Minister Vaughan Gething said the money given to the band had nothing to do with their political viewpoints.

“Let’s be clear, the person who runs that Twitter account isn’t a supporter of me or my party either, and I don’t have a problem with that,” he said.

“But the band itself is very much part of what takes place around the game, and if you’ve been to a number of games then you know that The Barry Horns within the fan base are something that people actually like and enjoy about the atmosphere that’s created, and that’s what we’re looking to promote.”