Andy Howells chats to Blackwood-based singer-songwriter SCARBELLY aka Gareth Thomas about his new EP The Redrock Sessions.

Who are you and where are you from?

My name is Gareth Thomas and I grew up in Varteg, a little mountain village near Blaenavon, but I now live in Blackwood.

How did you get into singing / writing and performing?

When I was a child I was obsessed with the band Queen and one day one of my dad’s friends came over with his guitar and showed me how to play the opening riff to ‘crazy little thing called love’ and it was like an epiphany.

Where does the name Scarbelly come from?

It’s quite simple, I’ve got a big scar on my stomach from an operation I had when I was 6 weeks old, I also liked the mythologies of the old blues players and how they got their monikers, like Leadbelly, Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf.

Plus there are already other famous Gareth Thomas’s.

Tell us about your new EP, The Redrock Sessions?

It’s five songs that draw on my love for blues, country, rock, bluegrass, Latin and acoustic music. My lyrics focus on stories from postindustrial Wales, personal relationships and my ordeal with cancer.

The EP was produced by Lyndon Price at Redrock Studios in Pengam and I recorded every instrument apart from the drums and sang every line. The EP was released on the 19th of July globally online.

This is the first recording I’ve done since I had a stem cell transplant two years ago and whether people like it or hate it, I want it to be a testament to other cancer sufferers that you can rebuild yourself and you can return to doing the things you loved to do.

What’s your favourite track?

I don’t have any favourites, they are like my children. I do like the reaction I get from people when they listen to ‘The Woods’, because the song is melodic and cheery but the lyrics are so dark and people are like ‘’wait a minute, what the hell did he just say?’’.

What’s your best live experience so far?

Even though I give everything when I’m performing and am immaculate in my preparation, my onstage career has been so ridiculous at times that it makes a Spinal Tap gig look like a classical recital.

Nothing ever goes to plan, but it does provide an endless source of anecdotes. The best thing that ever come out of performing was meeting my wife.

Where can we catch you live?

I will be playing at the HUB Festival in Cardiff which is taking place from August 23rd to the 25th; at the St David’s Hospice Open Day at Llantarnam Grange on the August 31st and a Radio gig on BRFM on October 16th.