Cat’s Claw are South Wales’ hardest-working ceilidh band. An energetic and professional unit with over 20 years’ experience, their unique mix of well-known and more unusual tunes and dances brings new excitement to the ceilidh experience. If you want a foot-stomping, roof-raising, rollicking good time, look no further-acoustic instruments creating an electric atmosphere!

The sort of music we play is basically traditional dance tunes from wherever we can get them, and our standard line-up is melodeon, fiddle, flute and guitar. There’s no set format, or length of time that we play for, and we’ll be as flexible as we can – we just aim to make your evening fun. Our caller is very experienced at getting people up to dance, and ensuring that everyone can join in by fitting the dances to the audience’s abilities (or lack of!). It’s good for all ages too, and encourages people to mix…

If you’d like to book us we can sort out details nearer the time – it’s your event, just tell us what you want! We always arrive in plenty of time to get set up (it only takes about 20 minutes) to start whenever you want, and will play for as long as you like (within reason – if we’re still there at breakfast time there’s a surcharge!). We have a full PA system which is flexible enough to cope with anything from a small room to a festival setting, and we’re very used to playing in marquees. The caller has a mobile microphone so that he can actually get in amongst the dancers when he’s initially explaining the dances, which we feel gives a personal, friendly touch.
As far as space for dancing goes, we’re not prescriptive about that. We’re used to fitting into whatever space is available, and always discuss this with the customer and the venue representative on arrival to make sure that everyone’s happy with the arrangements. We’ve found that this approach works well, and we’re flexible enough to cope with almost anything-we’ve even had a dance going on in someone’s kitchen after the marquee in their garden blew down!

Members of the band are all full-time musicians specialising in traditional folk music, and bring this experience to every performance. You'll know that all of the practical, professional, and logistical arrangements will be clear in advance, and you'll hear the difference in the performance...