Cakehole Presley

Like a naughty little cake, this band are soft and sweet, perfectly equipped in raising a little smile, but are nothing to feel guilty about - their music is very, very good for your hungry ears. This Cardiff band have a busy summer of festival appearances lined up throughout Wales and the South West, which is perfect, because their soothing folk rock melodies seem made for sitting on the grass under the sun. Chris Ridgeway’s vocals are as piercing and fragile as the harmonica that he plays, whilst at times sounding like a whispered growl. Mark Humphres’ bass sets the pace throughout at a gentle bluesy stroll.
Cakehole Presley are well known on the Cardiff music scene, and individually the band members have perfected their craft in previous musical ventures throughout the UK and Europe, but together, they have found an inspired sound. They sight The Beatles in their influences, and this is clear when listening to sun-kissed tracks like ‘Skipping Clouds’ which reminds the listener of the simple melodies of ‘Blackbird’ and ‘Norwegian Wood’. Al McClean’s guitar is airey and light, and Alka Jones’ percussion remains inobtrusive but effective throughout, lightly whispering in the background
Looking through their webpage, the words ‘Peace and Love’ make various appearances. These words sum up this Cardiff quartet. Their lyrics are firmly based on idealised feelings about love, infatuation, dreaming, hope and contentedness. Their actual sound is beautifully filled with the sweetest harmonica, and gentle, trickling percussion. The band seem unprovoked by trends or phases in modern music, but purely dediated to their own exploration of a sound that is as nostalgic in it’s folk roots as it is comparable to modern folk acoustic favourites like Willy Mason and Kings of Convenience.
A six track EP recorded by the band is available from their website at www.myspace.com/cakeholepresley. On this site you can hear what I see as the absolute gem of the Cakehole Presley treasure chest, this being ‘Grab A Rock’. This song canters along, the acoustic guitar tickling your ears on the way, the cheeky lyrics raising that little smile with perfect ease. 1960’s ideology is never far away with this band, who tell us ‘long live music, viva song and dance’, and dream of saying ‘boo to reality!’ Clearly, those dreamy days have gone by. But there will always be time to find that perfect patch of grass under the sun and dream of peace and love. Whilst doing that, listen to Cakehole Presley. No other band capture the mood in such a complete and dream-filled way.

The band’s summer schedule include dates in June is Cardiff, Barry, Abergavenny and London, and throughout the rest of the summer the band will make festival appearances in Wales, Herefordshire, Somerset and at Festival Eye in Wiltshire.
- quench

Cakehole Presley's debut consists of six tracks that soothingly introduce us to their enchanting dream-like folk melodies, that follow the central themes of peace and love throughout.
On the first track Clouds Skipin, Chris Reidgeway sings about wanting to escape from the "grime of the city" to a far away "dreamland".
Gotta No Your Name and Borrowed Time exemplify Cakehole Presley's delightful harmonica sound that fits so wonderfully within this group.
The EP concludes with the tranquil sounds of Small Ideas, leaving the listener peacefully daydreaming.
This is truly an impressive and highly enjoyable debut, marking Cakehole Presley as ones to watch in the folk scene.
Words: Saima Razzaq
- BBC wales

X (Cakehole Records) 2007
As drummer Alka handed over the CD he said "I know it aint your cup of tea, but see what you think." He is right; this album ticks none of the boxes of the sort of stuff that we usually listen to, except one. That one box is talent. The tick in that talent box is so big and bold it spills out and makes the other boxes irrelevant; damn this is a good disc! This comes as a shock, the only other stuff we have in our collection that comes even close to this sort of 'pop' would be Prefab Sprout, Lloyd Cole or maybe the Pale Fountains. This is grown up pop music of the highest order; this is how the Beatles might have turned out if they had matured without going down the 'Sgt Pepper' route (and getting shot). Sharp lyrics, beautiful melodies, warm vibes.. perfect pop basically!

It is all fairly laid back stuff and none of the more rockin' tunes from the live set find their way onto this disc. Love features heavily throughout, "I don't need to be told what to do, in return I will not tell you, if any one expects perfection, well poor you, you've got a long wait if you do" Skipin Clouds tells us… Amen to that my son! 'Gotta Know Your Name' tells of wanting to get to know a beautiful stranger; 'Me and You' is a tale of a doomed relationship and hints at the mellowness of Pink Floyd's 'Pigs On The Wing'. One of the best CDs we have come across for a very long time, but we cannot really explain why and have no idea where to file it... somewhere we can put our hands on it easily probably! Peppermint Iguana.com - Peppermint Iguana.com