South Wales trio nineplanfailed have honed a tense, uncomfortable, powerful and fascinating post-punk meets alternative noise sound that they describe as “urgent, hook-driven and communal.”
The trio of Demetrie ‘Dim’ Wyatt (lead vocals and bass), Gareth Eveleigh (guitars, synth and vocals) and Nathan Griffiths (drums and vocals) first formed many years ago and released an EP through Death Monkey Records. In their words that “did OK,” before life happened and they drifted apart. However, almost a decade later, they realised the energy was still there, perhaps even more so than ever before. So they decided to get the band back together with new vigour.
As Dim explains: “Now it feels less like chasing something and more like building something deliberately. (Our music is) alternative rock at heart, with post-punk edges. There’s edge and tension in it, but it’s built to be shouted back at us in a room full of people.
“We like tight, punchy rhythm sections and riffs that lock in rather than float around. There’s melody all the way through – we’re not afraid of hooks – but there’s tension underneath it. Live, it’s physical. A lot of call-and-response moments. Three voices. It’s built to feel shared rather than observed.”
Our first taste of this was the band’s returning single Past The Sun, which was released in January. It starts out with a funky synth line over the opening lines “Black man, White man, Am I an alien? Little green man.” Heavy drums kick in as the vocals intensify, before darting guitars and a stabbing bassline drop into stabbing guitars and engaging vocals. That flows into the line “To the ants we look like gods; to the gods we look like ants,” before building into a big shoutalong chorus “Past the sun, I don’t think we’re from around here.”
Chunky guitars bridge into more cool vocals “Human beings, Are we human beings, From the stone age, To the clone age,” before another big chorus tees up a powerful outro led by layered vocals.
On the track, Dim told us: “The reception’s been strong – especially for our first release in over ten years. It’s had some great radio support, including BBC Introducing Wales, BGFM, Wigwam radio and we’ve gone into rotation on Other Voices Radio, which feels like solid early momentum rather than polite encouragement.
“Past The Sun is about perspective. Identity. Scale. The idea that, from far enough away, everything we argue about feels absurdly small – race, borders, ego. There’s that line: ‘To the ants we look like gods; to the gods we look like ants.’ That’s basically the core of it. Musically, expect driving bass, crunchy guitar, chant-led choruses and something that builds into a kind of controlled release. It’s not dreamy space-rock, it’s more ‘existential crisis you can move to.'”
The trio have since followed that up with the superb house, which was released last month. It starts out with laboured guitars that build in intensity under the unnerving vocals “There’s a robbery at my house, Are the lights on, In my house, Back door kicked in, Very violently, Something horrible, Happened here.” The mood suddenly lightens, before exploding into intense vocals and stabbing guitars and a powerful chorus.
On the track, Dim said: “It’s a tight, volatile track built around a break-in – but really about control, masculinity, and how quickly ‘feeling safe’ turns into something more aggressive. Less abstract than Past The Sun, more immediate, and a bit uncomfortable in the right ways.” Check it out in the video below:
The nineplanfailed sound draws on a wide range of often unexpected influences, from the likes of Depeche Mode, The Cure and Killing Joke to Adam and the Ants, Kraftwerk, Daft Punk and Genesis.
And on what inspires them to write music, Dim explains: “It’s less about copying a sound and more about borrowing that sense of urgency and intent. Often the music comes first – a bassline, a rhythmic pulse, a guitar figure – and that suggests a direction lyrically.
“Theme-wise, we tend to circle around identity, scale, humanity, disconnection, ego, time. Big subjects, but approached sideways rather than preachy. I’m not big on heavy metaphor – I prefer ambiguity that lets people project their own meaning onto it. There’s usually tension in the lyric, but the energy of the song flips it into something communal rather than bleak.”
nineplanfailed are currently writing and recording new music, with a plan to release new singles shortly – and not disappear for another decade. They’ve also played a few shows in recent months, and are on the lookout for more, including festival slots, before the end of the year.
And Dim added: “We’re DIY, organised, and serious about what we’re doing, but we’re not chasing trends. We’ve already done the ‘trying to break through’ phase of life. This time it’s about making the strongest music we can and putting it in front of people, honestly. If you come to a show, we won’t stand there staring at our shoes. You’ll be involved.”
You can follow nineplanfailed on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music, Deezer and YouTube.
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